PGA Tour: The FedEx Play-Offs: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Whatever anyone thinks about the 2018/2019 schedule, the fact remains that the PGA Tour's efforts to monopolise the year's golfing calendar culminate these next three weeks in the FedEx Play Offs and, at latest count, 121 of the 125 leading FedEx Points earners over the past 10 or 11 months get to play for $gazillions.

2).I'm inclined to agree with Eamon Lynch writing in GolfWeek that it would be nice if the PGA "Tour worried about what golf fans want to see, and not football fans".
But money talks and has usurped sports in every corner of the world so why should golf be any different? Perhaps FedEx will deploy their immense resources somewhere else one day, but for now we're stuck with this year's schedule.
Or at least until they decide that the NFL's "Pre Season" should also take precedence and the FedEx Play-Offs will occur before, or perhaps simultaneously with, The Open Championship?

3).FedEx Champ Justin Rose has already lamented the changes and clearly other leading pros are reviewing their seasons in light of the "compressed" series of big events.
The one comment that should resonate with the Tour is Jack Nicklaus's reflection of what made the Tour what it is, the series of "community" events staged around the country, and which are slowly being superseded by the series of mega tournaments thru'out the year - it's not clear yet whether the smaller events, and last week's stop in Greensboro could be a case in point, have regressed from "endangered species" to potentially "extinct", but the threat is there.
And, what an irony that the Tour incessantly trumpets the "charitable contributions" generated by the Tour (which helps protect the Tour's tax status), but renders expendable those events, especially in Texas, which annually makes the largest of those contributions.

4).But this is America, or at least the Big Tour, and it is what it is.

5).The Play-Offs have lost a tournament since last year, and the "Northern Trust" will now be shared by the Boston and New York markets, which in itself reminds one how ludicrous it is that NYC only gets half a Tour event per year.
125 golfers qualify for the Northern Trust, and the leading 70 in FedEx Points at close of play Sunday advance to Medinah in Chicago and the "BMW".
Then 30 move on to Hotlanta, whose event has morphed into a handicap tournament which is just about the most absurd thing in sporting history. Almost as bad as ending football games on penalties. (Rumours here that the NRA plans to take the Tour Championship over and initiate a shotgun start.)

6).I won't try to explain the handicap system as I still can't wrap by brain around it, but suffice it so say that pgatour.com describes it as offering "more drama, simplicity". You be the judge.

7).The big FedEx beneficiaries over the years have mostly been the usual suspects, but worth noting their accumulated "bonus pool" goodies nevertheless. The Top 12 have all piled up $10mil or more. $K:
28,275: Woods
15,900: McIlroy
15,247: Furyk
14,665: Spieth
14,508: Rose
13,758: Stenson
12,298: Snedeker
11,645: Horschel
11,475: Bill Haas
11,272: Singh
11,145: Thomas
10,557: Dustin Johnson
Followed by Stricker, Mickelson, Kuchar, Donald, Day.

7).Among those named above, it is quite possible that Messrs Haas and Donald will reappear, not in these Play-Offs but in the KFC series which begins on Thursday week for the leading 75 "Korn Ferry" players and #126 to #200 on the FedEx Points table. I wonder if Alex Noren will participate?

8).With 55 golfers destined to be eliminated after the Northern Trust, their next chance to tee it up on Tour will be the second week in September, in West Virginia's Greenbrier Resort. Followed by:
Sanderson Farms, Jackson, Mississippi
Safeway, Napa Valley, California
Las Vegas
Houston
Far East limited field money grabs
Bermuda (opposite field event the same week as the WGC in China)
Mayakoba, Mexico
RSM, Sea Island, Georgia

9).Sergio Garcia tees it up this week, needing a good result to move on. I'll defend Sergio to the hilt until he goes over the edge, which he seems to have done temperamentally these past few months. Will he sit himself down and take a time out, a la 2010? Or will the Tour do it for him? Both the European and PGA Tours need to be more transparent about discipline and hopefully the European Tour will publish any sanctions against Sergio and, also, of course, Thorbjorn Olesen.  

10).Off for a couple of days of tennis, a little easier for me to figure out than these Play-Offs.

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:I didn't say I did know about your building, I didn't even infer that. Like Mac you should probably learn to read better. I said that if a building is on fire then you don't wait for instructions, you get out and worry about "due process" later. I would have thought Grenfell had put paid to listening to someone else's decision on whether you get out or not, obviously you are a sheep though and would stay in a burning building until told otherwise. Hilarious.
It doesn't matter that the UK might not be as prolific in regards to lightning frequency as the US, but the importance of personal responsibility still takes presedence over official rules. What sort of idiot waits for a hooter to get off the course when even a moron knows the fatal consequences of a lightning strike?
If there's a danger to your life, then it's up to you to make a decision and get to a safe place, not rely on someone else to tell you what to do.
Large buildings have multiple fire escapes anyway, so what's your problem?

I rest my case. Always have to have the last word, wrong more often than you admit and impressively arrogant with it. Not interested in discussing it further as you're obviously an expert in building fire design and fire risk assessment. Jog on.

You may be "resting your case" but at the same time also an attempt to have your own last word. Instead of "jog on" just "scroll on"

Including FEDEX bonus Rory has earned 25 Million on the PGATour this season.

For comparison, that would rank about 15th in Major League Baseball
about 40th in the NBA
about 6th in the NFL

That's interesting GPB,
I'll be interested to see what his total earnings are estimated as, all on-course golf, plus all the endorsements, when Forbes do their annual reckoning.
As the Sultan Of Swing, he's got a daytime job, he's doing alright . . . . . .

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:I didn't say I did know about your building, I didn't even infer that. Like Mac you should probably learn to read better. I said that if a building is on fire then you don't wait for instructions, you get out and worry about "due process" later. I would have thought Grenfell had put paid to listening to someone else's decision on whether you get out or not, obviously you are a sheep though and would stay in a burning building until told otherwise. Hilarious.
It doesn't matter that the UK might not be as prolific in regards to lightning frequency as the US, but the importance of personal responsibility still takes presedence over official rules. What sort of idiot waits for a hooter to get off the course when even a moron knows the fatal consequences of a lightning strike?
If there's a danger to your life, then it's up to you to make a decision and get to a safe place, not rely on someone else to tell you what to do.
Large buildings have multiple fire escapes anyway, so what's your problem?

I rest my case. Always have to have the last word, wrong more often than you admit and impressively arrogant with it. Not interested in discussing it further as you're obviously an expert in building fire design and fire risk assessment. Jog on.

It's called having a dialogue. You haven't given me a "gotcha" where I can't reply with anything, so I'll keep it going.

I can just imagine you, you discover a fire on the 2nd floor, you raise the alarm and then climb the stairs back up to the 6th floor where you work and await the fire wardens instructions. Yeah right. Hilarious that you threatened me with the wrath of the Fire Warden. Who's going to care about that if the building is on fire? Who would be scared of what some jumped up little jobsworth in a yellow vest will say if I leave the building before his/her say so. They can account for me at the muster point.

I've never ever been involved in a fire drill where anyone ran or caused a panic regardless of the size of the building. Why would you expect there to be?

Davie wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:I didn't say I did know about your building, I didn't even infer that. Like Mac you should probably learn to read better. I said that if a building is on fire then you don't wait for instructions, you get out and worry about "due process" later. I would have thought Grenfell had put paid to listening to someone else's decision on whether you get out or not, obviously you are a sheep though and would stay in a burning building until told otherwise. Hilarious.
It doesn't matter that the UK might not be as prolific in regards to lightning frequency as the US, but the importance of personal responsibility still takes presedence over official rules. What sort of idiot waits for a hooter to get off the course when even a moron knows the fatal consequences of a lightning strike?
If there's a danger to your life, then it's up to you to make a decision and get to a safe place, not rely on someone else to tell you what to do.
Large buildings have multiple fire escapes anyway, so what's your problem?

I rest my case. Always have to have the last word, wrong more often than you admit and impressively arrogant with it. Not interested in discussing it further as you're obviously an expert in building fire design and fire risk assessment. Jog on.

You may be "resting your case" but at the same time also an attempt to have your own last word. Instead of "jog on" just "scroll on"

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:I didn't say I did know about your building, I didn't even infer that. Like Mac you should probably learn to read better. I said that if a building is on fire then you don't wait for instructions, you get out and worry about "due process" later. I would have thought Grenfell had put paid to listening to someone else's decision on whether you get out or not, obviously you are a sheep though and would stay in a burning building until told otherwise. Hilarious.
It doesn't matter that the UK might not be as prolific in regards to lightning frequency as the US, but the importance of personal responsibility still takes presedence over official rules. What sort of idiot waits for a hooter to get off the course when even a moron knows the fatal consequences of a lightning strike?
If there's a danger to your life, then it's up to you to make a decision and get to a safe place, not rely on someone else to tell you what to do.
Large buildings have multiple fire escapes anyway, so what's your problem?

I rest my case. Always have to have the last word, wrong more often than you admit and impressively arrogant with it. Not interested in discussing it further as you're obviously an expert in building fire design and fire risk assessment. Jog on.

It's called having a dialogue. You haven't given me a "gotcha" where I can't reply with anything, so I'll keep it going.

I can just imagine you, you discover a fire on the 2nd floor, you raise the alarm and then climb the stairs back up to the 6th floor where you work and await the fire wardens instructions. Yeah right. Hilarious that you threatened me with the wrath of the Fire Warden. Who's going to care about that if the building is on fire? Who would be scared of what some jumped up little jobsworth in a yellow vest will say if I leave the building before his/her say so. They can account for me at the muster point.

I've never ever been involved in a fire drill where anyone ran or caused a panic regardless of the size of the building. Why would you expect there to be?

As usual, you've missed the point. Take it to the DFS thread if you want to continue, but I suspect you'll be talking to yourself.

Shotrock wrote:Mac - I'm not so sure people are picking on Rory. He's had a massive HOF career already. And coming on the heels of one of (IMO #1) the best and most dominant golfers ever makes comparisons natural. At this same age Tiger had lots more majors than Rory (Tiger had 10 in his 20's). Like Tiger back in the day, when Rory gets it going he appears unbeatable. I'm guessing Rory celebrates every win and should be plenty proud of what he did this season ... still, I'm (pretty) sure his #1 goal in golf is to win more majors. (I certainly think he will).

I agree that Rory has come up short in the majors for a long time now but without seasons like this one we shouldn't even expect him to do any better in the majors. Predicting ten career majors for him only makes sense if he maintains being the best player out there. In 2017 and some of 2018 he looked far from being a top player of his generation.

The final tournament in the KFC "Finals" takes place this week in Indiana.
Viktor Hovland has already qualified, effectively, for his PGA Tour card for next season and is taking the week off - kinda surprised about that as he stood a very strong chance of winning the "Finals" series and securing an elevated level of status.

But hadn't spotted that Tom Lewis is in the field - why just enter the last of the three events, why not the entire 3-event series?

Like you say strange regarding Hovland Kwini, although with the weaker fields in the early autumn tournaments I suspect he'll be thinking a win opens up as many doors.

Either that or he's getting ready to pop over the BMW PGA....

Seriously though, that would be nice

Sounds like golf's favourite patient is under the knife again:

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/tiger-woods-undergoes-arthroscopic-surgery-left-knee-still-track-pga-tours-zozo

Hovland had to finish in at least a 3 way T2nd to get the coveted #1 spot. He should get into all the Fall events.

I wonder what kind of Visa issues he might have. I would guess that he is still on a Student Visa. Guess he technically can still be a student.

As my Dad would say about his Sister-in-Law, Tiger seems to enjoy bad health. Do some more Cardio, Tiger and bang those knees some more.

kwinigolfer wrote:Sounds like golf's favourite patient is under the knife again:

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/tiger-woods-undergoes-arthroscopic-surgery-left-knee-still-track-pga-tours-zozo

If he'd put as much work into his legs as he did his ego and upper body he wouldn't be having problems.

kwinigolfer wrote:That's interesting GPB,
I'll be interested to see what his total earnings are estimated as, all on-course golf, plus all the endorsements, when Forbes do their annual reckoning.
As the Sultan Of Swing, he's got a daytime job, he's doing alright . . . . . .

Its an apples to apples comparison. Do you not think Stef Curry and Tom Brady have off the field endorsements?

GPB wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:That's interesting GPB,
I'll be interested to see what his total earnings are estimated as, all on-course golf, plus all the endorsements, when Forbes do their annual reckoning.
As the Sultan Of Swing, he's got a daytime job, he's doing alright . . . . . .

Its an apples to apples comparison.  Do you not think Stef Curry and Tom Brady have off the field endorsements?

I DO!
But most of those NBA players don't and Rory/Tiger/Phil etc are in rare air for endorsement income compared to most other sportsmen, Federer/Curry/Brady/LeBron/Ronaldo etc. excepted.
No coincidence that 4 of the top 6 highest earning athletes of all time are golfers - imagine Rory is climbing those charts faster than most.

Golf Careers last a lot longer than other sports.

GPB wrote:Golf Careers last a lot longer than other sports.

Also, Golf and Tennis have a global reach and appeal. American sports do not.

Yep, Basketball does not have a global reach and appeal.

Not at all.

In case you missed it, Ryo Ishikawa won his 2nd tournament in a row last weekend on the Japan PGATour

The Japan Tour has been on hiatus since two weeks before the British Open (if you don't include Portrush and WGC St Jude.

Spoiler:

GPB wrote:Yep, Basketball does not have a global reach and appeal.

Not at all.

Not really. Not that sponsors outside of 'MURICA are chucking money at.
Theres a few countries like Serbia and Greece, but it isn't a major sport globally.

Leagues in Australia and China prove otherwise.

How many people around the world would even know the Basketball World Cup is on at the moment? How many even knew there was such a tournament?

Relatively speaking, not many. Just like not very many know about F1 racing, or cricket matches, or even Man U soccer games.

And only Tennis fans know that the US Open is happening right now

Basketball fans know about the World Cup, and tennis fans know about the US Open

The fans that care, know. Those that don't care, don't know. Same thing about Golf, NFL Football, and every other sport.

GPB wrote:Relatively speaking, not many.  Just like not very many know about F1 racing, or cricket matches, or even Man U soccer games.

And only Tennis fans know that the US Open is happening right now

Basketball fans know about the World Cup, and tennis fans know about the US Open

The fans that care, know.  Those that don't care, don't know.  Same thing about Golf, NFL Football, and every other sport.

Completely disagree, Tennis and F1 (if you can call it a sport) are truly global and transcend whether you are a fan of the sport. When it comes to Tennis majors you  simply can't miss the fact they are on. Coverage is everywhere.

Regardless of how you look at it, the US Open is massively more in the mainstream and public consciousness than Basketball is and is far more well known about than the Basketball World Cup. Your average person (outside of 'Murica) could name many more tennis players than they could basketballers.(sic)

For example, I've not heard a single reference to the Basketball World Cup anywhere, I've not seen it in newspapers, I've not seen it on the news in fact I actually had to go and seek it out on the internet to find out if it even existed, on the other hand the US Open is on TV News, Amazon, Newspapers, Radio etc. The US Open is a big sporting deal, the Basketball World Cup is clearly not unless you happen to be into Basketball.

When was the last time Basketball put any sport off the back pages outside of America?

When Magic Johnson announced he had AIDS . . . . . . . ?

The only times I hear of basketball is when Michael Jordan drives a Ryder Cup buggy.

Interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal about the PGA Tour hoping to negotiate a more expansive TV partnership or two, wanting more dedicated coverage than they presumably feel CBS & NBC offers them. Names like Amazon & ESPN - and the dreaded Fox - being bandied about.
Not sure they'll get quite the advertising bang for their buck if they narrow the potential viewership, but there seems to be something in the wind. Will this give CBS & NBC the willies or will they be glad to be shot of golf?


Also, lots being made about Rory's relatively heavy schedule between now and R2D finale.
And he's scheduling himself a very heavy workload next summer - not sure when the Irish Open will be (two weeks before RSG?), but wouldn't think participation there should be a given.

Kwini

I think Rory is only 48th in the R2D rankings so he needs a heavy schedule to get himself up the rankings. His Co sanctioned events have clearly been poor this season.

McLaren wrote:Kwini

I think Rory is only 48th in the R2D rankings so he needs a heavy schedule to get himself up the rankings. His Co sanctioned events have clearly been poor this season.

Not really. But hopefully he'll climb from 46th (which is where he really is) this week.
I've long since given up trying to figure out the R2D points, but Rory's results in Majors have been OK (21st, 8th, 9th) and WGC's even better (2nd, 9th, 4th). Most European pros would die for that sort of consistently good (obviously not great which is what we seem to expect from Rory), and certainly not "poor", group of results.

Interesting, how did he end up so far down the rankings? We are used to double dippers who do well in majors and wgc's just being high in the R2D.

Also, are you saying that Rory didn't need to commit to a busy schedule to get up the rankings? Not questioning this logic just looking for details.

Mac,
I haven't had much of a look at his autumn schedule, just that I know he has commitments thru to the R2D.
But I DO know that next summer's programme looks absolutely rammed assuming he plays:
Quail Hollow (which he's won twice)
Memorial (which he invariably does)
Defends in Canada
Plays the Travelers (which he's committed to)
WGC:Memphis
Plays one of Irish or Scottish
Olympics

Then a week or two off and straight into the Play Offs


Something will have to give or he'll be knackered

Rory did not 'officially' re-up his membership on the EuroTour until May 11th, and his result in the Masters, and the early season WGCs did not grandfather into the R2D standings.

In Case you Missed It, Rolex #1 golfer Jin Young Ko had a streak of 106 bogey free holes going into the LPGA tournament this week. she started her first round with 8 bogey free holes so she upped her streak to 114 holes.

Tiger allegedly had a streak of 110 holes back in the year 2000.

With all the 'stats' tracked on the PGATour, its incredible that bogey free holes is not tracked.

GPB wrote:Rory did not 'officially' re-up his membership on the EuroTour until May 11th, and his result in the Masters, and the early season WGCs did not grandfather into the R2D standings.

I like it! As it should be!!
Thanks.

Happy to see Troy Merritt playing a few European Tour events, see he's signed up for the KLM so that'll be three in a row for him.

That clears up Rorys points discrepancy, was there ever an explanation for his delay in signing up for this year's ET?

McLaren wrote:That clears up Rorys points discrepancy, was there ever an explanation for his delay in signing up for this year's ET?

Does there need to be?

McLaren wrote:That clears up Rorys points discrepancy, was there ever an explanation for his delay in signing up for this year's ET?

Early in the year, he said he was going to give up his membership for the 2018-19 season.

I think Pelley had a little chat with him.

A few years ago, the European Tour put in loophole that a Ryder Cup Captain must never give up their EuroTour membership (ahem Paul Casey).  Rory might not think he wants to be a captain right now, but time sometimes makes people change their minds.

in all honesty, Thanks to Pelley it is not much of a hardship for player to be Eurotour Member.  Must play 5 non-co-sanctioned events with the PGATour.

edit: (or is it 4 events?)

kwinigolfer wrote:

Happy to see Troy Merritt playing a few European Tour events, see he's signed up for the KLM so that'll be three in a row for him.

More Carpetbagging!

Kuchar, Reed, Xander playing next week as well

There doesn't need to be but I was just interested to know why he flirted with not taking ET membership. If I remember correctly he claimed something about travel commitments at the time, just wondering if that story held up.

I thought he said at the time he wanted to focus on the majors and that needed a committment to the PGA Tour and wouldn't leave much time for the ET.

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:I didn't say I did know about your building, I didn't even infer that. Like Mac you should probably learn to read better. I said that if a building is on fire then you don't wait for instructions, you get out and worry about "due process" later. I would have thought Grenfell had put paid to listening to someone else's decision on whether you get out or not, obviously you are a sheep though and would stay in a burning building until told otherwise. Hilarious.
It doesn't matter that the UK might not be as prolific in regards to lightning frequency as the US, but the importance of personal responsibility still takes presedence over official rules. What sort of idiot waits for a hooter to get off the course when even a moron knows the fatal consequences of a lightning strike?
If there's a danger to your life, then it's up to you to make a decision and get to a safe place, not rely on someone else to tell you what to do.
Large buildings have multiple fire escapes anyway, so what's your problem?

I rest my case. Always have to have the last word, wrong more often than you admit and impressively arrogant with it. Not interested in discussing it further as you're obviously an expert in building fire design and fire risk assessment. Jog on.

It's called having a dialogue. You haven't given me a "gotcha" where I can't reply with anything, so I'll keep it going.

I can just imagine you, you discover a fire on the 2nd floor, you raise the alarm and then climb the stairs back up to the 6th floor where you work and await the fire wardens instructions. Yeah right. Hilarious that you threatened me with the wrath of the Fire Warden. Who's going to care about that if the building is on fire? Who would be scared of what some jumped up little jobsworth in a yellow vest will say if I leave the building before his/her say so. They can account for me at the muster point.

I've never ever been involved in a fire drill where anyone ran or caused a panic regardless of the size of the building. Why would you expect there to be?

As usual, you've missed the point. Take it to the DFS thread if you want to continue, but I suspect you'll be talking to yourself.

Hey all... I just came through on a quick drive-by to rest my case...

super_realist wrote:How many people around the world would even know the Basketball World Cup is on at the moment? How many even knew there was such a tournament?

I knew that... Ummm.... WAIT.... did you say BASKETBALL???.... well then.... NEVERMIND.

ET minimum is 4 now.  But effectively 3 regular ET events in the years a player is Ryder or Presidents Cup qualified.  So a Cup qualified Euro can play 3-4-3-4 etc... While an American qualified for both cups can play 3-3-3-3... And for those who qualify for the Olympics next year, that's one less regular ET event they have to play.

I really think there's a good chance a lot more non dual-tour PGA guys take the ET plunge now.  One of the big deterrents was getting enough conflicting event releases (CERs) from the PGA tour. But just three or four event minimum removes most of that problem. Plus guys like Troy Merrit who is playing this week and next doesn't need a CER to play on PGA Tour off weeks.  The rule on the PGA tour is you get 3 CERs for playing 15 events, and an additional 1 for each additional 5 events you play.  So Troy Merritt will play 3 weeks in a row and only need 1 CER.

There is another PGA Tour off week the same week as a Turkish Airlines Open. So I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of the PGA Tour guys in that one too.

Rory is going to be fairly busy the rest of the year... He's playing the BMW PGA & Dunhill Links late in September.  Exhibition skins thing in Japan  with Tiger and the Zozo Japan as well. Then the HSBC Champions.  He could even add a couple after that.

http://www.rorymcilroy.com/schedule.html

I think it's great to see Rory re-embracing the ET.  After the way he got jobbed on the Irish Open thing, I wasn't sure he would. Pelly did the right thing kissing his arse, and Rory is showing a lot of class letting it go and moving on.

Is there any live streaming of the Walker Cup that I might be able to watch on Saturday and Sunday

GPB wrote:Is there any live streaming of the Walker Cup that I might be able to watch on Saturday and Sunday

From my limited research, Sky/BBC are only showing the highlights. Don't think any other companies are involved.

Surprised Fox didn't pick this up. Guess they thought viewership would be mighty sparse.

Good to see they Yanks win this exhibition event yet again.

Shotrock wrote:Good to see they Yanks win this exhibition event yet again.

Hardly seems a fair fight so GB&I do well considering the obvious gulf in Amateur Golf between the two.

super_realist wrote:

Shotrock wrote:Good to see they Yanks win this exhibition event yet again.

Hardly seems a fair fight so GB&I do well considering the obvious gulf  in Amateur Golf between the two.

It takes a continent!

GPB wrote:

super_realist wrote:

Shotrock wrote:Good to see they Yanks win this exhibition event yet again.

Hardly seems a fair fight so GB&I do well considering the obvious gulf  in Amateur Golf between the two.

It takes a continent!

More like half a continent