PGA Tour: Here we go again, The 2019/20 Season is Underway, Vegas Baby: Notes from the Ballwasher

Random thoughts and notes:
1).The 2019/2020 PGA Tour season is on the move in "Almost heaven, West Virginia" but not before Rory wins the Player Of The Year trophy, somehow beating Brooks Koepka. I'd love to know the voting but that's a closely guarded secret (until someone leaks it).

So we can only imagine what this really means:
*The media narrative so far is that it rewards consistency thru'out the season (and lack lustre Majors) over extraordinary excellence in the four most important events of the year - the four, coincidentally or not - which are not run by the PGA Tour.
Rory himself said: "I wanted to try and bring my best every single week I played", so perhaps he endorses the consistency thought (when it suits him).

*Or does it mean that the Tour Membership now value the (very) limited field Tour Championship, plus $15M and the FedEx trophy, and The Players over say, the PGA Championship, top five finishes at Augusta, Pebble and Portrush, and a WGC? Is that now the Members' opinion?? Don't expect Tiger Woods, for instance, would agree, and deep down I can hardly believe that Rory does.

Bizarre.

2).No surprises here, but I see the ghost of Tim Finchem all over such shenanigans. I didn't like the compressed season when it was announced and like it even less now that such artificial contrivances are regarded as the new norm, rather like those who feel the history of the world began on January 1st 2017.

3).The 19/20 season opens its batting with "A Military Tribute At The Greenbrier" which, believe it or not, offers its winner the longest exemption of a "regular season" event (given that Bay Hill and Memorial seem to have been elevated). The winner effectively receives a three year exemption unlike its near-ish Green neighbour, The Wyndham, in Greensboro. And there are a few new tournaments filling up the autumnal calendar which now looks like this:

4).In order:
Greenbrier - is this event still on life support or is the odious Jim Justice re-upping? Not sure, but John Daly is "playing" this week, a sure sign of an event in decline.
Sanderson Farms in Mississippi- now a "full-field" event with 500 x FedEx Points and a Masters invitation to the winner.
Safeway in Napa
Vegas baby
Houston - wonder if Ian James will defend his title?
CJ Cup in Korea
The Zozo(!) Championship - in Japan, apparently T.Woods's focus for the autumn.
WGC-HSBC Champions (and opposite field event in Bermuda for the Plunky Cup)
Week off
Mayakoba - No word yet on Kuchar's caddie arrangement
RSM in lovely Sea Island, Georgia
The end. Until the TOC @ Kapalua in early January.

5).Meanwhile, the Korn Ferry circuit's Q-School saga has begun, with pre-qualifying being completed this week, and Stage 1 to follow shortly. No "notables" spotted in the pre-qualies, but there usually are some surprise appearances in Stage 1 and the first fields should be published next week.

6).The new season seems to have caught the Tour on the hop with pgatour.com deferring publication of its "Player Exemptions" until after the AMTATG. Apart from Kaymer's curious membership extension I have yet to see lists of players taking, for instance, career earnings exemptions.

7).But there is a long list of Medical Extensions including some well known pros such as:
Berger (5 events remaining)
Chappell (23)
Cink (8)
DeLaet (24)
Donald (3) - Would think he'd surely take a career earnings free pass. Or retire.
Harrington(11)
Kirk (11)
Lovemark (23)
O'Hair (16)
Schwartzel (12)
Stadler (23)
Villegas (13)
And about two dozen other past champions and Tour journeymen.
(and super_realist pooh poos the mere notion that golf is such a physical sport . . . . . . )

8).Talking about past champions and Tour journeymen, these old lags are among those returning to the Tour courtesy of the Korn Ferry channel:
Brendan Todd
Grayson Murray
Beau Hossler
Lahiri
David Hearn
Streb
Trahan

9).And welcome to Europeans Tom Lewis (he's playing this week and could use some good early results), Viktor Hovland, Ben Taylor, Sebastian Cappelen, HenriK Norlander and Ace Ventura.

10).Back to The Greenbrier with a field so disappointing that 30,000 free tickets are being distributed to pad the attendance. Prof DeChambeau is here, plus Bubba and Marc Leishman, plus defending champ Kevin Na.
The Europeans are led by Russell Knox, Tom Lewis, Hovland, Laird, Lingmerth, Cejka, Power, Freddie Jac, Ventura, Straka, Norlander, Cappelen and Taylor.
(Not sure you'd bet on more than half of them being in the field for the first tournament of 2020/2021.)

Almost finally, in an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" move the PGA Tour is adjusting its cut-line to Top 65 and ties and abandoning the 54-hole cut (when more than 78 pros are T70 and ties). So no more MDF's.  

And lastly, really, 2-time Major winner (back in the days when golf thought Majors were the most important events) Angel Cabrera, the 2014 AMTATG Champ, has turned 50 and makes his Champions Tour debut. Happy 50th to Angel and Rob Karlsson.

kwinigolfer wrote:1).The 2019/2020 PGA Tour season is on the move in "Almost heaven, West Virginia" but not before Rory wins the Player Of The Year trophy, somehow beating Brooks Koepka. I'd love to know the voting but that's a closely guarded secret (until someone leaks it).

So we can only imagine what this really means:
*The media narrative so far is that it rewards consistency thru'out the season (and lack lustre Majors) over extraordinary excellence in the four most important events of the year - the four, coincidentally or not - which are not run by the PGA Tour.
Rory himself said: "I wanted to try and bring my best every single week I played", so perhaps he endorses the consistency thought (when it suits him).

*Or does it mean that the Tour Membership now value the (very) limited field Tour Championship, plus $15M and the FedEx trophy, and The Players over say, the PGA Championship, top five finishes at Augusta, Pebble and Portrush, and a WGC? Is that now the Members' opinion?? Don't expect Tiger Woods, for instance, would agree, and deep down I can hardly believe that Rory does.

Bizarre.

If you watch the presentation (linked in another post) you can see Rory almost saying "I thought Brooks would win it"

Will Bruce Koepka have his tin foil hat on that he doesn't get enough "respect" again?

Good stuff Kwini , I see Deshampoo is being sponsored by Red Bull. You couldn't make it up
Personally I didn't expect to see Rory win the PoY and it did look like he didn't expect it either. That's an interesting synopsis you present on why that might have happened

Cheers B_t_b,
Haven't been watching but would have thought that CalTech might have been more up his street.

I think the Rory/Koepka "thing" is quite interesting. Whatever the truth, I can't imagine Rory's record would have drumpf'd Koepka's ten years ago.
Times obviously change, but clearly so do agendas.
Don't suppose Brooksy gives a monkey's.

Scoring very low at Greenbrier, looks like a cut (and remember it's a weak field) could be at -3 or, possibly, -4.

I should have added above that I believe the %age cut to the winner rises this season to 20% from 18%, whilst obviously the rank and file in any tournament will earn fractionally less, especially those finishing 36 holes in 66th - 70th places.
Probably a good change but another puzzler that the PAC went along with it.
Haven't yet read any logical explanation for it.

I suppose the PoY vote is just as much a popularity contest. I have my doubts on how well liked Brooks is amongst his peers, yet don’t think there’s any doubt that Rory is well liked. So if the vote was a coin toss I guess most would have gone with the player they liked best.

There had been some speculation this week's Greenbrier event might go away either before or once it's contract thru 2020 expired. But the Tournament Chairman confirmed on the broadcast today they were committed for an extra 6 years thru 2026.  Plus they upped their purse this year by the fairly standard $200K (from $7300 to $7500).  So we have 8 more years to look forward to diatribes on how Kwini hates Jim Justice....  

Also... as Kwini mentioned above the ZOZO Championship in Japan is a new event (replacing CIMB Malaysia).  I comes in with a whopping purse increase over CIMB as well... from $7 mil to $9.75 mil.  With the Genesis Open (Los Angeles) being elevated to "Super Invitational" status and a $9.3 mil purse (up $2.5 mil)... that means the top tier PGAT players who qualify for everything thru the 2020 Tour Championship could conceivably play in 17 PGAT events with a $9 mil+ purse.  The rich get richer...

The new Bermuda Alternate event playing opposite the WGC-HSBC comes in at a $3 million purse down from Sanderson Farms alternate purse of $4.4 mil.  But no worries, the SF goes to full stand alone event status and raises it's purse to $6.6 mil.

Below is a chart of 2018-19 purse increases... expect most the regular events to go up about $200k each, the other alternates probably not much, if at all, and it appears as though the Majors purse war has abated somewhat.

As for Rory winning POY... IMO the PGA Tour players are making a few statements... how much of each of the following played into the ROY vote is speculation...

1) Majors are important, they're BIG... way bigger than everything else... but they are NOT the "be all end all" that some make them out to be. There's value to every event on the schedule, and an apparently tremendously elevated status to the Tour Championship now.

2) The PLAYERS Championship is not a major... but the players know it's either the best field in golf all year at best.. to maybe just behind the PGA and/or British at worst. Eamon Lynch went off on another one of his "See, Told you the Players is a Major" things this week. I dunno if I agree completely with that, but it's clear the PGAT players view it as if not a major, VERY close.

3) Brooks Koepka is a dic.. Rory is not.

pedro wrote:I suppose the PoY vote is just as much a popularity contest. I have my doubts on how well liked Brooks is amongst his peers, yet don’t think there’s any doubt that Rory is well liked. So if the vote was a coin toss I guess most would have gone with the player they liked best.

This is the first time since 1991 the players vote differed from the PGA of A points version POY. IMO that signals the players aren't as likely as they were back in the 60s-70s to dis the best player of the year for a feel good vote or popularity. And I don't think they did this year either... BUT... I 100% agree with you if it was "close" in any players mind, Rory's standing & likability tipped the scales in his favor. My guess is the only thing Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay and JB Holmes did quickly all year... was vote AGAINST Brooks Koepka...

A Plant Manager, after a record production month, once told the staff that one month doesn't make a trend.

I would not put much stock into the Rory PoY as a paradigm shift in attitudes. It may have well been a vote against Koepka, and his 'disdain' for regular tour events and calling out slow players.

Yes, as Robo points out, there were also data point in 2010, 2011, and 2013. 2010 had three major champions that were not even PGATour members (GMAC, Oosty, Kaymer). 2011 had two major champs that were not PGATour members (Rory, Clarke).
2013 was year where Tiger clearly had a better year than Scott, Rose, Mickelson, and Dufner.

Luke Donald won the 2011 PoY when Schwartzel, and Bradley were the PGATour members that won majors. Schwartzel didn't win another tournament that year and Bradley won the Nelson. But Keegan barely made a cut in his other tournaments and the players gave him the consolation prize.

I think it is jumping the gun to say that there has been a shift in "Major" attitudes.

BTW, I think 1st prize money stays at 18% a change from what was previously announced.

GPB wrote:
I think it is jumping the gun to say that there has been a shift in "Major" attitudes.

I'm not so sure there's been a shift in "major attitudes" as much as we may have misjudged all along just how the vast majority of the players view majors... All but a small mitt full of them know they're not playing for "history"... so to them its about the money and winning ANYTHING... I think the Golf Digest "Undercover Pro" article from a few years back pretty much confirms it.. https://www.golfdigest.com/story/undercover-tour-pro-2015-03

Justin Thomas announced that he had a mole removed on his leg that was in the early stages of melanoma.

GPB wrote:Justin Thomas announced that he had a mole removed on his leg that was in the early stages of melanoma.

Surprised golfers and their idiotic Pint of Guiness tans don't have more instances of skin cancer.

On the POY, who cares, it's just another stupid, worthless award which actually means nothing, much like "Rookie" of the Year, Shot of the Year, Film of the Year etc. I doubt McIlroy will care whether he won it or not, likewise Bruce Koepka. Why would they?

robopz wrote:As for Rory winning POY... IMO the PGA Tour players are making a few statements... how much of each of the following played into the ROY vote is speculation...

1) Majors are important, they're BIG... way bigger than everything else... but they are NOT the "be all end all" that some make them out to be. There's value to every event on the schedule, and an apparently tremendously elevated status to the Tour Championship now.

2) The PLAYERS Championship is not a major... but the players know it's either the best field in golf all year at best.. to maybe just behind the PGA and/or British at worst. Eamon Lynch went off on another one of his "See, Told you the Players is a Major" things this week.  I dunno if I agree completely with that, but it's clear the PGAT players view it as if not a major, VERY close.

3) Brooks Koepka is a dic.. Rory is not.

Good points, but I'd debate #3...

super_realist wrote:

GPB wrote:Justin Thomas announced that he had a mole removed on his leg that was in the early stages of melanoma.

Surprised golfers and their idiotic Pint of Guiness tans don't have more instances of skin cancer.

On the POY, who cares, it's just another stupid, worthless award which actually means nothing, much like "Rookie" of the Year, Shot of the Year, Film of the Year etc. I doubt McIlroy will care whether he won it or not, likewise Bruce Koepka. Why would they?

Well in the video with Jack, Rory DID look like he cared. And Rory’s never been a good actor.

GPB wrote:.BTW, I think 1st prize money stays at 18% a change from what was previously announced.

correct... For now anyway the money stays at the same distribution with 18% for the win. Don't know what happened to the 20% thing, usually these kinds of things don't get out unless it's pretty much a done deal. I guess this one wasn't.

robopz wrote:

GPB wrote:.BTW, I think 1st prize money stays at 18% a change from what was previously announced.

correct... For now anyway the money stays at the same distribution with 18% for the win. Don't know what happened to the 20% thing, usually these kinds of things don't get out unless it's pretty much a done deal. I guess this one wasn't.

So that must mean a marginal redistribution of cash among the back-markers? (Given that, on average, there will be up to 5 fewer recipients.)

super_realist wrote:

Surprised golfers and their idiotic Pint of Guiness tans don't have more instances of skin cancer.

On the POY, who cares, it's just another stupid, worthless award which actually means nothing, much like "Rookie" of the Year, Shot of the Year, Film of the Year etc. I doubt McIlroy will care whether he won it or not, likewise Bruce Koepka. Why would they?

You must be fun at Parties.

GPB wrote:

super_realist wrote:

Surprised golfers and their idiotic Pint of Guiness tans don't have more instances of skin cancer.

On the POY, who cares, it's just another stupid, worthless award which actually means nothing, much like "Rookie" of the Year, Shot of the Year, Film of the Year etc. I doubt McIlroy will care whether he won it or not, likewise Bruce Koepka. Why would they?

You must be fun at Parties.

Why? Because I don't think meaningless awards are worthwhile? Why would thinking it was an award worth having make you fun at parties? We all know how much fun you are GPB. A constant curmudgeon who just slates European golf and European golfers every time he's on here. Why are you on here by the way? Aren't there any US golf forums for you?

A dose of reality for Tom Lewis on his debut as a PGA Tour member - birdied his first three holes, but one over for the next 33 and will miss the cut by at least one stroke.

Hope I'm wrong but I can see him running himself into the ground unless he gets very good advice on a schedule strategy. More likely he'll fall between two Tour stools.


PS: I'm glad there are some US posters on here, few enough from Europe as it is.

super_realist wrote:
Why? Because I don't think meaningless awards are worthwhile? Why would thinking it was an award worth having make you fun at parties? We all know how much fun you are GPB. A constant curmudgeon who just slates European golf and European golfers every time he's on here. Why are you on here by the way? Aren't there any US golf forums for you?

Precisely why I said you must be fun at parties.,

pssst, think about it.

Chappel -9 after 10 and a makeable putt on 18 for a 58. Yet, a 59 is a still a fitting tribute to the military.

pedro wrote:Chappel -9 after 10 and a makeable putt on 18 for a 58. Yet, a 59 is a still a fitting tribute to the military.

Better than a 69?

Can quite imagine that the published field for next week's Sanderson Farms Championship might be the absolute worst ever assembled for a full-field Tour event.
Shame on the Tour for that. Pathetic.

GPB wrote:

super_realist wrote:
Why? Because I don't think meaningless awards are worthwhile? Why would thinking it was an award worth having make you fun at parties? We all know how much fun you are GPB. A constant curmudgeon who just slates European golf and European golfers every time he's on here. Why are you on here by the way? Aren't there any US golf forums for you?

Precisely why I said you must be fun at parties.,  

pssst, think about it.

You probably need to take a look at yourself GPB and wonder if you would be any fun at a party. I doubt you would.

pedro wrote:Chappel -9 after 10 and a makeable putt on 18 for a 58. Yet, a 59 is a still a fitting tribute to the military.

Sounds like Chappell had a similar back surgery to Woods & DeLaet - pretty sporty recovery. Something of an under-performer on Tour, but perhaps he'll have spent his lost year trying to figure out how to win rather than merely accumulating tons of good finishes and plenty of cash.


Haven't watched any yet, but sounds like pace of play at The Solheim Cup yesterday was excrutiatingly slow.

kwinigolfer wrote:

pedro wrote:Chappel -9 after 10 and a makeable putt on 18 for a 58. Yet, a 59 is a still a fitting tribute to the military.

Sounds like Chappell had a similar back surgery to Woods & DeLaet - pretty sporty recovery. Something of an under-performer on Tour, but perhaps he'll have spent his lost year trying to figure out how to win rather than merely accumulating tons of good finishes and plenty of cash.

Speaking from experience... Microdiscectomy can be anything from a miracle to a disaster. I was lucky because mine 23 years ago fell into the miracle category. When I woke up I knew I was healed, and have been ever since. When Tiger had his first one and started talking about pain soon after, I knew then they didn't get it, because based on my experience and everybody I've ever talked to whos had it, it's black or white, you are fixed or you're not. Sounds like Chappells may have been fixed... Awesome for him.

Interesting robo, Perhaps DeLaet is in the Tiger category - kinda seems he's been sceptical of Tiger's recovery for a couple of years now.

Field bunching up at the AMTATG, but with no Europeans in the leading 35.

kwinigolfer wrote:Interesting robo, Perhaps DeLaet is in the Tiger category - kinda seems he's been sceptical of Tiger's recovery for a couple of years now.

Field bunching up at the AMTATG, but with no Europeans in the leading 35.

Would imagine all the flag waving Yanks will be playing their "hearts out" for the vets to "thank them for their service"

The military do a hard and unpleasant job, but I don't half feel like the Yanks fawn over that a bit too much.

super_realist wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Interesting robo, Perhaps DeLaet is in the Tiger category - kinda seems he's been sceptical of Tiger's recovery for a couple of years now.

Field bunching up at the AMTATG, but with no Europeans in the leading 35.

Would imagine all the flag waving Yanks will be playing their "hearts out" for the vets to "thank them for their service"

The military do a hard and unpleasant job, but I don't half feel like the Yanks fawn over that a bit too much.

super_,
The demographics of who "serve" as opposed to those who don't are startling, makes you realise, at a certain level, just you hypocritical the "military appreciation" is, both DEM and REP (but mostly it's mostly REP's who send the disadvantaged off to war. etc, etc, etc.).


Meanwhile, the autumn tournaments are exactly those which borderline Europeans, especially those who still harbour other-Tour ambitions, should be playing every week with FedEx points at 100% value but strength of field as weak as it gets. Martin Kaymer, Russell Knox and others should take note - if they actually care.

Thru'out this Solheim Cup, regardless of whatever the weather might be, the US Team has done a much better job of closing out matches. Looks like more of the same today, Walker Cup all over again. Disappointing.

kwinigolfer wrote:Thru'out this Solheim Cup, regardless of whatever the weather might be, the US Team has done a much better job of closing out matches. Looks like more of the same today, Walker Cup all over again. Disappointing.

WOW!!!
What a turn around from a couple of hours ago . . . . . .
Congrats Ladies . . . . . . .

It’s all the captains fault. Apparently Michelle Wie was “shocked” when she first saw the US singles line-up..

Hovland ties the PGATour record of consecutive rounds in the 60’s (17). Wow!

Niemann even younger, outstanding performance.
Both him and Vikky are for real.

kwinigolfer wrote:Can quite imagine that the published field for next week's Sanderson Farms Championship might be the absolute worst ever assembled for a full-field Tour event.
Shame on the Tour for that. Pathetic.

Perhaps the field, at least as measured by the owgr's "strength of field", is not quite so bad as it first looked - it actually went up(!) after the Greenbrier, so good results from Niemann and the rest have done the trick.

Stephan Jaeger won the Monday qualie in some style so perhaps he's ready to bring it on Tour at last, though he lost his status after last season.
Other (D-list) Europeans include:
Cappelen
Cejka
Chopra (good lord)
Jacobson
Laird
Lingmerth
Norlander - he sprinkled some good results on top courses amongst his previous futile Tour cameos.
Power
Straka
Ben Taylor

But can't help feeling other Euros would have benefitted by teeing it up as well.

pgatour.com has just posted its 2019/2020 Player Exemption status:

https://www.pgatour.com/news/2019/priority-ranking-2019-20-season.html


At the risk of making a misinterpretation or three, the main take-aways (apart from Medical extensions noted above (7) seem to be:

Category 11: Career earning exemption for the season: Tim Clark, Bo Van Pelt & Stricker

Category 21: Players who earned more FedEx Points than the 125th ranked player as non-members: Fitzpatrick, Wallace, Redman, Bjerregaard

Category 28: 300+ Career cuts made: John Senden

I'd hazard a guess that some of those shown as Past Champions in Category 36, Ogilvy, Villegas & Wilson for instance, are misplaced and should be in Category 35.


Anyway, for what it's worth . . . . . . .

Hoffmann's continued play on the PGA Tour looks like a minor miracle to me, good for him:

https://www.pgatour.com/beyond-the-ropes/2019/09/18/morgan-hoffmann-remaining-positive-muscular-dystrophy.html


Mac will be interested to know there's a tropical storm in the Gulf Of Mexico - hope it doesn't affect the Houston Open (scheduled in 3 wks' time). And don't imagine its present track needs to nudge much further East to disrupt the Sanderson Farms action in Jackson.

Wee bit surprised there wasn’t a bit more discussion on the Solheim, unless I missed it, especially from the Yank that normally appears around Ryder Cup, Walker Cup, Solheim Cup time to remind us how awesome the Yanks are and what a spanking they’re going to dish out... maybe he just got fed up scraping egg off his face.

Anyway as it turned out, Beanie’s choice of wildcard in Pettersen worked out just fine. Can anyone imagine the furore though if any of her male counterparts (or afternoon indeed Paddy next) had gone/go down as far as 600+ in the rankings for a player with no form?

JAS wrote:Wee bit surprised there wasn’t a bit more discussion on the Solheim, unless I missed it, especially from the Yank that normally appears around Ryder Cup, Walker Cup, Solheim Cup time to remind us how awesome the Yanks are and what a spanking they’re going to dish out... maybe he just got fed up scraping egg off his face.

JAS,
Did you see the 2021 Walker Cup will be in May?
Can't see how that serves GB&I well at all, right at the beginning of the season rather than towards the end - homefield advantage taken a step too far methinks.

Great start for Seamus Power (-6 for his first 6 Sanderson Farms holes) before stubbing his toe with a bogey on his 7th hole.

There won't be too many opportunities this season for Power unless he can have himself some strong autumn performances so this is an important event for him.

kwinigolfer wrote:


Mac will be interested to know there's a tropical storm in the Gulf Of Mexico - hope it doesn't affect the Houston Open (scheduled in 3 wks' time). And don't imagine its present track needs to nudge much further East to disrupt the Sanderson Farms action in Jackson.

Radio news reports of 4+ inches of rain AN HOUR in the Houston area. Blimey! Stop it . . . . .
Hope you and yours are OK robo . . . . . . . assume you're not making plans for your local First Stage next week?

Kwini... Thanks for your concern. I'm on the North side of Houston and we didn't get it near as bad as others south and east of us. But I did empty my six inch gauge once and it's about half full again now. As for the Houston Open golf course... I spoke with a friend of mine Kevin out there a few minutes ago, they got a ton of rain and have standing rain accumulation everywhere. But at least so far Greens Bayou, which goes thru the course, has stayed in its banks. Course will be fine in a few days as long as the bayou doesn't over top and flood 1, 16, 17 & 18.

System is moving out now which is a good thing, but that doesn't mean it's all clear for CC of Houston yet. They got the worst of the rain over there so still lots of water to drain into the creeks, rivers and bayous and maybe a few remanant bands of rain to come through.

Well... So much for that last report. This is the Greens Bayou channel map... It's showing Greens out of its banks over the course now... The course is the green area right in the middle of this screenshot... Ouch

Good luck robo,
Hope you and the courses drain equally well.
Is The Woodlands going to be ready by next Tuesday?


Tom Hoge with the early lead in MS - he's been one to watch for a while now. Love to see a northern boy doing well, rare sight these days.

Kwini... The Gary Player course at The Woodlands should be fine. There are several creeks running through that course that regularly run outside their banks in heavy rains. But they receed as quickly as they go over. But 99% of the course itself stays pretty high and dry.  At worst case they might have to mark some GUR in front of a couple of those creeks. But I'm kind of doubting that would be necessary by early next week.

Ok... Flooding is getting really awful around here as the bayous are all starting to overrun fairly significantly. I don't know the accuracy of these Maps, what I'm seeing from the Harris County flood District, is at least half the Houston open course isunderwater... Two yellow dots on the image below is about where the clubhouse and practice tees are. I would have to say at this point the Houston Open might be in serious jeopardy in 3 weeks.

I'm NNW of downtown, and we're fine over here except for a creek south of us... Some of the freeways remain open... But you still can't go anywhere because most of the under passes & exits are flooded... We really really didn't need this s**t...

Regardless of what anyone believe causes it, there's little doubt that we're getting more extreme weather events these days.
Is it unkind to suggest that those States who take this most seriously are the least susceptible to them (California being the biggest exception)?

It seems that the system may be edging away, hopefully with less rain and leaving clear skies over Houston. Fingers crossed for y'all.

Only four years since he won at Wentworth and one might have expected Ben An to be at the PGA. But NO!
He's playing in Mississippi and is tied for the lead very (very) early in Round 2.
He's too good not to break into the winner's enclosure - maybe this week?

Not sure anything is more or less extreme around here... I've been in Houston long enough to see the cycles.

Our problem is the Greater Houston area continues development virtually unabated. Original infrastructure of creeks, Bayous & Rivers simply not equipped to handle the additional runoff from over development and development in low-lying areas where it never should have been. And we keep paying the price, over and over and over.  

The only solution here is a harsh one nobody wants to face. Spend the massive amount on drainage infrastructure improvements, while condemning properties that repeatedly flood and can't be protected by those improvements.  They've done that with over 30k properties here in the last 30 years... But it probably needs to happen with 300K more.

And back to the Golf club of Houston... It appears it massively flooded but is draining off now, probably 98% clear at this point. I've made inquiries but can get no answers. But if history from the last time it flooded is any indicator, I would guess there's a much better than not chance they can get it ready for three weeks hence... and not just ready, but In pretty darn good playing condition.  (Subject to future weather patterns of course)