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

First topic message reminder :

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.

robopz wrote: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)

Very good point. It's very hard to tell given that population is increasing, people increasingly moving into more susceptible areas and the shocking quality of housing in some places (e.g. Houston)
Furthermore we have greater access to information than at any time in history so are we just hearing more and more about the events because it's easier to do so rather than there actually being an increase in frequency and severity? Certainly in the past some very big storms could have affected relatively few people. Low lying areas like South Texas, Louisiana etc are sitting ducks if you'll excuse the pun and people still continue to build in absurdly stupid areas.

Bo Van Pelt is in the Safeway field. At least for now

He has not played a tournament since the 2016 ATT Pebble Beach Proam. Close to 5 yrs ago.

Since when is 3 1/2 years ago "close to 5 yrs ago"?

GPB wrote:Bo Van Pelt is in the Safeway field.  At least for now

He has not played a tournament since the 2016 ATT Pebble Beach Proam.  Close to 5 yrs ago.

When My math is bad.

Graham Delaet was in the Safeway field, but he WDed yesterday.

Charl Schwartzel is supposed to play a Pro-Am to raise money for the Bahamas (after Dorian) so his return to golf should be close. Others playing in the pro-am included JThomas, Nicklaus, Norman, and Els.

GPB wrote:Graham Delaet was in the Safeway field, but he WDed yesterday.

Charl Schwartzel is supposed to play a Pro-Am to raise money for the Bahamas  (after Dorian) so his return to golf should be close.  Others playing in the pro-am included JThomas, Nicklaus, Norman, and Els.

King Charl is among the commitments for Spain on Thursday week.

Decent field for Napa's Safeway action this week, with Molinari taking in the vineyards for his "add one" tournament that he hasn't played recently - not ever in his case. A number of other Tour members taking the same route to Silverado.

I wonder what Shotrock thinks about the Golf Digest story by John Feinstein where he (more than?) suggests the 2030 US Open is destined to return to Philadelphia?
What will the members say if they present the course as they did when Justin Rose brought it home??

(In the same story, he doesn't exactly mention Oakland Hills, Oak Hill, Congressional, Olympic, or the Chicago area, as courses that the USGA may not return to, but reports that an Open-like rota of four or five core courses will be established to host approx once a decade-ish, with other venues selected somewhat opportunistically - those core four or five might include Oakmont, Shinnecock, Pebble Beach and Pinehurst; and possibly Winged Foot.)

Wow, None of the courses are in the middle of the country. Never would have guessed that. Not in a million years. Good Going USGA.

Hmmm ... Merion East has just completed a $20 Million "sub air through the course" restoration that will pretty much ensure outstanding playing conditions at all times. I have not played it since this restoration but I hear it's amazing from everyone who has. They also purchased some contiguous property at the end of 2 green, and have pushed that back some.

Obviously they were snake bit by the weather in 2013 but a fine Champion was crowned (plus they got him as a member!). Be great if it was there in 2030 and I would expect another sell out.

That said, I am NOT a member there and don't have to suffer the USGA's takeover where I'll bet dollars to donuts they narrow the fairways, grow the rough to near water hazard level and amp up the greens to 13 on the stimp. The US Open Merion and the one that us mortals play will be very different animals. One bonus for the members is that they have a West course which is really good and that will be open for play during the takeover.

Shotrock wrote:Hmmm ... Merion East has just completed a $20 Million "sub air through the course" restoration that will pretty much ensure outstanding playing conditions at all times. I have not played it since this restoration but I hear it's amazing from everyone who has. They also purchased some contiguous property at the end of 2 green, and have pushed that back some.

Obviously they were snake bit by the weather in 2013 but a fine Champion was crowned (plus they got him as a member!). Be great if it was there in 2030 and I would expect another sell out.

That said, I am NOT a member there and don't have to suffer the USGA's takeover where I'll bet dollars to donuts they narrow the fairways, grow the rough to near water hazard level and amp up the greens to 13 on the stimp. The US Open Merion and the one that us mortals play will be very different animals. One bonus for the members is that they have a West course which is really good and that will be open for play during the takeover.

I'd be interested to hear more about the improvements they've made to Merion East. I got a chance to play both in the late '90s and they were excellent...

However, unless the USGA has rolled back distance or moved to a bifurcated tournament ball by then, I just don't see Merion as a proper test for the U.S. Open anymore...sadly  The way they had to trick it up in 2013 was an abomination. I can hardly imagine what they would have to do to it in 2030.

Robo - The improvements were mostly in conditioning. It had been hit or miss there of late, but the sub air should take care of that I'm told. Other than the lengthening of #2 (which was long enough to begin with), nothing of substance. Also, no more eyebrows (Scotch Broom?) in the bunkers.

Length will always be a hindrance for Merion. Sure they can make some of the long holes longer, but pretty much impossible to add length to the short par 4s (1, 7, 8, 10, 11).

Not sure, however, that I agree it's not a proper test for the National Open. Par is just a number and at Merion you will pretty much hit most every club in your bag. But par is what the USGA wants "protected" so I suppose they will make the 3rd a driver par 3 and 18 will be brutal carry.

100F degree temps expected in Napa today and Wednesday, but thankfully cooler (80's) by Thursday for Round 1 of the Safeway Open.
Hope no wildfires affect play, as they almost did catastrophically in 2017.

What the USGA did to #2 at Merion compromised the integrity of the course. IIRC, they moved the fairway 50 yds to the right so the OB was in close proximity.

That is not what the architect intended, and IMO, that is not what the membership wanted. (or else they would have done it before)

Not the first time the USGA has done things like this. They added a bunker on the 17th hole at Olympic.

GPB - Agree with all you state. The course that Merion presented in the US Open (in 2013) is not the course the members play everyday. They took out (and then after the event replaced) 8 acres of fairway. And let's be clear ... other than Pine Valley I have never played a course with more penal rough than Merion. So, members may still want a US Open and let the blue jackets trick up the course to do so ... but return it after the fact. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

Shotrock... To me a "proper test" would be a golf course the USGA can host an Open on while maintaining the integrity of the design. Absolutely, positively the USGA could make Merion a tough test, but what 2013 proved, not without tricking a lot of it up beyond all recognition. 17 years later in 2030? No chance IMO (unless there's been some rollbacks)

Kwini... I should have reported on the Houston open course when I popped in the other day. Both courses at the Houston Open venue are open but cart paths only. About half the holes (but only one or two green complexes) went underwater. but none of them long enough to damage turf/bunkers or do serious damage to infrastructure like stands and such... So as of now... All system go for the Houston Open.

robopz wrote:
Kwini... I should have reported on the Houston open course when I popped in the other day.  Both courses at the Houston Open venue are open but cart paths only.  About half the holes (but only one or two green complexes) went underwater.  but none of them long enough to damage turf/bunkers or do serious damage to infrastructure like stands and such... So as of now... All system go for the Houston Open.

Good news robo, Thanks for the update.

Hope you get the quality of field befitting the history of the event, and appropriately respects the work necessary to get the course in shape.
But it does beg the question: Is October an appropriate date for the event? (And, yes, I remember decades ago the event had to be rescheduled after spring storms . . . . .)

Kwini... Likely field drop off aside... October is a far better time of year to play the Houston Open than early April. Course will play entirely different on bermuda as opposed to overseed. And as long as we don't have a hurricane over us, weather is absolutely ideal that time of year.

I'm interested to see what they are going to do with the roughs. In the past cut too "Augusta height", but they can do whatever they want to with it now. Judging flyers out of even 2-1/2" Bermuda is a bear.

Kwini - seen the news that Muirfield Village is going to have a complete makeover or similar next year?

I'm never wrong wrote:Kwini - seen the news that Muirfield Village is going to have a complete makeover or similar next year?

Hadn't seen that - time to get my google out. Nicklaus has tinkered with the design almost every year for the last forty so imagine most of it will be redefinition, cosmetic and for conditioning.

Happy to see Adam Scott and Frankie (very interesting article about his partnership with Dennis Pugh in GD) off to a good start in Napa - it'll be breezy the next few days, so the course could really dry out.

If nicklaus was a decent gca he wouldn't need to keep redoing it.

Details HERE Kwini on PGA Tour website

McLaren wrote:If nicklaus was a decent gca he wouldn't need to keep redoing it.

What a stupid comment to make. There is virtually nothing in this world that stands the test of time. Everything changes and gets updated. It's called progress Mac. Stick that in your Doak pipe and smoke it.
They keep updating TOC too. Is that not a decent course to begin with in your book?
Looks like they will have to amend it further too. This week's pro's finding it far too easy. Matt Jordan out in 29

I'm never wrong wrote:Details HERE Kwini on PGA Tour website

Can't think of a better set of Par-5's so hope he doesn't spoil the risk/reward on #'s 11 & 15 by lengthening them unnecessarily - a few extra yards on #8 won't hurt for mid- and back-hole positions.
I wish he'd redefine #13 which I reckon is a nothing hole, between two great holes!

The new cut rule has affected each of the first three PGAT events this season

68 players made the cut at Greenbrier* (84 players would have made it other wise)
68 players made the cut at Sanderson Farms (80 players)
67 players made the cut at Safeway (85 players)

* Including Malnati who WD before Third Round

GPB wrote:The new cut rule has affected each of the first three PGAT events this season

68 players made the cut at Greenbrier* (84 players would have made it other wise)
68 players made the cut at Sanderson Farms (80 players)
67 players made the cut at Safeway (85 players)

* Including Malnati who WD before Third Round

That saves them a ton of money!

The journeymen Europeans are not taking advantage of the weak early-season fields, only Frankie and Ace Ventura getting paid, five on their bikes.
If the borderline Euros can't prosper now, it's going to be a long, unrewarding season for them and a quick trip back to Korn Ferry (wherever that is) if they're lucky.

Does it save money Kwini? I don’t know how these things work, but I thought there was just a prize “pot” that got shared out. So if less players made the cut, they would just get a bigger share.

I'm never wrong wrote:Does it save money Kwini?  I don’t know how these things work, but I thought there was just a prize “pot” that got shared out. So if less players made the cut, they would just get a bigger share.

I don't think that's quite right, but I'd have go to robo or GPB for the expert opinion.

Define "A Ton of money"

"A ton of money" could mean 25000 to me and Kwini, but not much to the PGATour.

The last regular tournament with a Top 70 cut was the Wyndham, with a $6.2 Million purse.

The Top 70 finishers and their share of the purse was $6.2 Million

But 83 players made the cut. 9 players failed to make the Saturday cut.
These 13 players got $150,040 total for finishing anywhere from T69 to T81.

https://www.espn.com/golf/leaderboard/_/tournamentId/401056545

But I am not sure if the Tour actually is going to save anything. They are still liable for the published purse which is going to be distributed to the Top 65 players rather than the Top 70 players, and they're still going to have tournaments where 78 players or 80 players make the cut. And they are going to have to pay those players that finish 72 holes.

So I think it is "a Wash"

Thanks GPB,

Noticed that Daniel Berger satisfied the requirements of his Medical Extension, so he'll be sticking around on Tour through August.
Still a long way removed from two years ago when he competed in the Presidents Cup.

Use of non-conforming drivers:

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/source-multiple-players-fail-driver-testing-safeway-open


I'm sure Xander Schauffele would feel these non-conformers should be identified . . . . . . . . name and shame and all that.

Kwini... the new cut rule won't result in any more or less money paid out in purses. In the past the stated purse was divided among 70 players... now the formulas have been revised so the stated purse is divided among 65 players... it's a wash. If anything, because the redistribution raised all the payouts for positions 2-65 (65th went from 0.210 to 0.215% of the total purse and reduce 0.002% for each additional player beyond 65 to make the cut)... they will be playing out slightly more... minuscule, but more than the old formulas. On a week when 65 & ties = 75 players making the cut... the extra amount paid out in purse will be less than $5k total than it would have been under the old formulas.

Collin Morikawa is the #3 golfer in Golfweek's Sagarin ratings. And those rankings don't count his win at the Reno tournament.

Viktor Hovland is number 11 and Wolff would be rated #13 if he had played enough events (10) to be eligible. Wolff has played 8 tournaments.

Morikawa and Wolff are playing this week in Las Vegas. I think Hovland is taking another week off.

GPB wrote:Collin Morikawa is the #3 golfer in Golfweek's Sagarin ratings.  And those rankings don't count his win at the Reno tournament.

Viktor Hovland is number 11 and Wolff would be rated #13 if he had played enough events (10) to be eligible.  Wolff has played 8 tournaments.

Morikawa and Wolff are playing this week in Las Vegas.  I think  Hovland is taking another week off.

 Another good example of why 1 year ranking systems don't work. (even though Sagarin/Golfweek has additional problems beyond just the 1 year term).  Golf is different than other sports, it takes a longer term that takes the ebbs and flows of players form/health/injury into reasonable account to determine the "quality" of a golfer.   IMO....

• OWGR at 3 years like it was until 1996 was too long...
• 1 year is too short...
• 2 years with a 75% emphasis on the current year is "just right"...

IMO the main two issues with the current OWGR system are 1) the contrived (often agenda based) modifiers that produce small event bias and 2) too high of a divisor. Fix those things and IMO 95% of the issues with the current system are solved.  And 95% is pretty darn good. There will NEVER be a ranking system across different tours, and different tour calendars that would be 100% issue/anomaly free, but OWGR is currently by far the closest. But they can get closer to accurate than they are now. From the sounds of it, they're working on doing just that.

robopz wrote:

GPB wrote:Collin Morikawa is the #3 golfer in Golfweek's Sagarin ratings.  And those rankings don't count his win at the Reno tournament.

Viktor Hovland is number 11 and Wolff would be rated #13 if he had played enough events (10) to be eligible.  Wolff has played 8 tournaments.

Morikawa and Wolff are playing this week in Las Vegas.  I think  Hovland is taking another week off.

 Another good example of why 1 year ranking systems don't work. (even though Sagarin/Golfweek has additional problems beyond just the 1 year term).  Golf is different than other sports, it takes a longer term that takes the ebbs and flows of players form/health/injury into reasonable account to determine the "quality" of a golfer.   IMO....

• OWGR at 3 years like it was until 1996 was too long...
• 1 year is too short...
• 2 years with a 75% emphasis on the current year is "just right"...

IMO the main two issues with the current OWGR system are 1) the contrived (often agenda based) modifiers that produce small event bias and 2) too high of a divisor. Fix those things and IMO 95% of the issues with the current system are solved.  And 95% is pretty darn good. There will NEVER be a ranking system across different tours, and different tour calendars that would be 100% issue/anomaly free, but OWGR is currently by far the closest. But they can get closer to accurate than they are now. From the sounds of it, they're working on doing just that.

Agree 95%!
Which is pretty darn good!!

Only other thing I'd address is the seemingly "fixed" minimum points awarded to the winners on the various Tours. There should be more incentive for each Tour to ensure some quality expressed by Strength Of Field, this to be reviewed annually. This may look like a European shooting my Tour in the foot, but disagree - the level of quality of depth in some European Tour events is embarrassing and there are ways to address it. But little or no apparent incentive, at least via the owgr's.

More on Nicklaus's planned upgrades for Memorial Village:

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/jack-nicklaus-planning-two-year-complete-overhaul-muirfield-village

Robo
Isn’t the divisor only a problem if you’ve been injured or just turned pro?

kwinigolfer wrote:Only other thing I'd address is the seemingly "fixed" minimum points awarded to the winners on the various Tours. There should be more incentive for each Tour to ensure some quality expressed by Strength Of Field, this to be reviewed annually. This may look like a European shooting my Tour in the foot, but disagree - the level of quality of depth in some European Tour events is embarrassing and there are ways to address it. But little or no apparent incentive, at least via the owgr's.

Kwini... One thing I left out that could be fixed is to modify the strength of field formulas to more adequately reflect size and depth of field.  I bring that up because it plays into the "fixed minimum" issues.  How do we know how strong an event really is (especially the supposedly weaker ones) if we're not accounting for all the players in the field.  GPB often makes the correct point... he uses different ranges... but it's something to the effect that there's not a lot of difference between player ranked 100 and player #400-500. But #200 adds value to field strength... #201 and above does not.

NERD ALERT

Here's a chart I did for 2018 Calendar year... it took every PGAT and ET event along with select events from some other tours...  comparing and ranking them several ways...

CENTER - Traditional OWGR winners point values
RIGHT - OWGR World Values only (without home points)
LEFT - Sum of OWGR averages of EVERY player in the field... SOA... basically if OWGR #1 has a 12.0 points average he adds 12.0 points of field strength value... If #100 has a 1.5 average, he adds 1.5 points of value... etc... etc...

When you look at the LEFT SOA column... it removes a lot of the top-heaviness of the highest ranked players and gives at least some value to EVERY player... Notice how some (but not all) of the supposed "weakest" events are closer in strength to the average events than current OWGR might indicate.. and so-called "average" FULL FIELD events are closer in strength to some of the premium limited field events than we might suspect. Sometimes even better.  I've been running this a few years... and while SOA isn't perfect either... it does expose some of the glaring issues with using only the top-200 players in calculating field strengths.  And again... unless we understand what REAL field strengths are, it's hard to adequately set Tour minimum point floors.

pedro wrote:Robo
Isn’t the divisor only a problem if you’ve been injured or just turned pro?

mainly... And those who choose to play less.

To be clear... I don't think the minimum divisor is way off at 40... There has to be some reasonable number of events played to avoid the "flash in the pan" guy cumming in strong and getting rated too high too quickly. you want them to be around enough to have the ups and downs everybody else has and play a fuller spectrum of events.  But 30 to mid 30s events accomplishes that objective as well as 40 IMO.

Fine field, all things considered, in Las Vegas this week, led by Koepka, Finau, Woodland, Scott, Matsuyama and previous winners Cantlay, DeChambo & Simpson. Webb Simpson, especially, has an excellent record there.

The leading Europeans in the field are Bjerregard, Lewis and Knox. Oops, nearly forgot Sabbatini.

Martin Laird won his first Tour title here and lost in a play-off when Jonathan Byrd aced the par-3 17th. But Laird has lost whatever mojo he might have had from a decent run of form during the summer and this looks like another season of struggle for him.

My ideal ranking would be a one year system with a 20 event mininum.

Morikawa, Hovland, and Wolff would still be hurt by a 20 event divisor.

Robo: Did you attach the right chart?

GPB wrote:
Robo:  Did you attach the right chart?

i think so, why?

I wonder what Rory feels about the demanding set-up at this week's Las Vegas action:
Par 71.
Round 1 scoring average: 69.23

robopz wrote:

GPB wrote:
Robo:  Did you attach the right chart?

i think so, why?

Because it is the Tour Schedules and not a table of SoFs?

Oh duh... I was editing a schedule chart and obviously replace the wrong one... Fixed...

Good work today from Martin Laird. +3 early in Round 1, -12 (and temporarily T5) since then.
If he could just sort out his putter and get his head on straight, he'd be back to winning ways. But not holding my breath on either.

Scoring continues to be good, with the minus 3's just about to learn they've missed the cut. Rory happy he stayed at home.
EDIT: minus 4's also out with the washing. These PGA Tour courses are sooooo demanding. But nice to see the Scots waving the GB&I flag, good for their coefficient.

Anyone else see that a Korean golfer got a three year ban for flipping a finger at a spectator and bashing his club into the ground? The spectator took a photo and the camera click put the golfer off. Wonder what would have happened to other golfers if they had done what they did on the PGA/Euro tour on the Korean Tour?

I'm never wrong wrote:Anyone else see that a Korean golfer got a three year ban for flipping a finger at a spectator and bashing his club into the ground? The spectator took a photo and the camera click put the golfer off. Wonder what would have happened to other golfers if they had done what they did on the PGA/Euro tour on the Korean Tour?

Yup, Apparently Kevin Na was something of a mentor for Bio Kim when he played the PGA Tour - now Kev's on the case, appealing to the Korean authorities, (which is a bit like hiring Rudy Giuliani).
NB.: If that had happened on the PGA Tour, presumably Kim's punishment wouldn't have been advertised, he'd just have disappeared for three years. (No word on recent rumours that that would explain Tiger's prolonged absences after club-, among other things, banging etc.)

Sergio, Fleetwood, Poulter, and PReed have been known to flip a bird

Fleetwood's Bird at ANGC #13:

Bio Kim has a 2 yr military conscription coming up. He is 29 and that is about the time they made Sang Moon Bae and Seung Yul Noh do their obligation

Houston Open field is out... And it's weaker (a subsidized 24) than what most thought would be the worst case scenario... Everybody knew there would be winners and losers with this new schedule... But I don't think many saw Houston losing this bad. Certainly moving from its pre-master's date to the fall has it the biggest field strength loser on the PGA Tour (while Greenbrier mostly hold it held its own).  Here's what the field strength for this fall look like so far...



Oh and Kwini... So we're on the "double secret Tiger suspensions" conspiracy thingy again? Wow... Seriously? {{{sigh}}}

Robo: Poulter doesn't get a chance to defend many titles, I would have thought he would be defending in Houston, but he is playing Italy instead.