PGA Tour / US Open: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).First in driving distance.
First in putts per green in regulation.
Fifth in total putts.
Eighth in greens in regulation.
That's the trick Harrison Frazar pulled last week; if he can do it again he'll win the US Open. He has serious power, more than enough for Congressional, but one would expect his short game to desert him in the end.

2).These wins have hidden bennies: Apart from sponsorship bonuses and, in this case, a 2 1/2 year Tour exemption, Frazar also qualifies for Bridgestone, the PGA Championship, Kapalua and Augusta; and probably the HSBC Champions. And to think a few months ago he wrote an SI article about packing the pro game up after 13 winless years and $9M in prizemoney.

3).Roary Sabbatini's just had two weeks off, presumably at His Majesty Tim Finchem's pleasure. Now he gets to return to the scene of Bencranegate, where in 2005 he left pedestrian Ben to his own devices and desires on the 17th green while he played the 18th without him. Expect Roary to have another fortnight's holiday, win this week or lose.

4).Who's got form here? Only four players in the field have won at Congressional, all before Rees Jones redid (read lengthened) the Blue Course: Ernie Els (1997), Sergio Garcia (2005), KJ Choi (2007) and Anthony Kim (2008). Apart from Sergio, other Europeans who have decent records at Congressional include:
Freddie Jacobson, 2nd in the 2008 AT&T; Justin Rose with a couple of top thirty AT&T finishes; Luke Donald with a 13th place in 2005; and, of course, Alex Cejka with a 9th place finish in 2008.

5).Oops, last but by no means least, a certain Lee Westwood who finished T19th (with T.Woods) at the 1997 US Open here. Others from Team GB&I who made the 1997 cut were five Ryder Cuppers, Monty, DC, Sirfaldo, Coltart and Broadhurst.
AND: The son of a moustachioed itinerant goalscorer who plied his trade for, among other more distinguished teams: Bradford Park Avenue, Southport and Stockport. Now: No Googling allowed, who was the son of a strikerman who finished 24th that year????

6).Others who have at least two top tens in the five events competitors could have played include:
Furyk, with 2 x 3rds, a 5th, and a 7th.
Allenby, with a 3rd and a 6th.
Mahan, 2nd and 6th.
Snedeker, 5th and 8th.
Els and Kim, (both languishing in abysmal form).

7).Apart from the aged Fred Funk, there is no PGA Tour winner who could be described as a local. But: Mike Fluff Cowen is a member at Congressional, and a fine golfer in his own right. That may explain Furyk's terrific record here, but Jimmy's been out of sorts this year and it's difficult to believe Fluff can help him to the winners' enclosure.

8).Been having a look at Paddy Power's prices, and my five European value bets, paying each way down to 6th, are:
11/1 Westwood
60/1 Garcia
66/1 Karlsson
70/1 Rose
200/1 Noren.
My three to beat the field would be Choi, Mahan, Westwood, not necessarily in that order! Sure Donald and Stricker are among those in superb form (and Stricker also has a good record here) but this course will be unrelenting to shorter hitters unless they hit at least 75% of the fairways; it's not just the long irons into greens, it's the strength to get out of jail.

9).Before we know it, we'll be talking about Royal St.George's and the R&A mini-money-list is now led by, yup, Harrison Frazar, followed by Goydos, Jobe, CHIII and Holmes.

10).Lastly, the Nationwiders are hard at it in Kansas, Christian and Owen hopefully putting four good rounds together and Russell Knox rediscovering his form of a few weeks ago.

Cut-line at +3, with 80 golfers perched there.

Damn. Hate to see those birdie putts go to waste.

Don't want to be critical of the T.V. coverage as that would be too easy but am watching ESPN U.S. coverage on the tube while getting web streaming Sky coverage from U.K.

One would think in this advanced age of technology and logistics, that with numerous cameras covering the action that other broadcast companies such as Sky would have the option to show which cameras they choose to broadcast and comment on. It's very apparent that the team is handcuffed and doing as well as allowed given the restraints.

Would be willing to pay a small extra fee to switch between groups and cameras but that's probably a decade or so away for the majors.

Lightning not striking twice for Worcester's Matthew Richardson; back to the Nationwide for him.

Others who are definitely on their way home clearly include The Mechanic, with Molinaris and Poulter hanging on by their fingertips. Wonder what Poulter will have to say after another disappointment?

Now only 16 within 10 shots. Wonder what the gents who haven't teed off yet are thinking. It would depend on what they shot yesterday but do they alter their strategy and by how much. For instance, imagine LW, Luke, Ernie, Kaymer, and even Paulie want to be in contention late Sunday, what are going to be their plans now? No time to play it safe anymore.

8 SHOTS??? Are you kidding me?? Wow.....

If another major falls to a non member of the PGA Tour will finchem change it to

"These guys are second rate"?

Hi kwini,
Phil's back to his old ways of crazy golf. Rory's attacking and striking like the old vet in this group. His driving is above board.
How about that Brian Gordon / CoryWade pitching combo for the Bombers yesterday? Very nice stories about both.

Hi LJO,
I think Finchem and many of the others need to change their tune. I hear plenty of sobbing coming from the halls of the U.S. golf gods.

Hi venice,
Yup, very timely week of results, especially after the Red Sox fiasco. Thank Goodness for all the home runs though. Wish I was at Wrigley this afternoon.

Rory's a great story and Robert Rock a lovely chapter, but not much else to shout about for the "internationals" this morning. Sergio still going nicely despite being willed to miss putts by the commentary team and Peter Hanson making a great comeback, but lots of disappointment elsewhere.

All I can say is ... GO RORY!

What a treat to watch, Tigeresque in how he's taking this thing over.

Dear Rory,
Golf is not that easy. Is it?
USGA invokes the ten-shot lead, courtesy of venice's idea. Only two teeing it up on Saturday?
Best,
606v2

-13... quite remarkable!

Risks that Rory and Phil certainly didn't need to take.

Cut-line almost certain now to drift to +4, good news for 1, 2 and 3.

Didn't Rory become too greedy at 18?

Felt Rory's caddie could have done more to slow him down at Augusta, and reckon he should have stepped in today. Perhaps just very careless, Phil's mistake even more egregious, probably eliminated him from any chance to win.

The replay on Sky made it look like Rory was aiming at the bunker right, and just turned it over a touch too much. Is that greed, out of that lie?

SmithersJones wrote:The replay on Sky made it look like Rory was aiming at the bunker right, and just turned it over a touch too much. Is that greed, out of that lie?

says in the interview that he was aiming front right, for the long up and down, and pulled it a bit. Seems fair enough to me, had a decent lie and a decent line, front right was definitely the play.

NedB-H wrote:

SmithersJones wrote:The replay on Sky made it look like Rory was aiming at the bunker right, and just turned it over a touch too much. Is that greed, out of that lie?

says in the interview that he was aiming front right, for the long up and down, and pulled it a bit. Seems fair enough to me, had a decent lie and a decent line, front right was definitely the play.

Ok, fair enough. Just looked to me he aimed for the green.

I see Cantlay, the American amateur, came home in 30 shots.

pedro wrote:

NedB-H wrote:

SmithersJones wrote:The replay on Sky made it look like Rory was aiming at the bunker right, and just turned it over a touch too much. Is that greed, out of that lie?

says in the interview that he was aiming front right, for the long up and down, and pulled it a bit. Seems fair enough to me, had a decent lie and a decent line, front right was definitely the play.

Ok, fair enough. Just looked to me he aimed for the green.

well that's what he said anyway... he might have been covering his back!

Btw, heard Bob Rock had problems getting visa for the US. Apparantly a DUI case from when he was 18 yrs old had been the reason...

Cantlay:
An unfortunate name, perhaps a bit defeatist. Wonder if he's ever had a girlfriend?

kwinigolfer wrote:Cantlay:
An unfortunate name, perhaps a bit defeatist. Wonder if he's ever had a girlfriend?

Tigers alter ego perhaps?

Maybe he always goes for the green?

I heard he swings with an unusually flexible shaft...

Only of secondary significance right now, but Sergio is still not in The Open. Obviously a win this week would take care of that, but a 2nd place finish would go a long way also, elevate him in the R&A's mini-money-list.

Just out of interest, what's the point of having a "featured group" for TV if TV doesn't feature them, in this case Donald, Kaymer and Westwood?
Oh, they're not American??
They're European???
Europe, where's that????

Must be an NBC production.

The sad thing is it probably is only cos they're Europeans. I'd have a lot more respect if it was cos they're all struggling... god knows I've moaned often enough that Sky follow "featured" groups struggling to break par while unsung and unseen leaders are tearing up the course.

Wish the Sky guys would stop talking about this as if Rory's already won. Even Butch is getting sucked into it, saying that someone needs to go low this afternoon to get close to him. Even if he winds up with a 9 shot lead it's by no means over. Guessing Bobby Clampett isn't on duty this week for the US coverage, or they'd be asking him about the dangers of a massive 36 hole lead...

Bobby Clampett is quite probably the worst commentator I've ever heard on any sport.
Certainly the most boring and inarticulate.

KJ Choi continuing to stink the joint out.

13 amateurs in the field and no Ross Fisher...............strange??

NedB-H wrote:Wish the Sky guys would stop talking about this as if Rory's already won.

Spot on Ned. I almost wanted to switch them off at one point.

Wishing young Rors no harm but I almost want him to implode again just to show them up for their ridiculous pontifications

Fisher is paying the price for having form nearly as bad as his namesake. Bit like Ollie Wilson after his RC appearance a few years ago. I quite like the big number of Open qualifier spots, would rather they had more of them and fewer of the arcane money list and tournament placing exemptions. The only thing I don't like about the amateurs is them giving a spot to the US amateur runner-up, but not to our amateur champ. You can bet the R&A won't follow that lead any time soon.

Fisher surely tried to qualify didn't he? Not much sympathy for him; great Masters effort but the rest of the year has been very poor. Takes some doing to play yourself from the top twenty-ish to out of the top fifty so quickly, but he's done it.
Wishing him a good break and a fine summer.

Aussies awol so far, only Jason Day and Senden inside the top 45, only Leishman joining them inside the cut-line as things stand.
Scott struggling, Badds, Allenby and Ogilvy all outathere. Disappointing for GJ.

Ned, 81 of the 164 in the field come from Qualifying...............12 from Europe, 5 from Japan and 64 from the US. Only Top 50 from the OWGR..............of which only 3 or 4 actually need to use that exemption...............

Bizzare in my opinion to have so many qualifiers. The Golf Major championships should strive to have the best fields possible.

To allow 64 US Qualifiers, all 64 of whom are ranked below Ross Fisher (who is around 55). You will find them mostly around the bottom of the Leader board................

But surely John, that's why they call it the US Open?
Now, whether it should be classified as a Major is a different question.
There are aspects to it that we'd probably all change but everyone not there has had ample opportunities to qualify.
Fisher's form recently (the past 18 months) has been so poor he's fortunate (good victory in Ireland is all that stands between him and about 75th place) to have hung on so long . . . .

I always love our spats on the "qualifiers"!!
To have the status of a major brings responsibilities which the USGA ignore. I don't care that it's called the US OPEN......the US Open tennis does not reserve over 40% of its places for journeymen us tennis players who do not compete on the main tour......nor does Wimbledon for the english!!

I think the Wimbledon policy of including foreigners at the All-England Club is a national disgrace!

Off to Hartford next week where, fortunately, they include golfers from outside Connecticut - should see the field published shortly, Harrington and Poulter among those "committed", hopefully we'll see Brian Davis and Rose also. Good field in prospect with some top-notch recent champions like Bubba, Mahan etc.

That was an amazing 9 holes from Yang........4 or 5 incredible up & downs and then a couple of birdies.............................i watched him at the Irish Open in Adare a few years ago and he hacked the ball around the course in 3 or 4 over but his demeanour was the same all the time....super attitude...............

When I see that Callaway advert that starts "Everyone says they are long" I dread to think which direction they are heading!

I do wish Monty would stfu about Yang's grips.

I just wish that Monty would.....er....would stop repeating.....er.......stop repeating everything he says......er........everything he says.

I wish they would stop going on about Monty playing there 14 years ago!!

Marcel Siem must be a great guy to follow round, shows more emotion in a single round than Yang does in a season. 7 birdies in his first 15 holes is good play after a 79 though.

Seems like I've lost the knack of cursing fantasy players, 2 guys under par, another at even, only two outside the cut (would be one if Badds hadn't imploded after 27 holes). Improvement from the 5/6 MCs I've had the last few weeks...

Ned,
Incredible thing about Marcel Siem is that he was +4 after his first three Round 1 holes!

Smithers,
What's the deal about YEY's grips?

Brutal luck for Lee there, a big deal for him to get up and in methinks.

Great putt from off the fairway, solid par in the end for Lee!

Kwini, get the feeling Siem would be a lot more successful without his temper, very talented guy... but he'd also be a lot less interesting!

Monty keeps mentioning something about Yang's grips being colour-coded according to club type, not worked out yet whether he's right... but I did go out just after they came off for the storm, may have missed something then. They also can't help but mention his thick putter grip every time he's on the green...

Yup, big par for Lee.
I think colour-coding irons is a cool idea. These Koreans, KJ Choi with his giant putter grip (which I think is a great idea) and running out of headcovers for all his hybrids. Confuses Prodger no end!
Looks like Shane Lowry's going to miss out; shame, I was hoping he'd sweat the lbs off and make s_r eat (easy on the calories) at least some of his words. Alas, probably not to be.

Amazing to think that if it wasn't for Rory, we'd be wondering whether Yang might birdie and knock the +6s out, or bogey and let the +7s in.

The producers must be reading us, we seem to be getting more of the featured group now than their play is really deserving... and strangely not seeing anything of Kuchar, sneaking into the red.

Big IF but hopefully Lee will finish 4, 4, 4 and he'll be right back in it.

Bubba is losing it, thought he'd put those temper tantrums behind him.

It feels as if the production crew don't have a feel for the rhythm of the round - bet they show Kooch on #9 though - will be a big hole for him and he should birdie it. Tees up EIGHTY yds from Round 1.

Not sure if Yang's grips are colour coded as such, just different colours on different clubs.

I did enjoy Monty's comment about the Ishikawa, Kim, Yang group on the 10th tee - 'there'll be a few cameras following this group'.

More futility from Paul Casey, his US season going from grim to grisly. No idea why.

He's playing in Germany next week, presumably won't be playing a PGA Tour event until Oh Canada in late July. Lots of scheduling decisions for him to make; wouldn't be surprised if he's got a letter from the PGA Tour already.

Sure I heard one of the commentators mention something about Casey's "personal problems" earlier; no idea what he meant though.


Was getting rather wound up with the constant references to the "Asian group", I'll give them Yang and Ryo but Kim's played on Ryder Cup teams, come on!


Good effort gone unnoticed by team Sweden - 6 out of 6 through to the weekend if Karlsson pars the last, with three of them at T15 and two more a shot behind.