PGA Tour: Hartford: "Travelers Championship": Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).What a glorious week for Rory McIlroy, Tour de Course and all that.
Senseless trying to pick holes in such an exhibition but, to me, the most refreshing feature about his game was his putting, his holing out on the greens. Such a difference from what we've seen from him under pressure in the past, and no doubt that spreads backwards through his game, fuelling the confidence we saw all through the bag.
Dave Stockton has received a lot of credit, so it's only fair to ask if the Stocktons' work is a long-term panacea or a short-term fix? Disappointed to see Mickelson putting poorly again for instance, and Martin Laird is not holing the putts that distinguished his Bay Hill win. Just a thought.
I was certainly pleased to see much more evidence of interaction with caddie JP, a "take your time" or too seemed about ten weeks overdue.

2).If there's a bandwagon, expect Commish Finchem to be on it, so the American media is abuzz with speculation about Rory playing more PGA Tour events. The Chubster has made it clear that the biggest sticking point has been the 15 events (obviously) requirement which almost mandates heavy involvement in the FedEx Play-Off tournaments. Seems the likely compromise will be eliminating the rule that says former Tour members are restricted to 10 events while those who have never been members (Kaymer, Molinaris, Fisher etc) can play twelve. Of course, one size fits all so Westwood would also benefit from relaxation of that rule.
Not sure what FedEx think of all that however.

3).Lots of speculation about how the USGA regarded Rory's ability to carve up Congressional and, especially, if they knew the rough was going to be benign and the greens soft, they still chose to play about five holes shorter than their prescribed length on most days. Will there be an Olympic Club revenge? No rain in San Francisco in June, so the course will be as firm as they want it, but even the USGA can't control the likelihood of fog!

4)."International" golfers who play the PGA Tour but will struggle to fulfil this year's 15-event obligation continue to include Paul Casey and, to a slightly lesser extent, Goosen and Oosthuizen. All the more surprising then to find Casey and the Goose in this week's field in Germany (along with Garcia, Cejka, Dustin and Stenson); Casey in particular is not only way short (only 8 played so far) of Tour appearances, but he's played poorly and risks losing his "playing privileges". Oosthuizen's schedule is beyond bizarro, defending Champ at RStG but planning a two-week holiday before playing the John Deere the weekend before The Open.

5).Good news this week for Tim Finchem was RBC's confirmation that they'll sponsor the Hilton Head event for the next five years and I believe that means all next year's sponsorship commitments are in place. Great news, though still no word on a much-rumoured new tournament in the Detroit area.

6).The Presidents Cup teams are taking shape, Jason Day now leading the "Internationals" qualifying for Royal Melbourne. But Greg Norman must be scratching his head wondering where the local Aussie knowledge is going to come from, Allenby being the latest Down Under golfer to slip out of Greg's top ten, only the incorrigibly inconsistent Scott and Ogilvy remaining to join Day. The U.S. Team is looking like the usual suspects (which now exclude Woods), with Brandt Snedeker edging past Bill Haas into the qualifying places. Only about half a dozen qualifying weeks to go!

7).One of the strongest sponsorship deals for the PGA Tour is The Travelers involvement at this week's Hartford pitch and putt. But the tight TPC River Highlands course has attracted a strong field led by Bubbalicious Watson, defending champ hopefully not in his military madness garb. Poulter is getting in a much-needed Tour event and other top 20 players include Furyk, Watney and the always dangerous (a win, two seconds) Mahan. Not saying experience is essential, but by my reckoning, only Notah Begay, JJ Henry and Mahan have won Hartford in the last 20+ years whilst still in their twenties. Verplank and Pavin in a 2010 play-off with Bubba remember, Kenny Perry the winner in 2009.

8).Ian Poulter leads a sparse European contingent in Hartford, Brian Davis (good record here, this might be just up his e.w. street), Laird, Harrington, Pettersson and Freddie Jac - who is probably still smarting about his 4-putt on Congressional's 66th hole on Sunday.

9).The Champions Tour is in New York State at En-Joie C.C., the site of the old BC Open. John Huston will be playing his second Senior event, King of Bermuda (greens) and the fastest player on Tour since Lanny Wadkins' retirement. Roger Chapman again in the field and gradually finding his feet, if not fortune.

10).The Nationwide Tour goes south of the border to Mexico. Not last week's winner, Matthew Goggin, though. He's taking the month off knowing his second win of the year guarantees him a return to PGA Tour play for 2012. Team GB&I this week comprises Matthew Richardson fresh off Congressional disappointment, and Russell Knox whose missed cuts recently have seen him drop out of "the 25" placings necessary for a Tour card.,

The 18 year old freshman amateur from UCLA and NCAA golfer of the year, Patrick Cantlay, (and his name the target of many o' pun) is making a mockery of things and has catapulted his game due to excellent play at the U.S. Open. Maybe the U.S. will have some firepower after-all to counter the next wave of European talent. If not the scene is going to mimic what's been happening in the world of tennis for the past decade or so. Regardless, it looks like the game of golf will be in good hands for the coming future.

Yeah, Flaccid Pat is putting up a stiff challenge! I'll get my coat.

Hi chaps, chappettes,
Back late last night from cloudy Hartford having exceeded expectations with more than ten hours of golf followed, much of it the Poulter / Toms / Keegan and Bubba / Ogilvy / Sneds groups.

First time ever for me following Poulter and he played really well tee to green on the twenty plus holes I saw, but he missed a couple of four footers for birdies which would have better reflected his play. He made the shot of the day as well, 230 yards, flirting with water, to seven feet and holed the eagle putt. Pity he never seemed to acknowledge any applause or appreciation - thought he'd have some banter with the crowd, but nothing of the sort.

Never seen Ogilvy play either except for a couple of holes, and I still think he's as much of a natural talent as anyone around - but he'll have to take that talent home as he looks sure to miss the cut.

Anthony Kim won the award for the day's longest club toss and Freddie Jac won the award for the most bizarre taking of relief:
Starting his round on the 10th tee, he arrived early then decided to take himself off before his name was called, disappearing into the trees and returning a couple of minutes later. Not sure whether he was conducting some arborial research, looking for a spot to lay up, or just taking relief in lieu of any Royal Flush-mobiles. Regardless, a strange way to start business for the pride of Sweden.

Watched Webb Simpson sporadically and, whatever you think of his golf, it sure looks like he "gets it", plenty of acknowledgement of the galleries, plenty of smiles and interaction with his group - even Kevin Na.

Answers to questions:
GJ,
Badds teed off for Round 2 just before we left, at about 6.30; looks like he's playing well this morning, really wanted to follow his group (Vijay and Watney), for Badds' good humour and never seen Watney before.

SJones,
Not sure whether Casey has much of a home base in England any more, he's been in Arizona for so long, and Kostis is based there. Commentators said he's taking the next fortnight off, then RStG, then I'm sure he'll fly straight to British Columbia for the Canadian Open, complete with 8-hour time difference. His season is in disarray and his PGA Tour status will be irretrievable unless he can get a really good result somewhere soon.

Shotrock,
Bad morning for Pennsylvania! Furyk slipping below the cut-line, O'Hair right on the precipice.
Better field than I expected for Aronomink, good turn-out by the Americans apart from perhaps Phil, Strick, Kooch, Bubba, Dustin, all the best Aussies except Badds and the vacationing Day, though very few top Europeans, Rose excepted of course.
Would think there'll be plenty of great groups to follow.

Morning kwini,

What's the firm of Coles, Foster, Slattery and Storm up to?! And bravo for Sergio.

Could you give us a rundown of the course, grounds, facilities or hospitality from yesterday's jaunt to TPC River Highlands? And what's your impression of Cromwell, Connecticut?

Do you see any more 60's for the taking this weekend?

'Morning venice,
Slattery is the interesting one to me; he's flattered only to deceive a few times now. Is he the real thing, or just another young English pretender. With some of the European names that pop up on leaderboards from time to time it's impossible to know without some insight from our European Correspondents!

Run down? Not in the slightest!

Course? Short, but rewards accuracy and good putting more than anything, though Bubba was certainly exciting, he introduces so much risk into his game at a course like this you wonder whether it's really necessary. Great when it comes off of course, like it obviously did last year.

Grounds? OK, very cramped, no room for extra length on the course without buying adjacent property.

Facilities? Good enough. Not exceptional, but on-site parking helps a lot. Decent concessions, nothing special.

Hospitality? Absolutely first class. The Travelers do a fantastic job as sponsor, nothing but praise for the whole spectator experience. But I had a four-hour drive home so plenty of good drinkies remained unpurchased by me!!

Cromwell? No idea, but way too much money walking the fairways, enjoying the hospitality!

More 60's? Not sure, it looked as if the course might have been shortened slightly from Round 1 to 2, perhaps to speed play along.

Would think they'll make it is tough as they can for Rounds 3 and 4, but nothing they can do about all the rain and softness of the course.

Always good to hear that the regular tour events are still catering to the fan base considering the shrinkage in number and status of these whistle stops. And the money! The money one spends without realizing it! Glad you had a good time.

Did any of the spectators try to verbally engage Poults to bring him out of his shell? I've read that Lee Trevino could be an s.o.b. at times during his heyday but I would have loved to have followed him just once while he entertained the swarms nipping at his heels.

"... looked as if the course might have been shortened slightly"
What do you think the lot of us hackers would have done on such a set up? Maybe a couple of 80's in the group?

Kwin - Yes, not looking good for the locals next week, given their current form. The Mink looks great,and was playing fast and firm for last day of member play. I'm still hopeful for cooperative weather and fine golf. Would be neat if Rose repeated.

60 from an amateur in a professional tournament! Now that's golfing your ball as they say.

Quite the roller coaster ride for Moira Dunn in Rochester at the Wegmans. Speaking of which, my close Utica buddy who has been living in Surrey since the early 90's didn't think anyone outside of Monroe county would have even heard of Wegmans. Three opened up in the Philly area in the past few years and they are absolutely killing it.

5 weeks to Old Forge!

venice,
I was never better than a 15-handicapper and I reckon I'd've had to be at my all-time best to break 90 there.
But: It's not penal for the high handicapper, very few forced carries, the greens are never racetrack-fast, and would think a 12 or better with some course knowledge would be capable of shooting 85 on a good day.

Hi Sr,
Well SO'H made it but already a bogey on the very short par-4 2nd.

Poor old Moira, she can't stitch two rounds together these days, no good getting threes on fives if you make fives on threes. Given the extent to which I always thought Wegman's was a paragon of supermarket virtue and good business practices, I'd be surprised if they ever failed at something they tried. Great shop(no pun intended)window for them at minimal cost. (PS: I think Wegman's would do very well in Surrey . . . . )

Russell Knox update from the delayed Nationwider in Mexico.
He birides his 36th hole to make the cut on the number. Round 3 gets underway in a couple of hours.
Not to sound trite, but every cut made is money in the bank for Knox in the quest to improve his status.
Top 25 qualify for 2012 PGA Tour cards, but the top 70 earn full Nationwide exemption for 2012 plus earn exemption into Stage 2 of Tour Q-School.

Matthew Richardson not so lucky, missed the cut badly and his status for the rest of 2011 must now be tenuous.

Back in Hartford with Round 3 now well underway, Davis Laird Poulter are four under after 9 holes.
And, Ben Crane is playing later with Padraig Harrington. I had assumed all groups would be finished well before dark, but now I'm not so sure.

Kwini - I suspect Poulter has some reservations about attracting" the nutter on the bus" given all his "problems" with photographers etc. Pity because I am sure if people played ball he would be great, but these days people in the spotlight have to be soooo careful!!
Sounds like you enjoyed your day - keep it up, will soon be snowing again!!!

I think Poults has a lot of goodwill, up to him to capitalise upon it.
Ironic tale:
By his 30th hole he'd reached two under with some birdieable holes coming up. Proceeded to hit the ball into the only rough I saw him in all day and conjured up a double bogey. His only words to the crowd (no-one in particular) all day,
"I guess I'll be on the last flight outahere to Orlando."
I thought at the time, four birds in his last five holes would work, and he was a four-footer away from five.
Oh well, you always hope the pros enjoy a visit to your local events, regardless of the sport. Hope he got up to something to make him smile and he'll be back.
Good start to Round 3 and a pair of 64's this weekend would make for a hopefully content flight home and a return visit next year.

Sounds like he was being a bit precious? While he didn't stick to his words he did threaten a couple of years ago not to go back to the French (one of the oldest golf championships in the world) because of photographers and a lack of effective crowd marshalling. reminded of an incident years ago - went to see Billy Connolly - young woman rushed down the aisle to take photos and was held back by bouncers - Billy intervened, "snap away - I used to be a welder!" Hey ho - Poulter is one of the guys who has to work very hard at his golf and I hope he can find the balance between success and being a knob!

P,
I was trying to explain exactly that balance to my (Anglophile but American) son. The Billy Connolly quote is a classic, great that so many live performers have a similiar attitude. Poulter could quite easily have turned his indignity to his advantage. But it came out all wrong, especially amongst most in the gallery for whom Orlando is a high-priced fun park and not much else!

Good tournament!!!

Harrington apparently penalised on 15 just watched him and they will discuss after the round. He is adamant this time he is right.

Good tournament!!!

Harrington apparently penalised on 15 just watched him and they will discuss after the round. He is adamant this time he is right.

Oh no.
What'd'he do now benson? Talk about someone who seems to court controversy. He had a fine week here last year, had hoped he might repeat the act this year, but he must be disappointed with results so far.
Another penalty would be the proverbial turd on top of the cake.
I saw he had a seven on 13 also, must have been a waterball involved there.

Phew,
A fine morning in Hartford as the early starters make their way to the best practice facility in tournament golf, about 3/4 hour before the first Travelers Championship tee-times. Weather today should be perfect for scoring, mostly dry, warm (low 80's) with light breezes expected.

No sign of any adjustment yet to Harrington's score so presumably he's reconciled whatever concerned him yesterday with PGA Tour officialdom.

We should have a Sundsay shoot-out with Freddie Jacobson at the head of affairs. Question here is:
Will Freddie run away and hide, building an insurmountable lead so he can coast home?
Or will he be in a fierce battle, in which case I for one wouldn't be placing any bets on his putting stroke come the back nine??

It's unrealistic to expect either Freddie (-16) or Bryce Molder (-15) to shoot over par here which limits scope for a come-from-behind victory, reckon only -12's and better could get away with posting a 64 or lower and hope to win. Brian Davis rather tossed his chances away on Saturday evening with late bogeys so I'm going for Ryan Moore to shoot a 64 and see what comes of the leaders.

Poulter up to 37th and one wouldn't put it past him to go really low today. Which, to be fair, he needs.

The Nationwiders are still completing Round 3 with Russell Knox enduring a torrid time of it. Update between Rounds 3 and 4.

And Team Europe (aka Roger Chapman) in the Champers Tour in lovely Upstate New York is really struggling, hopeful perhaps of a Top 60, nothing much better.

The Ladies "Wegmans LPGA Championship" in Rochester sees Maria Hjorth and Azahara Munoz the top Europeans in joint 9th, Laura Davies flying the British flag in 36th, one stroke ahead of Catriona Matthew.

come on badds a low 63 and put pressure on the 2 leaders



adam playing next week

'Afternoon GJ,
Surprised to see Scott in next week's field, but he needs to rediscover his Masters form somehow.
Saw quite a bit of Ogilvy this week - he hit some lovely shots, missed cut by one. But he looked to be getting some sharpness back.

Badds just a couple of strokes too far back today wouldn't you think. But you're right, a 63 or better would give the leaders the willies. Perhaps he and Hunter Mahan can feed off each other?.

Watching this playoff via streaming online as The Golf Channel is showing delayed broadcast as usual.

First group at Hartford finished in just under three hours, second group just putting out on 15. Oh, that's Harrington, going quite fast for him then. Remaining groups bunched up like F1 drivers behind the pace car.

No big moves being made by the backmarkers so far.

"Remaining groups bunched up like F1 drivers behind the pace car."

Seriously, what's the point of playing the round like it's the last group in a major championship? Pods not going to improve his game or stature by moving like a turtle for a few measly dollars. Would imagine the rest of the field are chomping at the bit.

You get the impression from following pgatour.com that Daly is almost hitting before Padraig retrieves his ball from the cup!
Steve Flesch another group behind -6 after 16, Shane Bertsch, author of one of the Tour's most bonehead-ever moves, -5 after 15.

Hi kwini,

Are you catching the Munich playoff action live? If not, it also streams here:
http://www.firstrowsports.eu/watch/70474/3/watch-bmw-international-open.html

venice,
Trying to multi-task here, and that's one task too many! I know, I know.

Sergio's second place finish should enable him to squeeze back into the owgr top fifty at last, subject to the behaviour of one or two players at The Travelers.

In the Nationwide event in Mexico, Russell Knox lies in 55th position after Round 3 and every stroke gained against par the next six hours will likely be worth about $500.00 to him. And he could use every cent.

badds birdies 2 and 3

-12

4 behind

fight badds

They've been playing "lift, clean and place" the first three rounds in Hartford. Not today though, which was bad news for Poults on his first hole as he lifted, cleaned and placed his perfect 300 yard drive before someone give him the tip. Bogey.
All credit to him that he's rebounded with a 67 and hopefully a top twenty finish.
Brian Davis and Martin Laird treading water.

Hello kwini and everyone,
hope you are all keeping well here on 606v2! Not sure how often I'll be able to keep in touch these days but will give it a try and see how it goes...

So straight into the subject kwini... Another very good week for Sergio and I think I heard commentators saying that he should be safe for the Open now with that finish. However, that's not gonna be quite sufficient to get him into top 50 just yet... He'll be 51st at best, but he could go 1-2 places lower than that depending as you've said on how guys like Badds, Simpson, etc. will finish at Travelers today. Regarding the OWGR, you'll have to remember that we're now at the end of June and this week will see another step in their gradual change in the maximum divisor (down to 54 now), and that will cause some extra 'wobbles' in the rankings for this week. Also Ishikawa grabbed a few good points in Japan this weekend to get him very likely back into top 50. BTW, Travelers is a 44 pointer and BMW a 38...

But one thing is certain now, Rory will be from tomorrow no. 3 in the world rankings, moving ahead of Kaymer, who had another rather dissapointing week by his high standards...

Welcome princed,
Great to see you here!
I had guessed (very much the operative word) 40 for the BMW, strength in depth saves the Travelers! Thought that might all be enough for Sergio to make about 50th but no! But he definitely qualifies, as does Larrazabal, for The Open as leaders on a mini-money list!

Badds and Webbo not helping themselves much so far.

Brian Davis moving himself thru the field but looks to have left things a bit late.
But Watney could make a big owgr jump this week if he can only avoid Saturday's wasted shots.

Welcome Princedracula - hope that whatever may be preventing you from regular contributions goes away soon!

Cheers Davie - usually it's time and/or energy that's missing... (Einstein would certainly disapprove that I'm separating those two...)

Huston, We have a problem.
Not today though, John Huston winning his third Champions Tour start, his first ever win on anything other thsan Bermuda I'd think.

Wasted weekend in Hartford for Nick Watney, will Freddie Jac bring it home or can Ryan Moore secure win number two?

Hello pd!

Pretty good when your highest round for the tourney is 66.

So I've heard.
Great for Freddie; quite expected him to have trouble over short putts coming in but he didn't really have anything shorter than ten footers he could have a run at.

All that and a Yankees win.

Hello venice!

A good week for the Spaniards and for the Swedes!

kwini,
If you got a chance to catch Freddie Jac's post-round interview, what kind of an English accent does he come the closest to: England, Oz, Saffie or American slang? I think he covered the all bets. Very deserved win and straight forward responses to the questions asked.

Can't believe we're in first place especially considering the Bosox strong play for the past few months. The stories about McCourt's and the Dodgers evolve with each new allegation of impropriety, operational negligence and ineptness. A lost year and might take the eventual new owner(s) another few to just restore order.

pd,
Yes. Good to see other countries getting involved in the fray with some worthwhile victories. And not to mention more turbulence in the ranking positions. As if you didn't have enough to do! Can't wait to see your ''unofficial" list and its implications. The OWGR could certainly use you to clarify things every week. (Mostly for the golf and sport writers whose job it is to know about it in greater depth but somehow don't.)

Great interview with Freddie Jac: They said on CBS yesterday that he has the deepest voice on Tour! Wouldn't argue with that. Accent? Hybrid.
About the most gracious interview I've seen from a winner in yonks, clearly very popular victory and easy to see why. Wouldn't be surprised to see him go on to another win sooner rather than later - just looked like he'd figured something out about himself.

The Travelers Championship is just a fun event, lots of birdies, phenomenal hospitality, easy course to walk. Impossible to believe the PGA Championship at Wentworth is the only event in England with the wit to host a great event like the Travelers. Absurd really. Corporate England: Shape up.

Kwin - You bring up a very good point. Run the event properly -- easy access and services for the fans, fun course for the professionals to take on, and community support (clearly evident this weekend), and it's a win for all.

Ryan Moore is an enigma. A year ago he needed a birdie to tie Rose at Aronimink and just missed it and then yesterday it looks like he's surely in a playoff and fails to get up and down after a fine bunker shot. He seemed non-plussed by it all. (And I'm taking nothing away from Jacobson -- great performance there.)

Not a bad field at all for Aronomink Shotrock. Better than I expected really and perhaps indicative of the way it's easy to underestimate the strength in depth of the PGA Tour regardless of how the balance is within the very top echelons.
The Travelers really does a FAB! job of putting on a great show for the fans, and hopefully the players too. Should be an object lesson to one and all, and from what I understand the John Deere is similarly a great community event.

Ryan Moore well worth watching if you get the chance this week (I'm assuming he's playing, haven't checked), if only to see the bizarre way he addresses the ball, the stance more wide open the longer the club! Clearly didn't help his putting at the death yesterday. Enigma is right!!

Nationwide follow-up:
Russell Knox enjoyed an excellent Sunday in Mexico, finishing five under for the day, 35th in the final tournament result. He goes into a three-week break 27th in the N'wide money list.

Sorry to see Freddie Jacobson has withdrawn from Aronomink . . . .

Kwin - This is too bad ... love to see golfers in good form as Freddie Jac is.

I see Ernie's a goner too, so there's a good form golfer and a bad form golfer you're missing.
Looks like Ernie has had a last-minute change of mind and secured a sponsor's invite for Scotland. Makes perfect sense.

Oh well ... really enjoyed watching that swing, but there's a good chance he would not have made the weekend anyway. Just took the family over for lunch and the boys got signatures from Elkington, Cantlay and Weekly!

Re: Aronomink: Love the picture gallery and potted history on pgatour.com . . . .

Kwin - Thanks for your kind words. If ever in the area, you know who to call ...
Saw some of the bigger guns on practice area (Mahan, Rose, Watney). Man, do these guys compress the ball. Just something to watch. Went into the rehab trailer to see if Utican Jim LaFountain was working. Sadly, not this tournament. Weather spotty today, but blue skies on the way (they say) for the start of the activities. Tiger Press conference a bit later ... let me guess, more about the knee rehab!