PGA Tour: Viking Classic: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Exciting climax to last week's John Deere Classic with Steve Stricker producing a flash of brilliance with his six-iron from a bunkered lie precariously below his feet, flushed over water to a spot in the fringe about 22 feet from the 18th hole. Putt holed and Stricker wins by one from Kyle Stanley. So Stricker becomes the first PGA Tour three-peater not named Woods since Stuart Appleby dominated Kapalua from 2004 to 2006.

2).Stricker's shot into 18 from a bunker over water followed by a holed putt was as memorable to me as Woods's six-iron from a fairway bunker across Glen Abbey's water resulting in eagle and a one-shot 2000 Canadian Open win over Grant Waite.

3).Kyle Stanley's challenge reminds one of the quality of players competing in the 2007 Walker Cup. McIlroy was first of the group to win a Major, but Dustin Johnson has four wins, Rhys Davies, Horsey and Parry have already won in Europe, and Fowler, Lovemark, Webb Simpson and Stanley have already finished runner-up on the PGA Tour. I'm betting Chris Kirk (still a ROTY outsider) will be the next to contend.

4).Utterly ridiculous scheduling by the PGA Tour this week, sending touring pros wishing to play the "opposite field" event, to the Viking Classic in Mississippi. Heat indexes will reach at least 100 degrees throught the event, and this small traditional "community" tournament, has an almost unbelievably poor field at a time when fringe touring pros would normally be chafing at the bit to play in late season quest of FedEx Play-off places or to earn valuable dollars in the race to reach the top 125th/150th places on the moneylist and job security for next year.
God (OK, Tim Finchem) only knows why this event was shifted from the Fall Series, but just reward is the appearance of Jesper Parnevik's caddie now up to 5th alternate. "Viking" manufacture superb grills but suffice to say their excellent product will be redundant this week, the pros grilling bacon for their butties on golf carts. The only European competing, Richard S.Johnson, tweeted that he used a dozen water bottles during his practice round, perhaps seven too few!

5).The same PGA Tour maroons have next week's tournament in British Columbia so Luke Donald and the rest will be crossing eight time zones (their choice/sponsor's demand, I know) to compete in the Candian Open. Lukey, incidentally, will likely be playing seven weeks out of nine through early September; I wonder if he'll roll the dice and skip a FedEx Play-Off tournament?

6).Others are in even more of a pickle and this broken record suggests Paul Casey is likely to fall two or three events short of the PGA Tour minimum, with Goosen and Oosthuizen, possibly even Garcia and Poulter also likely to struggle to get enough tournaments in unless they achieve some very high finishes before the Play-Offs.
Not difficult to understand the ambivalence of Kaymer, McIlroy and Westwood towards the PGA Tour given these circumstances.

7).Career planners advising on opportunities in golf might cast an eye over PGA Tour salaries. No silly, not the players who we all enjoy watching, but the ivory tower crew led by Timmy Commish. Flinchem "earned" $5.1M in 2009 according to Golf Digest, with their next five highest earners also taking more than a million in pay. Plus of course a mega pension plan.

8).Top nine finishers in the 2003 Open Championship: Curtis, Bjorn, Singh, Love, Woods, Brian Davis, Freddie Jacobson, Faldo, Kenny Perry. Garcia and Goosen leading a crowd tied for 10th.

9).No idea if there'll be anyone left standing in Mississippi on Sunday afternoon, but one interesting participant in the Viking Classic is local-ish lad Michael Thompson. This "rookie" struggled through his first five months but has finished 4th, 38th and 12th these past three weeks.

10).You wouldn't think there'd be a Nationwide event this week but strange things happen at Tour HQ and the geniuses have scheduled a tournament in Cincinnati featuring plenty of guys who would elevate the quaity of the Viking Classic field. GB&I's representation includes Christian, Knox, Owen and Richardson. Time for each of these boys to start climbing up the moneylist if they're to harbour realistic hopes of making the 2012 PGA Tour.

Well even your excellent article is struggling to the get the juices flowing over this event. Still why is the field so weak there must be a good few guys in the top 50 of the money list not making the open?

Although not sure what is wrong with taking a week off?

Mac,
No surprise really but I'm trying to stay faithful to the "franchise"!

Actually not that many "name" PGA Tour players not at The Open, but those not in England seem to have taken the week off! Fact is, average high in Madison, Mississippi in mid-July is low 90's and that's the "off season" as far as golf is concerned here. To make matters worse, the central part of the country is experiencing a god-awful heatwave right now - in Kentucky today, the heat index rose in Owensboro to over 120F.

Other problem is that not many Tour pros come from MS, and fewer still live there so there's no base to tap. At least in Upstate New York (where the BC went up against The Open) and Milwaukee (it's successor) there is a base of Tour players loyal to the cause. Last year this week went to Reno who put on a decent field, but they've reclaimed the spot opposite Firestone.

Dear Tim,
No-one wants to play golf in Mississippi in July. Get used to it.
Love 606v2.

It really is an incredibly poor field, certainly the worst I can remember for a US event, and probably worse even than any of the Mexican or Puerto Rican efforts. Amazing when you think of the fields that Viking have got in previous autumns, and Milwaukee et al have got in previous Julys.

Stuart Deane, Matthew Swan, Matt Fast, Greg Huxman... who are these people? And add in the ones who were names 15 years ago, Heinen, Rummells, Clark, Stolz, Waite, Gamez, Franco, Wood, Morse, Henke, Allem, Tataurangi... wow. I see Parnevik's caddie is now only two WDs away from a tee time, and then after him, they start stealing from the Nationwide event. Gronberg and Owen 9th and 10th alternates away from adding to the European interest.

Ned,
You must be pretty close to Canterbury judging from your comment on the "weather" thread. My son did a "study abroad" term at "Kent" a couple of years ago, played Canterbury a couple of times, RStG twice in December (snowing one day!) and really enjoyed (and blitzed) North Foreland.
Said everyone was very generous to him, especially liked the caddiemaster at RStG - Mike was probably the only golfer on the course when the snow was flying. Good experience for him - we'll be watching the next few days with his strokesaver guide at the ready!!


PS: Remember that each full-field PGA Tour event reserves spots in the field for local PGA of America sectional champs, plus four Monday qualifiers, so there will always be an unfamiliar name or two, or in this case several.
Very dispiriting that most of the dozen Seniors on hand are not fully exempt on the Champions Tour - I don't think that should be permitted.

I see pgatour.com's version of The Open website shows a card of the course with a par 71.
Someone needs to have a word . . . . we'd slag the BBC off for far less!

kwinigolfer wrote:Ned,
You must be pretty close to Canterbury judging from your comment on the "weather" thread. My son did a "study abroad" term at "Kent" a couple of years ago, played Canterbury a couple of times, RStG twice in December (snowing one day!) and really enjoyed (and blitzed) North Foreland.
Said everyone was very generous to him, especially liked the caddiemaster at RStG - Mike was probably the only golfer on the course when the snow was flying. Good experience for him - we'll be watching the next few days with his strokesaver guide at the ready!!


PS: Remember that each full-field PGA Tour event reserves spots in the field for local PGA of America sectional champs, plus four Monday qualifiers, so there will always be an unfamiliar name or two, or in this case several.
Very dispiriting that most of the dozen Seniors on hand are not fully exempt on the Champions Tour - I don't think that should be permitted.

Yep, 10 miles or so from Canterbury Kwini. Glad he enjoyed his time, plenty of good golf around here once you know where to look, and I've always thought Canterbury would be a great place to be a uni student.
N Foreland was a local qualie venue in '03 if I remember, but overlooked for Rye this year, a bit further from Sandwich but a bit more links-y.



Not sure whether that says more about the depths of exemption the Viking has plumbed to, or the closed-shop that is the Champions Tour...

Hot and potentially stormy in Mississippi these next few days but there's big money to be won and FedEx points to be earned, $648K to the winner not to be scorned.

Still a terrible field though; pgatour.com's list of "featured groups" includes two players who don't have full "status" on the PGA Tour! But those two, Willie MacKenzie and Chez Reavie, are good guys, great for the game, and hopefully they'll play well.

Hi Ned,
Yup, a bit of both I think, Champions Tour golf very much a closed shop, especially to golfers who never carried a PGA Tour card, given that so many exemption places go to All-Time career money leaders. That has certainly hurt guys like Rodger Davis, Stewart Ginn, Eddie Romero etc who have secured good wins on the Champions Tour but only get a 12-month exemption, even for winning a Major. That's probably why events like this in Mississippi are important to fringe players who want to ratchet up their Champo status.

kwin

havnt seen you posting on another thread so i will ask you here

how do you rate my favs chances this week ?

Hi GJ,
Think Adam Scott will have a good week, less confident about Badds and JDay - but Scott could spring a surprise, very much under the radar but was hitting the ball beautifully at Aronomink.
Good luck!

cheers mate

Given the silly thread about Americans not travelling well, I can't resist offering my six American best bets for this week in Kent:

Kuchar: Would smile his way through a blizzard so a coastal breeze won't bother him, don't expect him to win necessarily but would be surprised if he didn't finish thereabouts.
Love: Arguably should have won here in 2003, playing well these days in big events without really contending. Good bet in the top ten wagering option.
Snedeker: Just two holes derailed him at Castle Stuart and he missed the cut despite a hat full of birdies. Great on-course demeanour and good record in Majors.
Overton: Coming into form at the right time for RStG; Phil was waxing lyrical about his game on Monday and he could contend. Won't hole the short putts if it's close though.
Streelman and Levin: Just a hunch about both. Each will be thrilled to be there, would be pleased to make the cut and after that you never know. Great short games and two rank outsiders to give you a run for your shilling each way.

Don't expect an American win, but top ten betting makes these guys worth keeping an eye on. Most important, ALL will be excited to have the chance to play.

A quick check shows tha arerage age of those currently under par at the Open is 38.5! Experience may come in handy this week. Problem for the oldies may be that conditions look to be rough enough over the next days, so it may prove a bit of a struggle for them on the physical side in the end...

For the Viking Classic I'm cheering for 2gloves!

He may have been the last one getting in, but it's great to see Bjorn at the top of the LB, specially here at RStG...

Average age of the leading three is now 46 pd!

Great stuff from Bjorn

princedracula wrote:A quick check shows tha arerage age of those currently under par at the Open is 38.5! Experience may come in handy this week. Problem for the oldies may be that conditions look to be rough enough over the next days, so it may prove a bit of a struggle for them on the physical side in the end...

For the Viking Classic I'm cheering for 2gloves!

So we're looking for a fit 38 year old. Hmmm, I wonder who might fit that bill??? Perhaps someone who's also out this afternoon, when the forecast is for the wind to ease?

SmithersJones wrote:

princedracula wrote:A quick check shows tha arerage age of those currently under par at the Open is 38.5! Experience may come in handy this week. Problem for the oldies may be that conditions look to be rough enough over the next days, so it may prove a bit of a struggle for them on the physical side in the end...

For the Viking Classic I'm cheering for 2gloves!

So we're looking for a fit 38 year old. Hmmm, I wonder who might fit that bill??? Perhaps someone who's also out this afternoon, when the forecast is for the wind to ease?

How about a 38 year old former winner who's just gone to two under?

Correct SJ, thought about that myself, Lee certainly would be one of the fittest in that age range. Ned's hint is also a very valid one. Another one in that age bracket (former winner and fit) that I'm thinking about more and more looking at the rough forecast for the weekend, is Harrington. If he'll look in decent form the first couple of days, I think he can be once again in the frame come Sunday, but we shall wait and see how he starts later on...

The old "You can't win it on the first day but you sure can lose it" cliche is already flashing warning signs to some big names:
Woodland
Ishikawa
Quiros
Watney
and a host of three overs.

If the old forecast of easier conditions Thursday afternoon and Friday morning prevails, these guys are in trouble.

ESPN's all-American crew of commentators already disparaging the World Rankings, specifically the position of Simon Dyson.
Better not mention to them the 6th and 12th place finishes in their PGA Championship then.
No place for prejudicial commentary, born out of pig ignorance, whoever it comes from, but presumably that's why they failed to show his play on 18 even though he was in 2nd place. Idiots.

Very nice interview with Thomas Bjorn.
And the porridge group just at the first tee, Anthony Kim, the new "FLETCHER" of the PGA Tour, Roary Sabbatini on parole from the Finchem penitentiary, with Sandy Mr.Mackay" Lyle wardering them around.

Brilliant ace by DJ! The Mechanic deserves a big fat cigar, what a great round from him!

Dustin on fire, shame about the first 13 holes....


Kwini, what's the mood on ESPN now with an all-european top 5?

Lucky ace by Dustin! That would have been off the green!! But five under over four holes, pretty sporty, however he achieved it.

Great work by European Tour veterans, love it!

Big tournament for Sergio for collateral reasons. He badly needs a good finish to qualify for Firestone, and that will likely help yield him enough FedEx points to get him into the first three FedEx tournaments, crucial if he's to make the minimum this year. He's already allegedly received a warning letter from PGA Tour about that! Come on Sergio!

Haven't said too much yet, Ned, but clearly disappointed by Watney's form and Fowler's dropped shots. Dustin looked as if he was going to make up for that but costly dropped shot at 18.

Interesting interview with renaissance man Ryan Moore who is from the Seattle area. He's been practicing for Sandwich by playing Chambers Bay every day, site of a US Open in a few years. One day Ryan Moore is going to break through big time, make us forget the American nearly men of the past ten years.

Interesting that we are getting more comments about the Open here than on the other 6 or 7 threads!

Davie wrote:Interesting that we are getting more comments about the Open here than on the other 6 or 7 threads!

Old habits die hard Davie, Kwini's thread is the place to be

I rate Moore too Kwini, understated but consistent, wouldn't be at all surprised if he wins a Major before Watney or Mahan or Fowler etc. Reminds me of British golf in the early 2000s, when Rose, Casey, Poulter and so on were the next big things, but it was Padraig the quiet man who made the breakthrough. Speaking of Mahan, looks like three straight missed cuts in the majors for him.

Anything goes here Davie. Perhaps the other threads will have informed comment on Mississippi.

But it is worthwhile contrasting British and American coverage and perspective.

Meanwhile, they're on the move in Mississippi, the now famous Kris Blanks teeing off in half an hour - note he didn't say what the Americans don't travel well thread said he said! My comments apply!!

From an American perspective: Nice interview with Dustin Johnson saying how much he enjoyed links golf, feels he has the game to do well here.

From a European view: Just take a look at Phil Mickelson's strides. Good Lord! Mind you, he's on the range next to Stenson's caddie displaying the broad-in-the-beam look.

Didn't know Colaerts had crashed out (literally), Ricky Barnes in.

Cheers Ned,
Am thinking 72 is about par for today's course? So decent start for Rory and not too bad for Ernie.

Where's GJ? Badds not looking too good, and my interest in Streelman looking a touch optimistic, already +6 after ten.

That was a big save from Sergio on 17!

Another big save needed here Davie!
Apparently flew in from San Francisco on spec when he became first alternate, arrived last night allegedly, first saw the course this morning.
Good news: He's in.
Bad news: He's playing with JB Holmes!

Someone should tell young Rors that it's bad manners to wear a hat indoors

A beaming Sergio on ESPN, first time I've seen him smiling on US TV since he won The Players. Great to see!

Lee doing his best to get out of contention early.

What happened to Colsaerts, is just as silly as what happened to Levet... and I kept him in my fantasy team

Not a great start from Lee, but Tom Watson looks like he may be at it again...

I remembered BBC coverage being much better than this... Campbell and Stanley are T3, and I think we've seen a combine 3 shots between them. And nothing at all of Larrazabal and McEvoy amongst others at -1. Seems they've gone for Sky's "celeb golfers" route, shame.

kwinigolfer wrote:Cheers Ned,
Am thinking 72 is about par for today's course? So decent start for Rory and not too bad for Ernie.

Where's GJ? Badds not looking too good, and my interest in Streelman looking a touch optimistic, already +6 after ten.

Talk of the wind dropping a little Kwini, would think the 72s will be a little disappointed by the end of the day. But nowhere near out of it, and can't see anyone catching Bjorn, or even Jimenez.

See Schwartzel's gone for the all black outfit... he looks more like a young Gary Player every week.

ESPN has borrowed Peter Allis for half an hour - good thing as they also have Tom Weiskopf on the air and he sounds like the voice from the grave. About 150 years of age in the commentary box, perhaps too many.

Lee's getting to make a nasty habit of slow starts but hopefully he can settle down now.

Kris Blanks fans note that he's two over in Mississippi. Not a bad thing.

Wondered where Alliss had gone, we haven't had him for hours.

A long way to go... but 12 guys have handed in sub-70 cards so far. 8 of them are Europeans, 4 English.

Rustin Jose still reminds me of C-3PO from Star Wars

So, Ned, will the breeze be lighter this afternoon? Looks like it with fewer catastrophes out there just now.

Some poor rounds in progress from surprising players even now though, thought Kuchar would be in his element, Westwood of course and Immelman off to a lousy start.

Big par five for Westwood now . . . . .

Davie wrote:Rustin Jose still reminds me of C-3PO from Star Wars

Seems about as interesting at times...


All getting incestuous now, we've got Jim Nantz on commentary

Oh dear, wonder if Jim Nantz will be able to talk for five minutes without invoking his chumskis Couples and a pair of Bushes?

Justin Leonard with three straight birds, probably the first time he's done that for a couple of years.

Lovely to see Darren Clarke nosing up the leaderboard.
Apropos a recent thread on here about fitness, I'd say he has taken himself out of Major conention a few times by lack of physical fitness, arguably including last year when he played the best late afternoon second round amidst the carnage, had to come back crack o'sparrows Saturday to finish Round 2 but couldn't sustain his form after waiting around for ages for Round 3.

Who wouldn't like to see him make up for past disappointments by winning this week?

Good effort at short notice from Ricky Barnes. Wonder what Scott Verplank's thinking, this could've been his... perhaps he'll just blame European bias in the rankings again.

To bail Scott Verplank out a bit, he may well have made the decision not to try and play as he contends with his ongoing wrist problem.
But nice to see Barnes reaping his reward.

Scoring this afternoon may be easier but you wouldn't think so looking at the bigger names; it's the lesser lights who are posting the numbers.

Good day for American beards: Stanley eclipsed as leading Yank by caveman Glover himself. Keeping them warm in the wind maybe?

I wonder who Glover has keeping him warm - his wife seems to have done a runner.

Team GB off to a decent start in the Nationwide, Christian, Knox and Richardson all either 2 or 3 under, Owen out later.

Ned, Your comment regarding the "72's" looking more apt by the minute.