PGA Tour: Match Play and Mayakoba: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Another weekend on the West Coast Swing, another thriller.
Lots of winners: Haas obviously, Mickelson because he carried on pretty much from where he left off at Pebble Beach, Bradley finally putting to rest any notion that his PGA success was in any way a fluke.
And Riviera Country Club which proved that a classic lay-out with subtle, firm greens can still challenge the world's best.
Sunday had a Major feel to it and there was the usual speculation about the USGA or PGA Of America bringing their Championships to LA. Haven't heard any further reaction, but LA hasn't supported Majors especially well in the past, and this week's cool, breezy conditions were a far cry from the searing heat of summer.

2).Two heart-warming comebacks to mention with JB Holmes earning his first top ten following his return from brain surgery. I hadn't realised until CBS's piece on Holmes that his condition ("Chiari Malformations") was the result of his brain actually being marginally too big for his skull. Sounds horrific, especially when he had to go back for seconds following an infection. Seems like Holmes has been around forever - or is that just his pre-shot routine? - but he doesn't turn 30 until April and hopefully this effort confirms he'll be back to his best.

3).Not as scary, but more protracted an absence, was Tim Clark's elbow injury. He seemed to be pleased with his health despite missing the cut at Riviera and expect to see him back to full-time competition once the circus reaches Florida.

4).But not before we mention his Friday back nine. Clark (46) and Sabbatini (45) combined for a "better" ball 41. Harrington was the third player in the group but haven't yet seen any of the three sharing their thoughts. Pity!

5).Can't leave Riviera without mentioning Garcia's Sunday 64, three shots better than Freddie Jacobson's 67 on his return from injury, and one of only five scores in the 60's. More of that please Sergio. And Freddie.

6).And so to Arizona and the Ritz-Carlton GC (well) outside Tucson, for the "World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship". The recent GolfWorld survey of Tour players rated this Nicklaus masterpiece dead last of the courses staging events annually. "There is just nothing positive to say," said one player, while another comment was, "Everyone hates it". A third opinion: "Can't say the setup has done much to help the architecture here."
Just what we need then. A MatchPlay event in a remote location on a course that the players detest. The sort of three-card trick that makes Finchem tens of $millions.

7).But, like the course or not, surely Wednesday's first round is as compelling a day of golf as the sport has to offer outside the Majors and Ryder Cup? And some players enjoy the week. Of those in the field, the following have the most wins:
Woods: 32 match wins, 8 losses.
Toms: 23 - 10
Ogilvy: 20 - 4
Poulter: 18 - 8
Donald: 16 - 6
Goosen: 15 - 12
Clarke: 14 - 7
Scott: 14 - 10
Garcia: 12 - 10

While others have lousy records, including:
Westwood: 7 - 11
Els: 10 - 11
Furyk: 10 - 11
Karlsson: 2 - 6
Anders Hansen: 1 - 5
Dustin Johnson: 0 - 3
Quiros: 0 - 3

8).I'm hoping Kaymer can get out of bed on the right side and go one better than last year's runner-up finish to St.Luke.
Potential match-up I'd go a long way to see: Possible second round tie between Garcia and Ogilvy.
Potential banana skins: Na, great putter, in form and slow as molasses, against Stricker who's had his feet up; and Colsaerts vs Westwood.

9).Don't forget there's an "opposite field" event this week, the "Mayakoba Golf Classic" in the Cancun area of Mexico. Greg Norman's Mayakoba course is rated 21st by the Pros: "The best-kept secret on Tour"; but perhaps not such a secret any more, and expect to see Mayakoba receive a more prominent date in the Tour calendar when the revamped Tour schedule is announced by the PGA Tour.
There's a good quality field including European Tour members Aiken, Olazabal, Lara and Canizares, plus well-known Tour veterans like Allenby, Campbell, HowellIII, Kelly, Sabbatini, Gay, Levin, Johnson Wagner and Frazar. I like Gay's chances while Billy Horschel and Jarrod Lyle might be good each way value.

10).The most important short-term facet of "Mayakoba" is that it represents the point of the first "reshuffle" of the season where Nationwide and Q-School qualifiers are re-assessed based upon their performances to date. Russell Knox, for instance, has slipped almost to the bottom of the pile, while Greg Owen's Pebble Beach top ten has lifted him, provisionally, 25 positions which should assure him a couple of starts, at least, in Florida. Other Europeans on hand include Gary Christian, Chopra and Richard Johnson.
Lastly, there is a veritable Dad's Army of Champions Tour refugees, including Norman, Price, Lehman, Cook (3rd last year) and former Champion Funk.

Very informative as usual ,that 'Brain too big'thing sounded rather unpleasant.
Presume the next 2 wgc events will be last real chances for masters qualification via top 50 ranking

I would rather that than the brain too small thing that super has.

sorry kwini, never has there been a more disrespectful opening to your fine article, but come on it was wide open.


I currently have Scott as a reserve on your fantasy league as I felt his route to higher earnings seemed promising. Can only hope Kaymer breaks a leg now.


I have to say the course and location make no sense for this event and the galleries often look empty which sort of makes me think Finchem is not that bothered about gate receipts. What is the PGA tour model for holding an event; is it like F1 where someone pays Bernie to hold an event or is sanctioning given for free in return for some of the profits from the event?

Hi dyna, Thanks.

There are about eight PGA Tour events still to go to gain points for Masters qualification via the owgr Top 50, plus a handful of European tournaments and others, primarily in Asia. In addition, the winners of the 2 WGC's and the Tour stops at Honda, Transitions, Bay Hill and Houston gain an automatic invite (which is sadly not available to tournament winners elsewhere).

The world rankings between about position 24 and 56 are very tightly packed so there is plenty of time for a player to stitch together two or three good events and move up quickly even if they don't win.

Good writeup again Kwini... Oh and good post on the carter blog on the bbc. Spot on

Looking forward to this weeks golf.

Hi Kwini, thanks for the notes as always,

Just posted some thoughts on Riveria and its major credentials on last weeks's ballwasher. Certainly think the bunkers and firm greens, along with the cacua rough can make it suitably challenging.

Did Tim Clark get to defend his Players last year?

I'm slightly surprised to read the player's comments on Dove Mountain. Always a bit difficult to get a perception of the lines off the tees etc. on tv but I thought it looked fairly challenging with enough changes in elevation to keep it interesting... I think its at a fair altitude but is it too long? Perhaps they dont like those run off areas we've spoke about previously? Maybe there is just nothing to do at night!

I hope this weeks defending champion doesnt suffer the same fate as last years... unless Els finds any sort of resemblance of form with the putter then surely not. Colsaerts was a tempting pick on the fantasy game... but went with experience. Not many with more wins than Bjorn last year and I think he'll at least catch Molinari cold. I've had the impression in the past that, at least, some of the American players are not too bothered about this week.

Knox must regret not capitalising after getting into some good positions to cash some cheques. The 'stature' of this weeks event might help him feel more comfortable. Time for Noh to match Bae's efforts so far and a chance for Wagner to move back to top of FedEx rankings at the 'opposite field' event!

Wonderful write up Kwin. I suppose some course has to rank last and this one fits the bill of being (almost) in the middle of nowhere, looks like it was plopped down on the landscape and not a whole lot of risk/reward holes which I really like for match play situations.

Can't help but think the best or hottest putters will rule the day here. Sergio was hot last week, but a 3 putt when he needed it most? Tiger may be a legendary putter (or was), but he's going to have to hit his approach shots closer. Donald and Stricker clear putting stalwarts on paper, but the darn tournament isn't played on paper, so the hot golfer to prevail?

Regardless, as we previously tossed back and forth, match play is VERY exciting to watch on TV.

Thanks All,

Mac,
It's a crying shame that the Match Play has absconded to a place that even Iain Carter describes as being "in the middle of nowhere". La Costa was popular with fans and certainly players' loved ones because of the Spa! Decent course too but inclined to get soggy in California's wet season. So they went to Arizona and, instead of playing at the traditional Tucson Open site, got sucked deeper into the desert. Presumably there's a big bucks tie-in with Ritz Carlton but, if the course is a dog-track, what's the point?


Sand,


I saw your comment about the Riv bunkering, Lairdy. Players generally prefer the old-style bunkering - I noticed more balls having plugged over the weekend than in a normal month, so maybe the consistency of the sand also contributes to the penal nature.
Tim Clark embarked on a Players defence, but withdrew during the tournament. This week might suit Russell Knox, course puts a premium on ball-striking which seems to be his forte, so fingers crossed.

Sr,
Putters AND short game I reckon, given the huge, heavily contoured greens. Should suit Donald- and Stricker-type games indeed but it really looks wide open. We have the longest opening streak of American wins on Tour this century(!), but not sure which American is going to keep it going, certainly don't fancy any of the under-35's.

Agree that this course is disappointing.................where to though??
Surely there is an alternative(even if it has to remain in the US)...................

Ive gone for Quiros in the Fantasy event so glad to see his record is so good!!!!

This is why pgatour.com gets my goat.
Just watched their "Top ten matches in the history of the WGC Accenture Match Play".
Eight of them American wins, three of them Tiger wins, only two "International" victories featured, Casey vs Villegas and O'Hern's double over, you guesed it, Woods.
No Clarke, no Stenson, no Ogilvy (let alone Ogilvy twice), no Poults, no Donald.
Only in America. Thanks Tim.


PS: John, Why should it have to be in February? And, if it does, let's go south of the equator. Play it the week following The Masters and you have the entire southern half of the U.S. Who knows, if there's no will to take it from the U.S., they deserve what they've got, but if it has to be in Arizona why not in town where the old Tucson Open was played, sometimes as MatchPlay!

South of the equator, novel idea. But if they are going to compete with the well oiled and money-producing US-based team Finchem has created, better get started yesterday. The TV advertisers will want/need plenty of assurances.

Hey, maybe Chubby Chandler can get it moved to the Far East?

My vote would be for Cypress Point or Seminole. Cypress would almost certainly tell me to pound surf and Seminole would tell me to pound sand.

Seriously though, any tournament that will lose half the field day one is almost certain to generate a lot of disgust among those not playing day two. Which is why match play tournaments are so special and rare.

Agree with you. It's as if they decided to find a place where no one would turn up and had no atmosphere.........................saw your piece in Iain Carters blog, points well made..........

Read a bit of on PGA tour about Gonzo being asked about playing Tiger. Totally ignored half the full interview that is shown on European Tour so it looks like Gonzo is saying hes going to beat Tiger comfortably blah blah blah.. When hes not saying that at all.

Sand,
Completely agree, all Gonzo said is that if Tiger plays his best he'll win. If Gonzo plays his best, and Tiger doesn't, he's beatable - which has made the headlines on every sports page across the country.
If there's any pro at the Match Play who doesn't think Tiger's beatable, he should go home.
Nick O'Hern did the trick twice, when Woods was fully fit and in his prime - and O'Hern is no Gonzo! ('Course, those same headline writers have never heard of Gonzo . . . . . )

More speculation from Doug Ferguson about the Tour and, not incidentally to this thread, that the MatchPlay could go to San Francisco, in October.

I've got a better idea. St.Andrews. Or Wentworth. Or Valderrama. Or Lytham. The chink in the armour phrase has received a lot of attention here these past few days - let's exploit a chink in the Tour's armour and send the MatchPlay to an "international" venue in October. Makes much more sense than Harding Park.

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-onthefringe-022112

The UK already has the Dunhill links in october so that would probably rule scotland out of the equation. Although surely anything held in the south east of England would be well attended no matter what the course.

Not sure any of the continental nations really get golf in the same way the UK does so see no reason to look beyond england were a WGC to leave the USA.

Mac,
I only used St.Andrews because of the Dunhill, which validates Scotland as an option. Wentworth too obviously, although another similar/better option might be Walton Heath among others.
But south of the equator is certainly open for business in October and the idea of switching betwen, say, Melbourne and South Africa could easily be explored.
Anyway, not moving it around the world if the date were changed should surely be opposed by the other federations.

Celtic Manor has history of holding a fairly notable matchplay event in October...?

Make sure your waterproofs are waterproof though.

Somehow can't see them going for the idea...

Kwini. A smile your way my Golfing Sporting friend.

If we're in "moan at pgatour.com" mode, check out their previews for tomorrows R1 matches. Apparently Cabrera-Bello's Dubai win was his first on tour (actually 2nd), and Dyson has 11 tour wins (actually 6). Both easily viewable on Wikipedia.

kwinigolfer wrote:This is why pgatour.com gets my goat.
Just watched their "Top ten matches in the history of the WGC Accenture Match Play".
Eight of them American wins, three of them Tiger wins, only two "International" victories featured, Casey vs Villegas and O'Hern's double over, you guesed it, Woods.
No Clarke, no Stenson, no Ogilvy (let alone Ogilvy twice), no Poults, no Donald.
Only in America. Thanks Tim.


PS: John, Why should it have to be in February? And, if it does, let's go south of the equator. Play it the week following The Masters and you have the entire southern half of the U.S. Who knows, if there's no will to take it from the U.S., they deserve what they've got, but if it has to be in Arizona why not in town where the old Tucson Open was played, sometimes as MatchPlay!

I understand that Tim Finchem is not popular across the pond, but does anyone really think TF micro-manages the pgatour.com website this much as to make sure that top ten matches featured American wins. Goodness.

And as far as WGC events in Europe, is anyone stepping up to host one? IIRC, there has been three, Ireland, England and Spain and they were years ago. (Maybe Spain had two).

The money is in the USA

GPB,
I DO think he sets the tone . . . .
Well, let's hope someone in Europe or elsewhere does push the boat out.

John From London Town,
How are you? Where's your MBE?? Haven't been working for Lloyds Bank or Rupert Murdoch I hope???

Have a go in our Fantasy Game, you're in the nick of time.

All well here on the West Coast of New England; as you can see . . . With you too I hope.

We're here every week, for better or for worse.

Keep your cue straight and your balls in the pocket, Great to hear from you . . . .

Decided to drop the MBE as I'm not dodgy enough. Might have a rethink after looking at the going.......

The cue is straight I'm pleased to report, I'm making myself busy again on the baize. I got asked to coach some kids, I said "Yes" & 40 odd turned up lol. Coaching every Saturday now. It's amazing what's out there & bless them, what they don't know. For example.....
I explained to each & every one of them that when you’re playing, think what you like because no one can see your thoughts & to feel good about yourself when you’re playing. A young kid called Jake, who has a lovely cue action, he's 11, asked me a question that reminded me of a discussion we had back on the BBC 606 when I took my son for Golf lessons. Young Jake tapped me on the hip & said this to me...

Jake - "John, can I ask you a question please?"
Me - "Course Mate"
Jake - "I don't know if I'm left handed or right handed?"
Me - "Really. You were playing wonderful against me right handed so let's pop over to the corner table & show me what you can do when you hit them with your left hand"

Off we go to the corner table, I set up a couple of straight forward shots for him & asked him to play the shots left handed & bang, bang, he potted them clean as a whistle. He's only 11, under 4 foot don't forget.
I set the same shots up for him again & asked him to pot them right handed, simple shots mind, I just wanted to see & again, bang bang. I asked him what hand he prefers hitting them with & he didn't know. Incredible.
I then, & I don't know if you remember but going back to when I took my son for a Golf lesson & I had the same dilemma with my son not knowing whether he should hit them left handed or right handed & the Pro asked my son to put both his hands behind his back & the Pro threw a Golf ball at him & whatever hand he caught the ball with determined whether he was left or right handed, well silly bollicks here done the same thing but with chalk. I must have done it about 5 or 6 times & each time he caught the chalk with a different hand. I ended up telling the kid the truth & said I didn't know & to play with which ever hand he preferred. Guess what he said...?
Jake - "John, do you think people will mind if I play with either hand?"
Me (close to tears at his honesty) - "Jake, mate, it's about enjoying yourself first & if you want to win then it's about winning because if you want to win & you do, it’s a lovely, lovely feeling & makes you smile. Don't forget the first words I said to you Jake, no one can see you thoughts & that means you can't see theirs either. So if you feel comfortable playing shots when you’re on a break right handed or left handed, then you do that mate."

I was greeted with a lovely smile. Bless him. I've got his highest break up from 31 to 64. Lovely kid.

The bottom line is Kwini, in our game these days, you watch, they'll all be playing shots using either hand. Talk about progress & evolution, astonishing. Lovely to see.

As for my own game, well that's another 600 odd word essay.

You’re not forgotten Kwini, always a pleasure to read your ink.

Keep Smiling mate, keep doing what your good at.
John x

NedB-H wrote:If we're in "moan at pgatour.com" mode, check out their previews for tomorrows R1 matches. Apparently Cabrera-Bello's Dubai win was his first on tour (actually 2nd), and Dyson has 11 tour wins (actually 6). Both easily viewable on Wikipedia.

In Dyson's case they probably confuse Tour wins with professional wins.

Graeme McDowell and YE Yang get things rolling at 7.25 a.m. local time, 2.25 p.m. GMT.
Final tee-time sees K-t Kim vs Anders Hansen at 12.35 p.m. local.
Forecast has perked up a bit, from suny and low 70's all week to sunny and high 70's, cooling off a touch on Sunday perhaps. Winds about 10 mph Wednesday and Thursday.
Bottom line: No snow and unlikely to be any rain or frost, tho' early tee-time temps will be 40-ish.

Kwini

Sorry for the ignorance, and laziness as I am sure google would have produced and answer, but what is the schedule for the week?

Is it;

Wed: 36 holes (round of 64 and 32)
Thur: round of 16
Fri: last 8
Sat: semi finals
Sun: 36 hole final, 18 hole 3rd place play off.

Wednesday: Round 1 - 32 matches
Thursday: Round 2 - 16 matches
Friday: Round 3 - 8 matches
Saturday: Q-Finals: 4 matches
Sunday morning: 2 x Semi-finals: 18 holes
Sunday afters: Final and 3rd place match: both 18 holes.

Why dont they just make it 3 days of 36 holes a day?

Mac, Why should they, it would be like playing a tournament and a half in 3 days?
Why don't they do the World Cup in a week, or the 6 Nations in a weekend?

It's about getting crowds in, plus allowing the players to be rested.

I was going to say that the Commercial bit would have something to do with playing this comp in 3 days I would have thought?

36 holes a day for 3 days, I can imagine the golf being utter rubbish by the time you get the final as players will be losig focus and hitting errant shots everywhere.

Can't imagine commercially being much of a money spinner if they did and I would imagine a larger portion of the players would say thanks for the invite but I won't be playing.

Ok, I know the reasons, but I think it would be more interesting and would add an element of survival to the tournament.

Mac, it's golf, most of those boys are in no shape to play that much golf to a decent standard. You'd then get the pathetic excuses that footballers doll out of having to play too much.

It would be counter productive, and you'd probably have to cross a Shane Lowry picket line to get in.

super

What sport is at the start of your scale where it counts as a hard physical work out of top class football does not?

Mac, I'm not saying football isn't a physical work out, I just get sick of hearing about footballers saying they shouldn't be playing 3 matches in 7 days, when the likes of Tennis players can play the equivalent of 3 football matches in one afternoon and then have to do it again 48 hours later.
Football is so stop start, dictated by positional movement and so the player might only have to cover 6k's a match. Boo bloody hoo, and then they get paid 100k whether they play well or not. Soft, nampy pamby poofs.

Footballers, in general terms are nowhere near the athletic ability they should be.

McLaren wrote:super

What sport is at the start of your scale where it counts as a hard physical work out of top class football does not?

Marathon running, Triatholons, Endurance runners would all be hard pysical workouts imo. Football less so as there are periods at of rest (of sorts) where the heart rate is returned to a slower rate

kwinigolfer wrote:Wednesday: Round 1 - 32 matches
Thursday: Round 2 - 16 matches
Friday: Round 3 - 8 matches
Saturday: Q-Finals: 4 matches
Sunday morning: 2 x Semi-finals: 18 holes
Sunday afters: Final and 3rd place match: both 18 holes.

It's no harm they have changed Final from 36 to 18.
it's hard to watch a 36 hole match..............

GPB - You bring up an excellent point. IF you want to host a WGC event, line up the sponsors, venue, etc. It's a tremendous amount of work, with some real risk involved.

Talk is and will always be VERY cheap. Standing up and getting off your wallet not so much.

I quite like the format used for the Volvo matchplay - round robin followed by knockout stages.

They can't do that with the WGC one and keep the running time less than a week though.

Sr, GPB,
May not be quite as easy as that. There are plenty of multi-nationals sponsoring events on the PGA Tour - sure it's the American exposure, but also because the best Internationals players/brands are almost guaranteed to play in the US, whereas the converse is not true.

Hyundai, Sony, Farmer's Insurance, Mayakoba, Honda, Shell, RBC (x2), Zurich, Bridgestone, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BMW . . . . . . . .

They've stood up, got off their wallets and found the PGA Tour players don't want to travel.

Hold a WGC event in Australia and the alternates had to dip into the owgr 100's to fill up the field. The only reason many Americans travelled to The Grove a few years ago was because it followed the Ryder Cup.

Let's be fair and balanced here.

Five year extension of FedEx Cup has been announced so that's tied up through 2017.

Seems FedEx has been told the FedEx Cup will start in the Fall Series - premature announcement there by the FedEx guy!!!!!!!!

Not for nothing, but I love what FedEx do, tho' not necessarily in golf. If anyone has the chance to visit (and tour) their hub in Memphis they should take it! Especially finagle yourself in to the tower so you can see/hear first hand the planes coming in and going out. Better than clockwork!

Pretty funny watching FedEx announce changes to the season that Finchem has clearly agreed with them, but not yet with the players!!!!!!!

What are the big changes to the FedEx going forward, I'd like to get into this series of events but i'm struggling to like a playoff series in golf

Clearly, from what was said during the announcement of their (FedEX's) extension to their contract, the FedEx points will be accumulated throughout the year.
The wrinkle being that the PGA Tour year will now apparently commence following the Tour Championship in September so that Fall Series events will in, say, 2013 earn FedEx points for the 2013/2014 season.

There may be other changes but they haven't been announced.

Kwin - They sure didn't get off their wallets enough! These guys are mercenaries.

A large part of the effort is to get the players to travel to the events. You're not going to win any support by "being as good as the other guy", you will need to be lots better IF you want the player and sponsor support. Hey, you might have to charter luxury liners and that may still not work. Good luck -- at the end the of the day the market will decide, but it's fantasy land to think it'll happen without risk and stumbles along the way. And a lot of incentives.

Have a purse of $200 million, limit the field to 30, hold the event the exact same weekend as the Masters and watch the players line up. Remind me to email Donald Trump ... he can hold it at his new course in Scotland ...

I find that a strange thing to do, so basicallr (or am I misinterpreting this) as soon as the Fed Ex is complete at the Tour Championship the following week(or so to speak) at the first fall series event it starts all over again for the following season.

If thats the case then I find it even less desirable to watch as it will not encompass just the current season and makes it even more complicated to follow. Surely the best method is get rid of the ludicrous points method (don't knw anyone that can fathom how they work) and base it purely on the money list and reward the season most consistent performers rather than those that my have a brief good run and walk away with the dollars e.g Bill Haas

Fader,
All they're doing is mimicking what Europe have done intermittently, starting one year's season in the previous calendar year.
In a small (very small?) way, the more points-earning tournaments there are available before the Play-offs begin, the less volatility there will be.

What I don't yet understand is how the new PGA Tour card qualifying system is going to dovetail into the new "season". Don't think Finchem does either.

Yang 1 up on McDowell!

Aha! Lightbulb moment... I see what they are doing now, so effectively the fall series becomes like a pre-season for want of a better term for the season proper the following calendar year. Makes more sense that way.

I don't get why they are changing the Q-School entry method, they will lose a lot of young talents that hit the tour through that method for at least a year surely. E.g the likes of DJ and Fowler that come through Q-School straight to tour.

I get the premise is that a year on Nationwide is an apprenticeship of sorts and the likes of Keegan "Spitoon" Braddley and more recently Kyle Stanley are good adverts as this as a means of coming through, but takes a little edge off the Rookie having chance to hit it big against established players. I don't see the likes of Stanley and Braddley et al as rookies when they come on tour having already had that breeding ground so imo the true rookie dies a death.

Also the 3 tournament method of qualification (have I got that right, likely not) as something of a non starter and more complex, but then i'm no tour officianado and none of us are sat in the meetings that are putting this in place.