PGA Tour: Play-Offs Act 2: Deutsche Bank: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Congratulations to Nick Watney for winning Play-Off Act 1 at The Barclays. Seventeen greens hit in regulation on Sunday, plus a half mile in putts made during the week, did the trick in a compelling weekend's entertainment. I've enjoyed following Watney from his early days (actually even before that) on Tour, he's got a gorgeous swing and seems to have matured a little from his deer-in-the-headlights public persona. This has been a wasted year for him up until now, but a putting lesson or two from long-time New York area Club Pro (and occasional PGA Tour player) Darrell Kestner seems to have done the trick. For one week at least.

2).Watney has now added Bethpage Black to Torrey Pines, Doral, Aronomink and Pete Dye's TPC Louisiana, a handful of the Tour's stronger tests to have prevailed on, most of them emphatic wins just like this one.

3).The final round didn't go quite as Sergio would have wished, but what a week for him! Winner on Monday, 54-hole lead this weekend, Ryder Cup qualification and it seems as if even the US Press is happy to see him back.

4).Sergio extended his lead of modern era (Jacklin onwards) PGA Tour wins in North America for Europeans with Monday's triumph. Top ten:
1).Garcia - 8
2).Ballesteros - 6
2).Faldo - 6
2).Olazabal - 6
5).Lyle - 5
5).Parnevik - 5
5).Donald - 5
5).Pettersson - 5
9).McIlroy - 4
9).Rose - 4

5).Horses for courses note: Of the seven participants at The Barclays who had made the US Open cuts in 2002 and 2009, all seven made the Barclays cut, though only Garcia was in weekend contention.

6).What difference does this result, Watney's win, Sneds in second, Dustin third, make to Davis Love's Captain's conundrum? The Golf Channel have tabulated what the latest US Ryder Cup qualification results would look like if they had been extended by a fortnight:
9th: Mahan
10th: Snedeker
11th: Stricker
12th: Dustin
13th: Fowler
14th: Furyk
15th: Van Pelt
16th: Watney
Love's selection looked straightforward a week ago; not so much now.

7).And so to Act 2 of the FedEx quartet, or the meat in the Libor sandwich, following Barclays and preceding HSBC. We return to TPC Boston, not exactly in Boston, just barely in Massachusetts, to a once unpopular Arnold Palmer course which has been overhauled by Gil Hanse and Brad Faxon among others and is now well thought of by the Pros. The 18th hole is the latest to be tweaked and the course is close to being the finished product. Rain today should facilitate perfect conditions through Sunday. But see Note 10).

8).Last year Dustin Johnson made the record books by leading the tournament in driving distance AND driving accuracy. But he putted like a drain and finished 42nd, tough to do!
My three against the field this week though would be Dufner (his first top two finish was here, in 2009), Ogilvy and Luke Donald both of whom also have previous here. Dufner, of course, took last week off and Sergio is similarly giving "Boston" a miss.
So is David Toms who will thus be eliminated from the Play-Offs - no injury, off to batten down his Louisiana hatches in anticipation of the tropical storm, or to see his beloved LSU Tigers open their College Football season. Or both.

9).Most of the Europeans in action at the Deutsche Bank have safely secured their passage in the top 70 points list to next week's BMW action, but the following are on the bubble:
Jonas Blixt: 97th (needs very approximately at least a top 20 finish).
Greg Owen: 76th (needs a top 30 finish).
Brian Davis: 70th (needs a top 40 finish).
But others are well off the pace for the Tour Championship and could use a top result: Westwood, McDowell, Laird, Harrington and Poulter.

10).If any reminder is needed as to how insignificant top tournament golf is in the U.S. compared to "football", the overnight TV ratings for an exhibition pre-season NFL game (with most top players participating sparingly if at all) were exactly double those for The Barclays.
Perhaps that is why the "Deutsche Bank Championship" starts on this Friday and concludes on Monday, "Labor Day" in the States, so avoiding most of Sunday's NFL exhibition efforts. Then just two days before they tee off in the BMW, almost 1,000 miles to the west, on a Crooked Stick course in Indiana that hardly anyone will have played.
How ironic it would be if Tropical Storm "Isaac" which is making Hay(es) right now in the Gulf of Mexico, but could be in New England by week's end, gave the Tour's best Monday finish intentions the Shaft!

PS: Best wishes to Retief Goosen following his recent back operation . . . . .

stricker furyk DJ and Sneds.
cant see any justification for Mahan or Ricky. as Jonny Miller said.. no point in having picks that were playing well last january. watney would be the 5th in line for me

We'll find out at 10.15 a.m., 3.15 p.m. in Ickenham.
Stricker and three from Furyk, Mahan, Dustin and Sneds I would think, tough call to leave Mahan out, but I'd think it's a toss up betwen him and Furyk.

Did not manage to watch any of the golf but I am pleased to see phil mickelson have a good week after some pretty poor spring/summer - his first top five since the masters - form.

Sounds like Phil played well Mac; we didn't really see him hit many full shots but he holed a couple of bombs, missed at least one tiddler, pretty much back to the Phil we all know and some love.


The revised US Ryder Cup Team qualifying list would show:

9th: Snedeker
10th: Stricker
11th: Mahan
12th: Johnson
13th: Furyk
14th: Fowler


Still no final word as to whether Schwartzel will be fit to play this week but Jonas Blixt would be justified in being well and truly p1ssed off if Charl birdied 17 and 18 to squeeze into the top 70 (nudging Blixt to 71st) and then didn't play.

Shotrock wrote:A fine round and tournament for Woods, but difficult to overcome the #1 player in the world. Well done Rory.

Woods performance was not a surprise to me. I think he has the potential of being a regular top-10 player.

yeah woods has potential- good prospect