PGA Tour: Texas Two-Step: Houston and San Antonio: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Because of the vagaries of the calendar, the Tour loses Houston as the stop immediately before Augusta this year and the boys will be playing Houston this week, and San Antonio next. Then The Masters of course.
But this is the week golf returned to the front pages of a breathless national media and headlined most of the national radio and TV news programmes. No, not because Sergio hit a ball out of a tree.
Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!!!

2).The relentless march of inevitability lasted five days but Tiger finished fourteen under par on the Par-5's alone.
So: Was the week's biggest story Tiger and his brilliant putting plus the ability to ride a big slice of luck at a crucial time?
Or was it Justin Rose who outplayed Tiger for 40 holes, went into so much of a funk that he played sixteen holes in six over par, and then regrouped to outscore Tiger by one shot on Monday as he finished a comfortable runner up?

Not sure myself - perhaps Rose would have been better off playing 72 holes alongside Woods instead of listening to the roars in front of him and ogling Tiger's rise up the numerous on-course leaderboards?
I thought at the time that Justin's careless 3-putt on Friday evening's 18th might come back to haunt him, and he certainly lost form with his putter on Saturday, pushing at least four short left-to-righters below the hole.

3).What is in no doubt is that sport sees strokes of fortune, good and bad, that can make or break a round, a match, even a career.
Matt Prior played the ball on to his stumps early in his innings today, but the bails stayed intact and the headlines were of a brilliant 110 n.o., and not about throwing his wicket away when England needed him most.
Bill Haas was still in contention on Saturday when he hit a ball out of bounds - by three inches. He was toast from then on.
But minutes before, Tiger had hit a tee shot on the 9th hole which (according to NBC TV) struck a tree out of bounds and rebounded back in play. A brilliant par followed and he was off to the races on a course he knows better than anyone.
No-one knows how to take advantage of a good break like Tiger, but equally no-one follows a poor shot with another poor shot so infrequently. He sure looks good for Muirfield Village . . . . .

4).Great play also from Gonzo (he does have a first name, NBC), Olesen and Stenson. A glimpse of form from Martin Laird, Sergio running on fumes, and rubbish from Westwood. Difficult to fancy Europe's chances at Augusta unless Rory returns to his best - my fancy will be the same as last year, left handers and Saffers.

5).NBC TV did a piece during their weekend coverage lamenting slow play with Bubba Watson, Lee Westwood and the Network providing evidence for the prosecution. But they won't name names, despite the clips of Webb Simpson, Kevin Na etc.. The info on time taken by each player to play each shot is recorded so why doesn't the media get the data and start to name names. I would back Bradley, Crane, Harrington, Na and Simpson as being at least as glacial as the slowcoaches of yesteryear, Faldo and Langer, Chip Beck, Bob Estes and Ken Brown. Even Nicklaus and Couples could be pretty bloody slow.
Still puzzled why this is not an issue with the PGA Tour, but when the media's investigative reporting doesn't investigate why should the Tour be bothered?

6).Perhaps slow play has something to do with the fact that, for the seventh year running, the National Golf Foundation reported a net closure of 141 golfcourses in the United States last year - 13 openings, 154 closures. One thing's for sure, it wasn't anchored putters that causes reduction in play (tho not last year) and closure of courses.

7).And so to Texas and the "Shell Houston Open" at Redstone GC. Rees Jones designed the course with an assist from "Player Consultant" David Toms, who thinks so much of the finished product that he's not showing up to play. One of the "hooks" of the design is to create an Augusta National aura, a strong driving course with sloping greens and shaved chipping areas.
It's the last chance for players to qualify for The Masters via the owgr Top 50 and there's a strong field on hand to compete for Hunter Mahan's title. McIlroy (nice to seeing him on the range with Wozza and Djokovich at Miami Muni), Mickelson and Mahan, Bradley, Dustin Johnson and Snedeker, etc, etc..
Steve Stricker will be there - Houston offered him a sponsor's invite when Steve was down on his uppers a few years ago. He played well there and never looked back. And "Strick" doesn't forget those who do him a good turn. (Unlike some others of course.)

Who's there to win, who's there to fine-tune their game? That's the trick! Ogilvy and Charlie Howell, among others, will surely be trying as they look to secure a Billy Payne invite and this course certainly favours their length. I'll recommend a very modest e.w. interest in Chris Kirk, Jimmy Walker and Graham DeLaet, all at good prices, all in good recent form, and DeLaet and Kirk have good track records here.
Along similar lines, I'd imagine Stenson and Westwood might do well among a strong European entry.
Robert Karlsson up to 3rd alternate so hope some golfers' bad luck is his good fortune after he missed out in Monday qualifying. Conditions fine, at least until the weekend.

8).Champions Tour update:
No action for three weeks, but Roger Chapman earned a nice finish last week and is up to 25th in the money-list, while Mouland spoiled a good start but is still 30th for the season. Top thirty crucial for both to retain their cards for 2014 (tho Chapman might have an additional year's exemption).

Web.com update: Top 15's in Louisiana for Gary Christian and Russell Knox, but they're way back (56th and 54th respectively) on the moneylist and need to get some big finishes under their belts.

LPGA update: Spain's Beatriz Recari won last week in California and is up to 2nd in the money-list. Catriona Matthew is 21st and Jodi Ewart 33rd. No other GB&I golfers in the top 50.

9).Back to Mr.Woods: His stat's for the year are looking increasingly Tigeresque, including the all-important "strokes gained putting" where he leads.
Still wayward off the tee though, so he'll need something special to win anywhere that driving straight is a core competency.

10).And: Lots of snarky comments about Tiger's photo album with Lindsey Vonn, one wag suggesting the only thing missing was the Easter bunny.
But they seem to have their wires crossed somewhat.
Tiger: "We want to continue our relationship privately, as an ordinary couple."
Lindsey's Tweet, on the front page of USAToday among other places: "Number 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Way to keep a low profile.

Seen the name Wheatcroft before, seem to remember him managing a top 2 or 3 finish at one of the opposite events a few years back, and still being so useless over the rest of the season to miss out on the top 150. Also think he was either in or close to the lead at a bigger one recently, and bombed out to miss the cut, a la Camilo the other week... clearly has some game if he can go -29 through a four round event, but presumably struggles putting good round after good round. Apparently he had to Monday Qualify this week, has status on tour this year but not good enough for an automatic place.

I think you did jinx Owen Kwini... safely in for the weekend at least. Fisher needing to pull a birdie from somewhere, but good round from the rookie Norlander.

Yup, Sorry Greg.
And you jinxed Norlander.
mysti might be interested that Norlander has terrific par-5 stat's this season so far.
Which is a nice segue into Westwood's first trip down a par-5 today. Holding my breath . . . . .

Ned,
Technically speaking, Wheatcroft isn't a Tour member this year, not eligible for FedEx points etc.

Fisher!!!!!!!!!!
One more par please . . . .

Kwini he stuck it in the bunker! he has 195 in for his 3rd.

However that may be the perfect play

I see Thorbjorn has done a runner.

If Lee can hole this it will be evidence that he's found the secret

Just a par..

oh well...

Kwin - More dental problems!

C'mon Shane, you can do it!

Yup, an international blight.

But what a finish by the Fish!!!!
Good stuff and hopefully it'll give him some confidence - would think this place would suit him well. Trust Norlander will follow him into the weekend.

Martin Laird watch now, and that could be depressing. Think I'll watch Haas instead - 35-y-o miracle man Tommy Haas.

Another bunker found of the tee for westy on a 5 !!

his new game plan

231 in this time.. A nice 3 iron as his approach...

ermmm...

Perfect strategy, well-played par five.

36ft birdie putt for Shane at the 1st, nice start...!

When El Pato scores a birdie, do you call it a duckie?
Quack!

Birdie for Henley (T39), not very good news for Marcel...

But a quad from Ogilvy which is likely to remove him from the equation . . . .

6 pars for lee and 1 bird.. come on lad get cracking..

how many bunkers does lee want to find!! another one on the 8th.. drivings bad today.. (found 4!! through 6 driving holes!!)

Must be he thinks it's a par-5 . . . . . .

well to be fair it is long enough at 490 yards!

Good that Jason Dufner is undergoing some proper p1ss-taking:

http://www.pgatour.com/tourreport/2013/03/29/jason-dufner-dufnering.html

Poor lad probably wishes he had problems with his wisdom teeth:
Education? Hey, I'm from Auburn, we don't do that stuff there . . . . . .

Is that a 3-putt from seven feet from Shane? Shame.

Olesen in car crash. Wrecked car and got whiplash. Occured Wednesday night.

kwinigolfer wrote:Good that Jason Dufner is undergoing some proper p1ss-taking:

http://www.pgatour.com/tourreport/2013/03/29/jason-dufner-dufnering.html

Poor lad probably wishes he had problems with his wisdom teeth:
Education? Hey, I'm from Auburn, we don't do that stuff there . . . . . .

Tks pedro, Hadn't yet seen that

westwoods putter advert makes me wanna puke

pedro wrote:Olesen in car crash. Wrecked car and got whiplash. Occured Wednesday night.

Just saw that... bad news! Hope he'll be ok for Augusta. Doesn't sound too sure himself of that right now...

westwood has hit a maximum of 3 out of 10 fairways today! ...

Tell a lie- he has hit 4..

That shot tracker is so inaccurate sometimes

kwinigolfer wrote:Good that Jason Dufner is undergoing some proper p1ss-taking:

http://www.pgatour.com/tourreport/2013/03/29/jason-dufner-dufnering.html

Poor lad probably wishes he had problems with his wisdom teeth:
Education? Hey, I'm from Auburn, we don't do that stuff there . . . . . .

He's actually smiling on that picture...

Mcilroy playing next week then...

It seems since Westwood has tried to sort chipping and putting his long game has suffered....

Apparently Thorbjorn Oleson was in a car wreck Wednesday. Possible explanation why he posted such a poor score yesterday and withdrew this morning.

According to his tweet, the car was totalled.

benson,
Quite the Irish turnout in San Antone, Clarke and Harrington, Rory and Shane.

Wonder if they'll regret bothering to go, can't think of many courses that are more unlike Augusta National.

Gary Christian and Russell Knox are in the field, Karlsson, Laird, Davis and Poults among others, with Peter Hanson apparently back from injury.

Expect to see some top players running up big scores and going home early unless they've moderated/modified the course somehow. Most top Americans giving the place a wide berth.

At first glance, Kuchar and Furyk are the only Americans in at least the Top 60 to sign up.

Good work today by David Lynn; time for Martin Laird to ring up some birds.

Westwood makes a par-5 birdie!!

Shot Tracker = Hardest job to fill for volunteers and you often get what you paid for.

Wide open event ... does the American run go 3 full months?

Touch and go with a FIVE under par back nine will earn a pay-cheque for Matrtin Laird. Let's hope so.

Westy grinded well yesterday but his driving was off. On the long holes it cost him shots- he didnt hit to many GIR's.

But his short game looked pretty good

If he can just concentrate on his long game before the run up to the masters we could see an improved westy.. But you feel that he hasnt long enough been playing better short game for it to mechnically sink in to his game. Will any bit of pressure revert him back to the norm...

Anyway I think the players of this tourny have a good chance of doing very well at augusta. By all accounts the condition here is spot on the same as it usually is at Augusta.. If the pros new this was going to be the case months ago there may have all played it!!

mysti,
They set it up that way every year, it's their calling card to attract players as foreplay for Augusta.

If the top three wobble at all, anyone shooting mid-sixties from the back of the pack (Rory, Phil) they'll be right in the shake-up.

Warmer today and a bit breezy, temps could be close to 80F by the time our leaders go out, but probably optimum conditions for Rory as he leaves the traps early. Paired with Jerry Kelly today who could be a very good partner for him.

Do they/

Cheers.. They have truely been bigging up the condition on our coverage though as if its 'exceptional'.. maybe its just better than usual

mysti,
This is a pretty new course, so perhaps it's just maturing; regardless, it coughs up some top quality winners, Mahan and Mickelson, Casey and Kim, Scott and Appleby. And perhaps McIlroy or Westwood?

Would think that, if Rory could conjure up a top finish here, he might have second thoughts on San Antonio. Good start so far for Rors and Phil.

kwinigolfer wrote:benson,
Quite the Irish turnout in San Antone, Clarke and Harrington, Rory and Shane.

Wonder if they'll regret bothering to go, can't think of many courses that are more unlike Augusta National.

Gary Christian and Russell Knox are in the field, Karlsson, Laird, Davis and Poults among others, with Peter Hanson apparently back from injury.

Expect to see some top players running up big scores and going home early unless they've moderated/modified the course somehow. Most top Americans giving the place a wide berth.

Being a Harrington fan I think he may have played a bit too much before the Masters. I hope I am wrong. He is playing well, just needs to somehow putt better....His long game is as good as it has been in my opinion. He played the par 5's well in the Masters last year if I remember correctly. If he plays the PAR 5's well I am hoping he can get in contention at the Masters!

Important week for Lowry. His Masters qualification hopes may have ended (barring a win in Texas) but he needs to make a cut and hopefully get a top 10....Looking at his round yesterday he three putted three times and twice from inside 10 feet....

I suppose Darren Clarke needs to play as he has barely played this season due to injury I think and I suppose the weakened European Tour.

Personally I though Rors jumped the gun announcing playing next week(or did he have to on that day for notice?)

I would have thought a good weekend showing would have been adequate prep and then get practising at Augusta early

mystiroakey wrote:Personally I though Rors jumped the gun announcing playing next week(or did he have to on that day for notice?)

I would have thought a good weekend showing would have been adequate prep and then get practising at Augusta early

He couldn't really do it much later... he signed up 30 mins before the deadline

Cheers Ali G,,

He is 2 under through 7 for the day1!

good start

Better start now - -3 after 8 holes. Plenty more birdies please Rory.

Go Rorrrrittto!!!!

Westwood's Par-5 malaise extends to David Lynn and Fisher: FOURTEEN strokes between them on #4, seven apiece.

Rors has driven the 12th - certain bird coming.

Coverage starts early today - 5:00 pm