PGA Tour: Luke's Kind of Town, Chicago is: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Maybe this is a portent of things to come for the newly-minted US Amateur Champion, Matt Fitzpatrick.
The baby-faced assassin (sorry Ole Gunnar) is off to Northwestern University in the Chicago suburbs, following in the footsteps of young Luke Donald fifteen or so years ago. And now Luke is a star, making his home for much of the year in Chicago and a member at Conway Farms, a Tom Fazio design which this week hosts its first PGA Tour event, the "BMW Championship".
Who should be the prime mover in getting the PGA Tour to look at Conway Farms as a possible venue? None other than Luke Donald, but his return this week comes at a bad time with Lukey out of form and between swing coaches.

2).Nevertheless, if Matt Fitzpatrick can enjoy half the success that Luke has earned, he'll be an influential force in pro golf for decades to come.

3).The US Team gave GB&I an old-fashioned shellacking in last weekend's Walker Cup at magnificent National Golf Links. But there's reason for Team GB&I to be optimistic in the future given the comparitive youth of their team, with 2 x 18-y-o's, 2 x 19-y-o's and 3 x 20-y-o's, younger than most of their opponents and, for many of them, two years to hone their game at the Amateur level before returning to Walker Cup combat at Royal Lytham. (Thank goodness Jordan Spieth didn't come back for a second Walker Cup as he turned 20!)

4).The Walker Cup goes to the revered Los Angeles CC in 2017 and thence to Royal Liverpool. Pity there's not more geographical diversity from the R&A - it hasn't staged a Walker Cup on a South of England links since 1967.

5).Last week also saw Round 2 of the web.com Tour Finals, in North Carolina. Two more rounds to go and this week's fun is in Columbus, Ohio. (A share of the course record is held by Trevor Murphy who also shot a 56 in a Nationwide Pro-am a few years ago but sadly won't be eligible this week.)
If we accept the Golf Channel's estimate that it will be necessary to accumulate at least $40K in prizemoney over the four events, we can suggest that Will MacKenzie (thrilled to see the Legend back on Tour), John Peterson (sure to win on Tour, even more sure to ruffle thousands of feathers), Cauley and Ishikawa will join Immelman, Cantlay and Scott Gardiner on Tour in 2013/2014.

6).Greg Owen and Russell Knox have made a decent start to these Finals but have hard yakka ahead. Norlander's off to a slow start, Karlsson is struggling, while Cejka and Johnson (who both have tenuous status) and Marcel Siem have so far missed both cuts. Other well known names on pace to qualify include Matteson, Ricky Barnes, S-Y Noh, Vaughn Taylor, Slocum and O'Hair.

7).There has justifiably been criticism on this Board of the level of movement into and out of the higher owgr placings.
To underline that fact, only Watney (now 31st), Hanson (35th), Van Pelt (39th), Kaymer (40th), Molinari (45th) and Paul Lawrie (66th) have fallen out of the Top 30 this year, despite dismal runs of form by many others.
Of those who have replaced them, Bill Haas was already 34th, Jason Day 37th and Matteo 44th. Only Stenson, who has jumped from 60th to 6th, Matsuyama (130th to 28th) and Spieth (about 800th to 29th) have crashed the party from outside the Top 50.
Not surprising Paul Casey stressed last week in Switzerland that the first objective in his comeback was a return to the Top 50. But he'll have to play a lot better than last weekend's dismal show.

8).What do we know of Conway Farms? The Tom Fazio design opened in 1991 and entertained the top Collegiates in 1997, the USGA's Junior Amateur the following year and the Western Amateur four years ago.
But the pros have never played tournament golf there and, according to pgatour.com, the only competitors this week who have played it in any sort of competition are Dufner, Zach Johnson, Kuchar, Sabbatini, Snedeker, Castro, Kirk, Simpson, Fowler, Reed, Points, Summerhays and English. Not much help in looking for "horses for courses" then, and Luke Donald's lousy run of form doesn't bode well for him this week either.

9).Chicago has a real heater (93F degrees as I write on Tuesday) going this week, but that will blow through over the next 36 hours and temps will drop from the high 70's on Thursday into the 60's for Rounds 2 & 3; a little bit warmer on Sunday. As you'd expect with such temperature swings there are moderate-to-strong winds forecast for Thursday and Friday - a good job as it's a short (by today's standards) course at 7,100+ yards and prevailing winds are reported to be its primary defence. Translation: expect low scores.

10).No idea who will contend this week but of one thing you can be sure - there'll be some tired golfers turning up to next year's BMW Championship, at Cherry Hills in Denver. Apart from the fact that, for most of the field, this will be at least their 6th event in eight weeks (Open, Bridgestone, PGA, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BMW), they'll only complete their Deutsche Bank entertainment on Monday, Sept 1st, fly two time zones west, and resume their action on Thursday, Sept 4th, at altitude. Flight delays will not be welcome.
That schedule wouldn't phase most of us working stiffs who are used to frequent flying travel, but it's a lot to ask of our precious PGA Tour pros, and one would expect something to give, especially for those also committed to "Canada" (the RBC Ambassadors for instance) and/or Greensboro. It won't just be Steve Stricker opting out of a Play-Off event or two next year . . . . .

Did Zacher just whine on that interview?

Tee-times already published for Round 1 of the Tour Championship at East Lake, starting Thursday.

Some of the contenders for the BMW looked pretty wiped yesterday, a bit of a lottery picking players who will be fresh for Atlanta. Billy Horschel woke up from a summer's hibernation with a good final round in Chicago and a 60-footer on 18. Wonder if he fits the bill?

Sounds like the PGA Of America are announcing a Bethpage Black package deal for the Ryder Cup and PGA Championship.

Confirmation of the Bethpage agenda:
PGA Championship: 2019
Ryder Cup: 2024 (Matteo and Jordan Spieth should be approaching their prime then - I'll be lucky to be still alive.)

Have to say watching the final round was good fun on two fronts - seeing who was going to win, and watching the guys drop in and out of the to 30.

However, most interesting stat I saw was that Tiger is 120th on 4th round scoring in 2013?? Who would have thought it?

Bob_the_Job wrote:Have to say watching the final round was good fun on two fronts - seeing who was going to win, and watching the guys drop in and out of the to 30.

However, most interesting stat I saw was that Tiger is 120th on 4th round scoring in 2013?? Who would have thought it?

Incredible that he is 1st on 1st round scoring and 2nd on 2nd round scoring but then drops off so rapidly in rounds 3 and 4. Bottle? Panic? Self belief? Or is it that everyone else raises their game at the weekend?

Surprised nobody on this thread mentioned the incident on the 18th fairway on Saturday when a moron spectator shouted out during the middle of Sergio's swing. He tried to disguise it by shouting "come on tiger" but it was a blatant attempt to put Garcia off. Spectator should be escorted off the premises, bullet in the head and dumped in the nearest river.

Is it me or have the US crowds been getting worse this year? Good job there is no US Ryder cup this year.

Ray - Is his 3rd round average equally (or near) as poor as his 4th for this? With 5 wins this year and a win/events entered % (all time and this year) that's exceptional by any standard, I do wonder if there's an issue of some sort brewing. Could he be protecting the lead he has or trying to make things happen with low % shots that 4th round ... who knows?

Crowds getting worse from my observation.

But, it certainly did not put Sergio off that hole. He had a tap in birdie!

I suspect he'll be regretting his "fried chicken" comment as long as he plays in these United States. No sympathy from me.

Woods's ranking by round, following his BMW experience:
1st Round: 2nd
2nd: 2nd
3rd: 84th
4th: 118th

ray,
I thought that WAS Tiger yelling out . . . . . . . he didn't seem to care. No Payne Stewart award for him.

Sr,
Don't you think he just lets down when he knows he's not going to win? He always says he just cares about the "W"'s. Plus the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ of course.
But he's played pretty poorly by his standards in the Play Offs and he still is in the East Lake driver seat.

Kwin - Totally agree. Cares about the W's above all else. Obsessed with victory.

Money won? Dunno. He's got so much, how would winning every tournament from now until the day Scots vote for independence change his lifestyle? Not one bit. Pretty sure the winnings don't pay for his tax obligations from his sponsorship $.

Yup ... on this, far and away the hardest professional golf tour on the planet, he's the money leader, scoring average leader, Fed Ex points leader, world ranking leader ... he's accomplished a lot this year.

I reckon he cares more about the $10M than the "W", even if just to impress LV. That $10M is subject to the magic of compound interest and, even if he can't extrapolate what it'll be worth by the time he gets his paws on it, you can bet Steinberg has the dollar figure figured out by the day.

I'd say he''ll just give the $10 mill to his foundation.

Shotrock wrote:Crowds getting worse from my observation.

But, it certainly did not put Sergio off that hole. He had a tap in birdie!

Hi SR,
It definitely put Garcia off, he chunked his shot and you could see him flinch during the swing. Lucky for him it was a par 5 and his mis-hit succeeded in advancing him up the fairway. To be fair to Garcia he responded really well, after waving his arms around for a bit he walked up the fairway and stiffed his approach to a foot.

kwinigolfer wrote:

ray,
I thought that WAS Tiger yelling out . . . . . . . he didn't seem to care. No Payne Stewart award for him.

Imagine if Tiger had gone over to the idiot, told him to shut up, and then used his post round interview to talk about his respect for Garcia as a fellow competitor and appeal to the public for fair play and sportsmanship in the game.... nah that image is too difficult

Ray - Pretty sure Sergio was laying up and I believe hit his mark just about exactly where he wanted. Birdie is a birdie.

Spare with me with Tiger should respect Sergio stuff! Sergio's blatant racist "fried chicken" was the bed he made all by himself. He could, however, always compete full time on the ET where the lack of crowds will be in his favor.

I wouldnt be surprised if those stats are typical throughout Tiger's career. Has he not a habit of blitzing the field early, usually a friday, then staying ahead by playing safe golf?

US crowds aren't getting any better lets put it that way. Someone shouted something along the lines of "Zach you suck!" on saturday when Zach was finishing up on the 18th green. Little Zach had a few words with him afterwards! Obviously the beer is too cheap.

F**king idiots.

On the spot fine and ejection. ID taken and report filed with authorities and home golf clubs for a name and shame board (even though it would doubtless be a point of pride for some people).

Shouldn't be too hard to find, surely the majority of the crowd are fair minded and respectful of the game (if not the individual affected) and would assist or do the patronage $$$ count too much to do anything about these "fans"? 

I assume it is a tiny minority (albeit one that hangs round microphones) even if it doesn't sound it sometimes.

Lairdy,
I thought it was good of Nick Watney (who seems a really nice guy, perhaps almost too nice?) to point out to Zach who yelled at him and they went and sorted it out together.

Sr's got his tiger stripes on again today; but I don't think Tiger cares about respect or sportsmanship and that win-at-all-costs is part of his genius. He'll fist-pump in the face of anyone, they're all adversaries on the golfcourse. This whole Sergio nonsense started with Woods in the woods, intentionally or inadvertently there was certainly no apology and, so long as he wins, Tiger fans won't give a toss.

Kwin -

Remember Sergio dug that hole with his his entirely voluntary comments.

Sergio can and should say whatever he wants. Sergio can and should compete wherever he wants. But he should get through his pea-brain that there will certainly be consequences -- whether he thinks they are fair or anticipated. Welcome to the real world Sergio. It's not for everyone!

No doubt, Sr, completely unnecessary, inappropriate, ignorant and stupid. No worse than that in my mind.

Equally, Tiger was guilty of poor sportsmanship at TPC, unnecessary and inappropriate, perhaps stupid but certainly not ignorant as he knew exactly what he was doing, or in this case not doing. Then he poured kerosene on the fire.
And he certainly doesn't care what his gallery surrogates do on his behalf, as they did last Saturday.

It is interesting that some of Sergio's best mates on Tour are among the most respected touring pros, all surely in the "real world".

Roll on Gleneagles!

Doubt 9 Chins will play at Gleneagles. One of two major weak links in the burger munching team.

Shotrock,
so in your book, Sergio is stigmatized forever due to his one stupid remark? Is that your way of zero-tolerance? Or just good old double standards? I'm sure TW has made some mistakes as well, which you seem to have long forgiven him. Why just say you don't like Sergio, period, in stead of using this stupid remark as an excuse.

Pedro - Sergio's a pea brain professional golfer (IMO only and obviously) due to lots of factors ... not the least of which are his ignorant, racist comments; his notable late round water balls, street balls; his complaining that he's unfairly the recipient of bad breaks, and so on. But I absolutely do not know him as a mate, and certainly never will. Maybe he's the greatest guy to walk the planet - and just likes to invite abuse for entertainment. Your guess is as good as mine.

And what's the double standard you refer to? I only know Tiger as the ultimate winning professional golfer of our era. (To be fair I did meet him, but not Sergio.)  He's an equal pea-brain in managing personal relationships as far as I can tell. And probably someone I would not want to go camping with. Like Sergio, another person I will certainly never really know.

The big difference between these two professional golfers is that one wins lots of stroke play tournaments and the other one doesn't. Both -- to me at least -- appear to be chock-full of talent and in that very small group of professional golfers that can go exceedingly low at any time.

Sure I get you Sr, it's just that serial cheating on your wife beats being a pea-brained semi-racist big time.

You don't even need to bring his cheating to realise what a c**t he is.

On course demeanour,
On course behaviour
Lack of class
Lack of sportsmanship
Dreadful, inarticulate, formulaic, wooden interviews.

There really isn't anything redeeming about the guy at all.

Kwini, I thought so too. Think Watney is quite popular but does seem to lack that killer instinct (which doesnt have to mean acting like a w**ker... unlike some). Saying that, I would be interested to find out what Watney's reaction was to Butch's twitter comments, besides dumping him as a coach. I saw Watney in the practice round at The Players last year and it looked like he enjoyed a good laugh. Interacting with the crowd to wind up his caddie at the 17th.

Sergio's comments actually helped Woods out because he was getting somewhere right up until he muttered those words. Plus I'd also like to add that Sergio got rough treatment in the US long before all this. Ironically enough, probably because he's Spanish.

If the ball moves off its spot - however infinitesimal - it's a penalty.  The ball moved and didn't return to its original spot.  If you move 'stuff' on a lie like that, you are undoubtedly taking a risk.  Don't forget, he was able to improve his lie as a result of moving yon 'stuff'.  

Tiger Woods has become a liability to the game in so far as golfer behaviour is concerned.  The sooner he retires the better.

caveat;  notwithstanding accidental movement eg wind.  (still not sure the rules people have untangled this one yet).

gael, tbh I don't think TW is "worse" than the avearage. Problem is just that his every move is photo-documented from 10 angles.

So in stead of waiting for TW's retirement, maybe we should wait for a rules revision. All these minor rules infringments have taken too much attention from the game itself - manily due to the wall-to-wall TV coverage.

super_realist wrote:You don't even need to bring his cheating to realise what a c**t he is.

On course demeanour,
On course behaviour
Lack of class
Lack of sportsmanship
Dreadful, inarticulate, formulaic, wooden interviews.

There really isn't anything redeeming about the guy at all.

Worlds greatest golfer?

pedro wrote:gael, tbh I don't think TW is "worse" than the avearage. Problem is just that his every move is photo-documented from 10 angles.

So in stead of waiting for TW's retirement, maybe we should wait for a rules revision. All these minor rules infringments have taken too much attention from the game itself - manily due to the wall-to-wall TV coverage.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this particular rule.  Tiger Woods took a risk in moving loose impediments in order to improve his lie.  He lost and the game won.

I still retain a very vivid image in my head of TW's gob from fewer than six feet from the hole.  I have never seen any other golfer do this.

The fact that he is and knows he is being scrutinized should make him more careful about his conduct, not less, as this will inevitably impact on children taking up the game who will think this normal behaviour.  He is a disgrace to all that is sacred to how the game is meant to be played.  

Tell you what ... why don't you refresh your memory on the etiquette of the game.  You'll find it on page 18 of the Rules of Golf.

As much as a despise Woods, it isn't his responsibility to be a role model to kids.
If kids see this chump as something to look up to, it isn't Woods fault. He's a moron, but it's not his responsibility to be anything else.
I dislike him for the way he is, but he's not at liberty to change.

Also don't think there is anything remotely sacred about the game, that reasoning is why we have a crappy major every 5 years at St.Andrews.
It's just another word for being stuck in the past.

"TW's gob from fewer than 6 feet from the hole" . . . . .

Just before one of the anti-Sergio brigade pipes up:
Unlike Garcia who hit the cup, bullseye! None of this 6 ft "proximity to the hole" rubbish!!

Damn you're good.

Not particularly anti-Sergio but that's indefensible imo.

If you're a true w@anker you don't spit in the hole.

Sergio = What a tool.

At least no one's putt will be affected.

kwinigolfer wrote:"TW's gob from fewer than 6 feet from the hole" . . . . .

Just before one of the anti-Sergio brigade pipes up:
Unlike Garcia who hit the cup, bullseye! None of this 6 ft "proximity to the hole" rubbish!!

Ha ha ... is this what's known as a slam dunk?  Ok, I'd forgotten about that incident and pretty revolting it was too.  I think it's fair to say though that although Sergio has often been known to proverbially spit the dummy, it's never been my impression that he spits his way around the course unlike this 'gentleman' ...

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/bunker-mentality/tiger-woods-caught-fresh-spitting-controversy-123055206.html

Never a need to spit. THey're only walking, not sprinting, not even building up excessive saliva.

I don't understand the need to spit whatever the activity. I have played a reasonable standard of badminton and that's a pretty active sport. No one spits on the court. I cycle 13.5 miles to and from work. The journey takes in a coupkle of hills, I never feel the need to spit. Footballers shouldn't need to spit and it's just as disgusting when they do.