PGA Tour: Broken China: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Whichever side of the WGC debate one finds oneself on, it is undeniably a shame that there are so many no-shows this week in Shanghai. Who those absentees are of course colours that particular debate so let's concentrate here on those who are playing golf this week, whether in China or on the Champions Tour at Harding Park.
 
2).Paul Casey: Casey retains some PGA Tour status as a "Past Champion"; he is also 104th in the world rankings and, following his win in Ireland, must be hoping for strong weeks in China, Turkey and Dubai (31st in the R2D) to improve his chances for at least participating in some Majors, if not eventually retrieving his full PGA Tour card. Top 30 in the R2D will earn him a spot in next year's Open, top 20 will get him in to the WGC-Cadillac, so all to play for.
Always had Casey at the top of my list for most likely to win a Major of his generation, ahead of Donald and Westwood, Poulter and Rose. Perhaps these next few weeks represent one of his last best chances to re-establish himself among golf's elite?
 
3).Alfie Barnrat: Kiradech Aphibarnrat is treading the path laid out for him by Thongchai Jaidee and going one better: His T3 at last week's CIMB event gives him 163 "notional" FedEx points towards earning Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour, and he can add to those "notional" points this week as the HSBC is now an official PGA Tour event. He also earns a place, via that top ten finish, in next week's McGladrey event, but can't see him passing up his spot in the Turkey field. Kiradech is almost certain to finish in the top two on the Asian moneylist and that gets him in to the Cadillac.
 
4).Peter Uihlein: In a similar position to Barnrat, 60th in the owgr's and almost certain of a Top 20 R2D finish - you'd imagine his momentum will continue for another three weeks and that will get him very close to an end of year Masters invite. He hasn't publicly unveiled his 2014 plans, but you'd think normal progression will assure him of lucrative options on both sides of the Atlantic(Pacific?).
 
And: Is it a coincidence that Casey, Barnrat and Uihlein are grouped together for a 9.10 a.m. Shanghai-time tee-time?
 
5).What of the European players in the HSBC field who don't have a PGA Tour safety net if they fail to reach the top 125 in FedEx points this season?
David Lynn wasted a good opportunity to kick-start his season with a poor Sunday effort at the CIMB. Must do better here!
Peter Hanson, Gonzo (let's hope Mrs Gonzo moves to Miami with him), and even Poulter and Westwood could use a strong start.
The likes of Colsaerts and Olesen must be rueing their failure to crack this field and the bennies that come with a decent finish.
 
6).In light of Phil Mickelson declaring that he'll be cutting back on the number of tournaments he plays next year, a la Stricker and Woods, it's surely worth noting that another star with a scanty PGA Tour schedule (yes, he's mia this week as well) is Adam Scott.
But in Scott's case this is perhaps more understandable as he embarks next week on a grand tour of Australian golf giving back to the Aussie public anxious to see their first ever Masters Champion. The green jacket goes first to the PGA in Queensland, followed by Royal Melbourne's Talisker Masters where he defends his title (and hideous gold jacket). He stays in Melbourne for the World Cup and then is scheduled to play the Aussie Open - four tournaments in four weeks.
 
7).Nice article in GolfWorld this Monday from my least favourite American sports journo, the ever-unctuous Tim Rosaforte. And he's talking about legendary caddie Pete Bender, Open Championship winning bagman for Greg Norman and Ian B-F, and most recently working for Aaron Baddeley in between bouts with throat cancer.
Pete's 64 now but back in the caddying business after caring for his mother thru her final months.
He turned up on Michael Allen's bag two weeks ago, in North Carolina at the Champions Tour's "Greater Hickory Classic" on fellow caddyshack legend Andy Martinez's recommendation.
California wine connoisseur Allen was in a play-off with (Rickie Fowler's future father-in-law?) Olin Browne - Bender called Allen off the 4-iron he was planning to approach the 18th green with and handed him a 5. Allen "pured" it, straight as a die, and Allen birdied from ten feet for the win as Browne parred. It looked an inspired piece of caddie work at the time, especially as a wide-eyed Allen was high-fiving Bender. Nice quote though from Rosaforte's column:
Allen: "How did you know it was a 5-iron?"
Bender: "Forty years experience."
 
8).Perhaps some of that is what Baddeley has been missing these past couple of years, and it was good to see Badds register a 5th place finish at CIMB. Badds and Adam Scott are both great guys to follow on course, whether they're playing well or not, always amusing, always very respectful of the galleries.  
 
9).Not sure who's carrying Michael Allen's bag this week at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship this week at Harding Park, but there's a strong field of Seniors, including Peter Senior of course. It looks like Kenny Perry will take home the $1M bonus for the season-long Cup, probably with Langer runnering up as he did to Lehman last year.
There won't be any other Europeans in the field, Forsbrand and Montgomerie (he looks bigger than ever) ultimately coming up short in last week's San Antonio stop. Good news for Forsbrand, and Roger Chapman, is that they earn conditional exemption for the 2014 season which means they'll make a fair number of tournament fields, tho' certainly not all.
And: Contestants at next week's Champions Tour Q-School Stage 1 include Europeans Golding, Farry, Luna, M-A Martin and Tinning plus sometime Tour players and current caddies Damon Green (ZJohnson), Pete Jordan (JJHenry) and Lance Ten Broeck (Parnevik).
 
10).Back to China and let's give a shout out to one American who truly seems to embrace the travel, savour the experiences of "abroad": None other than Jason Dufner.
Last January, when he played Abu Dhabi and Qatar, he said he'd "discussed membership on the European Tour".
Now he's at it again, on the back of his first Major, telling the AP that he's "contemplating membership this coming year":
"I've been kicking around the idea. It's just figuring out what events might fit and might not."
Maybe there will be a fit, maybe not, but let's hope the paths taken by Peter Uihlein and Brooks Koepka, and that considered now by the Duff, is the start of something more of a two-way street.
Good for Dufner, never going to be the most charismatic of America's great golfers but, if his lovely Amanda doesn't care, why should we?!

kwinigolfer wrote:I see the first definitive step Phil has taken in reducing his tournament schedule for 2014 is to add Abu Dhabi to his calendar.
Phil being Phil, I suppose.

Never was that sure about Phil's marbles.

Taxes are low in UAE!