PGA Tour: How the Europeans Fared in 2013: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Time to look back on the past 2013 PGA Tour season and reflect on February's crystal ball. Some of our European favourites greatly exceeded expectations, that's you Henrik, while others fell way below - can you say "Padraig Harrington"? But many others landed pretty much as we thought they might, so what can we learn as the 2013/2014 season is well underway, despite appearances to the contrary?

2).We bracketed our heroes within the FedEx Play-Off parameters, 1-30, 31-70, 71-100, 101-125, 126-200. So how did we do?

3).1st - 30th:
McIlroy: Finished 50th!: We said the "sky's the limit" but "not optimistic about Majors". Half right anyway.

Donald (28th): Only made the Tour Championship by the skin of his teeth on his home course - let's not kid ourselves, this was a very poor year for Lukey, still short and crooked, but with a deteriorating (still great but no longer the BEST!) short game. Not sure how much light there is at the end of the tunnel, at least until he starts hitting fairways (60th last year) and greens (156th. What?!) again.

Rose (10th): "Another who'll be in the Merion mix". Got that right anyway; can't argue with a US Open win.

McDowell (55th): Final position a bit misleading, he got off to a fast start, including his Hilton Head win, but nothing better than one Top 45 (T12 at Oak Hill) in the 4 x Majors and 3 x Play Off events.

Harrington (130th): Harrington came out of the blocks quickly, and stumbled the rest of the way. Retained full Tour status by the skin of his teeth and showed no sign of form in the second half of the season - 164th in the Tour's "All-Around" ranking, 171st in Par-5 scoring.  Terrible year.

4).31st - 70th:
Pettersson (107th): The portly Swedish Redneck finished 8th in his first start and no Top 15's since. Nothing better than 70th among any of the main Tour stats sums up a very mediocre year.

Westwood (41st): Got that pegged about right, "short game deficiencies" grew even worse as the season progressed - might just as well have saved some money and stayed in Worksop. Nothing better than 25th since his Open flourish and often didn't seem to care.

Hanson (127th): Injured much of the year so "incomplete" grade. Needs to get fit for 2014 though.

Garcia (21st): Questioned his physical fitness when making forecast, but put shoulder problems behind him and played well, not great, most of the year. 8th in putting! Who'd've thunk it?

Poulter (53rd): "Doesn't get enough high finishes to score consistent gobs of Fed Ex points": More of the same with only 4 results inside the Top 18. 143rd in "Ball striking" tells much of the story, but great start for 2014.

Blixt (52nd): Won at Greenbrier, 4th in the PGA ("where he'll struggle" - not really!), but hibernated most of the year, with just the two Top Tens, two more Top 25's.

5).71st - 100th:
Kaymer (84th): Not "convinced that joining the PGA Tour is a good move for Martin". Still not convinced, average year statistically; only missed two cuts, but no podium finishes either.

Laird (74th): Pathetic final position considering he won, blistering the field in Texas. Also played well (5th) at The Players but no Top 20's otherwise, summing up February's question: "We know he has the game but does he have the ambition?" We still don't know.

Jacobson (72nd): Three Top Ten finishes in his first four tournaments, nothing inside the Top 15 since. Decent opening to 2013/2014 season though.

6).101st - 125th:
Stenson (1ST!!!): Turned his "much better form in the past six months" around the world into a fabulous year on the PGA Tour - a "ball-striking" machine. His success one of the most pleasant surprises on Tour in years!

Lingmerth (75th): Great finish (lost in a play-off) at Humana, and runnered up at The Players. Wildly inconsistent otherwise, more cuts missed than he made.

Colsaerts (128th): "His year could be anything. A handful of good finishes and a dozen missed cuts." Nothing better than 8th in New Orleans, eight missed cuts and disappeared after his fine 10th at Merion.  No chance he gets away with another season like that.

Davis (47th): Went almost nine months in 2012/2013 with only six cuts made, but resurrected his year with four Top 8 finishes - nothing else inside the Top 25, but was at least more consistent. Will have Tour career earnings of $12M by the time he turns 40, but still to reach the winners enclosure.

7).126th - 200th:
Owen (134th): Lost his card due to some incomprehensibly bad blunders late in his round, especially at Glen Abbey. A birdie on the Par-5 72nd hole would have earned a runner-up finish and saved his card - Owen rinsed a double bogey and slipped to 12th. More of the same in the web.com Finals, and it's web.com Tour for him in 2014. Journeyman.

Lynn (48th): What a surprise! For a nine month period played better on the PGA Tour than he had ever done consistently in Europe. Would presumably have finished even higher if he hadn't taken his holidays in the heart of the Tour season and missed 9 weeks! Fingers crossed for more of the same, but his 2013/2014 campaign is off to a dangerously slow start.

Fisher (161st): Ridiculous scheduling and never putts well enough (178th inboth putting and scrambling) to be consistently successful on Tour greens; a waste of fantastic ball-striking - 5th in greens in regulation. Seems to have returned to "Europe" which is a good idea, even if just to rediscover his confidence. Living proof that so much of Tour golf is played between the ears.

Karlsson (156th): One good week in Charlotte but not enough starts and not good enough otherwise. Started 2013/2014 with great promise but ruined two good tournaments during the final holes, especially Mayakoba where four dropped shots coming in lost him at least a runner-up finish and possibly Special Temporary Membership. So: No status for 2014, not clear whether he'll web.com it - hope his good start warrants some sponsors' invitations.

Norlander (159th): "His season will be all about making cuts and grinding out decent finishes". Not enough of either, but he'll be better for the experience and will do well in web.com land and would expect him to bounce back to the Tour.

8).Some salutary lessons above for the fresh crop of Special Memberships which Clarke, Gonzo and Olesen have taken up. I'd say that the three of them will all struggle to keep their card in 2014 tho' Gonzo's family move to Miami might help him.

9).Whether by accident (I doubt it) or design (most likely) the steady stream of Europeans contesting Q-School has slowed to a trickle. Interesting that there are so many more Americans at European Tour Q-School now than Europeans trying to play web.com golf! Pretty much as we anticipated really, though even more so.

10).David Skinns is probably the best known (?) of the Europeans to be playing web.com Q-School this week after Rhys Davies and John Parry came up short. The six-round "Fall Classic" (but not so classic as it used to be) gets going Thursday at PGA West in California.
But the most important date this week, in Vermont anyway, will be Sunday, Dec 15th, when the sun sets a minute later than the day before, proving that even in the northern New England tundra there's something to look forward to - in about four months' time!

Great write up Kwini,

I wonder if a couple of abject years for Europeans in America might be the European Tour's gain as they return. Certainly George O Grady must be concerned about his annual bonus the way things are going.

Cheers s_r,
I would think the European Tour exodus might have bottomed out.
Sure some top players will still migrate to the US, but against that some will return.
Among those with PGA Tour cards in 2014, I'd expect three of this lot to lose their cards and possibly join Fish in returning primarily to "Europe":
Hanson,
Lynn,
Colsaerts,
Gonzo,
Clarke,
Olesen,
Kaymer, (Edit: Kaymer will still be exempt but if he doesn't make the Play-Offs (which hopefully he will) what's the point of staying? Same with DC though imagine he's only here for the beer - as it were.)
Westwood.

Anything O'Grady receives in his weekly pay cheque amounts to ill-gotten gains . . . . . . .

Clarke will not lose their PGAT card in 2014.

Clarke's PGAT Card is guaranteed through 2016 via 5 year exemption from 2011 Open Championship win

GPB,
I understand that but, like Kaymer, if he doesn't make the Play Offs what's the point? Harrington will be in the same boat unless he pulls his socks up, altho' he has the one-year career money exemption free pass option.

The one I disagree with is Oleson. Boy with the world at his feet and out performing his Nike stablemates at the start of the year.

A nasty car accident and (I think) a busted shoulder put paid to all that. If he can get back to where he was he can still outshine his more illustrious stablemates

Olesen has been so darned inconsistent, no doubt he has the biggest upsides though . . . . . .

Really disappointed by Olesen. Thought he'd be the next big thing. He might still be though, but not so convinced anymore.

Yeah shame about Olesen....Expected a big year from Kaymer, didn't exactly materialise though!

Harrington (((


Just saw David Duval's tweets from last night and just a while back today about this basically being make or break for him, all but saying if he doesn't get the results that he will retire.

Couldn't agree more with your sentiment towards Stenson, great to see!

I sense a resurrection by Garcia. 2013 produced a lot of good results for him. I would't be surprised to see him do even better in 2014 (and hopefully revenge himself at Sawgrass!!)

The thing to remember about Olesen is that he's yet to turn 24, so he's come a long way fast. Just wonder if there's too much pressure on our young Europeans, Matteo also comes to mind, to do too much too soon.

Would say Olesen is premature in taking up PGA Tour membership, would like to see him mature in something of a comfort zone - if he's good enough, the American Dream will always be there for him.

Matteo actually maintained his position over the year (44 to 42). I bet some more established europeans would take not loosing ground at the current time.

Matteo won the biggest tournament in Europe after The Open Championship.
Great reprise Kwini.

sirbenson wrote:

Harrington (((

Whoa Benson, you are obsessed. That must be at least 3 different threads where you've posted about Harrington in the last couple of days. Next time you take a break from stalking the man you can print this page out and add it to your Harrington shrine at home.

Kwini - great article as always.

I get the feeling that at the moment a lot of these guys seem to think it is better to be an also ran on the PGA Tour then a contender on the Euro Tour.

Maybe its just pure self belief and drive. They have to believe they can win every week, even if the stats say otherwise.

Nice appraisal Kwini.
Reckon westwoods just living the good life now. Didn't look bothered all year. Money rules?

Europeans rocking in Thailand with an unexpected figure taking the lead - the long-forgotten Alex Cjeka!

Justin Rose 2nd, Chopra(!!) 5th, and King Charl and Sergio tied for 6th. Stenson back in 15th, tied with trickie Rickie and Bubba, one shot ahead of Hunner and Thongchai. Olesen in 70th, tied with Ishikawa.

There's a Scot who I've never heard of, competing in web.com Q-School, Jimmy Gunn.
And here's part of his story:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/coeur-dalenes-circling-raven-sponsors-scottish-golfer-jimmy-gunn-152661

Wonder if gael knows of him?

It'll be fun to follow Q-School scoring when pgatour.com's "live scoring" gets its sh1t together.

Some people's use of the word obsession is a bit odd, it's a forum am I missing something or aren't forums designed for discussion? I must be missing something.

Wait, it is someone just posting absolute crap. Hope you are enjoying the championship as well   

kwinigolfer wrote:There's a Scot who I've never heard of, competing in web.com Q-School, Jimmy Gunn.
And here's part of his story:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/coeur-dalenes-circling-raven-sponsors-scottish-golfer-jimmy-gunn-152661

Wonder if gael knows of him?

It'll be fun to follow Q-School scoring when pgatour.com's "live scoring" gets its sh1t together.

If someone has ever been jagged by a thistle, tasted Irn Bru or seen The Krankies then Gael has heard of them.

kwinigolfer wrote:There's a Scot who I've never heard of, competing in web.com Q-School, Jimmy Gunn.
And here's part of his story:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/coeur-dalenes-circling-raven-sponsors-scottish-golfer-jimmy-gunn-152661

Wonder if gael knows of him?

It'll be fun to follow Q-School scoring when pgatour.com's "live scoring" gets its sh1t together.

In those 200 years, little has changed for the Indians though: Guns and Scotch turned into Gunns and Scots. Not sure it's to the better..

A rather strange story seems to be coming out that tigers woods brother has made a bomb threat to the government agency he works for.

http://golfdigest.stats.com/golf/story.asp?i=20131212214500530596308&ref=rec&tm=&src=GOLF

What makes it strange? Would it be strange if it wasn't 9C's brother?

Any more lip, sonny, and I'm coming for YOU. With 1 chin only.

The PGATour might have some explaining to do.  

I think some scrutiny is a good thing, but it could be embarrassing to the Tour

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/10089803/pga-tour-tax-breaks-help-fuel-giving-which-falls-industry-standards

Paula LaVigne at ESPN*com wrote:The PGA Tour's nonprofit business model has allowed it to avoid paying up to $200 million in federal taxes over the past 20 years, and its tournaments -- designed to benefit local charities -- operate in ways that fall short of acceptable charitable practices, an "Outside the Lines" analysis of IRS data finds.

GPB,
This is a close cousin to the abuse of the anti-trust laws that most (all?) American sports benefit from, surely? This info has been bandied around for years, though perhaps not in such detail and agenda.

Would think Vijay's attorney must be loving it!


Always enjoy watching the Shark Shoot-Out; some good rounds today, but very ho-hum from Poulter and Westwood. "Chocolate and Cheese," Poults reports, "Pair of plonkers."!

The Shark Shootout is a favorite of mine in the silly season.  I always like the Alternate (Greensomes) format.

Back in my golfing heydey, we played alternate shot in an emergency nine situation when we were racing the sun.  Or if 8 of us were in a group and we all wanted to play together.

I keep hearing from announcers that some courses in GB&I force Foursome (or Greensome) play on weekends.  Is that true?

Jimmy Gunn may be a mystery to us all, but he's red hot in Round 3 of web.com Q-School.
If he makes the Tour any time, perhaps his first pairing should be within Justin Rose?

David Skinns playing nicely today also - be good to improve the GB&I presence on the web.com.

GPB wrote:I keep hearing from announcers that some courses in GB&I force Foursome (or Greensome) play on weekends.  Is that true?

If it is true it must be a tiny minority as I've never heard of it. Though I've never heard of anyone going out as an 8-ball either

I can only think it's something lost in translation - maybe making people going out as 4 balls rather than 2 balls at the weekend to maximize tee times

No, there are some courses where you play foursomes. There's somewhere on the Norfolk coast that enforces foursome play which if I recall some posters have visited.

We played as 8-some with only 4 balls in play.  Four 2-person teams playing alternate shot.

We only did it on a Sunday evening when the course was near empty and only as an Emergency Nine.  With plenty of adult refreshments.  With much heckling and just a couple dollars on the line.

GPB there are a number of courses in UK which are strictly 2 ball (including 4 playing as foursome) eg Aldeburgh. Not many but it is not uncommon.

Tiger described in this week's on-line GolfWorld as "layer of the ear".

Not sure I've heard that one before - presumably an in-joke at GW or a bizarre euphemism?

Lindsey! Help!!

There are a few traditional courses that only allow foursomes. They seem to be more the links courses like Rye in East Sussex and I would guess as a percentage of golf courses they are pretty low.
From Rye's website:
"Rye is a private Club and has very limited opportunity to welcome visitors without a Member’s introduction. All play is in two ball format with foursomes preferred in the morning. No three or fourball golf is played.

"No tee time system is operated. Invitations to visiting golfers are made at the Secretary’s discretion. It is mostly easier to accommodate small groups of up to four players. Players wishing to play their own ball will generally be invited to play after lunch although some morning golf may be offered on the Jubilee course."

It's statements like that which make you love golf!

West Sussex is another the same. Woking also suggests it as a preference though I think they have "loosened" the rules slightly over the last few years.

Don't really see the problem myself as long as you're informed beforehand. Plenty of other places to play if you want to play as a four.

Nice to see Si Woo Kim doing well at WEB-com q-school.

After qualifying for the PGATour last year and not being able to play an event until June, after his 18th birthday.

beninho wrote:It's statements like that which make you love golf!

"Bigots invited entirely at the Secretarys discretion - we're already full of them..."

Nice spot of action from the Shark Shoot Out on Sunday, a new type of Dufnering:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/grill-room/video-dufner-barely-misses-birdie-attempt/?cid=twitter_gc_v_dufner_putt_shark_shootout_121613

Made me laugh anyway, Dustin Johnson too. Think the other two are Chad Campbell, who looks creased up laughing, and Calcavecchia.

Some notoriety for Scot Russell Knox that he probably didn't expect when playing the pitch-and-putts in gaelgowfer Land . . . .

http://www.pgatour.com/tourreport/2013/12/19/knox-to-hit-halftime-shot-at-jags-game.html

Royal Trophy Foursomes Matchups:

Jaidee/Aphibarnrat vs Gallacher/Lawrie
Ishikawa/Fujita vs Colsaerts/Weisberger
Kim/Kim vs Oleson/Quiros
Chong/Wu vs Warren/Howell

Match 3 is the match I am most interested in.  Quiros has always been a favorite to watch and I am curious to see Hyung-Sung Kim play.  He has risen in the rankings thanks mainly due to the heavily OWGR subsidized Japan Tour to be the highest ranked Korean and the highest ranked Asian that is not from Thailand or Japan.

kwinigolfer wrote:Some notoriety for Scot Russell Knox that he probably didn't expect when playing the pitch-and-putts in gaelgowfer Land . . . .

http://www.pgatour.com/tourreport/2013/12/19/knox-to-hit-halftime-shot-at-jags-game.html

Never going to knock a charitable event, but it seems an odd way of going about things to say "Outcome A means the charity get a load of money, but outcome B means they get a lot less and some less needy people get free junk food"... you'd think that from a PR (and moral) perspective they'd want to give at least as much, if not more, if their mascot bloke wins.

Also, when did notoriety stop having solely negative connotations and mean any half-baked fame, good or bad? Is it an American thing?

I thought it was a pretty negative connotation . . . . . . . . . !
But, yes, it seems to be an American thing, sorry about that!!