Crown Plaza Invitational

AS usual we have an offering from the PGA tour thats classed as an invitational event.

Not sure what the OGWR spilt is this week as the higher ranked of the top 1o players with the exception of big Phil are in Andalucia this week going man on man in the matchplay. Kwini maybe able to help me here as he has far greater knowledge of the US tour so any input wil be much appreciated.

This weeks the return to Dallas Forth Worths Colonial Country club, a place steeped in tradition and in my mind a least a beautiful course. My knowledge of this event unfortunately ends there at knowing what this course looks like, as for some reason it's not an event i've really followed to much down the years no idea why though!

So for better insight here's what Mike McAllister is saying on the offical www.pgatour.com website.

"You can't get away with errant shots," he said. "It rewards quality shots. It rewards quality putting. That's what you want out of a golf course."

Of course, that's what you want out of any golf course, but like snowflakes and self-taught swings, no two are exactly alike. Each course generally has its own set of quirks, or favors certain kinds of players, or is built to produce certain kind of results.

Colonial is no exception, but what makes this unique is that the course is a throwback to another era, when shot-making ruled and bombing off the tee was not rewarded unless you were passing the hat at some long-drive exhibition.

No venue has hosted a TOUR event for a longer continuous time than Colonial, which celebrates its 65th anniversary this week (the country club itself turns 75). Although changes to the course have been made via the natural process of evolution through the years, has any TOUR course changed so little over such a long period of time?

Consider this: when Colonial hosted its first tournament in 1946, it played to 7,035 yards; this week, it will play to 7,204 yards. That's 169 yards in 65 years. Compare that to Augusta National, which was a 6,700-yard layout for its first Masters in 1934 and played to 7,445 yards last month, a difference of 745 yards in 75 years.

Not saying either approach is better. Just completely different.

Winning at Colonial 65 years ago (Ben Hogan was your champ back then, his first of five wins) required precision shots and solid play with the putter. Winning at Colonial on Sunday will require the same thing.

"It's such a great old golf course," said Tom Lehman, who won here in 1995 and is making his 16th start in this event. "I don't feel like it benefits anybody other than those that could hit the right shots and can have a great putter."

A year ago, Colonial ranked first among all TOUR courses in shortest fairway proximity and second in closest proximity to the hole. Translation: You better stick those iron shots close to the pin because everybody else is doing so, too.

No doubt this tournament belongs to the precision artists, guys such as Johnson and Lehman and Corey Pavin and Kenny Perry and Nick Price, all past winners. There's a reason why 11 of the top 15 guys in driving accuracy are in this week's field -- it would've been 12 had Scott Verplank not withdrawn due to injury -- while just five of the top 15 in driving distance are here.

So there we have this weeks offering, apologies for having to use the Cut and paste from the tours site instead of my usual own look on the event but I need to spend more time watching htis one to know about it, but thats not really going ot happen as the matchplay is on this week and I do love a good matchplay event

I am liking Jason Day and Mark Wilson to go well this week. Day is a local guy these days and plays the course well, Wilsons game fits the typical Colonial winner model. One with the rule, one exception.

I fancy Rickie Fowler to finally show some form this week - he's not really done so far this year!

Davie wrote:I fancy Rickie Fowler to finally show some form this week - he's not really done so far this year!

Davie I think Ricky has showed loads of form, especially early on, but I think thats as good as it gets. I have never fancied him putting in 4 solid rounds and he's shown no signs of doing it ... ever. So plenty of hype around him and the young girls love him, but he's not a winner on the main US Tour I'm afraid and can't see him achieving it.

Fowler has never won on the PGA, he's the Michelle Wie or Kournikova of Mens golf. A marketing mans dream with his peculiar looks and "down with the kids style" but not enough substance to back it up. Compare him to Manassero and the difference is not just huge, it's a chasm.

Can't see it changing this week, or any other soon.

Looks good to me, Maverick.

Big shame here is that the 2008 and 2009 winners, Mickelson and Stricker, are no-shows, Stricker's game tailor-made for success here.

Scoring today might be a touch more difficult than usual, with the course expected to play hard and fast, but with strong winds (up to 20 mph at least) making the normal demand for precision more exacting. Could be some storms sweeping through Friday with the weekend forecast a bit dodgy also.

20mph!!!, that's a mere fart over here.
Those American based players are pretty soft.

s_r,
Just reporting, not getting into a farting contest.
Point is, it may not be quite the throwing darts from the fairway exhibition Colonial is used to.

Early scoring better than I expected with Anthony Kim among those making birdies with indecent frequency.

These guys need to take advantage of these conditions as the rest of the field may not be so lucky.

62 for Major Toms, Rickie Fowler and Chez Reavie in hot pursuit.
Winds picking up perhaps stronger than super_realist's farting level, up to 25 mph, so Redrage will be right about more challenging conditions. May not stop a p.m. 62 however.

Little bit of genius from Day, playing a hybrid/fairway wood from 138 yards because he was 2 feet below the ball, on which was on the edge of a fairway bunker.

That was a thing of beauty, SJ, unlike his 4-putt on 12, including a miss from about 6 inches.
Terrific sandy on 16 as well.

Quite, Kwini. Sky guys, including Paul McGinley, were suggesting that the mic seems to be a bit of a curse, and forces the player to concentrate more on saying what they think they should rather than what they normally would. Seems a fair assessment.

I think the mic's are a waste of time. Never hear anything the guys don't want to be heard - totally artificial and a turn-off. Contrived.

Quiet on here isn't it?!

How's about some TRIVIA?
Adam Scott (-4 in Round 1) has made a good start in his quest for the first golfer EVER to win the lifetime Texas Slam. More than half a dozen have won three out of four, and Scott is the second Aussie to acxhieve that.
WHO WAS THE FIRST?

Kwini

Yes so far on V2 the chat regarding the pro game has been limited compared with the chat on our own games. Maybe when you, smithers and shotrock, or even prince, start discussing the the US tour it will drive the debate on.

Not helped that neither of the events this week were ever likely to catch the public's interest. Very sad to see the matchplay in its current format, the old one that seve and els dominated was one of my favourite events of the year.

While young Fowler hasn't closed a tournament, and is not yet (IMO) in the Manaserro or McIlroy young gun league just now, he's mighty close. I would be surprised if he didn't win a tournament this year.

I remain unconvinced about Fowler. I can't help thinking that his double on 9 yesterday is symbolic of his weakness generally - he's clearly capable of brilliance but just seems, as yet at least, unable to finish the job off.

Shotrock is right, Fowler will go out one week and win by six or seven, he can be that good.
Time will tell whether he has the shots for all seasons that McIlroy clearly has or that we hope Matteo might develop. But Rickie's the real thing and will win sooner rather than later.

As great as it is to see a feel player like Fowler with a home made swing, how repeatable is it. It only takes one or two really wayward shots a week to prevent you winning.

Much of the criticism of Fowler so far on this thread would appear to apply to Rors too

Mac,
He shot 29 on Colonial's front nine with a double bogey . . . . give the guy a break!
Like most mortals there wil be some courses that don't suit him, but no-one flukes a 29.

606 at least have some answers, albeit incorrect, on my Trivia question . . .

Sorry missed the trivia question.

Obvious guess would be Norman??


As for Fowler, not getting down on him just a thought as to why he has not won so far. He is a great player but just not yet as consistently as Rory, and there is a man who struggles to put four rounds together and still win. Albeit infrequently.

Both great young players ahead of there peers no matter what the slight flaws they have right now.

I take it Norman is too obvious a guess?

[Edit] Great minds think alike, eh Mac?

Davie,

I agree and disagree...

Rory won within about 18 months of turning pro and contended in major that very year...

For Rickie, this season is Rory's '09 (if you go by when they turned pro and ignore they're age - Rickie is older btw)....

So unless he bags a win and puts up a big performance in a major, he falls behind in the 'phenom' stakes....and the longer they go on the more people will ingnore they're relative pro experience and judge them on age...

For my 2 penneth... He will win this year... twice.

SmithersJones wrote:I take it Norman is too obvious a guess?

[Edit] Great minds think alike, eh Mac?

hell yeah.

Not Greg Norman.
Ned has the correct answer on 606!

As for Rickie, he was unlucky not to win a play-off back in 2009, then two seconds last year. Which I know is not a win, but is indicative of how close he's been.
Certainly showed his bottle at Celtic Manor . . . . as well as perhaps his naivete.

Appleby or allenby?

Not a player beginning with "A". So that rules out Steve Allan as well.

If you want to be really harsh, though Kwini, even at the RC it wasn't quite enough, was it? (I stress I'm enjoying a bit of Friday afternoon devil's advocate here, and I too believe he'll break his duck soon)

Talking of the devil, are many of your neighbours giving away all their possessions ahead of tomorrow?

Don't know how far back these Texas tournaments go, could it be Peter Thompson?

Not Thomson.
Not "quite enough" at the Ryder Cup but better than some others.
Anyway, it's all rhetorical at this stage, time will surely tell.

Will admit I had to wiki it as I could not think of many more options.

Smithers

yes you have to go that far back.

Interestingly thomson won an event in texas, I wonder if the conditions in Texas resemble those of Aus?

princedracula confirms my original answer was incorrect as both Bruces, Crampton and Devlin have achieved three out of four.
kwini goes to the back of the class.

Surely one of them was the first though?

Very good point Mac, I had only considered one first! And the correct answer, as princedracula doubtless knows full well, is Devlin, complete with his billabong, Crampton only having a mere pond named after him!

Russell Knox did his best Rickie Fowler impression at the Nationwide event today in the Carolinas. ELEVEN birdies and a double bogey adds up to a 9 under par 63, currently lying in 12th place, 6 shots behind leading man Greg Owen.

So how well is knox doing in the nationwide order of merit and can we expect to see him tee it up alongside the laird on the PGA tour any time soon?


Nice to see Toms resurgence continue, not sure why but I have always had a soft spot for him.

Mac,
Russell Knox is about 12th on the N'wide moneylist; this tournament has three rounds prior to the cut but another decent round should pave the way for another good payday. 25 players "graduate" from the N'wide and there's every reason to have confidence Knox might be one of them.
Only time I saw him on TV he was very impressive.

David Toms's bubble may burst but right now he's looking invincible. Very grouchy last time I followed him but can't argue with the numbers he's put up these past six rounds.

Those back to back 62s are fantastic scoring. Toms is driving the ball superbly just now and his mid and short iron play has been equally impressive. Another round like that and he'll shut the door on the field.

Toms is on fire again, tried watching some on the sky player but too much drag, from what i've read online the opionion seems to be that if Toms can go onemore good round he will be untouchable tomorrow. HE certainly is having a great return to form and has asimple swing that doesn;t seem to have nay obvious flaws that will let him down when it matters, also a tweet fro Azinger said he Toms is the guy who goes at the most pins of anyoe he's played with so heres hoping one of the nice guys can win again

What has been up with him over the last few years? He never seemed the same player after his health scare when he was taken off the course with the oxygen mask on.

Toms has endured a number of health issues, especially with a bad back; almost disappeared 2007/2008 but had a really good 2009 only to slump again last year.
Like so many US golfers, he seemed to suffer a 40-something midlife crisis, clearly didn't have much competitive fire when I saw him a couple of times last year.
But remember how well he played in winning the Match Play a few years ago?
I had forgotten the sight of him being wheeled off the course. That was scary too!

Why was Toms carted off the course?

Certainly a step or two ahead of the field so far. Wouldn't mind betting some of the US fans and media would prefer to see Fowler out ahead.

Mac,
I think he suffered from some version of heart arrythmia (sp?); regardless, he played again shortly thereafter and I've heard nothing to suggest it's been an issue since. Possible that was in 2006, just before the Ryder Cup, which probably wasn't good for his recuperation!
Regardless, he's been sidelined by back (and shoulder?) ailments since then but has seemed fully fit since the start of 2009. Especially this week. Will be firmly reestablished among America's best if he can hold his lead this weekend, back inside the owgr top thirty instead of being in the twilight zone above the all-important 50th position.

PS: Come on Lee!

I assumed that Toms was in the donald form of a player, short but good around the greens. Looking at his stats over the years it seems he is actually very different. He hits a lot of fairways, although still short, and a lot of GIR.

He has never been a great scrambler and has in some years been about the 100th best short game player.

Last week notwithstanding, I think his biggest asset has been his temperament; let's see how it holds up in Fort Worth. If anything, his finest moment was his decision to lay up on the 18th at Atlanta AC in 2001; which makes his shot into the 16th green water on Sunday even more astonishing.

Mac, All,
Don't know if you saw my 606 post, but terrible field for the Byron Nelson next week, definitely suffering because of Wentworth and its date; only KJ, Watney and Day from the owgr top twenty, only Brian Davis from GB&I, but in a sign of the times, Mike Weir is 9th alternate.

Kwini


Yes the fate of the Byron Nelson is one of my reservations when it comes to naming a european tour event in Seve's honour. I am sure it is not the case but it seems like a snub to the great Byron Nelson when the tour let the event wither. Must be terrible for the family to see the event loose any real status.

I still think a revamped Seve Trophy, featuring just young golfers, under 25 or under 30, with a senior pro Captain, and played at the best courses would be the answer. No point in expecting guys to travel from other Tours to play in it.
The European Tour should sponsor this themselves, a tournament of dreams if you like, if you organise it, they will come.
Given the lack of altruism by the European Tour however, such a noble idea may never come to fruition.