PGA Tour: Stroke Play Resumed at the "Honda": Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Congratulations to Jason Day for his Match Play win, a squeaker in the end against the unsung Victor Dubuisson who had TV commentators busily researching wikipedia and pronunciation notes - the 2014 version of Louis Ooshtuizen in that respect.
No surprise here that Day broke through in a Match Play tournament, especially after his excellent Presidents Cup performance last autumn, an altogether brand new Day compared to his floundering debut in Melbourne.

2).But what does it mean? Will he kick on from here and become a force in the biggest events, or just a pretender to Major crowns? We'll get a glimpse of the new Day dawning at Augusta, but I'm still not convinced he's at, say, the Adam Scott level, not yet anyway.

3).And congrats to Victor Dubuisson as well. Whether his miracle shots on the 19th and 20th holes were sublime or flukey, there was no doubt he richly deserved to be in the Final and has probably sealed his Ryder Cup debut.
The European qualifying table looks a little stronger now:
Dubuisson, Bjorn, Poulter, Stenson, Garcia, McIlroy, Donaldson, Rose and Luiten. I'd say McDowell will also be there but Donald, Kaymer and Westwood, to name but three, once again departed meekly from Dove Mountain and McGinley may have to discard one or more of these stalwarts unless their form does an abrupt u-turn soon.

4).There were no significant changes to the US Ryder Cup Team qualifying positions and Watson must be hoping to see some form in Florida from the likes of Bradley, Kuchar, Mahan, Snedeker and Woods among others. Only Bradley and Woods will add to their points this week and you'd expect Bradley at least to play well on a course where he's had good results in the past.
As for Woods, who knows? "A tiger's waiting to be tamed": By the Bear Trap at PGA National??!!

5).This is the time of year when Americans typically start to lose their dominance on Tour.
The season-opening Tournament of Champions has been won by Americans only four times in the past ten years, but the other six of the old traditional "West Coast Swing" has been monopolized by Tiger, Phil and the rest, with the six tournaments having been won by American golfers 54 (out of a possible 60) times. (58 out of a possible 70 altogether.)

***Of those seven events including the TOC, Europeans have won precisely once in the past ten years - by whom??***
Whilst "Team USA" has won all ten San Diego and Pebble Beach events.

6).The balance of power changes significantly starting with the Match Play, with Americans only winning 37 of a possible 70 for the seven tournaments Match Play thru Houston, and British golfers have won at least once at each in the past five years, with Harrington, Donald and McIlroy all having tasted victory at the "Honda".

7).Just to continue the theme, I believe I'm correct in saying that Europeans have won all the tournaments that have been in place for ten years or more except Hawaii, Pebble Beach (tho' McDowell of course won the US Open there), John Deere and Reno/Tahoe, all but LA (Faldo, 1997) and New Orleans (Westwood, 1998) in the past fifteen years.

8).PGA National is one tough grind, even for the World's best, and many of the best will be in action this week with only Day and Rose missing from the owgr Top 9 at "The Honda Classic". (Kudos to Honda, the longest running title sponsor of a PGA Tour event.)
Many Europeans will be enjoying a busman's holiday with unexpected guests including Bjorn, Casey, Donaldson, Gallacher, Gonzo, Hanson, Kaymer, Manassero and Olesen, plus European Tour stars Koepka and Uihlein(!!).
PGA National is traditionally one of the toughest Par-70's on Tour and, if the wind blows, it'll be a real Bear (pun intended, given Nicklaus's re-do a few years ago). The TV cameras will focus on holes #15 (par-3), #16 (par-4) and #17 (par-3) with all approach shots played over water. Certainly not the sort of golf I like to play and, on my only visit, I didn't enjoy the torture one little bit.

9).Being a PGA Champion is not necessarily easy on the old ticker as news comes that Shaun Micheel (remember him?) has undergone a procedure to clear a blockage - right "coronary artery blocked 99%". Micheel has had a host of medical issues and good health to him. All of which follows Hal Sutton's "mild" heart attack whilst playing on the Champo Tour.

10).When Tony Hateley (one of the better headers of a football in the past 50-odd years) died recently, the old Tommy Docherty quip resurfaced about Hateley being such an awful passer of the ball that:
"He's so bad with the ball at his feet that his passes should be addressed 'To whom it may concern'".

With just three San Diego rounds under his belt, no doubt Tiger feels that way about his driver as he would rank 175th of 175 on Tour in driving accuracy; if he plays like that at PGA National he won't make the cut, but who would bet against him coming out in mid-season form?
After some abysmal CBS TV broadcasts, NBC TV takes over for the next few weeks, Johnny Miller and the rest, and doubtless we'll get a close-up view to see if Tiger's got his act together in time for this week to serve as a useful warm-up for upcoming dates at Doral and Bay Hill.
Let's hope last week's action was reminder enough that other guys play great golf too.

Another birdie from Luke, - 3 is an excellent showing considering he was +3 through two holes!!

incontinentia wrote:Is Tommy Gainey good for golf?

Do I smell the faint odour of snobbery here?  

I've have only seen him play a little, but I've not noticed him spit, swear, throw clubs or bend any rules.
I'm not aware of him chasing anything in a skirt or taking performance enhancing drugs.
All in all, I'd say Tommy Ungainly is as good for golf as anyone.  God awful ugly swing though.

I think Tommy Gainey is great for golf.

Two Saffers (sort of) and two Carolina rednecks leading the way.

Excellent tournament this. This must be considered the hardest tournament outside of majors scoring wise, right?

Spot on benson, at least it was last year.
Some very good rounds though, five under par 65 is pretty sporty.

Below average driving again for Woods but doubtless he'll blame his putter for his over-par score. And he'd be correct there too.

Fine round by Harrington; three more like that and he'd be in business. Fingers crossed for him, but his start to the Tour season until now has been awful.

Last year's sensation Stenson coming up short today .... but 2-gloves in the mix! Heck of a course.

9C's #1 ranking is on a shoogly peg.

Pleased to see the Pride of Pontypridd (or presumably the Marquis of Macclesfield) nudging the leaders. Perhaps Donaldson can make up for the Swansea result.

Given TW's recent form, I would not put him in the top 25 at the moment ... still, though, his ranking to lose.

Here comes team Nike and the Irishman!

Could be the year Pubehead eclipses 9C

Billy Horschel struggling again - I thought he'd turn in to a world-beater last spring.

Rors looking really good, but he's flashed low rounds already this year only to suffer a relapse. Hope he keeps it going here.

Whatever happened to Piercey? He also looked like he was up and coming.

1).Piercy is a nutcase.
2).A mid-thirties nutcase.
3).In sick bay for four months!

9C already 8 back!   

Didn't see any of this but sounds like Rors had a fantastic round, hope he can keep it up.

Rors looked on top form; a good 12 foot par putt, a 30-footer a couple of holes later, otherwise rock solid and holed his putts.
But he's shot 63 in the first round recently and fizzled, so who knows what to expect Friday.

Weather could be iffy tomorrow, not sure what to expect, but with little wind and nothing severe you'd think scores will be similar to Round 1.
Which suggests a cut at even par.
So: Woods and Gonzo need a 60-something, with Sergio, Casey, Gallacher, Hanson, Stenson, Kaymer etc needing at least 67 or 68.

And: In the "You can't win it on Thursday but you sure can lose it" category resides Darren Clarke, among others, including Schwartzel.

King Charl and ISM (Chubby Chandler) part company!

kwinigolfer wrote:Spot on benson, at least it was last year.
Some very good rounds though, five under par 65 is pretty sporty.

Below average driving again for Woods but doubtless he'll blame his putter for his over-par score. And he'd be correct there too.

Fine round by Harrington; three more like that and he'd be in business. Fingers crossed for him, but his start to the Tour season until now has been awful.

Good to see him hole a few putts, he got an invite into the Arnold Palmer invitational meaning apart from the WGC, he is playing every week before the Masters. It would be nice if he could qualify for it. It maybe a long shot but you never know.

Early bogey for McIlroy, cut-line still at even par.

Have you heard the one about an Northern Irishman, a Welshman (whatever the Golf Channel might say to the contrary), a Scot and an Englishman?
They're the top four Europeans at The Honda!
(With an Irishman close behind, of course.)

I look for the man from the island of Ireland to finish this off. (Sorry, Paddy, not talking about you.)

Not a lot of low scores thus far, but another no-name Yank (Summerhays) challenging the leaders.

Tiger will be fortunate to make the cut. Sergio, even more.

Blimey,
The Englishman, Nor'n Irishman, Welshman and Scot all in the Top Ten now. Hope that lasts!
 
Scoring Thursday afternoon was better than in the a.m. so, if that applies today, the cut will go to minus 1. Which would demand a 68 of Woods, and a 69 from Mickelson. Chance of thunderstorms later Friday though, but should be fine (breezy?) for the weekend.

The winning score of this isn't usually much lower than -10. Rory nearly there already.

Now he is there. Boom! 30 footer for birdie to go to -10.

Lots of golf to play ... but agree with you Incontinentia ... looks like Rory's to lose at the moment.

Per capita, are there better professional golfers than Ireland (more specifically those from Northern Ireland) are currently producing? Hard to think of anywhere else.

Sr,
Once upon a time that title was held by New York Mills . . . . . . !

Imagine Rors is getting a bit nervous if he looks in his mirror as he'll see Westwood coming up on the outside.

Mcilroy seems to be making lots of putts (sadly)

Just holed another 20 foot plus birdie!

That's because he's seen Westwood storming up the leaderboard.

Casey's got it in gear as well. Excellent from Donaldson too.

There are going to be some big names leaving early for Doral: Mickelson, Horschel, Hideki (w/d) and Hanson (Edit: Oops, Hanson not qualified, so an especially poor start to his year) among them.

Shotrock wrote:Lots of golf to play ... but agree with you Incontinentia ... looks like Rory's to lose at the moment.

Per capita, are there better professional golfers than Ireland (more specifically those from Northern Ireland) are currently producing? Hard to think of anywhere else.

Denmark and Sweden would have to be up there too.

Has Hanson qualified for the Masters?

Stopped being lazy and looked....He has.

I cannot see anyway that Rory will not be leading this by end of day. Great comeback from two early bogeys. Be interesting to see the weekend. Could this be the real start of him getting back to no1.

Matsuyama pulled out with injury again

Matsuyama seems to want to play every week any tweaks probably don't get the rest.

St.Luke is making some putts again - haven't seen that in a year or so.

Looks like even par will be the cut, Garcia, Kaymer, Schwartzel, Stenson and Woods all need to get their skates on.

The British are coming, the British are coming!
How long will it last?
Five in the Top Ten for the moment though, and that's a good start before some begin their retreat.

Tiger living close to the edge ... and may be slamming his trunk before the day's end.

And my best friend Sergio best get a move on, or he'll exit stage right.

My amazing Rory prediction (which, again, even Stevie Wonder could see) to come true?

Olesen three putts his 17th from 20 feet and his 18 from 4 feet to miss the weekend by two, poor stuff.

Possibility of Garcia and Woods being paired together on Saturday!

It wouldn't be the first time Rory has foozled an opening 63 this year Shotrock - where was Little Stevie then?

I predict Rory goes wire-to-wire ... and he'll be flashing that pain-free toothy smile late Sunday.

Batten down the hatches Kwin, another Nor'Easter heading our way.

If they have a feature group on the PGA Tour site tomorrow....here's hoping Woods and Garcia are in the same group.

Brilliant birdie at 17 for Sergio, haven't seen anyone hitting it close at all on that hole. Nice of American coverage showing he holed it after hitting pin!

Shotrock,
I think you'll be shovelling, we'll just be bitterly cold, just like the past three months.

Great clutch play from Sergio, hopefully his other nemesis, Harrington, can hang on too.

If they play 3 balls would be interesting if Harrington, Tiger and Sergio played together!

Pity they can't have a foursome and throw Vijay in there!

Harrington on his bike. What a shame, just can't pull himself together. Needs a Plan B, or C.

MDF time.
Do you think Tiger's nervous? You know he won't want to be MDF'd twice!

Looks like he misses Sergio.

Puerto Rico Open field published.
Europeans include:
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Cejka
Chopra
Colsaerts
Karlsson
Owen
Pettersson
Quiros
Siem

Plus Emiliano Grillo and it will be interesting to see how he makes out.

The Europeans might be doing ok (well, some of them), but it must feel like a pretty bad week for European American U-line. Given his goal must be PGAT success he won't want to miss the cut that badly too often when given the chance on the PGAT. Would STM have been a goal for him?