PGA Tour: Odds and Sods: Notes from the Ballwasher

I'll leave it to someone else to cover The Open Championship this week.
The PGA Tour takes its "International" summer break with next week's action being the RBC Canadian Open at Royal Montreal. Then back to the States for Firestone, PGA Championship, Greensboro, end of "regular" season.
But here are five miscellaneous notes to be going on with:
 
1).A convincing winning performance from Brian Harman as he took his first Tour victory at the John Deere Classic - that's at least the 17th Top Ten finish from a left-hander this season. And we're still awaiting Phil Mickelson's first contribution.
 
2).Amazing stat this week from Brian Harman as he won whilst recording a negative "strokes gained putting" stat. That's only the 23rd time it's happened during the "Shot Link" era, since 2004.
Not amazing in itself, but ONE GOLFER HAS FIVE of those wins! Any idea who?
'Course, it's testament to great ball-striking as Harman, at least, seemed to be making tons of putts every day. But they were mostly shortish ones!
Another has two such wins, Sean O'Hair (though none recently of course).
 
3).This is a big week for some "notable" players who are still not certain of their 2014/15 Tour card led, naturally, by Lee Westwood.
Others playing at Hoylake who could use a strong finish to help secure their Tour career for another year include:
~Robert Karlsson - presumably his last chance as a non-member this season, though perhaps he might finagle an entree to Reno?
~Ben Curtis
~Olesen
~Gonzo
~Casey
~YE Yang
~Castro
 
4).Any American winning this week will almost certainly qualify for the Ryder Cup Team given that their qualifying system awards double points (prize-money) for Majors. Tom Watson invited 20-ish contenders to play Gleneagles with him last weekend, but only Keegan Bradley and Jim Furyk showed up.
Regardless, this is how the points list looks (first nine automatically qualify) as they tee off, together with strays from the past Ryder/Presidents Cup Teams:
1st - 5th: Watson, Walker, DJohnson, Kuchar, Spieth (certain qualifiers).
6 - 9: Furyk, Fowler, Dufner, ZJohnson.
10 - 12: Reed, Todd, Mickelson.
13: Simpson
18: Bradley
27: Haas
29: Snedeker - (just signed on with Butch Harmon).
36: Mahan
39: Stricker - (gone huntin')
72: Woods
 
5).Course form:
2000 Amateur Champion: Mikko Ilonen
2006 Open Championship:
1st: Woods
3rd: Els
4th: Furyk
5th: Garcia
6th - 10th: Cabrera, Scott,
11th - 25th: Ilonen, Rumford, Schwartzel, Mickelson,
26th - 40th: Mahan, Westwood, Karlsson, Donald, Senden,
40th - 71st: Jimenez, Bjorn, Gonzo, Tom Watson, Stenson, Duval, McDowell (first-round leader), Hamilton, Casey.
 
Missed cut: Daly, KJChoi, Curtis, ZJohnson, SLyle, Oosthuizen, Faldo, Cink, Harrington, DHowell, Lawrie, Clarke, Poulter.
 
5a).Also missing the cut eight years ago was Aussie Jarrod Lyle. Reports suggest he'll be returning from his second battle with leukaemia at next week's web.com stop in Kansas.
Good luck to everyone at Hoylake, but especially good luck to Jarrod Lyle next week - one man who knows all too well that Golf is just a game.

Cheers kwini,

"Not amazing in itself, but ONE GOLFER HAS FIVE of those wins! Any idea who?" Philipão?

There is only about a 10 players that have 5+ wins in the Shot Tracker era.

Off the top of my head

Tiger, Phil-bert, Johnson (x2), Rory, Furyk, Stricker, Vijay,

So my guess would be Vijay Singh.

People with 5 wins since 2004, and crap putters.

Carl Pettersson?

Yeah, Veej is the answer.
Doesn't that just demonstrate how fantastic his driving and irons must have been during that era?

I thought that was incredible!

Vijay's putting stat placings (of about 200 golfers) since 2004 are almost uniformly grisly:
104th, 57th, 62nd, 110th, 172nd, 174th, 185th, 130th, 168th, 179th, 183rd.
Think of what might have been, Vijay.

Can we use this thread to chat about the Open?

Of course!

Shane Lowry 66/1 with Paddy Power.
Discuss . . . . . .

Given that they're paying top SEVEN, that looks good value to me.

Interested to know why every time I type in Tom Watson's name, "Muppet" appears!

The British Open is probably the one tournament of the year that suits Lowry most. Phenomenal links and bad weather player.

I have 5 quid e/w on Lowry. Why not.

incontinentia wrote:The British Open is probably the one tournament of the year that suits Lowry most. Phenomenal links and bad weather player.

and not many hills...

Lowry, like Poulter and Garcia is one of those players that struggles to have 4 good rounds. There's always a holocaust round in there.

Go on Padraig!! Take it home, if it isn't year hopefully it's Ishikawa, Woods or Day's time

66/1 is pretty stingy for Lowry I would have thought but bookies aren't stupid and reckon a fiver e.w. is still good value for a player who's certainly got the ability to contend tho' can't quite see him winning.

According to a Golfweek article, a Senior Ryder Cup is a done deal, starting next September.

http://golfweek.com/news/2014/jul/16/ryder-cup-senior-players-champions-tour/

GPB,
I always enjoyed the old Chrysler Cup format, pitching US Seniors against those from the ROTW.

Just using Europe would:
1).Be hopelessly lop-sided.
2).Exclude guys like Vijay, Franco, Frosty, Price, McNulty, Senior, Coceres, Toledo, Lu, Elk, Fowler, Harwood, etc, etc.

kwinigolfer wrote:66/1 is pretty stingy for Lowry I would have thought but bookies aren't stupid and reckon a fiver e.w. is still good value for a player who's certainly got the ability to contend tho' can't quite see him winning.

Agree, don't think he's mentally ready for a Major yet.

Anyone up to date with the weather forecast for the 4 days?

Yep, After Longhard Banger and the Full Monty and the Mechanic, it is Slim Pickens on the Euro Side.

Who else would the Euro Team include?

Sandy Lyle? Made cut in three straight Majors
Santiago Luna? High on Sr ET money list
Chapman? Already had his 15 minutes of fame
Woosy?
Rocca?
Ollie (not eligible until 2016)
Faldo?
Tinning?

incontinentia wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:66/1 is pretty stingy for Lowry I would have thought but bookies aren't stupid and reckon a fiver e.w. is still good value for a player who's certainly got the ability to contend tho' can't quite see him winning.

Agree, don't think he's mentally ready for a Major yet.

Anyone up to date with the weather forecast for the 4 days?

DOn't think he's physically ready either.

incontinentia wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:66/1 is pretty stingy for Lowry I would have thought but bookies aren't stupid and reckon a fiver e.w. is still good value for a player who's certainly got the ability to contend tho' can't quite see him winning.

Agree, don't think he's mentally ready for a Major yet.

Anyone up to date with the weather forecast for the 4 days?

Friday is currently looking a bit...erm...interesting ;-)

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP TIME!!!!!!!!!!
Here is the forecast for today!
https://twitter.com/KenBrownGolf/status/489635538488795136/photo/1

kwinigolfer wrote:Interested to know why every time I type in Tom Watson's name, "Muppet" appears!

I think this Tom Watsom https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=tom+watson+politician&safe=off is meant to look like one of the muppets. (maybe beaker)

Hopefully this ridiculous idea of a Senior's Ryder Cup won't go ahead!

It seems like such a difficult start to the course.....

https://twitter.com/SkySportsGolf/status/489671796170690560/photo/1 morning/afternoon wave defo with the advantage if this forecast holds true!

So who will be the first to comment that the coverage is rubbish and they hate Alliss, and it would be better on Sky?

did not realise the Beeb bashing has already started on the other thread, and actually before the competition had even started!

I already did

Round 1 of The Open and some golfers made significant moves towards retaining or losing their cards, and in Ryder Cup qualifying progress.

PGA Tour cards:
Good moves!
~Karlsson: A good start (66 notional points for T10) for Robbie as he strives to retrieve his card from current non-member status.

~Westwood: A top 30 will likely earn him enough FedEx points to live to fight another year on Tour. T33 in afternoon conditions is a good start.

Bad moves!
With their positions outside the Top 70, these guys have it all to do Friday to earn any points and improve their status:
~Casey, Castro, Curtis, Gonzo: T84
~Olesen, Yang: T105

Ryder Cup qualifying:
US: Good!
~Furyk: T3: If Sunny Jim is not already a dead cert, he would be with a Top Ten finish.
~Fowler: T10: Given that no close rival is ahead of him, a 10th place finish would be golden for One-Win-Rickie.
~Dufner: T19: Still don't know how he bogeyed #18, but this would help him a lot and distance himself from the 10th place golfer.
~Zach: T33: As for the Dufmeister, a 33rd place finish will help Zach in the right direction. Currently 9th.

Not so good!
~Mickelson: T84 will only extend the distance between himself and the qualifying places.
Similarly for the current positions of:
~Todd, Bradley, Snedeker, Simpson, Mahan, etc.
~Woods: T10: He really needs a Top 5 finish to make a serious dent in his arrears. At Firestone and Valhalla too.

Europe:
If current positions are maintained, Rory would top the European Points list. That would relegate Bjorn to his eligibility on the World Points list - and that would shunt either Donald (T66) or his son (145) out of the qualifying places.
Current Open placings won't affect anyone else's eligibility but Franny Molinari and Gallacher would make strong moves upwards.

And their current Open placings are bad news for Donaldson, Luiten, Jimenez and McDowell.

Got all that?

More updates Friday!

If Rory passes Bjorn, it won't affect Donald. Bjorn would just take Rory's place in the World Point list and Donald would remain #9 in the rankings. (all other things being equal)

Depends how Donald finishes, surely? No upsides for his son unless he shoots lights out on Friday. Cut made for Donald would almost certainly lift him above Jamie.
That would leave the World qualifiers as Garcia, Rose, Kaymer, Bjorn + 1, Donald or, possibly, his son.

Luke is not a lock to make the cut, but yes if he makes the cut, and his "son" does not, he will pass his son in the World Point list as he is guaranteed 1.5 points.

And ditto to Stenson and Bjorn if they make the cut, they should pass Donaldson easily.

4 months ago I though Donaldson was a lock for the Euro Team. And I also thought Top Five was a lock for the US Team.

F. Molinari and Koepka are in prime position to really upset the apple cart.

Update:
Tour Cards;

Good!
Modest moves in the right direction for Casey and Olesen, but both have a long way still to go.
Karlsson can still help himself BIG time!

Bad!
Westwood, Curtis, Gonzo, Yang and Castro are in deep weeds, likely to lose their cards unless they can prosper the next few weeks. Westwood could just squeak it, the others must see the web.com Finals in their future.

Ryder Cup:
Good:
Europe:
Dubuisson and McIlroy have done themselves a power of good, with Donaldson, Westwood, Jimenez, Luiten and Poulter being big losers.

Molinari and McDowell, even Donald, may take advantage if they enjoy a strong weekend.

USA:
BAD! For Simpson, Reed and English.
Furyk and Fowler the most strongly placed to confirm their qualifying places.

This is Oleson 12th event and he is not listed in the Canadian Open field.

He is not eligible for Bridgestone...or the PGA (yet)

So he has to Reno-PGA-Wyndham to be eligible to play the WTF series.

Stenson is not listed in the Canadian Open either.  He has to play BS, PGA and hope he gets to BMW to keep tour card.

Or BS-PGA-Wyndham and hopes he gets to DeutscheBank to keep tour card.

I figure it will take around 600 pts to get to DeutscheBank.  (took 533 last year)

and about 950 pts to get to the BMW.

Henrik is projected at 477 points as of completion of third round today.  

He has some work to do.

Yes, I don't see much point in the Europeans playing the WTF series, tho' I suppose Gonzo might. Would love Karlsson to finish high enough tomorrow to secure a card for next year but probably needs to go pretty low for Round 4 (second would probably clinch it, after that it's increasingly unlikely unless he can get in to the PGA).

Casey certainly lost the chance to sew up his card, needs mid-60's on Sunday.

If Fowler and Furyk maintain current Hoylake positions, it'll be a race for the final two qualifying places in the US Ryder Cup list. Dufner and Zach Johnson are 8th & 9th overnight, but there are plenty just behind who could challenge them with low rounds on Sunday: e.g. Mickelson, Kirk, Moore, Bradley.

For Europe, qualifying placings will remain the same unless Bjorn and Stenson have strong finishes, in which case Donaldson could slip out of the Top 9. Suppose there's a very outside chance that McDool, Gallacher or even Franny could shake that assumption up, but several of the overnight leaderboard would need to fall back.

Oleson will still be in Finchem's Doghouse if he doesn't play 15 events, and could go through the purgatory that Westwood was in a few years ago.

He won't be eligible for the full compliment of sponsors invites that a regular non member can accept.  And won't be eligible for PGAT membership...even if he wins an event.

Membership has its privileges...and its obligations.

GPB,
Surely Harrington, Lynn, Colsaerts and Hanson would be in the same boat - none playing in Oh Canada, all way out with the washing as far as the Barclays is concerned and presumably only Harrington in the PGA.

Not sure how they'd deal with Padraig, but can't imagine the other four much care. DC should just sneak in his 15.

(Actually think Michael Campbell's doghouse was even smellier than Westwood's as far as Finchem was concerned. Course, he didn't have the Chubster in his corner either.)

A Doghouse with Chubby in it would be more odorous.   

Michael Campbell has not been known to make the wisest decisions.

I wonder when the 2nd Tier EuroTour Players will learn that they need to make a full time commitment to the US PGAT if they expect to keep a PGATour card.