PGA Tour: SONY Hackers Detained in Hawaii: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).That's right, but no Interview and, in Hawaii this week, no North Koreans either - half a dozen-ish South Korean golfers and a few Japanese, including the up and coming Hiroshi enough to make your Iwata. We'll have a sprinkling of Europeans about which more later.

2).It sounds gratuitous to mention Tiger Woods so early in the season, but Patrick Reed's Kapalua win yesterday, at the Hyundai TOC, was eerily reminiscent of Tiger's win at Pebble Beach when he had to make a bunch of birdies in the final four holes, and simplified matters by holing a second shot for eagle. Matt Gogel was the unwitting victim fifteen or so years ago and he's now a commentator.
Don't expect the same fate to befall Jimmy Walker yet awhile, but finding himself stuck in neutral when all about were making birdies, or eagle, must have been a disheartening experience. Reed is now the only non-Holywood golfer under 30 with four Tour wins.

3).Last week we had a bit of a teaser about Touring Pros with the most "made cuts". (Of those under 50, the leaders were Mayfair, Estes, Furyk, Mickelson and Leonard.)
Alright for journeymen you might say, but who makes the most of those cuts? You know who the prolific winners are, but who is consistently in the Top Ten? And, although he's barely in the Top 20 in cuts made, Tiger leads in Top Ten performance with 185 in 294 cuts made. No-one else with at least 100 "cuts made" approaches that hit rate, with Phil the next best:
Woods: 185 Top Tens in 294 "cuts: 63%
Mickelson: 173 Top Tens in 424 "cuts": 41%
This just in: Woods's record before his recent decline was pretty bl00dy good.

4).Tour players (under 50) with 90+ Top Tens are:
185: Woods
173: Mickelson
172: Furyk
125: Els
109: Toms
103: Stricker
99:  Leonard
91:  Cink
91:  Estes
Top European is Sergio with 86 Top Tens, same as Jerry Kelly.

5).Europeans making the most of their paydays include:
86: Garcia
73: Donald
59: Rose
55: Parnevik - he'll be turning the big 5 0 in a few weeks.
52: Harrington
49: Pettersson
I thought it was interesting anyway.

6).Going back to Woods for a moment, the US media is wetting itself over his return to action in Phoenix, and the PGA Tour seems to be responding by adding restrictions to the behaviour of competitors in the 16th hole ampitheatre. Caddie races have already been banned and it now seems as if the practice of throwing goodies in to the grandstands is also about to be prohibited. No golfballs, no gloves, no footballs, no shirts; you name it, don't throw it.
Presumably no boulder rolling, gun toting or tangerine tossing either.

7).A few "Internationals" played well at Kapalua, and an early snapshot of the Top Ten Presidents Cup qualifying points leaders looks like this:
Scott, Day, Matsuyama, Schwartzel (despite last week's collapse), Jaidee, Oosthuizen, Leishman, Senden, Oda, Clark. (DeLaet is 11th and Els is 12th man.)
You know US Captain Jay Haas is quaking in his boots at having to face that lot.

8).This season sees the introduction of Donaldson, Dubuisson and Molinari F to the PGA Tour and Franny makes his debut at this week's Sony Open. His first target is to reach the Top 125 in FedEx points (or official money), but he starts tied for last, with 211 golfers ahead of him. He doesn't have a power game and will be at a serious disadvantage at certain courses, so let's hope he takes more care with his playing schedule than some of his continent-mates. Tee-to-green he is a strong version of Luke Donald, on and around the green he's a pale imitation of Lukey who, coincidentally, makes an early reappearance this week alongside Molinari.
You'd think Waialae Country Club would suit Molinari down to the ground and it's no exaggeration to say that he needs good results straight out of the traps. Partly to get ahead of the required FedEx pace and better plan his tournaments, and partly to return to the owgr Top 50 and earn entry to the Majors and WGC's that he's no longer exempt for. Hope he's successful, even money in my book.

9).There's a decent field at the Sony, with Day, Kuchar, Matsuyama and Zach Johnson (fancy him this week), and these early season events are deeper than in past years.
Luke Donald has played here 7 times, made 5 cuts with 5 Top 25's, including one runner up finish; right up the street of the stereotypical Luke Donald, but who knows what type of St.Luke we'll see in 2015?
Casey, Brian Davis and Russell Knox are here, plus Cejka, Pettersson and Lingmerth.
Tim Clark, Chuckie Howell and Ryan Palmer are among the old lags with super records here, while young 'uns Henley and Kirk did well at Kapalua and have "previous" at Waialae.

10).Which brings us to last year's champ Jimmy Walker. He ratified his Frys win here and went on to squeak home at Pebble Beach and contended on an almost weekly basis. Not least at the Ryder Cup. Interesting Q&A with him in Feb's Golf Digest where he praised Zach Johnson as being the ideal teammate and spoke well of Reed, Spieth and one-trickie Rickie.
I've never seen Walker play but he seems a multifaceted personality, relatively late to success, with his feet on the ground and, one would think, destined for another good year, or five.
He's gaining professional respect as an astrophotograher; sure he doesn't aspire to be an astrophysicist, a la Brian May, but an interesting choice of (very serious and expensive) hobby nevertheless.

Luke could do what Stenson did a few years ago at the match play.

Show up and hit one shot..concede the match.

Collect 50K in official money and a couple OWGR points and about 22 FEDEX points.

And a start on the PGATour and EuroTour.

====

Uh oh....can't do that, as everyone plays three matches.  

Luke would have to skip the rehearsal dinner.

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Didn't his brother used to caddie for Luke?  Same brother?  Is he still caddying?

The Nicklaus piece is a good read - thanks!

Assume that's Christian - not sure he still caddies. He went from Luke to someone else, possibly Casey or Kaymer, but it didn't last.
Can't imagine Humana is the place for Luke to find his game. But Riviera might be. Fingers crossed for a strong year for him.

robopz wrote:

GPB wrote:I hear Tiger's Dentist is contacting Steinway for a spare piano key as the raw material for the replacement tooth.

Maybe Schwartzel's Dentist knows a source.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charl_Schwartzel#mediaviewer/File:Charl_Schwartzel.JPG

Maybe Tiger can turn to his agent for help... I mean aren't Steinberg's distant relatives of the Steinway's anyhow?    

Not sure Tiger could tell the difference: to him they'd both be "Steiny".

Now we have tales of Lee Westwood saving a Parkinson's-ridden millionaire from drowning.

super_ won't be impressed to hear that said millionaire wishes:
"If there is a power looking over us, I hope he takes note and delivers three Majors to this kind and gentle human being."!!

Well done, Lee, you've cracked it, son!!!! (Not sure why only "three majors" though . . . . . . . )

If i'd been Westwood I think I'd have thrown the coffin dodger back in.

Because even with the Almighty's help Lee wouldn't win all four...  

Lee Westwood isn't exactly in the best of shape!

Spoiler:

True Mac, but it's nowhere near as bad as I thought he was.

He is no adam scott.

Well, if he was you'd be offering to sook his boaby.

That new ball retriever will never catch on...

McLaren wrote:Lee Westwood isn't exactly in the best of shape!

Spoiler:

What are you on Mac? Just what, exactly, do you expect him to look like? Looks decent enough to me for a golfer. Perhaps you might elaborate on the perfect golfing physique and dazzle us with your reasoning?

I doubt anyone knows what the perfect golfing physique is. But I am pretty sure that on attractiveness grounds his belly region could do with some work.

Anyone else think it was time Mac posted a photo of himself stripped to the waist so we can see what a perfect specimen of a man he is?

Only to the waist?

Somewhere someone posted a Paul Casey interview in which he said he wanted to play in the Ryder cup again, so how does quitting the european tour fit into that plan?


Another european who will struggle to fill his European quota is Luke Donald who is skipping all of the Middle east swing and missing the WGC matchpaly (for a wedding).

His co sanctioned events will be;

Masters
US open
Open
PGA champ
Cadillac
bridgstone
HSBC

I assume he will also play the BMW and the scottish open. Meaning he needs to play another 4 (13-9) regular European tour events. Where do people expect to see Donald play these events?

Westwood would make an excellent floatation device as he has no major trophies to weigh him down.

I can see Luke playing the RtD Championship, plus either Turkey or BMW China.

So that leaves two events for him to play.

I can see him playing 2 of these three: French Open, Irish Open and Dunhill Links.

Potentially Crans Sur Sierre too, the most beautiful stop on either tour.

Luke will not be playing Crans Sur Sierre.

Same week as the RBC Canadian Open.  RBC is one of Luke's big sponsors.

super_realist wrote:Potentially Crans Sur Sierre too, the most beautiful stop on either tour.

Maybe one of the least well informed comments ever made on this board.

Mac, Fair enough Mac, you stick to toilets like St.Andrews or Houston if you like.

Sadly disappointed in both Navy and s_r falling for such obvious flame bait and giving oxygen to such stupid remarks. Thumbs up to LP though for calling him out on the flame bait

super_realist wrote:Mac, Fair enough Mac, you stick to toilets like St.Andrews or Houston if you like.

Super it was ignorant because Donald is quite famously sponsored by RBC, nothing to do with how beautiful the location is.

Sorry Mac, I don't have the schedule of the PGA and European Tour and how the sponsors of those tournaments and those of the potential players memorised and how they might coincide just so I can bring it up on a bloody forum.

If you knew that off the top of your head then you're even more of a sad bastard than you demonstrate on a daily basis.

McLaren wrote:I doubt anyone knows what the perfect golfing physique is.  But I am pretty sure that on attractiveness grounds his belly region could do with some work.

What's attractiveness got to do with golfing ability oh, ye of the "I don't want to objectify women..." ?

navyblueshorts wrote:

McLaren wrote:I doubt anyone knows what the perfect golfing physique is.  But I am pretty sure that on attractiveness grounds his belly region could do with some work.

What's attractiveness got to do with golfing ability oh, ye of the "I don't want to objectify women..." ?

The only reason Mac's such a feminist is he shares their taste in men.

SmithersJones wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

McLaren wrote:I doubt anyone knows what the perfect golfing physique is.  But I am pretty sure that on attractiveness grounds his belly region could do with some work.

What's attractiveness got to do with golfing ability oh, ye of the "I don't want to objectify women..." ?

The only reason Mac's such a feminist is he shares their taste in men.

Maybe. I'm awaiting Mac's undoubtedly informative reply though.
Come on Mac, where is it? While I'm waiting, can you guess the word given by the definitions below?:

1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.

Champagne liberalism Navy, or the more obvious hypocrite?

Navy

I am not sure what you want to hear from me. You seemed to think I was criticising lee's physique because it would not be optimal for his golf game, when in reality I was criticising his physique just because he is overweight. Hence my reply that I have no idea what the perfect golfing physique is.

As for your accusations of hypocrisy I would suggest that making fun of a mans body - while unnecessary and probably a little hurtful - is not the same as objectifying women. The problem with Mens rights activists like yourself is the failure to understand the historical and social context of our attitudes towards women. Making fat jokes about white rich men hasn't really had the same impact on them as years of sexist comments and attitudes have had on women.

Mac, I think you'd be right to say that being fat isn't good for being optimal at ANY sport, even one as sedentary as golf or actually anything in life.

(no sumo comments please)

I wouldn't call Westwood "fat" necessarily from those photos but he's certainly a little out of shape

McLaren wrote:Navy

I am not sure what you want to hear from me.  You seemed to think I was criticising lee's physique because it would not be optimal for his golf game, when in reality I was criticising his physique just because he is overweight.  Hence my reply that I have no idea what the perfect golfing physique is.

As for your accusations of hypocrisy I would suggest that making fun of a mans body - while unnecessary and probably a little hurtful - is not the same as objectifying women.  The problem with Mens rights activists like yourself is the failure to understand the historical and social context of our attitudes towards women.  Making fat jokes about white rich men hasn't really had the same impact on them as years of sexist comments and attitudes have had on women.

I want to see how you justify a comment that you'd be all over like a rash if aimed at a woman or some minority group. As for me being a men's rights activist? Well...... . As for not understanding the relevant history - you're making assumptions that aren't backed up by anything.
The trouble with JWs, like yourself, is that you utterly fail to see why it is that if one shouldn't say something about one segment of Society, one shouldn't make equivalent remarks about anyone in Society. The Professionally Offended are usually the same - only banging on about their own pet interest and too daft to make the logical extrapolations. Can't have it both ways I'm afraid.

Navy

Then please direct your ire towards the main offender when it comes to mocking fat white men. In case you are wondering that person is super_realist.


"The Professionally Offended are usually the same - only banging on about their own pet interest and too daft to make the logical extrapolations. Can't have it both ways I'm afraid."

So just to be clear you are equating objectification of women with mocking someone for being a little tubby?

McLaren wrote:Navy

Then please direct your ire towards the main offender when it comes to mocking fat white men.  In case you are wondering that person is super_realist.

Nothing wrong with mocking fat people of any race or gender Mac.

I found a picture of mac from his facebook profile

super_realist wrote:

McLaren wrote:Navy

Then please direct your ire towards the main offender when it comes to mocking fat white men.  In case you are wondering that person is super_realist.

Nothing wrong with mocking fat people of any race or gender Mac.

Sorry but I disagree. Some of the comments on here about size can be and are very hurtful. We're not all perfect, you know!

LadyPutt wrote:

super_realist wrote:

McLaren wrote:Navy

Then please direct your ire towards the main offender when it comes to mocking fat white men.  In case you are wondering that person is super_realist.

Nothing wrong with mocking fat people of any race or gender Mac.

Sorry but I disagree. Some of the comments on here about size can be and are very hurtful. We're not all perfect, you know!

LP, rest assured we're talking in regards to people who claim to be professional athletes and to a greater or lesser degree are doing their chances of success a dis-service by not being in the best shape they can be.

McLaren wrote:Navy

Then please direct your ire towards the main offender when it comes to mocking fat white men.  In case you are wondering that person is super_realist.

No. As I recall, you made the remark re. Westwood initially and posted the water-side image. A couple of direct quotes:

McLaren wrote:

1. Lee Westwood isn't exactly in the best of shape!
   
2. He is no adam scott.
   

_____________________________________________________

McLaren wrote:"The Professionally Offended are usually the same - only banging on about their own pet interest and too daft to make the logical extrapolations. Can't have it both ways I'm afraid."

So just to be clear you are equating objectification of women with mocking someone for being a little tubby?

No, again. I'm calling you out as a hypocrite. Oh, not so well done on the straw man distraction attempt either. I made no comment on degrees/severity of objectification (or however you want to define it). Pure and simple - your remark(s) are on the same scale as some sexist/discriminatory remark at some woman or other. What's the matter? Don't like the image in the mirror?
Don't worry about it though - I'm sure we're all hypocritical from time to time  .

I'll leave it at that as Kwini's thread isn't the place for this really.

Lee Westwood's weight issues were due to a starch intolerance I believe, which is why he doesn't play the Irish Open any more. He looks in pretty good shape from that photo imo.

Mac objectifies Adam Scott. I'm sure Adam is an intelligent young man who'd rather be judged on something else than his six-pack and his right hand.