PGA Tour: Arnold Palmer Invitational: Notes from the Ballwasher

On the road, but off the top of my head, and to get a thread up and running:

1).Charl Schwartzel in with a rare South African win in a "regular" Tour event, the first since Tim Clark (remember Timmy?) in Montreal in 2014, probably Els before him. But Kings Charl and Louis have to be on any short list for a Major and now they have His Grace to join them.

2).Matt Every has won the "Arnie" for the past two years but nothing else and decent finishes have been very few and even further between. Sounds like he has a touch of the Kevin Nas, occasionally "freezing" at the top of his backswing. Assume he'd be grateful for a medical marijuana fix.

3).And Charlie Howell goes for his TENTH Top 25 (9th Top 18) of the young season. Doesn't that just about sum CHIII up? Whatever it is that holds him back must be remedied soon or he'll be on the Champions Tour before he knows it.

4).Value of a caddy? Just ask Sung Kang. 61 career starts and all four of his Top 25 results have come since he rented Fluff Cowan as his caddy at Pebble Beach - Fluff being grateful for the petty cash 'til Furyk returns.

5).Fitzpatrick, Sullivan and Wood, plus plenty of young Europeans in this week's field. But I'd be thrilled to see Henrik Stenson break through after his near miss here last year.

Also Champions Tour action in Tucson, web.com thrills in flooded Louisiana.

Maybe Henrik won't dilly dally in the final round like he did last year.

In case you wondered, this is what Beau Hossler is up to these days. Winning lots of golf tournaments apparently. He was the guy that contended in the 2012 US open aged 17.

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/beau-hossler-is-winning-college-events-at-a-historic-rate?mbid=social_twitter

CHIII has had a very strange career. Massive career earnings without ever seeming to contend in anything that matters.

RIP Grand Slam Of Golf

Gone and probably forgotten.

McLaren wrote:RIP Grand Slam Of Golf

Gone and probably forgotten.

Saw the article, struggled to remember what the event was, thought I recalled it was the one that didn't get the 4 winners (if there are 4 different ones in any given year) together very often, thought "meh", came here and spent more time on this post than I ever did caring about the event. Good decision to can it - even if it's quite a nice idea.

I mentioned on the other thread that it has been confirmed that the APinv will continue to offer a 3 year exemption to the winner and increase the prize fund to $8.7mil.

This puts the APinv among the top tier of PGAT events but will it be enough to keep the players coming back if Arnie dies in the next year or so?

McIlroy for example seems to be stopping by this year to make sure he plays while Arnie is still on the go but given his reluctance to tee it up in the past you could see him stop attending when Arnie departs.

Kwini has mentioned several times that the Byron Nelson struggled big time after Byron died.

I guess we could also extend this thought to the memorial, and ask if tournaments held by legends can maintain status after the passing of the legend?

I'm not sure why people feel the need to sycophantically pay deference to some old duffer who is no longer relevant. So what if he's got a tournament, whether he's alive or brown bread is no reason to play or not.

Super

Paying "deference" might be part of it but having a legend attached to an event seems to attract easier(maybe more?) sponsorship money and therefore better fields. Once the legend passes do the marketing types change what they think about an events commercial appeal?

Arnold Palmer makes more money a year than the vast majority of golfers. He hosts an annual tour event where the worlds best tend to play. He is anything but irrelevant.

I think only Tiger, Rory and Phil make more per year (as individuals, from golf) than Arnie. I am pretty sure I saw that he still makes about $60 odd million a year.

Whether he's alive or dead though shouldn't determine whether you play in the tournament.

Super

Ask your self what might be different about the tournament and the mindset of those running and paying for the events staging when the legend is alive or dead?

Not much Mac, it would still be run I assume.

Super

Do you ever follow the debate going on in a thread. I made the point/observation (actually I borrowed it from Kwini) that after Byron died his event lost a lot of momentum.

I have now moved on to ask why that might have been the case (for example is an alive legend a more inviting prospect for marketing departments) and what will happen when Arnie passes to the APinv.


So yes it will still run, but after the current deal will purses fall and therefore the top players stop coming or in ten years time will the APinv have gone the way of the Byron Nelson event?

Well, that's the question Mac, do people really attend golf events because the founder is still (just about) alive?

Certainly the death of Byron was a cause of Nelson's fall from Grace, but a bigger contributing factor (IMO) was the move of the Players Championship from late March to early to mid-May.

GPB wrote:Maybe Henrik won't dilly dally in the final round like he did last year.

Yeah that was shocking last year. Paralysis by analysis. I'm going to us this forum's favourite word... I think Henrik has some choker tendencies in him.

Ray

Stenson Certainly has failed to win from promising positions in quite a few big events but he does have 8 euro tour wins, 3 PGAT wins and a WGC.

Is stenson a part time choker?

raycastleunited wrote:

GPB wrote:Maybe Henrik won't dilly dally in the final round like he did last year.

Yeah that was shocking last year. Paralysis by analysis. I'm going to us this forum's favourite word... I think Henrik has some choker tendencies in him.

I say! Wash your mouth out with soap!

I don't think Stenson is a full on choker, I just think he has some choker tendencies in him. Maybe that's a bit harsh.

It would be interesting to analyse his dozen wins and the times when he has been in a good position and stumbled and see if there is any pattern. It could be a confidence thing.

McIlroy.

Putting like an 6 handicapper.

McLaren wrote:McIlroy.  

Putting like an 6 handicapper.

What? Were you actually watching the coverage. He putted pretty well - in fact his stats show he gained almost a shot putting on the field average, and he rolled in a least three longs ones - albeit for pars. He had issues for sure, but over the round, putting was not really one of them. His 2 double bogies were not caused by putting for sure. Take those of the card and it would be a different discussion. In his post round interview he puts the blame on missing a lot of stuff left.

Bob, yes I watched a bit of the play. His putting stroke looks horrible.

In other new, Si Re Pak will retire from full time golf at the end of this season. I think she is only 38. Do women retire earlier? Anika and Ochoa both stepped away from the game in thier 30's.

5 majors and the Korean who set the trend, what a career.

McLaren wrote:Bob, yes I watched a bit of the play.  His putting stroke looks horrible.  

Well in the face of such objective analysis I guess we will all just have to agree with you. And yet he continues to get the ball in the hole a lot, despite your disdain for how it "looks". Wonders never cease.

Bob_the_Job wrote:

McLaren wrote:Bob, yes I watched a bit of the play.  His putting stroke looks horrible.  

Well in the face of such objective analysis I guess we will all just have to agree with you. And yet he continues to get the ball in the hole a lot, despite your disdain for how it "looks".  Wonders never cease.

Probably a peer reviewed book by Doak on putting Bob.

bob/super

I am sure Rory had a good putting day yesterday, but he has struggled this season. He is 148th Strokes gained putting. Unless he wants another wasted season he needs to sort it out with the flat stick.

I'm surprised he's not paying you for your advice - you're so well informed and authoritative.

Rory's strength just isn't putting. When he has decent putting days, he often wins. He could use any sort of stroke but I doubt he'll ever be someone renowned as a brilliant putter. Obviously good enough though...

Navy

But is being 148th in stroke gained putting good enough?

He is clearly aware that he has struggled with the putter, which is why at his last (?) event he changed his putting style. Which seems to have made an impact. As he putted pretty well at Doral, and he putted pretty well yesterday. Its just sometimes he has bad holes when he is not on form.

The 148th in stroke gained is a bullsh stat, where does he stand in eventys since he tried to remedy his putting?

He first used it at Doral and gained 0.69 on the field average and was ranked 14th (in a really strong field) - I'd fully expect him to rise up the rankings in this stat based on the new stroke and all of the evidence, except that Mac thinks he looks like a 6 handicapper so clearly his career is over now.

Obviously Bob and Ben are spot on. Just the usual diarrohea flowing from Mac

Bob etc

Rory needs to improve his putting, and you provide evidence that he is improving.  Surely everyone is happy.  As a Rory fan I certainly am.

It looks awkward, stiff and lacking in feel but if you tell me it is working I am happy to believe that and look forward to Rory holing more putts.

Or to put it another way...

You post poorly thought out balls...again

Get called on it .... again

Try to weasel your way out  of it.... again

So yeah I'm happy - I love repetition

McIlroys current season putting stats are terrible. Why will you not accept this? Go check his profile on PGAT.com.

I conceded he may have putted better this week but that is one round and we need to wait and see if the trend continues.

If he putts like a ham fisted buffoon today what argument will you make for his current putting performance?

I don't think anyone disagrees his putting has been poor, only a fool would, because Rory has himself said that his putting was poor, which is why he has tried to rectify it. So the fact his putting stats are poor, means absolutely f all because he has made a change, and you can only base it on going forward.

But we all know that Rory has never been a great putter, and probably never will be. But the other parts of the game are usually so strong he can get by.

Don't bother arguing Ben, you're absolutely right but it's just not worth it.

McIlroy playing like a 6 handicapper at the moment. (That's +6)

How does a Top 10 golfer leave a 5 ft 7 inch putt, 3 ft 5 inches short?

Spoiler:

Was it short or hit past the hole?

Shotlink said he is the ball 2 ft 2 in, so he left it short.

Unless the ball lipped out and horseshoed the hole and came right back at him.

Shot link is a bit dodgy. Did anyone see the shot?

Match Play field has been set, no further WDs.

Furyk is out with injury and Stenson is out because of schedule (and format).

They finally found a week where Mickelson's kids are in school.

Rory used to have one shocking round per week. Now up to two.

Apparently Andy Sullivan is "a world class player" according to Mark Roe!

Great win for J Day, is he back to world no.1?

GPB says number 2 on his March OWGR thread.

Good win by Day, although for a while I thought he'd blown it.