PGA Tour: RBC Canadian Open: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).To this long-time sports fan(atic), Darren Clarke's win was the best moment in sport for at least twenty years. Just as Team Europe did, in my all-time fave 1987 Ryder Cup victory at Muirfield Village, Darren Clarke succeeded in outplaying and outthinking the opposition, grabbed a lead and held the advantage for most of two full days.

2).9th, 38th, 38th, 38th, 44th, 48th, 54th, 70th, 72nd and worse.
No, not Portsmouth F.C.'s finishes in the Football League during its 1950's and 1960's descent from 1940's glory. But the top English pro finishers on home turf in The Open. Congratulations to Simon Dyson, second consecutive Major top twelve finish.

3).No word of PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem's comments after DC's triumph, probably not fit to be tweeted. But Timmy must surely be under increasing pressure to open up opportunities on the PGA Tour to non-members. I wasn't sure that Chubby Chandler hadn't overplayed his hand in dealing with the Tour last winter, but perhaps he was the only one who knew the quality of the cards he was holding, trumps in every tournament. Over to you Mr.Commissioner.
(The rumour since Rory's US Open victory had been that "affiliate members" with certain pre-defined qualifications might be permitted to play up to twelve PGA Tour events, regardless of whether they had prior Tour membership or not. If such membership came without FedEx Play-Off status, I think even the most anti-"international"-player among the Tour's rank and file might go for that.)

4).Congrat's to Thomas Bjorn for earning a return trip to the 2012 Masters, and to Messrs Bjorn, Campbell, Kim, Fowler, Love, Jacquelin and Dyson for earning trips to Lytham next July for which they might otherwise not have been qualified.

5).Nice to see Davis Love prominent among those hanging round to congratulate DC, bet DLIII loved every moment of it. But would like to have seen Rory there also. Perhaps he was, but perhaps he was playing tennis with young Caroline? "Your Major for my Number One"? Or vice versa??

6).Eight time zones to the west of the Kent coast, and light years culturally from the Mississippi site of last week's Viking Classic won by Chris Kirk - most likely the first win of many - the PGA Tour lands in Vancouver, BC, at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club. One hundred years old, Shaughnessy has hosted the RBC Canadian Open four times before, most recently in 2005 when Mark Calcavecchia was the winner. Calc will be spending much of this week in the pubs of Greater London, where Walton Heath hosts the Senior Open Championship, but Ben Crane and Ryan Moore (who were joint runners up), Kelly, Ames, Atwal, Kuchar, Pernice and Baird survive from the 2005 top ten.

7).Kudos to Messrs Campbell, Casey, Fowler, Frazar, Furyk, Kim, Levin, Moore, Oosthuizen, Schwartzel and Van Pelt for playing Sunday at RStG and making the long trek. In a surprising tactical move, Donald, Els, Mahan and some others led a breakaway from Kent last Friday and will presumably have got a jump on coping with jet lag.

8).And Notah Begay has announced that Tiger Woods will be playing on August 31st at Turning Stone in the Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge. While Tiger's pr is seemingly run by the same people who advise Rupert Murdoch, there has been no official tweet from Florida confirming this date; however, it would be surpising for Tiger to play at Turning Stone if he didn't earlier compete in the Bridgestone and the PGA Championship, at the very least. (If Tiger were to miss Bridgestone and the PGA, he would presumably be foregoing any opportunity to qualify for the FedEx Play-Offs.)

9).Congratulations to Inverness's Russell Knox, winner of the Nationwide tournament in Ohio; Knox is now 5th in the N'wide moneylist (top 25 earn PGA Tour cards for 2012), and has risen to a world ranking of 316. Though he is listed on the owgr site as American, Knox joins a group of other promising young Scots; Laird, Ramsay, Jamieson, Whiteford and some I've undoubtedly missed.

10).Lastly, this week's Senior Open Championship will provide another litmus test as to the quality of European Senior Golf as opposed to it's American counterparts. Great to see this Championship growing stronger by the year, but wouldn't it be nice to see it return to Northern Ireland as a test drive for an Open Championship?


PS: Public Service warning. Don't know if any of you have had to renew your British Passport recently but what a shambles it is in the USA. Sent my application in eight weeks ago, my credit card was charged over two weeks ago, and still nothing. No way available to monitor or expedite it as the telephone help line one is offered hangs up after five minutes, and the email help contact directs one to the telephone help line. A friend of mine in England is experiencing similar difficulties. Meanwhile, I am unable to travel fifty miles north of here. Stranded!

Tough day at the office Thursday in Vancouver, Kris Blanks at -3 leading the way after Round 1.

Luke Donald opened with two early (and sleepy) double bogeys but recovered superbly with five birds, only to give a shot back at the end.

+3 is the overnight cut-line and it might reach +4, not much more though, spo tough sledding for Casey who will need at least a 68 to play the weekend.

Everyone's favourite summertime form horse, Bo Van Pelt, playing well again, one of eleven golfers (incl a rare Els sighting) tied in second place.

Gaudy scorecard for Dustin Johnson in Sweden.
If I read it correctly he mixed a quadruple bogey 7 with an eagle and completed his round with a second eagle to ensure he made the cut.

Was expecting that the really long Bro Hof course (5 par 5's) will suit both Dustin and Bubba. Although if you ignore Noren's first 4 holes yesterday, you could say he has this in the bag already...

Talking about eagles, there's a tourney in Malaysia this week on the Asian tour and I was reading that a Philippino guy (Angelo Que) got two holes in one in a practice round earlier this week! Can't remember hearing about something like this before... The other news there is that an 18 year old Thai prodigy (Panuphol PITTAYARAT) is leading that tournament after 3 rounds.

Some interesting comments from Geoff Ogilvy, a player with some good insights (IMO at least) on GCA. Also, Weir going back to Stack and Tilt? (Couldn't hurt his game!)

http://globeandmail.golfcanada.ca/professional-tours/pga-tour/rbc-canadian-open/?articleId=2105612

Ogilvy talks more sense than any dozen of his peers put together, his monthly column in GolfWorld a must read. But, regardless of his comments Shaughnessy certainly looked good Thursday! Couldn't tell about bunkers being "in the wrong places" - will have to look more closely.

Commentators very scathing about stack and tilt yesterday, Shotrock, as usual.
Wonder if Weir had a session with Plummer @ Aronomink? Weir's stat's yesterday were quite extraordinary:
Fairways hit: 2 (T155th - out of 156)
Greens hit: 5 (T155th)
Putts: 26
Driving distance: 270 yards, 146th in the field.
Shot +4.

Kwini - Agree with that. Ogilvy has always had a passion and keen insight into GCA. Could not agree more with his comment about courses in the states being set up to "protect par". (I was actually encouraged by the US Open set up this year ... and does anyone think the best golfer that week didn't win?)

Didn't see Plummer working with Weir at Aronimink tournament week. O'Hair had a surprisingly good first day.

Regardless of what the commentators say about the swing, it's helped me get rid of my "accu-slice"! An absolute broiler out there yesterday ... for anyone living in the Easter half of the US, take it easy today.

Shotrock
Cannot access that link at work but will have a read later when I get home.

As for protecting par I have always thought the game would be a lot more fun without it, especially for the handicap player.

The general set up in the last few majors seems to have been an improvement over recent years. As already stated there can be no arguments that the best player won at RStG’s. What more could you want, and why would the winning score being +1 have made any difference?

Alex Noren on fire in Sweden!
He's qualified for the Bridgestone (53rd last year) and will surely play the PGA Championship. 51st at Congressional and about time he started to show his best form in really big events.

Is John Parry awakening from his months long sleep? And similar to his form of hit or miss is Fred AH also making strives. Will never be able to figure out why the top players have forms the go through their many cycles of good to bad to good. Edfors also pulling himself back in from the brink of disaster today.

Good to see Woosie near the top of the leaderboard at Walton Heath. Still has 14 holes to pull even tighter. Also good showing so far for the no-names MacKenzie and Goodes. When's the last time we saw Lee Rinkers name not to mention among the contenders?

In good ol' Oh Canada things have begun and the clock is T minus 5 hours till we see the likes of Paul Casey and his quest to make the weekend. Only 3 strokes off the pace. At least give us a determined effort. Still believe he needs to move away from that incestuous golf desert enclave of Scottsdale, AZ.

kwini,
Currently intrigued by Le Tour. Incredible stuff, really.

Sad withdrawal of Mike Weir during Round 2 of the RBC Canadian Open for precautionary reasons following soreness in an elbow.

Mike will suffer an enforced absence once the Play-Offs start so you'd think he'd be wise to rest until the Fall Series, or 2012.

Scoring by yesterday's leaders still difficult, the lead continuing to at three under par. But the cut-line hasn't moved so six shots cover more than eighty golfers.

The only golfer to have Shaughnessy really sussed out is Tommy Two Gloves - after playing his first ten holes yesterday in nine over par, he's eight under for his last eighteen. Meanwhile Luke Donald and Matt Kuchar are struggling, and will miss the cut for the second week running if they don't make some birdies coming in.


venice,
Magnifique. Allez France. I've a feeling GJ should be watching Saturday's time trial.

Bubba and Dustin giving the sponsors something to cheer about in Stockholm; didn't see Dustin's quad but otherwise he lit it up.

Americans asserting themselves at Walton Heath, including Damon Green, Zach Johnson's caddie, who looks as if he'll be around for the weekend. It would be an even better story if Zach was on his bag but I read that he was at Chris Kirk's victory party at St.Simon's Island so probably not.

I really think Noren has major material in him and wouldn't be surprised if he lifts one in the next few years...

Chad Campbell redivivus!? Whe I followed him last year at the Masters he was hitting them all over the place. He provided all the 'entertainment' in his pairing with Matteo who was almost boringly good and precise with his shots... I even took part with a few other folks for a couple of minutes in searching for one of his lost balls in a rododendron bush somewhere along the 6th fairway, I think...

Great recovery underway from 2gloves after that disastrous round yesterday...

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuke

MC for Kuchar and looks like yet another MC for Furyk. Luke seems to have done just enough to make if for the weekend although I'm not too sure if he wants 100% to be there for another two days... I hope he doesn't play the Greenbrier next week, or he'll be wrecked come the WGC and USPGA...

Lukey made hard work of that. He's almost certainly not in The Greenbrier - Garcia the only big European name among the early "commitments".

Touch and go for Furyk, he doubled the 18th. Intentionally? But just "go" for Kuchar - serves me right for having him in my fantasy team last week and this. Never again!

Fortunately I also have Chad Campbell - some decent form all of a sudden. pd, shortly after his play-off loss at Augusta, he experienced a bad fall in a Colonial bunker and seemed to completely lose his form. He is one of a number of US players who I saw quoted in an article about the owgr's. Rather than urine and moan about it, he indirectly blamed the PGA Tour's diminishing of the autumn events and observed that he loses points for three months while "Internationals" are piling them up around the world. Expect his frequent flyer programmes to get a work out come October . . . .

Not the start Ernie was looking for...


And in the group behind are two of my three least favourite golfers, on one of the toughest tracks of the year. Could be a nice fun 2 hours of car crash golf Hopefully Glover will buck the trend though, I quite like him.

I hope GB&I followers give Fowler a chance; he may look like a pillock but he's great to follow, plays quickly, (usually) aggressively and is good with the crowd.

Kim's a bit tone deaf - not my favourite at all. Watched him play one hole last month, he tossed a club half a mile, strutted off while his caddie had to go the opposite direction to retrieve it, don't need to watch guys confirming their stereotypes.

These next 4 1/2 hours will be a big test for Casey; bad start but difficult hole.

I don't think you've anything to worry about Kwini - judging by the Open last week the kids here are Fowler fans just as much as they are in the States. It's just me (and the other miserable gits on this site) who go against the grain...

Ned - I resent that remark. I'm the most miserable git on this site (apparently) and I've got a lot of time for young Rickie

Ned and Davie,

Same over here in SoCal for Rickie's popularity with the middle and high school golf mates. I'm not sure if it has to do with his pin-up image with the girls school golf teams... but his dress style is the "in" thing even for the team uniforms now.

Just started watching the golf and was surprised just how badly the tree's at this course have encroached on the course. No wonder the scores are high with the rough up and so many bloody trees. Are there a lack of lumberjacks in canada?


Just saw Duval on the coverage and wow, he has developed quite a tummy.

Mac,
Go back about fifteen "posts" to Shotrock's comment and accompanying link from the Globe and Mail. I think you'll agree with Geoff Ogilvy's comments.

kwinigolfer wrote:Mac,
Go back about fifteen "posts" to Shotrock's comment and accompanying link from the Globe and Mail. I think you'll agree with Geoff Ogilvy's comments.

Ah, thank you for the reminder I wanted to read it earlier but couldn't at work.

I don't see a problem with this course at all. Can see that you wouldn't want it every week, but I like that you don't have people hitting massive hooks and getting nice lies on adjacent fairways; or hitting the green from 240yds in the rough. Bet this week's winner won't be complaining.

I agree with that Ned, but can also see what Ogilvy's saying. Seems he believes it's more contrived than just demanding.

Don't see why it shouldn't identify the best golfer though, and that won't be Ernie the way he's going. First par on his seventh hole.

Some of the usual suspects rising to the top where good driving is at a premium, Campbell, Kelly, Mahan, Glover etc. But look at Lee Janzen go!

Still think the +5's might have a chance for the weekend.

Does anyone have a link to watch the Canadian online, which will work in the UK?

Thanks

only 15 minuites left of coverage left tonight! but have a look on:

http://www.fromsportcom.com/c-8.html

Field confirmed for The Greenbrier:
Garcia, Mickelson, Goosen(?), Tom Watson.
Brian Davis the only Team GB&I competitor. Olazabal and best friend Davis Love also on hand.
Solid enough field but very few headliners. As you can see.

Thanks very much NedB-H.
Never mind about the 15mins - should be able to catch some tomorrow and sun!

Geoff Ogilvy going nicely.
I wonder what he'll have to say about the course (and the best golfer winning) if he's the Champ?

Good rounds on the Nationwide for Matthew Richardson and Gary Christian.
Not so good for Russell Knox, who will join Richardson and Christian in Round 3, and Greg Owen who missed the cut and probably slips out of the all important top 25.

Typically moronic conclusions to Round 2 for John Daly and Anthony Kim, both conjuring up triple bogeys on their final hole.

AK then went the whole hog and got disqualified as well.
Daly took five strokes to get up and down from within 25 yards of the 18th green, including four putts from 24 feet and slipped from 6th to about 28th. Some people just can't stand prosperity.

Great showing by the two US stars in Sweden, very good to see it. And it's also great to see the other young American, Scott Pinckney, making the cut and playing well in what I believe is his first main tour event (here or in US, am I right kwini?), apart from his surprise debut at the US Open last month. He'll be in Killarney next week as well to catch up with his good mate Rory, so I hope to see a bit of him there...

With Noren and Karlsson(s) in good form, with Scott Jamieson having another excellent tournament, plus what it looks to be a revitalised Noh, this is promissing to be a pretty good weekend in Sweden...

No specific details on Anthony Kim's transgression except that he signed for a score less than the 81 strokes he actually took.
Daly gets to play with Kevin Na today, hare and tortoise. Pity third member of the group Chez Reavie.

Dustin joining Bubba in the top ten in Stockholm; would think Alex Noren will know he's been in a fight, regardless of the final result.

'Morning pd,
Didn't realised you'd posted.

Excellent leaderboard in Canada, will be especially interested in Schwartzel and Ogilvy ('specially after his course comments). Unless he has a top three at Greenbrier, Anthony Kim will miss Firestone and will be one of the last to scrape in to the PGA via the owgr stragglers. What an idiot!

pd,
There's a nice piece in GolfWeek about Rory McIlroy and Scott Pinckney and (I'd send you the link if I could get it to work!).
Apparently McIlroys and Pinckney's had met when Rors was nine, at Doral. Following summer Rory spent 3 months at Pinckney's home in Utah.

They met up again at Congressional and played part of a practice round together, etc., etc.

Pinckney's been at Arizona State, but I see he's also scored an invite into the Irish Open. Influence of Rory(/Chubby?)?

Google golf week scott pinckney and you'll find the story.

Cheers kwini, actually read that story this morning as I was trying to find out more about Scott! Hopefully we'll see more of him around Europe in the following years... Yes, I'm pretty sure Rory had something to do with his presence in Ireland next week. I can't say for sure, but when I first checked the Irish open field about a week ago, I don't think his name was in there yet, so it could well be something arranged over the last week or so...

If it continues like this, there's not gonna be much of a competition in Sweden tomorrow. Bubba the only one really managing to keep Noren's back in his sights. Obviously he knows the place, but still, a brilliant display by Noren!

Indeed, pd. A win would propel Noren to about 70th I should think, but hopefully Bubba will give him a bit of a run for his money tomorrow. Disappointing to see pro-Robert Karlsson's challenge fizzling; not been a good year for him so far.

Looks like a picture postcard day in Vancouver, sunny skies and a cool morning warming to afternoon temps in the 70's with more of the same Sunday. Not much more than Ben Wright's "mere zephyr" to concern the pros.

Senior Open threatening to turn into a run-of-the-mill Champions Tour event, Tom Watson getting valuable practice in preparation for his Greenbrier foray next week.

Saturday twins: Alex Noren and Cadel Evans. Both shredding the competition. Could Noren turn this into one of the greatest margin's of victory in ET history? What is the record anyway? Funny, but take him out of the event and it could have turned into one of the greatest competitions ever. Top 28 are packed in like rats.

The Senior Open is turning into that great competition with 28 under par with 1 1/2 rounds to play. Didn't think Watson would have the energy for 2 in a row. Surprisingly, only Brand, Jr. and Lane holding up for The Isles. Thought Bernard would have been slightly keener.

It seems like the whole field has a shot in B.C., Canada. Who knows, if Luke can drag himself to a -2 by the end of the day...

'Morning venice,
Yup, said the other day I thought GJ would be smiling.

Emfattic by Noren, still lots to play for Sunday for the "ratty" peloton though.

Senior Open just another demonstration as to why a Senior Ryder Cup would be an exercise in futility; hope Calcavecchia wins in style.

Morning kwini,
Certainly nobody's thinking about golf Down Under today when the Oz authorities are thinking about declaring a holiday to commemorate Cadel's le Maillot Jaune grab. (Well maybe Oglivy, Price and Lyle are still focusing on the little white ball)

European Tour Margin of Victory list after 72 holes: (According to ET.com) (Eliminate TW's 2 on the list to consider regular tour stops only)

15 shots Tiger Woods 100th US Open Championship Pebble Beach 2000
13 shots Ernie Els BMW Asian Open Tomson Shanghai Pudong GC 2005
11 shots Tony Jacklin Scandinavian Enterprise Open Bokskogen GC 1974
11 shots Dale Hayes French Open La Baule GC 1978
11 shots Ken Brown Glasgow Open Haggs Castle 1984
11 shots Colin Montgomerie Portuguese Open – TPC Quinta do Lago 1989
11 shots Vijay Singh Volvo German Open Hubbelrath GC 1992
11 shots Tiger Woods WGC – NEC Invitational Firestone CC 2000

Must be a bit deflating for all those behind Noren going out to play the last round tomorrow... It's interesting, regarding the owgr projections, if both Noren (now #92) and Chad (now #132) would win, they should end up very probably right beside each other in next week's ranking, with Noren just a tad ahead....somewhere around #70. Not to forget about our top Asian friends (KJ and YE excepted) who are all playing in JP and doing quite nicely so far. Kim Kyung-Tae looking to get another win over there, he can reach a carreer high (I think?) #23 next week if that materializes... while Ryo is right behind him (T2), which should bring him back into the top 50.

kwini, as you're sitting there so close to the Canadian 'fence', can you have a look over it and tell us who the heck is that fellow Adam Hadwin...? Can't even open his profile on PGATour.com, or maybe he doesn't have one?

Hi pd,
Adam Hadwin? Ranked #342 in the owgr's, went to college at Louisville, tried a couple of times to reach the PGA Tour, but has played the last two years on the Canadian Tour.
Was top Canadian (37th) at last year's Canadian Open, qualified for Congressional and finished 39th.
Comes from British Columbia and right now is looking good!

Another promising showing from Romero. And: John Daly would be in the top ten right now if he hadn't missed a 20-incher last night. Luke Donald treading water.

Cheers kwini.
Well, Daly IS in the top 10 right now, and he would've been on top without that messy 7 yesterday, and I can imagine one or two people would go bannanas in the media after tomorrow if somehow he manages to win this. Can't believe I've just said that...Daly winning again!?

Top of the LB looks a bit like a scene from Thriller, with guys coming out of the dead... Daly, O'Hair, Ogilvy, Campbell... prince dracula loves that

Redemption? Like last year, with Pettersson and Dean Wilson.

And Rehab? Not the Amy Winehouse route for John Daly, thank goodness. He actually looks like he's enjoying himself. Still his own worst enemy but let's see what tomorrow will bring. Says he's playing seven weeks in a row.

kwinigolfer wrote:Redemption? Like last year, with Pettersson and Dean Wilson.

And Rehab? Not the Amy Winehouse route for John Daly, thank goodness. He actually looks like he's enjoying himself. Still his own worst enemy but let's see what tomorrow will bring. Says he's playing seven weeks in a row.

Kwini- I take it you haven't heard the news about her death this afternoon?

SJ,
I had. Just glad that that hadn't happened to Daly. You wouldn't have bet against it a few years ago though.

Kwini, I actually had a little chuckle at your winehouse comment. Is that wrong?

I see woody Austin is making a move up the leaderboard.

Hi Mac,
As sad as it was seemingly inevitable. But what a talent.

A bit of a struggle out there this afternoon, seems no-one's been able to find any consistency. Strange old round for Luke Donald, 8/18 greens, got up and down 9/10 times, but took seventeen putts for his 8 greens hit. Not like Luke at all.

68-75-68 for Woody - running on fumes until he gasps his way to the Champions Tour.

Plenty of players with lots to gain tomorrow, BVP of course, and Adam Hadwin. But others include Geoff Ogilvy, for whom a win should wrap up a spot on Greg Norman's Presidents Cup team, at Royal Melbourne, just about in his back garden.


Not a great day for our Nationwide representatives, but the BBC has woken up to Russell Knox's opportunity to reach the PGA Tour:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/14264471.stm