PGA Tour: The Barclays: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Not much more to say about Webb Simpson's breakthrough last week at Greensboro, and certainly not worth adding anything to his hand of god report afterwards - makes Maradona look a novice. But Simpson's paid his dues, his challengers rather fell away, and he was able to saunter through the back nine with relatively little pressure. He leapfrogs into Fred Couples' Presidents Cup qualifiers, Jim Furyk dropping out, and it's going to be facinating to see Couples finesse his Captain's Picks if the standings remain the same (which they won't) with Fowler, Furyk and Woods bidding for two places. (I'd expect Zach Johnson, for one, to be anxious to make the Team.)

2).Job done for Els and Harrington squeezing into the FedEx Play-Offs, but they'll need to be a lot sharper to be among the 100 survivors leaving The Barclays destined for the Deutsche Bank. Casey, Leonard and Cabrera were among the more notable Wyndham participants whose efforts left them out of the FedEx fun.

3).And so, from Donald Ross's Sedgefield CC in Greensboro to Donald Ross's New Jersey gem, Plainfield CC. Sparing no expense, 606v2's very own correspondent, Shotrock, has filed this assessment of the course:
"It's a great course. Really a gem. I'm in agreement about it being the second best course in the Garden State, (after Pine Valley). Others will shout Baltusrol, but not in my book." Seldom seen by TV viewers, or anyone outside Shotrock's exclusive set, it has hosted John Cook's US Amateur and Laura Davies' US Women's Open but not much else on the national stage.

4).We detailed some of the golfers who were in peril of missing out on qualifying for The Barclays; now to identify those who will need a good result this week to be among the 100-strong field progressing to Round 2. Let's say the top 90 are secure. That leaves this lot among those fearing for their FedEx future:
Anthony Kim
McDowell
Immelman
Goosen
Villegas
Appleby
Poulter
Els
Harrington

Again: George O'Grady, hope you're reading this.

5).123 golfers will be playing this week, the top 125 qualifiers, less Schwartzel who's sitting this one out, and JB Holmes who's undergoing some scary (but reportedly non-invasive, non-life threatening) brain surgery next week. Hopefully Webb Simpson's guiding hand can help JB through this difficult time - JB: all distance and no-putt - until he became one of the early Stockton disciples. Good health to him, and play faster when you return.

6).Best wishes on returns to good health to others currently in sick bay, including Tim Clark and Mike Weir who have apparently recently undergone quite similar elbow sugery, and a forgotten man, Arron Oberholser, a rising star of the last decade, now nursing hand, hip, wrist etc etc injuries. Clark and Weir (Presidents Cup partners in a memorable Harding Park Presidents Cup battle with Stricker and Woods) hope to return early next year, but there's no timetable for when, or if, Oberholser will be good to go again.

7).Talking of Woods, all of a sudden Won't Play Woods is on the hook as he wants to play the Presidents Cup in Melbourne, and has contractual obligations with the Australian Open to pay for TWA's aircraft fuel, but Couples has said he must play to be selected. Tiger says: "I might add another PGA Tour event to my schedule. Right now, I'm looking at my options." According to Tiger's blog, he'll tee it up next Wednesday at Notah Begay's "Foundation Challenge" at Turning Stone. Unfortunately he might have trouble making his tee-time as he writes that this will be held in Verona, NJ. Too bad the event is in Verona, New York. He's missed some fairways in his time but 200 miles off-course is a lot, even for Tiger.

8).Woods has won 3 of the 16 FedEx Play-Off tournaments held so far. And there are four other multiple winners - in fact the first 12 events were won by just six guys, Slocum being the only one-timer. But all the 2010 tournaments were won by first-timers, including Furyk, the ultimate winner. He is one of five (Els, Furyk, Mahan, Mickelson and Stricker) to qualify for every Tour Championship since the Play-Offs began, Mahan and Stricker are the only ones to play every tournament, Stricker the only man to play every round.

9).Fred Couples beat John Cook in a play-off to win the Senior Players Championship last week at Westchester CC. The over-fifties cross country to the Seattle area this week, for the Boeing Classic. Once again Roger Chapman and Mark Mouland are merely alternates and their dream of earning full Champions Tour membership is fading fast, both of them almost certainly headed back to Q-School. Wonder if Barry Lane will join them?

10).And there'll be a second Scot on the 2012 PGA Tour as Russell Knox has pretty much sewn up his card for next year, via Nationwide success. He'll be in Tennessee this week, a happy hunting ground for him last year when he was 7th. Gary Christian and Greg Owen also compete with Matt Richardson "first alternate". And Boo Weekley and Nathan Green are among a raft of exempt PGA Tour players hoping to keep their game sharp after failing the FedEx test, John Daly also playing.

kwinigolfer wrote:...He's missed some fairways in his time but 200 miles off-course is a lot, even for Tiger....

Good read as usual Kwini.

Stricker must have made a lot of lovely lolly out of the Play-offs if he's played every round since its inception.

Thanks nbs,
You're right about Stricker. Apart from just his two tournament wins, he's accumulated millions in FedEx bonus money. These are the top ten to date:
Woods: $20,243,000
Furyk: $12,800,000
Singh: $10.685,000
Mickelson: $5,980,000
Stricker: $5,970,000
Villegas: $3,563,000
Kuchar: $3,280,000
Garcia: $2,757,000
Donald: $2,410,000
Kim: $1,908,000

This is the gift that keeps on giving! Woods the only one to miss out completely in 2011.

kwinigolfer wrote:
5).123 golfers will be playing this week, the top 125 qualifiers, less Schwartzel who's sitting this one out, and JB Holmes who's undergoing some scary (but reportedly non-invasive, non-life threatening) brain surgery next week. Hopefully Webb Simpson's guiding hand can help JB through this difficult time - JB: all distance and no-putt - until he became one of the early Stockton disciples. Good health to him, and play faster when you return.

I'd like to echo these sentiments about JB Holmes, I really dislike watching him play and I am not a big fan of his at all (as a golfer). However, I really do wish him the best of health and hope he is teeing it up again soon, and with some new found pace about his play.

As usual Kwinin superb...

Any ideas on why Charl is sitting this one, can't say i'd heard of injury or anything, is he simply not buying into the playoff culture or is it his position is comfortable enough just to sit one out and play the next event.

If Els can get the flatstick working maybe he could make it to another Tour Championship.

Wasn't aware of the JB Holmes surgery until earlier today, whats the reason this has occured then! Wishing him well in surgery

Big fan of Villegas, but I fear he has to now build on last weeks form to keep his run going.

Cheers Mav,
I haven't seen any reason given for Charl's absence, except it was speculated in a comment from Club Chandler a week or two ago. Provided he plays well in Boston and Chicago it shouldn't affect him too much given his position going in - it will all come down to East Lake if he's good enough.

I don't know anything about the background to JB's condition other than what's been in the press releases. But his recent form has been poor, best finish in 3 months was a 47th at Aronomink, after a fine first half of the season.
He's been having problems with balance, vision etc, the medical term is Chiari Malformation. Would actually prefer not to speculate, just wish him a speedy recovery.

Good luck with Camilo and Ernie; I haven't worked out all the ramifications but they both need a super week in New Jersey or they're toast.

(I'll have a go at figuring out how players need to finish as the week goes on but suffice to say job one is to make the cut - miss the weekend and all those listed will be sick, from Goosen on down, terminally so.)

Hope JB has a speedy recovery!

Go well this week Padraig some good signs last week from tee to green more of that!

Will this course yield birdies this week Kwini looking at the yardages on the course it should do!

kwinigolfer wrote:Thanks nbs,
You're right about Stricker. Apart from just his two tournament wins, he's accumulated millions in FedEx bonus money. These are the top ten to date:
Woods: $20,243,000
Furyk: $12,800,000
Singh: $10.685,000
Mickelson: $5,980,000
Stricker: $5,970,000
Villegas: $3,563,000
Kuchar: $3,280,000
Garcia: $2,757,000
Donald: $2,410,000
Kim: $1,908,000

This is the gift that keeps on giving! Woods the only one to miss out completely in 2011.

Phew! Nice 'work' if you can get it. To those that have (loads) shall be given (loads) more.

sirbenson

One should never judge a course by par or yardages. The course is a golden age classic and could be the best course the tour visit all year outside the majors.

benson,
I'm thinking Harrington will need at least a top thirty finish, perhaps better to be sure of survival. So much depends on who makes the cut and thus removes themselves from the opportunity to make points at the weekend.

For context, Padraig only has three top turty finishes this year, none since early May.

As for the course and how it will set up for scoring, Mac is spot on! We've really no idea as it's such an unknown quantity.

Looking at the field and the current points difference throughout I would think harrington would need to try to get a top 25 to be in with a good shout.

As for the course, I think you tend to find the shorter course tend to be set up slightly harder making people work for their birdie opportunities. Yardage is irrelevant at this level, conversion is important

Mac and SB - The course is going to be pretty exposed. A guy at my club lives near Plainfield and told me that the defence would have been to have the course running hard and fast but with the recent heavy rains they have had in NJ the course is pretty soft. Expectation is low scores but they might try to toughen it with pin placements on the contoured greens.

B/ Robert Karlsson, Sean O'Hair, Sergio Garcia (Ryan Moore)

C/ Stewart Cink, Anthony Kim, Graeme McDowell (Ian Poulter)

Doc,
Don't you need to send your picks to Ned's thread?

Not sure I like all your selections by the way, but could go for Sergio and RK!

Grumpy,
Are you going to get up to The Barclays? Plainfield looks simply gorgeous, have a good time if you make it there.

Kwini,

What are your thoughts on the US Amateur this week? Will be interested to see what reception Erin Hills gets, for a start. Guess Uihlein, Cantlay and Henley will be the favourites... mixed start for the British players, Jack Senior the best, ok from Lewis and Michael Stewart, not so good for Hodgson.

Great post kwini

I didn't check this one, so I'll start with a question: Barclays seems to be played on a different course than last year... are all the other playoff tournaments changing venues this year?

What about Luuuke's chances to win the FedEx cup this year?
He'll be slightly disappointed to be only 9th in that money list you've posted there considering his 'cash machine' reputation. I think he'll be up there...

Woods is mentioning travelling to Asia in his last 'epistle to mortals'... What's your hunch there, what/where would that be?

PS. Anybody else experiencing problems with the pgatour.com page? Loading very slowly at times for me the last couple of days...

Kwini - I wish, now I really am grumpy! One of my guys is off this week so I can't get the time during the week and if I go to the golf at the weekend I won't be playing any myself. I suppose there's always next year...

Hi Ned,
Looking forward morre to seeing how Erin Hills is received than anything else. I thought it was a disgrace to annoint a brand new course at a controversial development with the honour of holding the US Open; there are many good options in the Mid-West without taking a flyer on EH. But it's done so hopefully it'll be a great success.
Find it difficult to get warmed up to the format of the US Amateur until the final sixteen or eight. And unfortunately it'll be overshadowed by The Barclays, in this house anyway. Pity they couldn't hold it in a fortnight.

Thanks pd,
The Barclays seems to be on a three-course rotation for the next five "renewals": Liberty Nat, Ridgewood and Plainfield.
Deutsche Bank a fixture at TPC Boston.
But the BMW will be on the move:
2011: Cog Hill, Chicago
2012: Crooked Stick (in the Indianapolis area) - site of John Daly's PGA Championship.
2013: As far as I know, undecided. It could return to Bellerive in St.Louis where Camilo won a few years ago, or it could relocate to another Chicago area course. Rumours even that it might migrate to San Francisco for one year. Apparently there were complaints last year about the condition of the Cog Hill course. But difficult to imagine Flinchem would be so boneheaded as to abandon Chicago altogether.
2014: Cherry Hills (coincidentally next year's site for the US Amateur) in Denver.

Tour Championship currently a fixture at East Lake.

As for Luke's FedEx harvest, remember that he missed the Play-Offs a couple of years ago.

TW to Asia? Dunno, but sure tournament directors have their cheque-books open with $MMM appearance fees to throw at him.


Too bad Grumpy - and my chances of getting to Deutsche Bank have taken a hit. Next year for me too!

Thanks kwini!

Wonder how many of the pros would have been calling for rules officials if it happened on Thursday...I never grounded my putter, finished taking my stance, blah, blah, blah. I guess this could be a new one for Decisions on the rules of golf...

"...a player may replace his ball without penalty if it was moved by the shockwaves of an earthquake..." Rule Whatever / Whatever

Grumpy,
I was finishing my response to you Ned and pd when I felt it. Have been in/felt a few but this one "rolled" longer than usual seemed to me.

It was a first for me, felt pretty funny bouncing up and down on my chair in the office. I was on the phone to a guy in downtown NY at the time so it made me feel better that it wasn't just my building in midtown. Half of the women that work for me have run off, hopefully they'll come back tomorrow. One of them was part of our disaster recovery team, I guess we know what her plan is...

As Grumpy reported, there's been flooding rain recently in the New York area, about eleven inches in NYCity this month alone according to the Weather Channel, sure to have softened Plainfield CC up.
But today is dry and Wednesday should be warm and sunny. The longer range forecast bears watching however, chance of showers Thursday, fine Friday and hopefully Saturday and then, As Dexy's Midnight Runners might sing:
"Come on Irene" as the Hurricane is on course to barrel up the East Coast.

Weather is fickle and hurricanes are no different, but the chance is there.


(Grumpy: Suggest disaster recovery team needs a Plan B.)

Kwini,
Interesting (and impressive) figures for Jonathan Byrd starting with total career winnings, annual winnings followed by Fed ex placings including present position.

Career Totals $14,331,582

2011 $2,401,954 24th
2010 $1,534,981 117th
2009 $1,316,771 72nd
2008 $1,039,584 85th
2007 $1,854,906 26th

Thinking of e/w bet for Barclays. How yo you fancy his chances?

Hi Noel,
Thing with Byrd is that his biggest success usually occurs in smaller events.

There's probably no-one in the field with any course knowledge so previous Barclays success is irrelevant; I'd never try to talk anyone out of an investment, but it doesn't look a good fit to me, especially in light of his recent form (which is almost as bad as Jason Duffffner prior to his PGA near-miss).

Because this is a clean sheet for everybody, I'm expecting cream to rise to the top but I'd have no confidence in any pick! Eyeshut and pin time for my Fantasy efforts. Perhaps time to see how Round 1 goes first . . . . . .

kwini,
bizzarely you've sort of given me more reason to bet upon him i.e.no course knowledge,Duffner reference and "eyeshut and pin time". I'm not talking a big bet just something to add a bit of interest. May go for a couple of others as well but only relatively small e/w of not so called rank outsiders but not the usual names. Should make it more fun.

i know we've said the course is a bit of an unkown but does anyone know what the setup is like?
ie is it gonna be a birdiefest or will it be a US open style Aronimink course?
my money is on Steve Stricker either way
hoping to cap off a good betting month with Simon Dyson and Webb Simpson coming good for me already!

hend0, That's a helluva betting month.
Plainfield CC is a Donald Ross classic and we might normally have expected it to play hard and fast.
But the NYC area has shipped about 11 inches of rain this month, and we're not sure how it will set up. But expect the PGA Tour to make it is tough as they can. Hurricane due Sunday so hold on to your hat.

We'll be keeping an eye on the forecast and noting any big changes on this thread.

ah yes i forgot about the hurricane. i guess we are most likey in for a pretty early start on Sunday. i guess the rough will be pretty thick something similar to the Wyndham what with the rain and also the PGA looking to combat the soft greens. as others have said the course is pretty short so we could be looking at an extra premium on straight hitting. step forward Jason Duffner and SS (step back Paddy Harrington )

I've tried to find some sort of PGA Tour reaction to the possibility of a Sunday wash-out, but come up empty so far.
Sure they wouldn't want to have a 54-holer but hurricanes can be devastating and no-one would know how a course might recover if "Irene" whacks Plainfield. Only mitigating possibility is that the Deutsche Bank in Boston starts on next Friday, not the usual Thursday, so there's an extra day in there.

kwinigolfer wrote:Grumpy,
I was finishing my response to you Ned and pd when I felt it. Have been in/felt a few but this one "rolled" longer than usual seemed to me.

Am i right in assuming that the earth moved for you and Grumpy, Kwini? Sounds dramatic

Hi LP,
No, not really! Just a curiosity here, very much a rolling tremor rather than the jolting sensation that sometimes happen - like it did here in 2002. (I remember being woken up at school in the 60's by some action off the IOW, just to date me!)

Anyway, apparently tremors in the Eastern US are more likely to be of this type due to the type of rock, unlike in the West for example where they may be more severe but much more localised effect.

I may have been trying to make the earth move but my wife kipped through the whole thing! Getting old.

Out of interest, why do people bet on golf? Surely the maths just doesn't stack up?

On pro golf?
I think there's high value in betting on PGA Tour events with GB&I bookies; probably the same would be true if there was an easy way in the US to bet on European Tour events.

Last week a good example of why most of the Greensboro top ten were predictably likely to play well, though this week a bit of a puzzle.

And most weeks there's a good reason to expect some short-priced golfers might not be good bets at all, even when Tiger was at his prime he was clearly much better value at some events than others.

So what betting options will the bookies give you? Player to finish top 3,5,10 etc.

And what about things like low round or number of biridies.

I know for sure if you bet on a player to win you may as well have burned the money.

Mac,
To be honest I'm out of date with various placing options - big changes since I was last in the bookies on a regular basis. I DO know I did quite well betting on PGA Tour golf in England after four years of living here. But returned so not up to snuff.

Agree, betting to win not wise except for certain players at very specific events.

Things like low round, betting within a grouping, most birdies etc not for long-term fiscal health I would imagine. Wouldn't touch such bets with a bargepole.

Kwin - Great write up and thanks. As discussed here and on other threads, really excited to see Plainfield this weekend. Setup and conditions go a long way to scoring, and with all the rain we've had I expect the greens to be very receptive.

What are the chances for another "belly putter" win? Speaking of which, I wouldn't be surprised if Augusta took action on that front before the PGA.

Some questions: With "somewhat" better form of late will O'Hair contend (he'll be very familiar with this Aronimink type look and possible set up)? Will Rose for matter?

I'm sure Tiger could find a game in or around Verona NJ, but there would be a lot of disappointed people up in Verona NY!

Good read kwini. And you have become more sarcastic lately - I like that!

Pedro, Do you do chips?

Thanks pedro,
Sarcasm, cynicism, character assassination, I can do them all. Not necessarily conducive to a successful dialogue though unfortunately!

'Morning Shotrock,
Blind spot here with belly putters, I'm more against humungous-headed drivers to be honest, feel that's the technology that has encouraged the bomb-and-gouge generation and risks rapid outdating of Championship courses. But I know most disagree with me!

Trouble with O'Hair and Rose, they didn't fare well at Aronomink this time round; both in very unreliable form right now!

We'll all have to keep an eye on the weather - think that's the biggest issue over the next five days. Surprised the PGA Tour hasn't said anything about contingency plans.

For those that want a closer look at Plainfield, here's a link from a friend of mine who does fantastic photo tours of many local courses. Extensive tree removal a few years back made this an even better track in many opinions:

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/plainfield/index13.html?

According to news reports here, shock of 5.8 struck eastern side (NY included) but I suppose it's not so dramatic if you're used to them.

I'll be glued to the TV tomorrow to see if Hampshire can pull off the T20 trophy again. They play Somerset in the semi-final first and then the winner plays the winner of Leicester and Lancs. I can't understand why Hants are so good at T20 (which I still don't call real cricket) and are so c**p at all other forms of the game! Great Test series win by England though

Thanks Sr

LP,
There are some sports that, however much one tries, are very difficult to keep track of from 3,000 miles away and, unfortunately, cricket is one of them - the rhythm of the season, predictability of dates for one-dayers, county games, Test Match starts etc is all upside down from what I'm used to. Rugby Union is the same and horse-racing, probably the thing I miss most being here!, is impossible to follow unless I discipline myself to a steady diet of on-line Sporting Life scrutiny, which is not going to happen! But Good Luck Hampshire!!

PS; We are more than 500 miles from the quake's Virginia epicentre, Grumpy and Shotrock much closer.

Hi Shotrock and kwini,
Interesting comments about Augusta, the belly putters and the jumbo drivers. If Augusta took action, wouldn't they be threatened by the manufacturers and the players who use the broomsticks? Most would agree that it's become apparent that anchoring the club's end to the body is an advantage.

Concerning the big headed drivers, probably too much water has passed under the bridge to turn back the clock. The restrictions on size have been countered with the weight devices incorporated into all the clubs by now. The newer popular Callaway forged irons are a hot item in SoCal.

I would like to see confrontations on both fronts but think the guys with the money who make the tools have the edge. There are very few golfers who would turn down the opportunity to buy a supposedly "better" game. Anything that appears to be working for the pros is going to be popular with the rest of us.

Wonder if The Barclays has "stolen" a number of players from the Johnny Walker event. Many of the those who were Scotland for 2010 are also in the same field for this year.

I think there'll be a PGA Tour "First" this week as Robert Allenby's caddy wil be wearing a plainly visible, cell-phoned size, alcohol monitoring device strapped to his leg.

Now, when I tell you the caddy in question is a Pro Golfer you might think Allenby has hired Anthony "sideways" Kim, but it is actually Robert (son of Ray) Floyd who has recently clocked up his second dui (driving under influence) offence.

Apparently Allenby is giving Floyd a friend-in-need assist, and after the stories of Allenby's help and inspiration to Jarrod Lyle's career following Lyle's cancer battles, one has to wish player and caddy the very best.

A what device? Is this part of some punishment or a thing he's chosen to wear? And what exactly is it anyway?

Kwin - That's interesting!

Venice - Good points ... I think the powers-that-be at Augusta might be more likely to issue a tournament ball rather than restrict the driver head. I'm also thinking this "anchor" putting with the longer shafts might get a closer look and perhaps go the way of Sam Snead's "croquet" style that was eventually outlawed.

Ned - Not exactly a scarlet letter thing, but an electronic monitoring device that lets the powers that be know you're at home or "on-the-job" during some sort of house-arrest period.

Another interesting (to me at least) tidbit on Plainfield:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/sports/golf/for-the-barclays-a-shorter-but-much-more-interesting-finishing-hole.html?src=rechp

Ned, Sr, I think he's looking for some sort of court mitigation as his latest offence hasn't come up before the "beak' yet; perhaps his way of saying he's committed on getting his act cleaned up, but in some States he'd be headed for the pokey.

Ned,
Now trying to get to grips with the "Amateur"; I see there's a former Major League pitcher competing, plus a one-time pro whose career was derailed in a serious motor accident and seems to have resurfaced on the amateur scene. Too bad for Stiggy, but isn't the USGA site un-userfriendly?

Cheers Kwini, SR; sounds a bit better than I feared, had wondered whether it was some sort of last-punishment, a "you're a free man, but wear this measurer and if it clocks any alcohol in you, you're going down" sort of thing. Which of course would've been at odds with the US spirit of individual freedom, given the legality of alcohol... but then I've always found the attitude to alcohol in the US a little odd, all things considered, what's with the workplace testing for one thing? Anyway, good luck to Floyd Jr, certainly a big difference between liking a drink, and having a problem with it, hope he moves away from the latter.

Re USGA website - I'm just googling "US Amateur" and going straight from there from to the leaderboard, not brave enough to tackle the rest of the site. But the insistence on "hometown" and not nationality still irritates me. How many guys make it through to the matchplay stuff then? Was assuming it would be 64, but the current projected cut has half the T83s in. 96, and byes for the top 32 then?

Hodgson seems a bit of an enigma, raved about for a few years now but has gone awol in the big ones both here and in the states both the past two years. Believe he has a "unique" swing, but not sure how much you can extrapolate from that about his results.