PGA Tour: Final Stage Qualifying School etc: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).The haves and the have nots of the PGA Tour golf world compete in California this week, in contrasting events reflecting the contrasting fortunes and futility of their respective PGA Tour seasons. They'll play 150 miles apart in Southern California, on Jack Nicklaus designs, but there any similarities begin to fade.

2).Let's start with the "have nots" who are assembled in the Palm Desert area, at PGA West, and will contest 108 holes over six days, three each at, respectively, the "Tournament" course and the "Stadium" course. The leading 25 golfers plus ties will join "The 25" who graduated via the Nationwide Tour (including Europeans Blixt, Chopra, Christian and Knox). Europeans teeing it up at PGA West include Swedes Gronberg, Johnson, Lingmerth and, yup, Daniel Chopra as he strives to improve his status position for January tournaments. Greg Owen and Ben Briscoe join them.

3).Other "notables" include Messrs;
Sang-moon Bae
Beem
Duval
Estes
Flesch
Franco
Gamez
Nathan Green
Janzen
Maggert
McCarron
Micheel
Noh
Petrovic
Oscar Serna
Vaughn Taylor
Weekley
Wetterich
not to mention son of Wadkins, grandson of Palmer.

There'll be "live" scoring on pgatour.com. (Eight hours time difference Cal / GB&I.)

4).On the subject of Sweden's Richard S.Johnson, I notice that recent Nationwide Player Of The Year, Wales's Richard Johnson, has surfaced as Golf Coach at the University of Central Arkansas. Not exactly known as a golfing powerhouse, but he has on his "roster" students from Cardiff, Barcelona, Alberta, Columbia and Birkenhead! Good luck to him, one of very few to register a hole-in-one on a par 4 in a professional tournament, the 2009 New Zealand Open.

5).Unless I've missed something, Commish Finchem enters 2012 with as secure a collection of tournament sponsors as he's had for a long time, and McGladreys have just confirmed an extension for their contract thru 2015. The "Transitions" final year is 2012, but it is unlikely the Tour will allow the fine Copperhead course at Innisbrook Resort to slip from its schedule.

6).Lots in the press and on the rumour mill about Westwood's decision to join McIlroy on the PGA Tour for 2012. If they both manage their schedules well, and enjoy expected success, this will be a good move for both. But, if form or fitness goes south, and they don't qualify for at least a couple of FedEx Play-Off events, they'll find themselves handcuffed by the 15-tournament rule and need to play a Fall Series event or two when they'd expect to be in Europe. Not many have managed their year well, especially in a Ryder Cup season, so fingers crossed they find form early.

7).For twenty or thirty years, this part of the golf year was known as the Silly Season. Fred Couples was the poster child as he won more money in Shoot-Outs, Skins Games, Diners Club Matches, World Cups, Three-Tour tournaments and the rest than he ever did in Major Championships. Didn't fancy The Open, no worries, just say my back hurts, see you in November.
But now it's the Very Silly Season, Rory McIlroy being an early beneficiary in China and thirty golfers lined up to line their pockets this week, in South Africa and Southern California.

8)."Very Silly" is compounded by the Official World Golf Ranking people who decided that these exhibitions should warrant owgr points. This "Very Stupid" policy famously helped McDowell two years ago, and it will doubtless help a golfer or two retrieve a sorry season this week. Furyk and Woods are exhibits one and two. Frankly, I'll be astonished if Woods fails to win his "Chevron World Challenge" at the very photogenic Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. Apart from the obvious fact that he's playing with house money, it sets up ideally for him: Opening with a driveable par-4, and continuing with 5 x par-5's. Who cares? A "W" is a "W" to Tiger, even if it's a "w" to everyone else.

9).With Brandt Snedeker having dropped out a month ago, the news arrives today that Dustin Johnson responded to trouncings alongside Tiger Woods and a singles meltdown against Schwartzel, by undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee. Don't expect to see him at Kapalua either, and it is likely that the Tournament Of Champions will be devoid of its biggest names. Bad news.

10).Luke Donald is scheduled to play Nedbank, which is a reminder that PGA Tour POTY ballots have to be at Tour HQ by December 9th. Imagine most have already been filled in but no reason not to hope a win might restore his name to the consciousness of "undecideds". But, there again, if Tiger wins his Chevron, perhaps there'll be write-in votes for him.

Great stuff, kwini

Will be followng with interest the Q-school finale and cheering especially for Duval and the two Koreans, Bae and Noh among others.
Trying to move beyond the sillyness of these events, I still have a funny feeling that Casey may enjoy a good week in CA, but couldn't make up my mind at all about Nedbank - Lee vs Luke, again? Mind you, don't know how rusty Luke will be after his break...

And talking about Luke, just an early signal that he will travel down under after Dubai to play in the Aussie Masters, along with Matteo, Poults and the usual Aussie suspects, but without the Adam/Stevie duo apparently...

Ballwasher a bit dry this week but was intrigued to see that the Welsh Johnson had gone from on top of the Nationwide tree to a proper job so quickly. Must be unprecedented, a bit like Perks vanishing as soon as his exemption expired.

The trip Down Under for Lukey has been on his schedule for a while, but not sure where he'll resurface in the New Year. He hinted at Disney that it wouldn't be until Riviera. A proper break certainly worked for him in 2011. Anyway, adds some spice to the JBWere event who are probably still miffed they lost out to the Aussie Open for (Tiger and) the pre-Pres Cup date.

So you don't think Luke will be at Kapalua either?
BTW, does the Chevron winner get a pass for the Tournament Of Champions?

No.
and:
No!
You'd have to assume Phil won't play, not sure about Snedeker, DJ sounds as if he's out, very doubtful for Donald unless Flinchem leans on him, same probably with Schwartzel. And what about Stricker? Clearly not at full strength in Melbourne.
It would behove Rory to play (McDo did last year) but never sure about him.

Good to hear then that at least they don't recognise the Chevron winner as a worthy champion...

Sounds like a rather depressing prospect for the start of the PGA Tour season then...And if these people don't go to Kapalua, it's unlikey they'll bother with the Sony either.

I wonder if Luke could be tempted into Abu Dhabi instead in January...

I see Major Toms has also withdrawn from the Chevron, with Van Pelt and Woodland taking the places of DJ and Toms.
Presumably "Chevron" and "Nedbank" has to scroll through the rankings to select alternates. But it surely smells when two Americans, presumably Johnnys on the Spot, answer the call.
If the owgr people are going to keep a straight face on maintaining the integrity of using the owgr placings to fill these fields, perhaps they need to allow a tournament to start with a "short" field if the next in line is unable to take the slot of a last minute withdrawal?

Love everything about the Q-School, from the 6 days of pressure golf to those on either side of the cusp come day 6. kwini, Could this be the last Q-School event as we know it and what is to follow?

Like these silly season stroke play events rather than the skins which lost their lustre for me early on even if the fields are somewhat contrived. The official golfing organizations have to allow certain amenities to the silly tournament organizers to satisfy the sponsors even if it means the Rickie Fowler's and company receive primary consideration.

The OWGR looks the worse for it but what powers do they really have to influence policy direction and adherence?

There are major issues that need to be addressed out west. The Tournament of Champions is not a very good tournament. They need to allow the field to fully expand and that's only one of their problems. The whole Hawaii swing needs to be seriously addressed if not, just get rid of it. There's more money to be made in the desert southwest. The tour has been moving very slowly in trying to establish a cohesive plan with the sponsors in California / Arizona. One can taste the insecurity lingering in the air with many of the smaller independent companies.

venice, How are you? Just been reading the Bobby Valentine news and comments.

I think the Tour would like a more compelling format for the T of C, but not sure how it would work - combined with some European Champions, Or especially Asian? As for the Sony, they regularly get pretty decent fields, which is more than can be said for the Hope/Humana, Pebble and, increasingly, San Diego. But it sounds as if you're on to something . . . . ?

Are you going to Robin Hood country for the weekend action?

Not sure about the future of Q-School - despite all the hoopla about the Nationwide Tour, I'm convinced more top players reach the PGA Tour via Q-School or gaining exemption from money made playing on invitations (a la Tiger, Phil, Cauley etc).

One other facet that I've never seen mooted is the likelihood of amateurs turning pro immediately following the NCAA's and bulking up on Nationwide (and Tour invites) if no Q-School route was available to them. Not good for the USGA or the Walker Cup.

Doing well, kwini. I'm not surprised the Red Sox went with Valentine but they'd better focus on getting other players if they're serious about contending. The boo birds will be out in his first visit back to New York.

I'm not sure if people really care about the T of C any more. The players obviously disregard it at will. Maybe a co-operated tour event would be the answer. The days of Ernie and Tiger seem long ago.

As far as the PGA Tour's operations out west, there is no reason why these tournaments struggle to generate substantial revenue. There are many golfers out here who golf many rounds all year round and have plenty of time and money to spend on golf. The galleries and support should be greater but they're not. Somebody in marketing is failing miserably. One only has to look at Major League Baseball to the see the billions being invested in Arizona for the Cactus League spring training season. There's still gold in dem hills.

princedracula wrote:I wonder if Luke could be tempted into Abu Dhabi instead in January...

Actually checking the tournament site, Luke IS listed as playing the Abu Dhabi tournament with all the 'big boys', so that would clarify the question as to where/when he would surface next season... Question is then, if he's travelling to Middle East that week, is he gonna play other events over there around that time (Qatar/Dubai) or will he come back States-side to play somewhere before the WGC Match Play? I'm guessing the latter may be the case...

Surprised Donald has added Abu Dhabi, but sure it will prove a lucrative way to get some cobwebs out of his game.

Just had a butcher's at the forecast for California and the Chevron is expected to be buffetted by strong Santa Ana winds on Thursday and Friday. If they reach the expected 40 mph, there could be issues! Expect slower greens until the weather calms down towards the weekend.

Incidentally, Sherwood C.C. is so named because a film version of Robin Hood was shot here - yup, reminds me of Nottinghamshire too!

Always surprised at how many people skip Kapalua. You'd think a nice little limited-field, no-cut event, on one of the most fun courses on tour, would be the ideal way for people to get the seasons up and running. Free cash and free fed-ex points to get a headstart on the rest, apart from anything else. Even the Euro guys ought to be able to fit in one Middle Eastern trip alongside it whilst avoiding jetlag.

Still get the feeling that the year long Q-school plans are being designed to stop the Jacobsons, Chopras and Owens of the world chancing their arm for a PGA Tour spot whilst having Europe as a backup card. It could backfire badly though, you'd think any young college hotshot turning pro would give Euro Q-school a try on the off-chance, if the alternative was a year, minimum, on the Nationwide. O'Grady'll hoping for 15 US 20-something qualifiers per year if the PGA Tour go through with it.

And another example of the insularity of the PGA Tour: their resident "expert" on matters fantasy golf-related gave his predictions for the recent 25 nationwide grads over the coming year. In fairness the predictions were fairly sound for the large part (although harsh on Russell Knox!); but the thing that stood out were his explanations for Chopra and Mulroy: plenty of guff about previous PGA seasons, and Nationwide form this year; but no mention that Chopra recorded a runner-up in Singapore a fortnight ago, or that Mulroy was a winner in SA just last week.

Agree on all the above, Ned. Though O'Grady really needs to tune himself in regarding the possibility of young players dipping their toes in European waters.

Saw that nonsense about Chopra and Mulroy - couldn't believe it really, unless it was written a month ago; he also failed to mention Danny Lee's year on the E.T.. Chopra is one of about five Nationwide "graduates" double-dipping in Q-School to try to improve their status.

Morning kwini,

Less than an hour away from the initial tee times in the desert. 80F today and weather forecasts of only one day of high winds. Perfect weather for golf thru Monday with highs in the mid 60's. Poor planning on my part to not be going out to La Quinta this week. Would encourage anyone passing through these parts to spend four or five days just golfing and playing tennis in the Palm Springs area from now until mid spring.

I'm not a big fan of John Feinstein, good writer certainly, but a bit fond of his pompous self, reminiscent of the smug and loathsome Tim Rosaforte. But I agree 100% with Feinstein's assessment of Tiger:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/john-feinstein/tiger-not-a-changed-man/

Comments?

Kwin - Thanks for posting. I think that's a great article and also agree with Feinstein's assessment of where Tiger appears to be at the moment. When Tiger complains about needing more reps, here's a thought -- you're healthy, so why not play in more tournaments?!

I think we all would agree that Tiger has one goal in his gunsights: Jack's record. Will that make him the best golfer of all time? (He already is in my opinion [at least best I've ever seen], but he could have 25 majors and won't be in many others' opinions.) If he gets it, it will of course make him the most accomplished professional golfer.

Very important year coming up. Lots of great players and could make for some fantastic shoot outs in the majors and other big tournaments. I expect Tiger to be in the mix in many.

Kwini
I agree with you on Feinstein - the more you read the less impressive he is. Feel similarly about Donegan over here. Initially very impressive but tailed off to limited range of topics and knee jerk reactions which betray lack of thought to support brilliant writing ability IMHO!
On Tiger though? I normally keep well out of the subject though accept most of his contacts with the public and his general approach are not what we might like I really think we should cut him some slack. 3 reasons, all personal;
I had one off the cuff interaction with him at Wentworth. No opportunity to prepare or be "on guard" and he was genuinely funny, sharp and very smart.
In my youth my hero was Charlton R - the best footballer ever to lace his own boots. Believe me in the interaction with fans stakes, a non-runner. Can't describe how bad that made me feel! But he's still the bes footballer I ever saw - and I've seen a lot!
Tiger, as with Charlton R is simply the best I've seen - whether or not he reproduces his best. I wish he had the charm of others and was less tied in to conspicuous avarice, but he isn't. He never will feel comfortable with his "fans"
or even dress it up and try to be Mr Charm. Feinstein is correct, but under the same scrutiny he and most of the rest of us would buckle.
So my question, who do you think is the best writer/commentator on golf, who can cut through the personality stuff and provide the most objective reporting? Who do you rate?

puligny,
Great points.
I used to admire Dudley Doust, sadly now departed. Obviously he covered many different sports but always gave the reader an insight he wasn't aware of or hadn't thought of. (For an American from Syracuse University to write well on cricket was an incredible feat!)
For sheer reporting, I don't think you can improve upon the Associated Press's Doug Ferguson who is adept at providing the facts laced with a sometimes imperceptibly presented opinion.
And I like Lorne Rubenstein who writes for the Globe and Mail in Canada, and Larry Dorman of the NYTimes.

Find most of the TV guys who double as print journalists far too glib, but love Rich Lerner's work for Golf Channel. Superb at getting beyond the headlines and terrific at provoking insightful discussion with fellow commentators.

For TV commentary, I enjoy some of the "on-course" foot-soldiers, Maltbie and Kostis, and Andy North can be very good. Gary Koch is superb on anything to do with the short game, absolutely mustard on reading Bermuda greens. Faldo and Miller have their good points but are often out of touch and only seem to know the top echelon of golfers. Most of the rest can go straight on the discard pile.

Ironically, best "easy reading" golf book I've read is Feinstein's Tales From Q-School, and Donnegan's Four Iron is good too!

Sorry to here that about Our Bobby; I even made a pilgrimage to Ashington once!

Very calculating tee times from Tiger town:
Woods and Stricker
Simpson and Bubba
Day and Casey
Don't tell me the tournament officials didn't recall the gamesmanship Day employed against Casey at the WGC MatchPlay, and Casey's reaction.

Needless to say the other two non-Americans are also paired together, Choi and Laird.

These tosspots are beyond brazen.

Kwini
Wor Bobby was fantastic and I could forgive him anything till he sold out to Glazer. We won't go there it is too painful, but having idolised the man I wouldn't cross the street to p... On him if he was on fire today. Hey that's just me and the irrationality of sports fans!!!!!!!
I used to love Hugh McIlvanney, but he has become a bit formulaic and there is never a doubt as to who his favourites are!! I think age and I'll health have had an affect.
Sadly great sports writing is hard to come by. Tales from Q school, and four iron are on the bookshelf behind me right now. Simon Hughes (cricket) and Ed Smith (cricket, baseball and in time just about anything) are worth searching out but do you know the best piece of sports writing I have is by Brian Redhead - late of Radio 4 Today programme and the Manchester Guardian. It's hanging on my study wall titled Days of Best and Brilliance and the bottom lip quivers just at the thought of it. Daren't read it again just yet!!!!!!
I agree on the on course guys - over here some have insight (Clarke though you would sometimes think all woods really were wood!) and humour (Boxhall and Riley) but their knowledge makes me wonder how they got the gig!
Hey ho I guess it's just entertainment!!!
Btw keep doing your stuff - always read it and always enjoy.

Kwin - Are you suggesting that this will be a disadvantage for Casey, Day or both? And what's the issue with two non-Americans playing together? Not trying to stir any pot ... just want your insights (which I both appreciate and respect!)

Cheers puligny,
Agree, used to enjoy McIlvanney and also Geoffrey Green and, being a Hampshire lad, John Arlott. I have Simon Hughes's Hard Yakka, loved it, but didn't know about Ed Smith - good cricket writing is difficult to get hold of here!

Best sports book I can think of is Arthur Hopcarft's "The Football Man"; lovely piece about Duncan Edwards among many others. Probably out of print now.

Didn't know Redhead was a sporting type - I'll have to consult Amazon!

Kwini
The Redhead article is dated 1.1.89 from The Observer.
Ed Smith did a good book comparing baseball and cricket (playing hard ball) and several on cricket including a diary of one year which happened to be his best!
Been dusting the shelves this evening - have you read the Dewsweepers, James Dodson and Golf Dreams, John Updike?

Haven't read either Dewsweepers or Golf Dreams, but read Dodson's Final Rounds, enjoyed by most but I found it a bit sappy - with all due respect to Shotrock! I have a little difficulty with Americans writing about Britain, despite my American wife's love affair with Bill Bryson. Anyway, Final Rounds put me off trying Dewsweepers, but maybe I should give it a whirl.


Hi Shotrock,
I just don't like these calculated pairings - is this a tournament or a casual Nassau for Tiger and friends?
Why shouldn't the pairs be totally random? They're all allegedly stars so just plot the tee-time for Woods for TV and have a random draw. Which we all know this isn't.
Anyway, to answer your question!
Hope it would make Casey suitably competitive but I don't take it for granted that players perform at their best when they're deliberately grouped with someone they've had recent issues with. Of course, that's their idea.
Schizo weather here recently, not sure I like it!

Scoring low in the desert.

A nice coincidence but Vaughn Taylor who was first out of the chute this morning is the clubhouse leader.

Bad News for Kapalua Kwini, but if they insist on a stupid "winners only" event to start the year, then they are only getting what they deserve.................

I have a feeling we have disagreed on this before!

The reason Vaughn Taylor is even there is that he's a wretched 171st in final round scoring. He comes across as a bit of a miserable sod on the golfcourse, but what a silky-smooth swing. Incredible that he's in this pickle.

venice,
Les Habs are plying their trade in SoCal and NoCal this week without their leading scorer; I fear the worst!


John, Bad news indeed!

Agreed kwini, that Chevron draw is an absolute disgrace, that tournament went even lower in my estimation after seeing that... Shame!

Great start by Bae Sang-Moon. 6 birdies after 12 holes in what probably is his first official round of golf played in US!

Looks like Boo Weekley's no better than Jason Gore, Glen Day and Ty Tryon!
Maggert -6 thru 12. He'll compete until he's in his grave.
Bae and Kim are representing Team Korea well. The little train who could keeps rolling steadily down the tracks at its own pace.

Quick thoughts on 4 randomly picked Q-Schoolers:

1. Poor Duval shot himself in the foot for the last 2 holes: bogey, double, to finish even for the day. Hopefully won't haunt him on Day 6 if he's near the line.
2. William Claxton made US$16,870 total for this year on the Nationwide. Tied for the lead after Day 1 was tailor made for his kind to have an outside chance.
3. Shaun Micheel, whose only PGA Tour victory came at the 2003 PGA, at -5: perseverance, craziness, or can't find any other work.
4. Mathias Gronberg is 41 years old and dearly needs to capitalize on his -5 start. The ugly: made US$33,000 in 21 Nationwide events this year.

kwini,
The L.A. Kings will be lying in wait Saturday night for your Les Canadiens at Le Centre Staples. Strange how the NHL have your men playing in Anaheim, fly up to San Jose and then back down to L.A. within 4 days. As you stated, no top scorer and lingering at the bottom of their division. Plenty of time to right the ship, though.

First year none of my friends or myself are going to the Sherwood Forest Nassau stakes. Similar to your tale of naming the surrounding area due to the filming of the 1938 Robin Hood movie with Mr. Flynn, 12 miles down the Ventura Freeway in the Valley is Tarzana. Have a couple of very nice courses including El Caballero Country Club which hosted an LPGA event a while ago and was deemed too difficult a course to have the ladies return. Very hilly with a couple of extreme doglegs hugging a mountainside.

Disappointing end for Duval after such a promising start.

Still, at least he's just about in touch of the top 25 who are all -5 or better. Already!

Among those way worse off are: Carlos Franco, Nathan Green, Boo Weekley, all at least +2, and propping up the field, Boy Wonder Try Tyon.

Forecast for Thousand Oaks according to the Weather Channel is;
Thursday: Sunny, 63F, WINDY! 35 mph gusting to 60 mph.
Friday: Pretty much the same, but strong winds early abating somewhat.
Weekend: Same, but progressively less windy.

That could screw up the Chevron tournament and certainly reveal any chinks in the armour of a player who hasn't competed at the top level for a while. Caddying probably a thankless task.

I guess any win would be good for Karlsson at this stage, he's been very quiet over the past 4-5 months... But maybe this is his favorite part of the season and the smell and sparkle of the Nedbank diamonds and Dubai gold is just waking him up from hibernation... Lee on the other hand didn't seem to wake up until he moved to the second hole. Luke seems to carry on from where he left it, this guy just can't play baddly at the moment no matter what happens...

...jinxed him

Jinxed who, pd? Is the Nedbank leaderboard I'm watching slow to update? Can't see any jinxes so far!

Davie, Luke's next drive went waywards and he got penalty shot... but an exquisite chip from about 30 yards or so meant he got away with just a bogey...

Yeah I see the bogey now PD - scoreboard just a little slow updating I guess. I'm sure he'll get it back soon!

Good start for GMac

There ya go PD! Double bounce-back from Luuuuke

Yep, no surprises there from Luke! And Lee just got an eagle, he's well back into it now...
Talking about eagles, Franny apparently won a big fat gold watch as a resut of his eagle at the 2nd today, same hole where his brother Eddi won a similar big fat gold watch last year! But I'm not envious, I won a 1 euro scratch card at the Lotto last night...

How was the field chosen for Chevron? How did Paul Casey get in?

Chevron field?
Leading sixteen available golfers from the owg rankings, then two invites from within the top 50. Believe these were Furyk and Woods.

Hi Leff,

Just kidding but they needed someone to partner with Jason Day to act as the 'rabbits' for todays round. They'll be the first group out when the gallery is a bit thin in the late morning. The temperatures don't start warming up where the Sherwood Country Club is located during this time of the year until about 10:30 a.m. Ironically, the windy Santa Ana conditions sweeping in from the desert will actually help bring in warmer air. Warm: good for the patrons, wind: bad for the golfers.

Leff wrote:How was the field chosen for Chevron? How did Paul Casey get in?

Leff, I think the bigger question there is how did Tiger get in...!?

Kwini, Thanks for info about how the field was chosen. Defending champ is missing!

Venice, So. Cal is a tad colder than usual this weekend. Nice opportunity for someone like Nick Watney to grab big bucks.

Prince, That's a good question.

He may like his huntun and fishun, and all things south but you have to love Boo Weekley and his lack of self awareness. It adds such a great character to a tour mostly devoid of interesting folks so it would be sad to loose him. But does anyone else think Boo Radley every time you hear about Weekley?

McLaren wrote:He may like his huntun and fishun, and all things south but you have to love Boo Weekley and his lack of self awareness. It adds such a great character to a tour mostly devoid of interesting folks so it would be sad to loose him. But does anyone else think Boo Radley every time you hear about Weekley?

I think he's a smidgen retarded and probably inbred too, but at least he's colourful.

Defending champ is in South Africa!

Very happy with the Nedbank leaderboard; if things were to stay as they are, which of course they won't, it would be an apt riposte to the nonsense north of LA. Two wrongs not making a right, just balancing things out a little.

Boo Radley needs to learn to putt!
Seems he used all his lifetime worth of putts at Valhalla.

He should really have been given a lifetime excemption for his horse/club riding antics. You could hear the collective cursing of all the stuffy golf types from around the world. It could not have been better even if he had flicked the bird.