PGA Tour: 123 Barclays Cards: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).Well done Sergio, a second emphatic European win on Tour in eight days after a season spent mostly in the doldrums. It's not often that the "horses for courses" and/or "home advantage" maxims manifest themselves so comprehensively as they did this week, with eight of the top 13 having very strong ties to the Carolinas and adjacent States. Throw in a couple of Texans, a Californian, and a Spaniard whose first effort on the Sedgefield course was a third place as an 18-year-old amateur!

2).All of which makes Nicolas Colsaerts' 7th place finish all the more noteworthy. A good finish this week in Scotland, and Europe's Ryder Cup chances will seem a lot brighter than they did just a fortnight ago.

3).Before we move on to the play-offs, let's add a couple of post-scripts from Kiawah.
Firstly, Lee Westwood (first in greens in regulation over 36 holes) firing Pete Cowen and engaging Tony Johnstone. If Johnstone can battle (if not cure) Westwood's short game woes half as well as he's battled MS these past eight years then Westwood will be back at the top of his game in short order. Johnstone told GolfWorld that Westwood has been driving him "a bit doolally not winning Majors because of his short game". We'll see.

4).And the Nearly Man Major Champion of 2012 is Adam Scott, with a final total of 1,130 strokes at the season's Four Grand Slammers. The full leaderboard of those who made all four cuts is:
1).Scott: 1,130
2).McDowell: 1,132
3).Poulter: 1,138
4).Harrington: 1,139
5).Woods: 1,143
6).Dufner and Furyk: 1,144
8).Stricker: 1,148
9).Jacobson: 1,149
10).Molinari and Bradley: 1,156
12).Z.Johnson: 1,162

5).The US Media have been making clear their dissatisfaction with Kiawah as a Major Championship venue.
One thing is for sure: Bellerive C.C. in St.Louis will take the next open US Major date having signed up for the 2018 PGA Championship. Player won the 1965 US Open here, Nick Price won the 1992 PGA and Bellerive was due to host the WGC American Express Championship during the week beginning Sept 10th 2001. We know how that went, but the Tour finally returned for the BMW Championship in 2008, won by Camilo Villegas.

6).Sergio Garcia was not the only golfer to enjoy an emotional win last weekend; the Champions Tour's Dick's Sporting Goods Open, in Endicott, NY, was won by once-can't-miss-prospect Willie Wood. For a variety of reasons, including the tragic illness and eventual death of his wife, the now-51-year-old Wood's career didn't materialise quite as expected and he had to "open qualify" last week as he had no exemptions. But, as they say, class is permanent, and great to see the 1983 Walker Cupper come out on top.
A comeback of sorts also for the En-Joie course which had been ravaged by floods during last autumn's hurricanes, just a few years after being devastated by floods which led to its removal as host of the Tour's BC Open.

7).And so to Bethpage Black and "The Barclays".
The Tillinghast classic, on New York City's Long Island, has only seen the Tour's best twice before, at the US Opens of 2002 and 2009. Unlike Upstate New York, which produces a steady supply of top golfers, the immediate New York area seldom yields a top player so the only homefield advantage will be enjoyed by adopted son Phil Mickelson. Bethpage is a BIG golfcourse with relatively small greens, likely to play firm and fast in ideal weather and the only horses for courses clues date back to those Opens. The seven golfers to make both cuts then who are in this week's field are: Woods, Mickelson, Garcia, Mayfair, Stricker, Choi and Singh.

8).This being the first leg of the FedEx play-offs, 125 golfers qualified (Dufner and Levin are absent) and the top 100 in FedEx points after this week will advance to the Boston area and the Deutsche Bank. Europeans in most danger of failing to move on include:
95th: Jacobson
111th: Christian
117th: Stenson
while among other "notables" in trouble are: Schwartzel, LoveIII, Allenby, Day and Immelman.
Likely winner? No idea, but difficult not to fancy Garcia (4th in 2002, 10th in 2009), Harrington (8th in 2002) and McIlroy (10th in 2009) among Europeans.

9).Next year's Wyndham Championship at Greensboro will be the final tournament of the "regular" 2013 season. The Top 125 in FedEx points will move on to the Play Offs, 126-200 will go the yet-to-be-fully-defined three event series with the web.com's best, and anyone languishing below 200th will have to wait until Q-School to play again.
Crucial point of all this is that dollars won no longer will be the official currency of the PGA Tour, FedEx points will be.
As a general guide, the players who earn the most money will be the same as those who garner the highest FedEx points total, but there will be differences.
This year for instance, Jhonny Vegas has won $744K (105th on Tour) but, because he is 126th on the FedEx points list, he sits at home this week while Heath Slocum plays at Bethpage having won just $424K (142nd on Tour), but harvested more FedEx points. There are plenty more such discrepancies, but that's what the Tour wants. owgr points will still be important of course for the Majors and one assumes the PGA of America will continue to use dollars for their qualifying lists, both for its Championship and Ryder Cup selection. Not sure about the Pres.Cup which, after all, is run by the PGA Tour.

10).Big news in golf this week has been the admission of Condoleeza Rice and Darla Moore as Members at Augusta National. Always thought Condi Rice had the makings of a good person despite the sordid work colleagues she had for a while.
But I DO know that Darla Moore has been a powerful force for good at the University of South Carolina where she has for many years made generous endowments to its Business School which now bears her name, the International Programs being especially highly regarded (#1 in the nation according to US News and World Report). She's most certainly not just a figurehead and hopefully her character will prove a strong influence among the good ol' boys up the road in Augusta. About time.

Make that German know how though kwini, meanwhile Woods plus four through 15. What a man sausage sucker. Ha ha.

Mac,
Hadn't thought of that about #18.
Is it possible that it played off a forward tee because of the fairway having been soaked?
It's playing off 410+ this week, a bit too long for a mid-iron off the tee.

Evening all, afternoon kwini! Just back from US, can see why you moved there kwini, absolutely loved it from start to finish!

gw,
Where have you been?

Your Wolves are of to a decent start, points under their belt, money in the bank.

Good to hear from you . . . .

Glad to hear you have had a nice holiday goldie, hope it makes up for the lack of golf. Where about in the US did you visit?


kwini

The scorecard for 2009 has the 18th down as 411 yards, but I remember it playing a lot shorter. Maybe because it is down hill? There seemed a lot of guys playing mid iron, wedge back then.

At this point, Nick's to lose. Spent a bit of time with him when he won the AT&T at Aronimink. Quite a player.

C'mon Nick!!!!

Not a good day for Sergio but Watney has played excellent in comparison.
Still two excellent weeks for Serg.

plunky (or anyone else who has played)

How wide do they leave the fairways for daily play, when us normal's get a chance to play the black? They look a little comically narrow from the blimp shots as it is clear there is a lot of space to widen them.

We went to Orlando for Disney World, had a great couple of weeks. Loved it; America, Americans and the weather (even the afternoon storms!). I wasn't permitted to play golf seeing as it was a family holiday, but I managed to have a look at the Buena Vista course, very nice, would love to have played it, weird grass!

I don't know what to make of Wolves just yet, will be interesting to see who he spends the money on! An ok start but disappointing to concede the late equaliser yesterday.

Come on Sergo!

Goldie, it looks like you got out of Florida just in time as a tropical storm is about to batter them.

Saw that on the news just before we left Mac, I hope it doesn't do too much damage. We only had a couple of bad storms but nothing serious. Amazing how quick they come in.

USA, USA, USA,
But not when Sergio's hitting you tosspots.

Great tournament, stout golfcourse, worthy winner, but Sergio seemed to run out of gas - so many approaches left short and they did him in. Terrific seven days for him though.

And now Watney, Snedeker and Dustin have certainly trumped Mahan, Stricker, Furyk and Fowler.
What must be going through Davis Love's mind? I'd say Furyk and Fowler looking a bit dodgy right now.

Think you're right Kwini, I watched a bit of Sergio early on and he seemed in total control and very relaxed. Still a good couple of tournaments.

Sergio goes plus 4. Tiger goes plus 5. Awful final day for both.
Davis with some difficult decisions to be sure.

Another very odd weekend from Tiger and I wonder how much confidence sergio will have lost today, after such a confidence building run of form. We know how fickle he is after all.

I think Sergio will be just fine.
A week off and he'll be rarin' to go at Crooked Stick.

Would hesitate to say that Sergio's day was awful, but horribilisness is in the eye of the beholder.

In other news, Fred Funk in with a 12 on a Champions Tour par-3. Nice!

Mac, I don't believe the fairways for Barclays are any different from a regular day --it is a tough course especially when you have no marshals to help locate a shot ! They did consider at one time teeing off the 18 th hole on the black onto the 18 th hole of the red, but left it as is because they thought regular people would want to play the course exactly as the pros did.

More fun out there today behind the 7th green ! Blixt drained a long putt for eagle and Teater chipped in from the roughfor eagle. Brian Harmon also eagled and was I think the only player who appreciated the crowd saying "pick it up Brian, that's good" when he reached the green. Maybe he was the only one who'd never heard that before. Lots of birdies as it's a pretty short par 5.
Only bogey we saw was lee Westwood who had tree trouble followed by bunker trouble. Luke had a 5 or 6 ft putt for birdie and it was good all the way until it took a huge jump on a spike mark. Someone called out " that was vijay's spike mark" and Luke seemed to find that pretty funny.

Oh and I came within about 18 inches of being hit by a ball. William mcgirt hit out of the bunker and didn't take quite enough sand so the ball came right back towards us. Another 18 inches and it would have trickled up to my foot. We all had to move around to accommodate him, and somehow mr p and I ended up losing our prime piece of real estate for a while.

Incredible how large the crowds were for both woods and mickelson and then when the leaders came through there were maybe just 20 of us watching! Rowdy though the tiger crowd was, when players were standing over a shot you could have heard a pin drop. But as soon as tiger holed out they were on the move again regardless of whether Hearn had finished the hole or not, so has to be very distracting playing with him.

In case you didn't know,Jason day has finally got his hair cut. Really was a great experience -- I could easily become a PGA groupie if I didn't have to work ! Finally, I got to see Adam Scott up close and have to say that he is every bit as good looking in real life as he seems on tv.

Plunky, I would like to attend a pga tour event, sounds a little more upbeat than when you go to a european tour event, or indeed even the open. Although I do worry I would end up drinking one too many beers and mistiming a shout of "mashed potato" on tigers downswing.

Thanks for the info on the fairway width. I believe they tried to restore the course to AWT's original plans sometime before the 2002 US open. In fact, was the course not left a little to ruin for a number of decades?

Anyway, it seems odd to proclaim you are restoring a course to golden age spec and then keep the fairways dead tight.

PS plunky

Was the idea to walk from the 17th of the black then across the front of the 18th tee on the black, the behind the 1st green of the red and play the red's 18th?

Is the red even open for play during tournament week?

Plunks,
Glad you had a good time and were able to get "up close and personal" with Adam Scott. As well as any other attributes he may have - and I'll leave you to be the judge on that! - he's also great with the galleries and is very, very funny.

McLaren wrote:Plunky, I would like to attend a pga tour event, sounds a little more upbeat than when you go to a european tour event, or indeed even the open. Although I do worry I would end up drinking one too many beers and mistiming a shout of "mashed potato" on tigers downswing.

Thanks for the info on the fairway width. I believe they tried to restore the course to AWT's original plans sometime before the 2002 US open. In fact, was the course not left a little to ruin for a number of decades?

Anyway, it seems odd to proclaim you are restoring a course to golden age spec and then keep the fairways dead tight.

According to mr. P, Rees jones brought the course up to us open standards before the 2002 us open,helped by some funding from the usga. Since then they've taken much better care of all the courses there, shutting down in bad weather, closing the black and red in the winter,etc. The plan had been to play from the black tees on 18 over to the 18 th green on the red, which would have made the hole much longer. And they closed all the Bethpage courses over a week ago so they could get ready for this event. It will be another week before they open them again -- so many tents to take down ! Parts of the yellow and blue courses will take a while to get back to normal as they used them for parking equipment trailers, etc. Having watched the pros play there makes me want to play the black now ( so far ive only played blue, yellow,green and some of the red) but I think it will be pretty busy for a while.

Would you be in danger of drinking too many beers if the only beers on offer were michelob, budweiser, and heinikin ?!

mac, do you think you could shout 'mashed potato' with Woods' boaby in your mouth?

Emergency Ward 10:

1).Ground Control to David Toms,
Your circuit's dead there's something wrong,
Better withdraw from the Deutsche Bank (and therefore the play-offs).
Edit: No injury reported for Toms, apparently he didn't fancy it (something about preferring to attend LSU's home football opener?) but will reappear in October at the McGladreys.

Then there were 98.

2).Hadn't realised that Goosen underwent back surgery, and it looks like clubs down and feet up for him until he's fully recuperated. No timeframe for his return.

Sure there'll be more!

Hi peeps been away for a week and managed to watch most of the barclays with beer in hand.I just love the way that course is designed so easy on the eye.But in close up the greens looked pretty ropey seemed to run Ok but looked dreadful.Nice to see the statue of liberty in the shadow of tiger woods.

dyna,
General consensus seemed to be that the greens were soft, but quick, on Thursday and Friday, then the course got baked out on Saturday to the extent that they almost lost some. Ridiculously fast on Saturday, dozens of 3-putts, Tiger with 4 x 3-putts alone.
Watered overnight and mostly in good shape Sunday.

Noticed the speed in particular on the last on saturday Watney and Sergio.At that point one back watney needed the 2 putt and stuck the first one miles past.Sergio very nearly did the same

dyna,
Poulter was especially outspoken about Saturday's course set-up. Some sample tweet extracts:

"The worst course set-up I have ever played in 13 years on tour. They have ruined what is a great course, greens like concrete stupid pins."

"I do know my job and trade and today was borderline unplayable."

"I'm just personally disappointed that spectators pay good money to watch players have good shots punished by poor setup."

Some interviews in similar vein . . . . . .

Good for Poulter for speaking out.

I don't get the logic in making the course as hard as possible.

My observation is that it's a lot of ego involved -- members want their course to "stand up" to the best, officials want to really "test" the players.

Just call every par 4 under 425 yards a par 3 and you'll have all the over par scores you want - but don't over-think the setup.

Sr,
In the interest of full disclosure IJP also stated that:
"I played poorly today and no excuse for my play I was rubbish . . . . "

He also offered: "I am making an opinion when most are just Politically Correct . . . FAKE"!


I thought the Bethpage people were particularly lame when they blamed the weather forecast of "cloud cover" - pathetic that CBS TV don't call them on such utter crap.

Fair Play Poults