PGA Tour: Silly Season: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Most of us who play and/or follow Golf are migrants from other sports, usually playing other sports in our extreme youth and often following others that we don't actively participate in.
"Silly Season" is a popular term nowadays covering a multitude of circumstances in many walks of life.
But when I was a young 'un, Silly Season only meant one thing to me: Champion 2-y-o of 1964, Champion Stakes winner and Classic hard-luck story, trained by Ian Balding for the Mellon family, usually ridden by Geoff Lewis. He owes me a half-crown or ten.

2).As one became more interested in Golf, the autumn saw PGA Tour players lining their pockets at the Kapalua International, The Skins Game, Diners Club Matches, World Cup, Dunhill Cup, Sarazen World Open, JC Penney Classic, Shark Shoot-Out, Wendy's, Skills Challenge, Par-3 Shoot-Out , Sun City Million Dollar Challenge, etc, etc.. Not that this was necessarily an American benefit, Greg Norman and Sandy Lyle won Kapalua before they ever won The Open, Golf Channel's Peter Oosterhuis and Frank Nobilo may only have one PGA Tour win apiece, but they have two Pebble Beach Invitationals and Sarazen World Opens respectively.
This was Golf's "Silly Season", the all-time highlight for me being a duel in the Sun (City) between Johnny Miller and Seve.

3)."Silly Season" was invariably the time of year when Fred Couples' back miraculously recovered from whatever prevented him from travelling to run-of-the-mill Tour events, or even some Open Championships, and a hale and hearty Fred would smile at the cameras in his "Oh Shucks" way, loosening the proverbial knicker elastic of swooning women who should know better.
You think one Masters win and 14 other PGA Tour events elevated Fred in to the World Golf HOF? Think again - it was the 27 Silly Season wins that raised his popularity, not so say his profile and bank balance.

4).Silly Season at its best included the "Shark Shoot Out" at Sherwood Country Club, now home to the Tiger Member Guest. The Shark Shoot Out began in 1989 and featured the best golfers of the day playing with best mates as partners and, yes, Fred won three of them - other three-time winners included Steve Elkington (Happy Birthday to the guy I want by my side in my next bar-room brawl if Peter Lonard's not available - 50 on Saturday), and everyone's mates Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron.
Edition #24 gets underway in Naples, Florida, this Friday when Keegan Bradley and Brendan Steele defend their title. Poulter will be there, playing I think with Dustin Johnson, winners together in 2010.

5).Of course, last week's Sherwood CC event saw McDowell winning in some style, and runner-up Keegan Bradley heckled as a "cheater".
To precis the commentary on this in the always entertaining PGA Tour Confidential, the "USGA released a statement Sunday condemning the heckling", to which the often nauseating, but sometimes prescient, Gary Van Sickle added: "I was stunned to get a press release on it. If this is how it works, Monty needs to back order 247 press releases." Quite.

6).But no reaction to McDowell's reaction to the mashed potato idiot, at least on PGA Tour mouthpieces though other less reverent commentators had their chortle, possibly happy that for once a golfer had the fortitude and wit to respond in kind.

7).To conclude the Silly Season thought, Sunday's wins, for whatever we think they're worth (apart from a million bucks), by McDowell and Kaymer left only one non-winner from Medinah's Ryder Cup teams - excluding Davis Love of course.
Yup, Jim Furyk's year ended metaphorically as it started and went on, with a ball in the drink on his season's final hole. He wasn't going to win but Every Picture Tells A Story, just as surely to the ever aging Furyk as it does to the also ever aging Rod The Mod.

8).We'll see more of Keegan Bradley's utterly ridiculous pre-shot routine at this week's Shark Shoot Out - makes one wonder how his love making foreplay goes: Sizes up the target, addresses the ball, shuffles back, perhaps on tiptoes (he does look a little light in his loafers as my father-in-law might say), squints, shuffles forward, then back as if a "teaser" at a stud farm, cocks his head to one side, focuses on the target with his dominant eye, head to one side again as he addresses the ball - repeat twice - fourth time he steps up and releases immediately. Not surprising if the end result is less than satisfying. Even worse of course when he did his premature expectoration.

9).Despite so many Tour players lamenting the change, last week saw the Final "Fall Clasic" - Q-School to the rest of us - and who should come first but a 17-y-o boy called Dong. But Dong is too young to be eligible for PGA Tour membership so he will be unable to take his place on Tour until his 18th birthday at the end of June unless via a sponsor's invitation.
So Oliver Fisher, apart from missing out by one stroke and one place, is denied by someone who's scarcely qualified to be there and will most likely play too infrequently to retain his Card. Just daft, and one wonders why he was permitted to tee it up in the first place.

10).Congrat's due though to Ross Fisher and Robert Karlsson for earning their "Cards" and also to Henrik Norlander, team-mate at Augusta (yes, that one) State University of Patrick Reed.
Whither the careers of Messrs Noren, Gonzo, R C-B and Wattel, all of whom played Dubai two days before embarking on Q-School 12 time-zones away on unfamiliar courses? Great planning, but presumably good news for the European Tour and to George O'Grady.

Keegan Bradly must be sick of Northern Irish accents .. last two times I've watched him play, he's been beaten by someone from my neck of the woods.

I only caught McDowell's reaction out of the corner of my eye.. am I right in thinking his guesture was meant to imply the shouter was a spectacular onanist imitating Gareth Hunt in the famous Gold Blend ads of the 80s?

It will be really interesting to see how Ross Fisher gets on - you'd have thought a few years ago he had the perfect game for the PGA tour, but his recent form would cast doubt on that.

"Premature expectoration"

Wonderful ... and a great write up, too.

Bob - Not just Keegan, professional golfers far and wide better get used to being beaten by someone from Ireland. Golfer of the year Rory just stretching his muscles.

Had to do some serious googling to find out what that was all about, Bob.
Playing with one's rake is the golfing parlance, I think!

Ross Fisher would have qualified via the Special Temporary Membership route a few years ago if he'd've applied promptly - as it is, his later PGA Tour efforts were characterised by super ball-striking (I saw him produce a Quail Hollow clinic a couple of years back) and dismal putting, especially on the early season Bermuda Greens which tend to have a lot of grain

Hope he plays faster though . . . . . .

Kwini - this could be the best yet! Keegan's per shot routine a masterclass! Golfer of the year definitely McDowell for his subtle but clear response to Potato Head. We were all thinking it!! Your similarly subtle demolition of Freddy much appreciated in this house. While I enjoy watching the guy it is easy to get too much of a good thing! For some reason totally different from watching Louis, Lee, Rory etc etc.

What must Keegan think of himself when he watches his own play on TV. He quickly stopped the spitting after it was brought to his attention, but he must have decided the pre-shot routine is a keeper.

Continuing the analogy - once he gets into position he doesn't waste any time.

He stopped spitting for one tournament in Europe, does he still not spit?

No spitting!

By the looks of him, he's a bit OCD/mental.

I wasn't sure about Keegan , but he did impress me at the Ryder Cup. He completely got it and was up for every shot - basically a US Poulter.

The main problem with his pre-shot routine is the time he can take. Given the authroities are finally addressing the long putter, I hope they start to come down hard on slow play next year. The tours know the culprits so would be easy to hand out a few penality shots to the right people and then things would start to change for the good.

Great write up as ever Kwini!

Sad to think this is the last time we'll ever have the excitement of a proper Q-school in the US; I see Tom Watson has said much the same this week. It might not be the best preparation for a tour career, but it's still a great event to follow. I will have to be a pedant on one point though.... Dong and his dong will be present and correct from the word go in January; the 17 year old is Si Woo Kim, who finished mid-table among the qualifiers. All seems a bit petty though, when you realise Matteo had already won twice by the time he'd turned 18! If you're good enough...

What's with the McDowell story anyway? I missed that... can't say I was following the tournament too closely if I'm honest!

Is Golf the only sport that has failed to address slow play and time wasting?


Cheers Ned, Sr, puligny,

Aargh! I'm guilty of profiling - apologies to Mr.Dong.

McDowell was playing an approach last weekend when someone (Dan Quayle most likely) yelled out "mashed potato". McDowell went back to his bag mouthing "w a n k e r" to Comboy and shaking his fisted limp wrist. No apologies from the USGA for THAT heckling but McDowell's shot ended up perfect!

Is the "W" word a commonly used phrase in America Kwini?

If not, would they have understood it without the Gareth Hunt gesture?

super,
Not really, though it's now ingrained in the vocabulary of my friends, especially the women!


Scottie,
I thought Bradley had a great Ryder Cup when he was playing with Phil.
But was he as good at taking it as he was dishing it out?
That was the weakness of Team Davis to me, most of the US Team are so good when they're riding some momentum, but did they have the resilience to deal with adversity? My "frat boy" reference that robo took exception to refers!
To continue the thought, JAS and I were discussing a month or so ago that almost all the lifetime long-putter guys have very wooden (Westwood-like) short-games, and we saw that again with Simpson and Keegs. Clark and Pettersson also pretty hopeless, relatively speaking.

Anyway, good to see Keegs taken out of his comfort zone by Rory's excellence.

More from McDowell and everyone's favourite "American":

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/feherty-graeme-mcdowell-061112/

[quote="kwinigolfer"]Is Golf the only sport that has failed to address slow play and time wasting?
quote]

Nope, an issue in tennis as well. Does a player really need to wipe themselves down with a towell after every shot ? How many times does Djoko really need to bounce a ball before he serves ?

The ghastly Nadal is one of the worst for this. Good riddance to him.

Digs,
Yes, but umpires call them on it, points penalised in some cases. Djoko's 14 ball-bounces not withstanding, but they definitely get Nadal (very) occasionally.

Hardly ever Kwini, almost never, its increbibly rare considering the constant abuse. Far more likely a golf player will get put on the clock rather than a tennis player gets pulled up.
There really is verly little (none really) sign anything is being done to change the situation.

But nothing ever happens to penalise a golfer (not on the PGA Tour anyway) except a fine via an alleged totting up process which is never published anyway.
Admittedly tennis umps tend to go for the less well-known players rather than challenge the stars.

'Course, in golf a very quick player can upset a normal-speed guy's rhythm, Cabrera playing with Rory in the final round at Augusta last year. Nothing intentional by Angel, but it is felt that it caused Rory to get hurried in his routine.


But Bradley's pace of play if brutal by any standards.

It all depends if Bradley is slowing up the group. If he is keeping pace with the group ahead then to me how long he takes on his pre shot routine is relatively irrelevant, Im guesisng most people would rather watch him prepare to play rather than walk slowly between shots. So is Bradley a slow player in terms of how long he takes to complete a shot or does he just have a long routine, they arent necessarilly the same thing (by the way I have no idea if he is slow or not over the course of a round).

Well, there was the Ross Fisher incident on the ET and also Morgan Pressel on the LPGA this year - I'd hope the PGA Tour and its players at least noticed.

super_realist wrote:Is the "W" word a commonly used phrase in America Kwini?

If not, would they have understood it without the Gareth Hunt gesture?

I lived in the States for a while, and the nearest "roadhouse" to my place was called "W a n k e r's Corner".. so no, I don't think it's a common phrase

Bob_the_Job wrote:

super_realist wrote:Is the "W" word a commonly used phrase in America Kwini?

If not, would they have understood it without the Gareth Hunt gesture?

I lived in the States for a while, and the nearest "roadhouse" to my place was called "W a n k e r's Corner".. so no, I don't think it's a common phrase

Ha ha, I suppose it's a bit like the Aussie's meaning of S P U N K as meaning something rather more innocent.

kwinigolfer wrote:1).Most of us who play and/or follow Golf are migrants from other sports, usually playing other sports in our extreme youth and often following others that we don't actively participate in.
"Silly Season" is a popular term nowadays covering a multitude of circumstances in many walks of life.
But when I was a young 'un, Silly Season only meant one thing to me: Champion 2-y-o of 1964, Champion Stakes winner and Classic hard-luck story, trained by Ian Balding for the Mellon family, usually ridden by Geoff Lewis. He owes me a half-crown or ten.

Great write up as usual Kwini. Nice to read your comments on Ian Balding. He and Guy Harwood were my favourite trainers of the 80's when I first discovered horse racing. His son and daughter are doing not too badly for themeselves too.

Still follow racing?

I had heard about the McDowell incident but hadn't seen it so found it on You Tube. I assumed that the bloke had shouted during his swing but it was afterwards. Still very funny as I have thought exactly the same while sitting on my sofa!

I assume that the shouting of mashed potato is just so that they can watch the recording and hear themselves or am I missing something?

My brother in law told me that the word soloist wasn't well known in the States as he used to use it quite a lot while living there and talking with a fellow Brit about people knowing they wouldn't get it. I think the hand gesture said enough.

I've rather belatedly checked in on the LPGA Q school results to find that Felicity Johnson won a full card. Embarrassingly for me, I only vaguely knew the name and have now discovered she is from the "better" side of the Midlands - so I probably should have been wishing her well in priority to Mel Reid. Oops. Caroline Masson from Germany has also qualified - remember being very impressed with her when she was close to winning the Women's British Open last year(?)... other than the final day collapse of course.

Thanks Spaceman,
Very difficult to follow racing here, impossible really. My 70's and 80's era Timeforms gathering dust on the bookshelves.
Miss it more than almost anything, as racing doesn't receive national coverage here - the national press switches on for the US Triple Crown and, maybe, the Breeders Cup, and then hits snooze again.

Racing, and cricket for that matter, have to be followed (used to read the Sporting Life before my daily paper) almost daily to keep up, and you very quickly lose touch.

Guy Harwood used to do very nicely at Lingfield, one of my favourite tracks; still try and catch a Meeting somewhere when I'm home, but just to soak in the atmosphere, can't pretend to know what's going on.

The winter afternoons at Fontwell, Huntingdon and Towcester, or screaming out of work to get to the summer evenings' entertainment at Newmarket or Leicester very much a thing of the past. Sadly.

Cheers Kwini

Did you hear much about Frankel in the States? Camelot was looking good for the Triple Crown but was barely rated here because of Frankel.

Frankel? Only by the time he'd started to get famous, and then only because of cursory glances at the BBC web-site - pathetic how little prominence racing gets from the Beeb website compared to footie and F1.

Sounds like half horse, half machine, and interesting to see him compared to some of the greats of the past - seems as good as a horse could get from what little I've read.
I saw Nijinsky and Mill Reef and the best of the early sixties to early eighties era, but am a total blank in the thirty years since. Brigadier Gerard my all-time fave, got a whisper on it first time out at Newbury and never fell out of love with him! They say "Happy Days", but they were VERY happy days!!

Hi Kwini, that was a very good write up this week, amusing as well as the usual level of informativeness.

I especially enjoyed the bashing of boom boom, i have never been able to take a liking to him. His status in the game is certainly rather inflated as far as I can tell.

As for horse racing, that is something I will never get and especially so when it comes to putting money on it. Surely everyone knows you loose over almost any length of time, so why knowingly loose money?

kwinigolfer wrote:Frankel? Only by the time he'd started to get famous, and then only because of cursory glances at the BBC web-site - pathetic how little prominence racing gets from the Beeb website compared to footie and F1.

Sounds like half horse, half machine, and interesting to see him compared to some of the greats of the past - seems as good as a horse could get from what little I've read.
I saw Nijinsky and Mill Reef and the best of the early sixties to early eighties era, but am a total blank in the thirty years since. Brigadier Gerard my all-time fave, got a whisper on it first time out at Newbury and never fell out of love with him! They say "Happy Days", but they were VERY happy days!!

Yes seemed to be real quality and depth back then. My personal favourite was Dancing Brave. Again, got wind early in his career and had some reel joy (and a bit of cash) following him. He just ran one race too many at the Breeders Cup.

Cheers Mac,
Don't really mean to diminish Fred, undoubtedly his popularity brought many to the sport and no-one ever, ever made golf look easier, not in the past 35 years anyway.

I believe you CAN make money on the horses, but it's a full-time job and demanding of a steely discipline - I can have a fine day out at the races without placing a bet.


Spaceman,
Yup, I enjoyed following Dancing Brave's achievements from afar, back at a time when I was almost commuting between here and there - Guy Harwood certainly came a long way from humble-ish beginnings as far as his yard was concerned.

Highly entertaining write up, kwini

And talking of entertainment, another candidate for the Silly Season should be the side shows we're getting almost regularily the last few years down under this time of year: Tiger's bubble bursting, Ogilvy-Allenby bust-up, caddies' fight, Daly's 7 consecutive shots in water (or was it 77?) and walk-off, etc... Mind you, any season is a silly season for John Daly nowadays...

And then there's the President's Cup every two years...

So, the only "event" one of my favorite professionals wins this year is a silly season Shark Shootout (don't you love how Norman helicoptered into the event for all to see?). A "W" is never a bad thing, and can certainly help confidence, but I don't think there will be a call for scrambles anytime soon on the regular tour.

Looks like he played very well, Sr; lots of kudos thrown his way by Shark, Kenny P and the NBC guys. I see Perry has now won $1.7M+ in the Shark Shoot Out over the past ten years. Not bad at all!

I really enjoy that event, nice to see the players with a smile on their face.

Big season coming up for O'Hair and he can't afford a repeat of the past nine months - he'd lose his exemption apart from anything else. Trust you're offering a few tips Sr?

Kwin - Free advice from me is worth exactly what you pay! But, a blanket "don't do anything remotely similar to what us weekend hackers do" is pretty much always on target.

Yes, it would be nice to see some early success for Sean in 2013. He's played Merion many, many times ... so is it too much to ask for some contention there?

Merion?
He's got to qualify first, and that will be a long haul for him; owgr of 134th and sliding fast.

Yes he does -- Hopefully that will be soon!

pgatour.com has confirmed the opening six events of the 2013/2014 PGA Tour schedule. In order:
Fry's.com
Las Vegas
CIMB Malaysia
HSBC Champions in Shanghai
McGladrey Classic
Mayakoba

and confirms no Disney tournament which means the Tour won't return to Florida after The Players in May, first time there's not been at least one stop in the late season, usually two.

Huh?? No Hyundai TOC? Sony Open? Farmers? AT&T?

Ha... Ignore me...I've just had a Senior moment!!

What? No owgr points for the Franklin Templeton shootout??? They work harder for their money than in Sun City and can't even be sure of playing with their own ball! Disgrace.