PGA Tour: The NorthwestMutual Nedbank Challenge Challenge: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).What's not to like this week with most of the World's best golfers in action?
Numbers 1, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 are in California. (And #9 called in sick.)
Numbers 3, 5, 15, 18, 20, 25, 29, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38 etc, etc are in South Africa.
So that's almost all the Top 40 accounted for.

2).There will be millions of Dollars and gazillions of Rand at stake but also a bucketload of Golf's universal currency de jour, World Ranking Points. And, due to the small size of the field at the California free-for-all, everyone will "earn" owgr points, even if they finish last by ten shots.
I would say that's fundamentally unfair.
Some will say that those playing have earned the right to be there. But have they really?

3).Only 9 of the 18 teeing it up at the Tiger Woods benefit won a PGA Tour event in the 2013 season, Watson and Westwood probably being the feeblest under-achievers.
Watson threw away his only winning chance in a year, at Hartford in what was his best finish, fourth, of the season.
Westwood's best finish was his Muirfield 3rd place and hasn't been seen inside the Top 25 since.
So: Yes, these tournaments reward the best golfers of the year. But they also reward others who are resting on the laurels of a year ago. Not sure that's right.

4).It was announced a week or so ago that the "Tiger" Challenge will be leaving Sherwood Country Club and is off to Florida and Mr and Mrs Woods's one-time home of Isleworth. Rumours now that the eventual destination is The Bahamas. Is this all for tax reasons I wonder?

5).Fred Couples used to be the King of golf's silly season but Tiger runs him close. In this event alone, he's "competed" eleven times and only avoided the top two twice, accumulating almost $9M in the process.

6).The Aussie Open was interesting wasn't it, lots of short Par-4's at Royal Sydney which made for fascinating viewing? Good that Scott and McIlroy played so well but what a shame these traditional national "opens" don't attract better fields. The South African Open turn-out was even worse and even the Canadian Open would have a poor field if not for RBC's extensive patronage.
Argentine Open this week and at least Angel Cabrera is supporting the tournament - pity that other Latin American stars couldn't see the value in joining him.

7).And then there's Steve Elkington and his tweets.
We'll never know what he knew when about the tragedy in Glasgow last weekend, and it's not certain how disingenuous he was being with his ill-advised twitterage about Pakistanis at the Senior Open.
What is certain is that he's no stranger to tweeting controversy and has mixed it up with Poulter and Bubba Watson, to name but two, in the past year, not to mention his comments on the Tiger drop at The Players.
Given that the Tour embraces tweets by its members that it must feel fits the squeaky-clean Tour image (god, college football, god, jesus, "the military", god, college football and the military, to name a few), surely it must begin to take some responsibility for racial stereotyping and other such marginal (over the marginal?) messages from its players?

8).They could start in my book by stopping the endless promotion of god, jesus, my saviour from the likes of Simpson, Watson etc, etc. Whether the Tour itself, or its Golf Channel close (incestuously so?) cousin, surely we've had enough of this garbage?
Or should someone start tweeting inflamatory anti-god messages and see where that gets them?

9).Web.com Q-School Finals next week and hardly a European to be seen. And no marquee names from other Tours either. No surprise there but I'm not sure that the open access pendulum will not swing too far the other way as "International" players currently holding Tour cards will surely start to fall by the wayside with only the tenuous Special Temporary Membership offering a route back.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I wonder if this is all turning out as Finchem and his troops imagined?

10).Doubt if Finchem much cares, but one cloud that won't magically drift over his horizon is the neverending can of worms the Tour opened when it suspended Vijay Singh for his deer-antler spray habit.
Vijay's lawyer is now trying to blow that can of worms up:
"The PGA Tour has made exception after exception after exception, both with regard to whom it was administering this drug policy and against whom it was disciplining."
"For some reason the Tour singled out Mr.Singh and treated him in a way that it has not historically or uniformly treated other Tour members."
"Whether it's because Mr.Singh isn't from the United States, or Mr.Singh didn't go to the right PGA Tour party, or Mr.Singh did something that Tim Finchem didn't like."
The Tour is trying to have Veej's suit dismissed, but I'd be surprised if this nonsense didn't rumble on well into the New Year.
After all, I'm not sure we've heard Steve Elkington's take on it yet.

18 players and they are going off split tees (and twosomes tomorrow)

I guess they are expecting another frost delay and they want to get done before 6 pm ET.

Sheesh... what is Donaldson thinking... WHY go for it on #9?

   to Miguel Angel Jimenez.  Well done to defend your Hong Kong Open and break your own record as Euro Tour's oldest winner.

Looks another grizzled Vet is going to win Nedbank.  Thomas Bjorn. And it great position to earn his way on to McGinley's Ryder Cup team after a long absence.

Class act:
http://www.europeantour.com/mm/Photo/Tournament/Tournaments/21/41/69/214169_M21.jpg
And
http://www.europeantour.com/mm/Photo/Tournament/Tournaments/21/41/66/214166_M21.jpg

Too bad no European veteran is in the shake-up for the Tiger Tournament.
What's with the teeing off both nines?
Perfect set-up for the Tour to run a shotgun start; have they no imagination??

Having said all of which, you wouldn't want to get stuck behind Johnson and Woods - almost two holes behind the pair in front yesterday. Where's John Paramor when you need him?

Woods took 4 min and 28 seconds to play his second shot into 18 yesterday.

I wish a media member would show him that Bull excrement next time he whines about Slow Play.

pedro wrote:Class act:
http://www.europeantour.com/mm/Photo/Tournament/Tournaments/21/41/69/214169_M21.jpg
And
http://www.europeantour.com/mm/Photo/Tournament/Tournaments/21/41/66/214166_M21.jpg

Less than €160,000 for winning that tournament, whilst Bjorn gets €800,000 for winning his. Both in the Ryder Cup?

The Banker counts all of the Nedbank Purse but the Ryder Cup and RTD point standings discounts the payout by about 13.4%

http://www.europeantour.com/mm/document/tournament/tournaments/21/35/60/_english.pdf

GPB wrote:The Banker counts all of the Nedbank Purse but the Ryder Cup and RTD point standings discounts the payout by about 13.4%

http://www.europeantour.com/mm/document/tournament/tournaments/21/35/60/_english.pdf

Cotrect. They cap the winnings counting towards the R2D and RC so they'd correspond to those earned in a full (70 man) field. I think this is fair enough and kinda takes off the edge of some of the objections we've had on this site. Also heard that they cap the last place owgr points in Tigers tournament to 2.40. Don't know if they do it in Nedbank, but would make sense.

That's the only way Westwood will earn any owgr points the way he's been playing . . . . . .
Stupid thing with this sort of tournament, if you're a gazillionaire which these guys are, there's no incentive to try.
Most sensible commentary on all that was by Roary when he walked out on it a few years ago.

Thanks peeps. That makes it a bit better.

But there is no way last place should get any OWGR points.  If Speith finishes last, his OWGR average will increase.

Rory walking out was a pathetic quitter move.

Immense talent but that was pure spoiled brat Sergio-like. Things weren't going his way so he bailed.

Looks like Poulter tried plenty hard today - no surprise he was the top ranked Euro.

Go Tiger.

I stand corrected ... looks like the Irishman is overtaking Ian!

GPB wrote:

Yes, last place finish is worth 2.4 points and not 3.84 that is normal for a OWGR 48 rating.

But there is no way last place should get any OWGR points.  If Speith finishes last, his OWGR average will increase.

2.40 is chosen because it's the owgr point average of the worlds no. 50. So Spieths owgr average will not increase - unless his divisor decreases... Only players outside the top50 will benefit from the "free" points.

Roary always said he'd've hung about if he'd been receiving 2.40 owgr points . . . . . . .

 Rory couldn't talk because he had a "sore" tooth ...

Are we talking about the same Roary?

On a positive note, Rors looks like his return to respectability might be the real thing.

Brilliant wedge, brilliant bunker shot.
A bit like McDowell vs Woods in 2010.

There's no way that Isleworth can produce the same kind of shot-making this course offers.

What an amazing 18th, hopefully it end's with a birdie!

Sunday at a Major does Tiger in again.

Sure he'll prefer the friendly confines of Isleworth though. Didn't he have a 58 there once?

No quit in Zach! Lesson there for all you aspiring professionals.

Not to mention all us hackers!

Zach had his annual "Team" meeting this week analyzing his 2013 and determining objectives for 2014. Guess some messages sunk in pretty quickly.

pedro wrote:

GPB wrote:

Yes, last place finish is worth 2.4 points and not 3.84 that is normal for a OWGR 48 rating.

But there is no way last place should get any OWGR points.  If Speith finishes last, his OWGR average will increase.

2.40 is chosen because it's the owgr point average of the worlds no. 50. So Spieths owgr average will not increase - unless his divisor decreases... Only players outside the top50 will benefit from the "free" points.

Yes his average will increase because his two year resume is not fully populated and he is losing less than 2.4 points per week in attrition.  He has about 148 gross points that are "spoiling" so he losing 1.61 points per week in attrition. 

His average would have increased no matter where he finished.

pedro wrote:

GPB wrote:

Yes, last place finish is worth 2.4 points and not 3.84 that is normal for a OWGR 48 rating.

But there is no way last place should get any OWGR points.  If Speith finishes last, his OWGR average will increase.

2.40 is chosen because it's the owgr point average of the worlds no. 50. So Spieths owgr average will not increase - unless his divisor decreases... Only players outside the top50 will benefit from the "free" points.

Yes his average will increase because his two year resume is not fully populated and he is losing less than 2.4 points per week in attrition.  He has about 148 gross points that are "spoiling" so he losing 1.61 points per week in attrition. 

His average would have increased no matter where he finished.

Nine Chins or Frogface Bible Thumper.

Not sure which one I dislike most.

Thanks GPB.

super, just proves that God is greater than Buddha, or?

Incredible finish to the tournament, surely there is room for Sherwood to host a tournament somewhere? Great course!

Yes pretty crazy sirb. Almost Tiger-esque....

Zach Johnson is mentally one of the strongest players on tour, so for me it was no surprise he beat him. Plenty of players with a better cv have folded like a cheap tent but Johnson showed how having the extra belief helped!

sirbenson wrote:Zach Johnson is mentally one of the strongest players on tour, so for me it was no surprise he beat him. Plenty of players with a better cv have folded like a cheap tent but Johnson showed how having the extra belief helped!

Recovered well from his semi shank!
Great finish, that's how every golf tournament should finish, incredible!

Just like to say Thank You to navyblueshorts who clued me in as to why access to posting on here was suddenly disabled.
Something to do with my browser all of a sudden not accepting cookies on here - changed this access to Google Chrome and back again! Cheers nbs . . . . .

Just a thought on the Tiger tournament:

pgatour.com headline:
"Z.Johnson steals title".

Wonder what they would have printed if TW had won in similar fashion? And yet some still wonder why the coverage of Woods gets backs up occasionally - OK, most of the time.

As it was, Woods also hit his two approaches to the 18th a little bit close to the hosel for his liking - and then two brilliant bunker shots to gave him a chance to save himself.

Great finishes all round this week.

I have to say as far as ZJ beating Tiger, I believe all of the more senior players who have been on tour for a bit have had a bit of an attitude adjustment. In the past, they'd have tried to change their game plan thinking they needed to do something special to beat Tiger. Now most of them have the attitude of "just play my best and see what happens", and what sometimes happens is they win. Events like YE Yang, GMAC etc beating Tiger down the stretch and the whole mess he got into have chipped away enough at the aura to make it seem less mandatory to pull something extra special out.

Bob,
Don't you think there's a boot on the other foot also?
The Press here was suggesting that Woods played more conservatively on Sunday than he normally would have done - he certainly missed at least half the fairways so perhaps he had no option, but this has become a characteristic of so many weekends; 'course, he got five spot on!

He certainly fancies his chances at the 2014 Majors - a crucial year for him after presumably being disappointed with his results this year.

22 majors without a win  

For all you Tiger-haters out there (looking at you super in particular), what is worse: a "W" for Woods, or a win for Zach Praise the Lord?

ZJ draws little crucifixes on his ball. Given the high number of believers on tour, I'm not sure how he would be able to identify his own ball if he played with Simpson etc.

Ray,
If I had a gun, I'm not sure which one I'd shoot first. I think I'm leaning toward hating religious people more. 9C is just a w@nker. Zach Johnson is the same but he believes in god which gives me double the reason to dislike him. Their hypocrisy and arrogance astounds me.
So, worse for Zach to win.

super_realist wrote:Ray,
If I had a gun, I'm not sure which one I'd shoot first. I think I'm leaning toward hating religious people more. 9C is just a w@nker. Zach Johnson is the same but he believes in god which gives me double the reason to dislike him. Their hypocrisy and arrogance astounds me.
So, worse for Zach to win.

Tiger Woods is wonderful. I love the guys smile, he really lights the whole place up. The way he goes about his business is a lesson to us all, concentration, dedication and a will to win. The fact that all these things get up your nose really does complete the set for me. I just couldn't like the guy more.

When have you ever seen him smile?

You know what Monty. He has got a good smile and it brightens up perception of him. Part of the problem is he doesn't display it enough on the course, surely he should enjoy it? Surely you can enjoy being brilliant (which even Super must concede he CAN be) without having to deaden it totally which he does seem to do (and I'm much more in the fan camp than the hate one).

But - appearing to be a nardy f*cker hasn't exactly failed him professionally though!

He was beaming like a simpleton on Sunday afternoon. Looked like they were having a good laugh.

Bet his bottom lip hit the floor when Jesus Johnson holed his chip.

He wasn't beaming like a simpleton, he is a simpleton.

Roller_Coaster wrote:You know what Monty. He has got a good smile and it brightens up perception of him. Part of the problem is he doesn't display it enough on the course, surely he should enjoy it? Surely you can enjoy being brilliant (which even Super must concede he CAN be) without having to deaden it totally which he does seem to do (and I'm much more in the fan camp than the hate one).

But - appearing to be a nardy f*cker hasn't exactly failed him professionally though!

Do you smile all day at work roller? especially if things aren't going your way? If you're not performing as you know you can?
I Frak hate work and rarely smile here, but they pay my wages so I have to scowl and bear it.

super_realist wrote:Bet his bottom lip hit the floor when Jesus Johnson holed his chip.

He wasn't beaming like a simpleton, he is a simpleton.

No to be fair he was smiling when Joaquin knocked it in.
Ahh if only he were, life would be a lot easier for him I'm sure.

You don't think he's a simpleton?

When he smiles, it's as sincere as an air hostess. His eyes are dead

That'll be the crack.

No, indeed, it's not a constant smile fest here either. Good things do happen at work and when they do, I smile. But I'm not saying it should be constant for Tiger or anyone (that would be freakish) my opinion is that it should just happen more. If my job was a game, I'd smile more. When I was crap, less so admittedly but a stroll around in the sunshine doing what you want to do and raking in a fortune would be more condusive to outward displays of happiness even on a bad day than appears to be the case with Tiger.

Not sure even if I was a billionaire I would be smiling if I was bald and had nine chins.

super_realist wrote:Not sure even if I was a billionaire I would be smiling if I was bald and had nine chins.

Given time I'm sure you'll have a couple of chins and be bald as a coot. You'll just have to do without the cash.

I do alright Monty, not a billionaire, but ok and I'm careful not to get 9 chins and have genes which aren't yielding to baldness.