PGA Tour: Jeux Sans Frontieres (et Tigre, Adam, Phil): Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Hanson plays with Dustin, Rory plays with Boo,
Jonas plays with Keegan, Beats him three and two,
Lukey plays Matteo, Sterne plays with Zach,
Poulter beats young Rickie, With eagles on the back.
 
2).Yes, It's a Knockout!
And if looks could kill they probably will.
For Tim Finchem at least, as his contracts with both venue and sponsor expire this year. The unpopular Dove Mountain course and Title Sponsor Accenture will both have to be replaced. No tears for Dove Mountain which has seemingly been rejected by players and fans alike, but perhaps Accenture can be persuaded to continue? If not, why would Volvo not want to step in and take this Championship around the World instead of its European event??
 
3).What a shame that the sponsor has been rejected by Woods, Scott and Mickelson, all playing next week at Honda; Civic duty? Or a Prelude to appearance fees??
Who knows, but this lack of Accord can't help their benefactors as high-end sponsors are right to expect most of golf's marquee names to patronise their events.
Alternatively, if a major reason for not making this a proper World event is that top Americans won't travel, well they're not travelling to Tucson so, frankly my dear, who gives a damn?
 
4).Let's hope a beneficiary in all this will be the old Tucson Open and their Conquistadors who managed a perfectly fine event on Tour, including three years as match play, from WWII to well into the Shock and Awe era. But that's all speculation and one imagines something rather more concrete will be forthcoming soon.
 
5).A fine win at the "Northern Trust Open" by Bubba Watson, with Dustin Johnson (and Princess Paulina) breathing heavily in his wake - As Greg Maddux so rightly said, "Chicks dig the long ball".
Only a few weeks ago Faldo and Bubba were joshing each other (good-naturedly?) in Phoenix about the respective merits of "How" and "How many", as sirnick was criticising Bubba's course management. Nothing to question about a bogeyless weekend of 64-64 however, with some excellent putting when it mattered most. Bubba says this is a year for "Rejoicing", but it could also be a year of redemption as his only sniff last year ended in an unseemly snit with caddie Ted Scott as "Hartford" was lost with one careless swing of the club.
 
6).Another grisly performance by the golfing Internationals with Americans monopolising the top eleven places.  
KJ Choi (playing well this year after a couple of seasons in the doldrums) finished 12th, Sang-Moon Bae 14th, Badds and Senden tied for 18th, and Westwood dawdled home in 20th.
Bae is the most recent Asian winner on Tour and Choi his immediate predecessor - the Tour is full of the eastern promise of young Asians but they haven't delivered so far.
 
7).It's been almost two years since Ernie Els became the last South African - I'm guessing it was Sabbatini at, yes, Honda before that. And Adam Scott is the only Aussie to win a Tour event since Leishman blitzed the Hartford field two years ago.
Having said which, this was a better week for the older Aussies with:
Badds (almost 33) scoring only his 6th Top 20 in 18 months.
Senden (42) with his 3rd Top 20 in a year.
Allenby (42) has been in a 2-year funk ever since throwing away the 2012 Mayakoba Classic (or since Jarrod Lyle's recurrence of leukaemia) with only 2 Top Tens since, both in Memphis. But even he has 3 x Top 30's this year now.
Appleby (42) has been in a funk, Greenbrier 59 and win excepted, since a wonderful 2008 season with only 6 Top 10 finishes in the past 5 1/2 years until a T9 at last month's "Humana".
Geoff Ogilvy (36) seems more in demand for his journalistic bon mots recently so it was good to see him with his second 29th place result of the year.
 
Australia only has Jason Day as a 20-something up-and-comer on Tour these days, a sure sign of the times, but perhaps he can do this week in MatchPlay what he's struggled to do in StrokePlay: WIN!
 
8).And the Europeans are doing no better, at least not since Stenson's tour de force of last season. Henrik looks to have been running on fumes so far this year but perhaps he can rediscover success in the Arizona desert?
One terrific high last year from Rose, minor wins from Blixt, Laird and McDowell, and it's been one long struggle for Europe's best. A few years ago the MatchPlay could be counted on for European dominance but last year's results were pretty dreadful and it's difficult to see where our next win is going to come from.
At least the ever-enigmatic Alex Cejka waved the European flag last week, albeit in Columbia's web.com event. Nevertheless, even Alex will find it difficult now not to earn his 2014/15 Tour Card, tho' he'll doubtless make hard work of it.
 
9).72 owgr points this week to the "WGC-Accenture MatchPlay" Champion, then.
Day has proved himself, in this tournament anyway; perhaps it's because of his good play, maybe because he can be a bit of a pr1ck and perhaps he and Swatton can get on their opponents' nerves? Or a combination of all three.
But he won't care although there's a potentially combustible Round 2 match-up with Billy Horschel.
 
10).Finally, what do people think of the new pgatour.com site with its huge fonts and tortuous navigation? Looks bloody awful to me; adverts bigger than ever and can only imagine their next improvement will be to publish it in braille.
 
On the bright side, the forecast for this week in Arizona is very much on the bright side, temps nudging 80F and apparently no snow in the offing. Hoping for a wonderful week.
In games without frontiers, war without tears.

super_realist wrote:So glad that Day saw off Fowler.

Day for a Major this year.

I actually like watching both Day and Fowler but can't help but think both of them are benefactors of style over substance. Don't see either of them anywhere near a Major yet

I fancy Day to take the Masters some... day. He's been in with a shout at the weekend a few times iirc.

He led the Masters with 4 holes to go last year so he's getting closer. I think if he wins this WGC he'll start to get more of that inner belief that the pros need to separate themselves from one another.

Not quite Victor's day... But seems to be Jason's.

Davie wrote:

super_realist wrote:So glad that Day saw off Fowler.

Day for a Major this year.

I actually like watching both Day and Fowler but can't help but think both of them are benefactors of style over substance. Don't see either of them anywhere near a Major yet

Really I would say Day is almost certainly ready and having come close on a few occasions it wouldn't be surprising if he won one this year!

I'd agree Benson, seems to be one of half a dozen players really ready to step up.

I know Day isn't a prodigious winner, but neither have a lot of players who have won majors lately.
Augusta especially seems to suit him.

Day VERY impressive ... I, too, look for a Major soon from him.

Spieth is another who is really impressing. Top 5 not far away from him. Stricker like consistency, but surely a major winner at some stage.

Day has the two key ingredients to win majors bottle and belief!

Yes, Spieth is another one destined to win a major or two imo!


Like it will be a hell of a career from here for Tiger to get to 19 majors.

I'm not so sure about Spieth at the moment. This is based upon seeing him yesterday against Ernie Els when he seemed a little out of sorts. His temperament seemed to get away from him but this could really be the first time he's felt a whole lot of pressure in a concentrated spell.

Great week from Rickie, finally heading the right way...hoping he can keep this up and get into the American team tbh!

sirbenson wrote:Great week from Rickie, finally heading the right way...hoping he can keep this up and get into the American team tbh!

I don't see Fowler as anything more than a poor man's Anthony Kim, all that hype, yet to live up to it really. I wouldn't be remotely surprised if he just disappeared in a season or two.

Spieth could probably do with a break, seems to be an ever-present on tour.

Anthony Kim now there has to be one of the biggest wastes of talent in Sport, never mind just golf. Will he ever return? Still has time to do his talent justice!

Wow, gutsy from Victor!!

Could have just played these matches over 1 hole today

Oops, big hit of adrenaline, or transposing yardage numbers?

Why do the children and wifes of golfers come onto the green for a cuddle when a player wins?

When was the last time your kid ran up to you at work when you met a deadline early or got a pat on the back from the boss?

To those of you who went early to bed: BAAAAD mistake.

Fantastic final 90 minutes, extraordinary.
Actually picked a winner - and best (tied!) outsider.
Pigs really will fly.

Shameful that the US TV Network shifted coverage to cable as the extra holes proceeded. Do you think they'd've done that if it was Woods vs Mickelson? Or even Fowler vs Spieth??
Just pathetic.

(Luke Donald's fault of course.)

Fantastic tournament.

That was some golf at the end.

And do I think the "US network" would have switched were it Fowler and Speith? Absolutely.

But if you want to see goblins in your peanut butter it's a free country!

McLaren wrote:Why do the children and wifes of golfers come onto the green for a cuddle when a player wins?

When was the last time your kid ran up to you at work when you met a deadline early or got a pat on the back from the boss?

I think the same when a player makes some sort of statement with a goal celebration. Frank Lampard being the worst offender.

Does anyone know what Andy Murray's point and look to the sky is about?

I imagine these guys must be doing the same when they open an envelope, tie their shoelaces, start their car etc.

kwinigolfer wrote:
Shameful that the US TV Network shifted coverage to cable as the extra holes proceeded. Do you think they'd've done that if it was Woods vs Mickelson? Or even Fowler vs Spieth??
Just pathetic.

They desperately wanted to end coverage several times. It was so pathetic to watch the credits and "tonight on CBS" over and over again. PS: "60 minutes" is actually only 40 - so don't stress.

American sports "coverage" is the worst in the world.
Just dreadful.

Sky probably give him a gratuity for doing that. There's all sorts of sneaky advertising ploys in professional sport and entertainment.

Dubuisson is very dull, isin't he?

I mean, come on, 2 of the flukiest shots ive ever seen at such a crucial stage and not even a smile or acknowledgement to his opponent.

Maybe he's just shy...........

He's French, John.

I like the interviews he did on Sky after each round. Very honest and likeable guy.

So impressed by Victor Dubuisson, those 2 up and downs were the best ive ever seen!

I would say he is very likeable. Remember English isn't his first language and he is only 23 years old. I thought he handled himself brilliantly!

One to watch for the Masters in my opinion!

McLaren wrote:Does anyone know what Andy Murray's point and look to the sky is about?

Probably way off the mark but I think it could be to do with Dunblane and what happened all those years ago!

Great end to the tournament!

Apart from hitting at least one fluke out of the rubbish, what did the Dub achieve in the play off? It seemed like he missed every green and had no control over his game.

And, does anyone actually believe the story that he left school aged ten to concentrate on golf?

McLaren wrote:
And, does anyone actually believe the story that he left school aged ten to concentrate on golf?

Eh?

I've been keeping half an eye on his career since he turned pro and haven't come across this before.

It was mentioned by Faldo (or someone else on the commentary), and also in a Geoff Shackleford piece;


http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2014/2/24/enigma-wrapped-in-a-mystery-victors-very-shy-very-sensitive.html

Sounds like his team or him taking the urine, but you never know, some people might believe it.

Mac,
You find a cloud to go with every silver lining.
How can you not have loved the shots that VDub made during the last seven holes? At least three certifiable miracles, but you gotta try 'em to pull 'em off.

Wonderful week for him.

Kwini

His short game is amazing, of that I have no doubt.

But he just walked up to the second ball in cactus situation, resigned himself to the fact the match was over and hit it without any thought. It was seriously lucky to end up within 10 feet.

His best shot was the bunker shot on the 18th in regulation play, as that showed planning, intent and skill. I have no doubt he could repeat that shot, but not the swishes in the dessert vegetation. If that even matters? It turned out to be a great end to an unloved event.

I loved watching the play off, but I am not ready to get all weak at the knees over Dub just yet, given how poor his short and mid irons were in the play off.

I have to say the play also revealed the weakness of the course, just to balance up what I said about it earlier in the week. The players were not hitting long irons/hybrids from the tee because of some clever strategy that the course presented, but because the fairways just ran out. Although I still think some wilder greens, like we saw this week, are no bad thing on the PGA tour. Why shouldn't the players be challenged at the green?

Speaking of courses, what is the low down on where this event is going next year and who is going to sponsor it?

The Harding Park buzz seems to have died down and last week's chat was that it might actually become a world event again.
No word that I've heard on sponsorship but I'll repeat last week's report that the Tour PAC are lobbying hard for a 36-hole stroke play, with a cut to 16 or 32 for match play.
Lots of rumour but no substance as far as one can see.

Would they players really want to play a schedule that would go something like;

Wed 18 holes strokeplay
Thur 18 holes strokeplay
fri Round of 32
sat Round of 16, quarters
sun semis, final

Or some other such schedule with multiple days of 36 holes.

McLaren wrote:Would they players really want to play a schedule that would go something like;

Wed 18 holes strokeplay
Thur 18 holes strokeplay
fri Round of 32
sat Round of 16, quarters
sun semis, final

Or some other such schedule with multiple days of 36 holes.

Well, that's basically what they do for the current matchplay. That started on Wednesday too. Hardly a hardship for them

If they had 36 holes of strokeplay those reaching the final would have to play 7 rounds, compared to 6 at the moment.

I agree, not exactly a hardship for normal people but pro golfers are a sensitive bunch.

Only 2 would have to play 7 rounds, More than 80% would play less than 4.
It's like soft footballers complaining about "having" to play 3 times a week. Pathetic.

On reflection, I am not really sure what my point was. The reason for changing the format would be to provide more days with more golfers playing. So of course they need to play more.

Mac,
Surely the REAL reason for changing the format would be to increase the likelihood of media/fan favourites to survive later in the tournament? More chance of so-called cream rising to the top in stroke-play.
But if the top players won't play anyway I don't see the point of making a change.

Justin Rose has withdrawn from the "Honda" to rest that sore shoulder of his.
Anxious to save himself for his guaranteed Cadillac pay-day and understandably so. Unfortunately.

Elkington is such a fool, what a bigot.

I just saw that benson,
Not funny, not appropriate and not worth repeating.
If robo is reading, the counsel for Elkington's defence needs to be working overtime.
Hopefully the Tour will feel his collar.

What's he done this time?

He tweeted inappropriate nonsense disparaging an American College Football player who announced, to headlines thru'out the land, that he is gay.
Elkington only seems capable of nastiness, never any wit.

Agree people that shouldn't be given the oxygen of publicity but on a place like this that is hardly a major media outlet, it might be interesting for us to know exactly how much of a d1ck he's been this time? What did he say?