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.

P.S.
- What does Stephen Gallacher and Tiger Woods have in common?
- Lip-out.
 

Pedro - Bingo. Ask Dustin Johnson or Luke Donald how much they like this course. That said, it does seem to repeat and repeat. Waste area, fall off green, waste area, fall off green.

I think the "one and done" just doesn't appeal to the touring pro who can always look forward to a guaranteed 36 and full field competition.

McLaren wrote:



Glad to see Poulter out, it may finally dispel the myth that he is any good at matchplay.

Yeah, apart from the best Ryder Cup record of anyone in the past 15 years, plus a win and two semi final losses here, and a win at the Euro matchplay too. I didn't fancy him this year, with a bit of a complacent buildup, but to say he can't play matchplay at all is just about the most absurd thing said on this site since the place opened.

Henrik Stenson liked the guarantee of $40K and 2 OWGR points that he showed up and hit one tee shot and conceded his match to Ben Crane.


==============

True of False:

Lee Westwood is going to make Paul McGinley's Ryder Cup team on merit and without a Captains Pick.

Luke Donald is going to make Paul McGinley's Ryder Cup team on merit and without a Captains Pick.

Looking more like FALSE on both Westy and Luke.

GPB,
On current form, neither Lee nor Luke would be on my team.
But there's a long way to go, for Luke especially.
Plus plenty of well-known Americans have had lamentable starts to their season but can't yet be written off as Ryder Cuppers.

On the plus side, it was good to see Garcia and McDowell snatch victory from defeat, and Peter Hanson is beginning to look like the player of two years ago after a season in and out of sick bay.


As for the course, the people most outspoken against it, or avoid it the most, have terrible records at Dove Mountain; but the consensus seems pretty damning.
Looks good on TV though.

Bob_the_Job wrote:I think Walker (on current form) will have too much for Grace. As for the rest, close calls.

super_realist wrote:mmm, not sure about that, Grace has shown consistently in the last three years that he is in superb form at this time of year, Walker has only done it this year.

Should be a good match though.

 

No one likes a boaster Bob.

Boasting? Me? I'm just having a laugh.

So who do you see winning between Walker and Fowler (setting aside your personal distaste for all things orange)?

Hopefully Walker. I detest Rickie Fowler and think he's one of the most over-rated players of the last decade, I think Walker is a far superior and nerveless player, I also haven't seen Walker professing to be a bible thumper or doing cringeworthy and stupid videos with the rest of the Muppet "golfboys", though he may well be one of those gullible god botherers, given that he's an American.

Pity for my man Luiten that he got Ryan Moore in the first round. Close match. I can see Mr. Moore win this one. Not a lot of big names left in the field

super_realist wrote:Hopefully Walker. I detest Rickie Fowler and think he's one of the most over-rated players of the last decade,  I think Walker is a far superior and nerveless  player, I also haven't seen Walker professing to be a bible thumper or doing cringeworthy and stupid videos with the rest of the Muppet "golfboys", though he may well be one of those gullible god botherers, given that he's an American.

I tend to not watch anything other than the actual golf so have less baggage. Fowler is sneaky long and I think it's too close to call for sure between them. I think Walker might just edge it on putting and current form.

I'd imagine one of the big things the players dont like about the course is there is eff all to do off the course. I'm sure there would be less complaints if the course was next to the beach.

Pleased that Sergio showed some staying power after coming back against Leishman then letting him off the hook on 18.

and it seems sad that no one is really shocked with Westwood and Donald. Rose's US Open win doesnt seem to be having the same affect of McDowell's win...

Come on, I don't buy that you watch sport dispassionately, there is usually something to like and dislike in most players.

themightyone wrote:Pity for my man Luiten that he got Ryan Moore in the first round. Close match. I can see Mr. Moore win this one. Not a lot of big names left in the field

Hard to see him getting past Kuchar?

super_realist wrote:Come on, I don't buy that you watch sport dispassionately, there is usually something to like and dislike in most players.

I''m very passionate about sport, and if I'd seen any of the god bothering and attempted anti-cool to be cool stuff you've talked about, it would make me dislike him (it's almost happening by osmosis now), but I haven't and I don't mind him. I don't like his hat if that helps?

My point was though.. setting aside dislikes, who do you SEE winning, not who do you WANT to win. I'd like GMac to win the whole thing, but I'm not even confident of him getting past Matsuyama (or McIlroy beating English either).

And I explained very clearly that I thought Walker the superior player and Fowler as the most over-rated player of the last decade.

IN terms of overall, I think practically anyone could win. For no particular reason I'm going to say Ernie as a matchplay specialist or Jonas Blixt as a sheer wildcard.
It's very open and I wouldn't put money on anyone

Yes any one can win. But some have better records here than others. Kuchar being an example.

themightyone wrote:Pity for my man Luiten that he got Ryan Moore in the first round. Close match. I can see Mr. Moore win this one. Not a lot of big names left in the field

What??

64 of the Top 67 in the World in the field. 23 of the top 32 seeds won in the first round.

Did Ryan Moore win the US am? Always a sign of a capable matchplayer. He's pretty steady right now and Kuch is a little in transition in terms of swing changes... but then again he clearly likes the place. 14 wins out of 17 ties or something ridiculous like that was quoted last night. Could be a tight match but not nearly as tasty as Day v Horschel! or McIlroy v English. Those are the games I'd follow. Maybe catching a little of how Bjorn deals with the boy wonder.

Speaking of Bjorn. He would be great to have in the Ryder Cup team (either as player or VC), but in fact his match play record (both in RC and WGC) is pretty lousy. (Although he did make the Volvo final once as far as I recall.) I think he'll have a hard time against Spieth.

Kuchar and Moore are both ex US-Am Champs; Moore won pretty much everything as an amateur.

Probably one of the most successful days yesterday, for favourites since this started. Day got much more interesting as it went on.

Bad day for England, Wales and Scotland but good McDo and Rory, and very good for Sweden, Blixt, Hanson and Stenson all winning.
And think Grace was the only SAFfer to fall from grace; wins for Coetzee, Els, Kings Charl et Louis, Sterne.

Wide open ... but that's what you typically get in 18 hole matchplay and with no big intimidator (although I suppose someone should be concerned about playing Walker, given his recent form).

Action today due to start in a couple of hours, Sergio on the tee!

Despite it now being such a ghastly site, pgatour.com's live scoring was working very promptly yesterday after a couple of false starts and despite being listed via "brackets". Should be more straightforward to read today with fewer matches.

Hmmm, pgatour.com crashes on my ipad1. And guess what, it also stalls on my new'ish laptop.... Is it the same guys who made the Obamacare website? I'm just as shocked over this as I am seeing Facebook pay $15B for a company with 50 employees. PGATour.com, whatsapp?

Facebook want phone data and it's the only way they can get it. Probably worth it to them.

But they're paying one serious roaming charge...

I like Whatsapp, but Facebook can ram it. Kiddies toy.

MontysMerkin wrote:Facebook want phone data and it's the only way they can get it. Probably worth it to them.

More likely they want to get their hands on all the sexting photos the kids send on WhatsApp

No sign of Jonas Blixt's usual female entourage - nowhere near so much of an attraction when his "gallery" is absent.

Bubba nearly hits his wife (with the golf ball!).
Imagine his patience is being tested to the max, waiting on just about every shot with the Dubuisson/Hanson game ahead, and 2 1/2 holes adrift of Fowler/Walker.
Where's John Paramor?

Disappointing result from Shotrock as Sergio surges in to the sweet sixteen.

He folds best on the bigger stage ... water balls on the final few holes, etc.

Hey Sergio, surprise me!

And, even with so few Brits left, even more to fall today Kwin??

kwinigolfer wrote:Bubba nearly hits his wife (with the golf ball!).
Imagine his patience is being tested to the max, waiting on just about every shot with the Dubuisson/Hanson game ahead, and 2 1/2 holes adrift of Fowler/Walker.
Where's John Paramor?

Might improve her hideous looks eh Kwini if he had? Ghastly wife of a repulsive moron.

Nah, s_r, not exactly a looker, but she seems a pretty good sport, follows Bubba pretty much everywhere.


Shotrock,
Our curlers are doing better than our golfers. We could be two-and-done by this evening.
Heading to CNY tomorrow, time for some good food!

Fowler, Horschel, Spieth all seem born to play matchplay tbh!

Your curlers are 100% funded by your uber-generous taxpayers and paid to curl and trot the globe year round.

The figure I hear is to the tune of $8.4 million/year. No such luck here for US-based curlers, all of whom hold down full time jobs and get paltry support from the USOC (who frankly do not care a whole lot for the sport). The TV ratings might change that: http://www.shermanreport.com/we-love-olympic-curling-ratings-are-huge/

So, you better get results! (I think Muirhead should have won the Gold and not Bronze, she had a bit of bad luck in the play-in game.)

Ha!
About time: You always say that US money talks, RotW walks!
Believe she's actually a scratch golfer so hopefully she's getting greens fees on the Gov't too.

Lots of knee tremblers out there that they're not showing just so's they can show Bubba. Whose match is, let's face it, not particularly interesting.

I think it's lottery funding not strictly government funding. Just seen that Muirhead could have gone the college golf route but went with curling. Plays off 2!

I had heard she's a terrific golfer ... lots of similarities between the two games in the composure department.

Not sure that even with unlimited funding the US teams would have done better. They were just awful. I knew the men would be bad, but the US women were much more competitive in the worlds last year (basically same competition). Time for a clean sweep in US curling (pun intended).

super_realist wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Bubba nearly hits his wife (with the golf ball!).
Imagine his patience is being tested to the max, waiting on just about every shot with the Dubuisson/Hanson game ahead, and 2 1/2 holes adrift of Fowler/Walker.
Where's John Paramor?

Might improve her hideous looks eh Kwini if he had? Ghastly wife of a repulsive moron.

I'd like to see Dubuisson french kiss her tomorrow though. Remember who didn't like the french?

pedro wrote:Speaking of Bjorn. He would be great to have in the Ryder Cup team (either as player or VC), but in fact his match play record (both in RC and WGC) is pretty lousy. (Although he did make the Volvo final once as far as I recall.) I think he'll have a hard time against Spieth.

European #1 being spiethed on... embarassing.

I would swap Spieth and Fowler for Phil and Tiger on my RC team any day.

Bruce Critchley called Jordan Spieth....Jonathon

Tim Barter just said to Bubba how does he feel like his game is coming along before his defence of the Masters...

SKY need to revamp their golf team imo!

Shocking broadcasting tbh!

Actually, the curlers are NOT 100% backed by taxpayers, they also require private sponsorship.

Looks like Jordan Speith is fast becoming the best American golfer, if he isn't already.

Spieth vs Kuchar will be a cracker - would fancy Kuchar's consistency, but Spieth impresses just about every week.

American TV bosses are going to be hating the Ryder Cup if the current trend of small time names succeeding on the PGA continues, few big names in the frame for America and  English, Kirk, Walker,  Bohn and Moore are hardly going to get the ratings going, even though he's guaranteed to haemorrhage points they'd kill to have 9C  in the team.

Early days, s_r, but there'll be some unfashionable names there for sure - Walker just about a dead cert.
Harris English looks a bit weird to me, as if he's going to grow up to be someone like the ole Southern judge-type character in My Cousin Vinnie (funniest film ever if you haven't seen it).

Herman Munster isn't it Kwini?

s_r,
Quite!
Just died, a year or so ago. But always seemed to be equal parts concrete and je ne sais quoi!
Europeans have really come up short today, Tricky Vicky just about the only one to exceed expectations. Sweden 3 up yesterday, 3 down today.
Fun watching the two Pennsylvania-staged US Open Champs playing head-to-head.

Graeme McDowell, Sergio and Tricky Vicky the only Europeans remaining; some matches were thrown away, some were just on the losing end of a hotly contested battle, and some losers just ran in to a buzz saw. Sh1t happens.
But if that same sh1t happens in Scotland this autumn we're in for a right stuffing.

On the bright side, some cracking matches set up for Friday - who in the World doesn't love match play? (Except GPB and some TV Network exec's who might nevertheless have some terrific weekend entertainment to show.)
9 x Americans
3 x South Africans
3 x Europeans
1 x Aussie

An accurate reflection of the balance of power in World Golf in Feb 2014? I'd say so, tho' perhaps there should be an Asian in there somewhere.

Fridays draw

Draw:

I predict wins for

English
Garcia
McDoo
Watson
Simpson
Coetzee
Kuch