PGA Tour: Greensboro - Prelude to Play-Offs: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).That's the Majors out the way then - Thanks for the memories Rory - and on to the season's epilogue. And perhaps this week's "Wyndham Championship" at Donald Ross's Sedgefield design in Greensboro, NC, is effectively the prologue to the epilogue.
"Greensboro" has been around since 1938 and is most closely associated with the great Sam Snead, who won here eight times, from 1938 to 1965.

2).Let's itemize some of the reasons why this week's tournament has ramifications, not at the highest echelons of the Tour, but to determine:
a).The top 125 players in FedEx points who will contest The Barclays, Round 1 of the FedEx Play-Offs and earn Tour membership for 2014/15.
b).The Top 125 golfers on the official money list. Anyone in this list (Mike Weir for instance, perhaps Paul Casey) but not in list a). retains Tour membership but is ineligible for The Barclays.
c).Places 126 - 200 in FedEx points who will qualify for the web.com finals (the wtf's) with the Top 75 on the web.com money list.

There are some other, more arcane, details to be determined but we'll deal with them if they come in to play as the tournament progresses.

3).One golfer, in self-confessed need of more tournament "reps", who won't be around is Tiger Woods who exited the Valhalla stage in pretty ignominious fashion. Woods is telling Ryder Cup Capt Watson that he'll be truthful about his fitness when Tom makes his "picks", but surely his form last week and absence from Greensboro makes it unfathomable that he'll make the Team.
Unless, of course, there's pressure from PGA President Bishop (unfortunate name, all things considered) to include Woods.

4).There's increasing speculation that Woods is about to dump swing-coach Sean Foley and may turn to original guru Butch Harmon. Not a happening thing according to Lord Butch. Interesting though.
One thing we do know is that all parties have apparently confirmed that Woods and Kuchar (not a healthy back between the two of them) will represent the US in the America's Cup in Buenos Aires, Oct 20th - 26th.

5).The FedEx Play-Offs will enter their eighth year at The Barclays and 35 Pros qualified for every one of the first seven series.
pgatour.com reminds us that five of those golfers enter play at Greensboro knowing that only a high finish will allow them to extend their streak: Brian Gay, JJ Henry, Merrick, Rollins and Charlie Wi.
Only Hunter Mahan has played all 28 FedEx PlayOff tournaments, while Mickelson and Stricker have competed in each Tour Championship finale.
All these streaks in grave jeopardy of being terminated in 2014!
Europeans who have reached the PlayOffs every year are Brian Davis, Luke Donald, Garcia, Jacobson, Poulter and Justin Rose.

6).The past couple of weeks has seen some stars of the game finally secure their place in The Barclays field, Stricker, Westwood, Watney & Oosthuizen for instance.
Others who might just be safe but could certainly make sure by finishing at least Top 60 at Greensboro include Romero, Morgan Hoffmann, Allenby and Toms while still more are in definite jeopardy:
Jhnonny Vegas, Casey, Lingmerth, Charlie Beljan, Byrd, Snakey Chalmers, O'Hair, Bud Cauley, Laird, Immelman, Castro (who reached the 2013 Tour Championship), Two-Gloves Gainey, Stanley, Wagner, Peter Hanson, Lovemark etc. Lots to play for!

7).There's an interesting European presence this week, including Cabrera-Bello, Gallacher, Harrington, FMolinari, Manassero and Karlsson, plus Richard Sterne making a surprising cameo. Olesen seems to have given up on his card and plays in Denmark.

8).Good news for Tim Finchem this week as he adds a new tournament to his schedule, the Barbasol Championship in Alabama which will be sweltered as an "opposite field" event to the Open Championship.
By my count that means two additional stops for the 2014/2015 season which, remember, starts in October. The first seven events are:
Frys.com
Las Vegas
McGladrey
CIMB (Malayasia)
WGC-HSBC Champions in China / Sanderson Farms in Mississippi (not played during 2013/2014 season)
Mayakoba, Mexico

9).I always look forward to "Greensboro", a challenging par-70 Sedgefield course and an event with so much on the line.
We've also had quality winners these past few years: Snedeker (2007), Moore (2009), Simpson (2011) and Reed last year all enjoyed their first win while Sergio scored his only Tour win of recent years here on a Monday morning two years ago.
Wouldn't be surprised to see an older golfer win this week with three South Africans flashing decent form, Clark, Els, Goosen and the US's Carolina/Georgia crew here in force. Snedeker, Haas and Simpson will want to impress Watson for sure.

10).The forecast for the week is fabulous with sunny skies, pleasantly warm temps and nothing outrageous in the forecast so far.
I'd bet we won't be finishing with a four-ball stampede up #18 after Sunday sunset, and there'll be common sense employed in setting tee-times, allowing adequate warm-up in event of suspension in play, and course conditions will be agreed as playable.
PGA President Bishop certainly reaped his rewards at Valhalla, however, as his decisions to fly in the face of the forecasts and squeeze 18 Championship holes in daylight/dusk earned the best viewing ratings since 2009 when millions tuned in to see Woods win at Hazeltine only to be disappointed when the Wanamaker Trophy was YEYangked from his grasp.
Many speculated at the time (2009) that this represented unexpected vulnerability for Tiger, but none of us knew what was to come, driving misadventures, addictions, surgeries, swing changes, etc, etc.
Greensboro may not represent the first PGA Tournament of the Rory Era but it certainly is the end of the 1996 - 2008 Tiger Era.

pedro,
It seemed after his WC win with Ken Dodd that he was on the threshold of a breakthrough; played well early in a Masters about then, but he and Dodd were ripped off in not getting any significant exemptions for their win, even tho' it was meant to be a WGC at the time.
Hope he keeps this form going.

Such a fine line between success and failure.
Allenby might have shot himself out of the PlayOffs with a double-bogey on the Par-5 (playing as a Par 41/2) 15th. He started the week at 122nd on the FedEx list, but is now projected to 127th.
~Perhaps he'll still scrape in.
~If not, will he proceed to the WTF's, perhaps he'll take his final career-money exemption, or just maybe he'll roll the dice and rely on his 126-150 conditional status that he'll get in to enough events to give him a shot at retrieving his card thataway?

I can't imagine Allenby not taking a top 50 exemption.  Conditional Status does not get you into a lot of events.

Lower scores this afternoon and some good careers diving in to limbo.
Karlsson
Duval
Byrd
Allenby
Immelman
Chalmers
Campbell
O'Hair
Matteson
Kyle Stanley
Hanson
Rollins
. . . . .and more certain to follow.

Dustin Johnson is obviously missing from the published field for The Barclays, but no sign either of two teammates from Medinah (quite apart from his partner Woods). No Dufner, and no Stricker in next week's field. Kuchar intending to play, Crane, Cabrera, Weekley also.

But wonder if there'll be any other defections?

Gorgeous weekend for Greensboro golf, warm, sunny, breeze insignificant, perfect for scoring - would think the day's par is down to about 68 from the course par-70 and there'll be low rounds for sure.

Anything to beat Ishikawa's 62 on Friday? Wouldn't be at all surprised.

Half a dozen Europeans with plenty to play for, especially Martin Laird and Paul Casey who'll want a Barclays tee-time.

Pettersson and Freddie Jac are well placed at T7, Brian Davis has overcome his summer swoon and Franny Molinari's busman's holiday could yet become lucrative, in cash of course, but also in Ryder Cup World Points - he needs to go from Fiat to Maserati though, some overtaking required.

Re: Molinari and his Ryder Cup Standing

34 pts to the Wyndham winner would put Frankie into the RC Top 9 ahead of Donaldson.

20.4 pts for solo 2nd would put Frankie ahead of Gallacher and third place puts him ahead of Poulter.

Its time for Frankie to show McGinley that he deserves to be on the team in this third tier PGATournament.  Only about 5 players ranked ahead of him the field.

Nice crowds in Denmark.  Its a shame that they haven't played in Denmark in over 10 years.

Eight under par after seven holes.
Kevin Sutherland, at the Dick's Sporting Goods Champions Tour event in New York.
Five birds and an eagle in his first six holes, then he cans a bunker shot for another bird on the Par-3 7th. As you do.
Playing a Par-5 now. You never know!

Birdie!
Nine under par after eight holes for Sutherland's Law.

GPB wrote:Nice crowds in Denmark.  Its a shame that they haven't played in Denmark in over 10 years.

Larger crowds than the three first ET Final Series events combined I reckon.

59 watch - ten holes played, ten under par for Sutherland at the Dick's!

Great that the Denmark event is so well supported, by the fans if not the non-Danish golfers.
Nothing against the Dredger, but would like to see Marc Warren back in the winners enclosure. RC outsider?

59 watch: Elevenses:
Eleven under after eleven holes.
Par 72; just one more Par-5 to go but, if I remember rightly, a driveable Par-4, perhaps the 15th or 16th.
Odds on, I reckon!

Molinari and Casey marking time in Greensboro.

Well this is a bit odd. Clearly he knew he was cheating at the time.

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/tringale-retroactively-dqs-himself-pga-champ/?cid=twitter-gc-a-tringale-retroactively-dqs-himself-pga-champ-081614

Why the delay?

How bizarre.

Sutherland turning spoil-sport now, with three straight pars - time running out, four holes to play.

Birdie at the 15th.
One bird required in final three holes.
Whaddya reckon?

59 watch is Go, Go, Go!

13 under par after 16 holes.

57 or 58 Watch!

Birdie at the Par-3 17th, Par-4 18th the final victim?

Will a 59 ever feel so bad? Unfortunate end.

59 it is for Kevin Sutherland!

Bogey at the 18th as he 3-putted from just short of the green after driving in to the trees, missed an 8-footer for par and 58.

Great to see the Pros out to cheer him on and congratulate him.
Very good stuff.

Solid round from Kevin.

Harrington misses the cut and loses his card, what now for Paddy?

incontinentia wrote:Harrington misses the cut and loses his card, what now for Paddy?

Harrington has a Top 50 All Time Money winner exemption in his back pocket.

Also in Harrington's back pocket is his passport - it might be time to use it.

Martin Laird watch . . . . . . . .

GPB wrote:

incontinentia wrote:Harrington misses the cut and loses his card, what now for Paddy?

Harrington has a Top 50 All Time Money winner exemption in his back pocket.

I read that he wasn't going to use it next year, but will rely on invites.

someone isn't much of a McIlroy fan. Guardian writer predicts Rory faces the pitfalls of fame and fortune. Who knew?

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/aug/16/rory-mcilroy-tiger-woods-fame


What actually caught my attention was that Rory and Tiger are doing a joint interview on Jimmy Fallon's show on Monday. Doubt there will be anything ground breaking but thought I will let people know should anyone wish to watch it. I might try and find it.

"rely on invites"?
Plus he'll have Past Champion status. If he's got some invites lined up, I think that's a good gamble but sure some would disagree. Same with Allenby who would have conditional status as well.

Meanwhile Laird & Freddie Jac seem to have hit the buffers. Need some birdies!

Surprised McIlroy is playing The Barclays and not taking a break before going to Boston.
Sounds like a slow day on the Observer sports desk. Parasite.

From the Irish Times: "...Harrington reportedly indicated after his round on Friday that he will hold on to the exemption for another time and rely on invites if he is to play in America next year."

Whatever Harrington does, he needs to play a darn sight better next season than this. A good start in the autumn tournaments would help a lot, but how many will he get in to? No point in waiting for 2015, he's got to get motoring immediately - might help him if he played the WTF's.

Why don't golfers just do what other sportsmen do and retire once they grade to be competitive?
Just because excemptions etc mean you can carry on playing it doesn't mean that you should.
I suppose if you play often enough for long enough, like say Duval, the odd port in a storm happens, but is it worth ploughing on producing the inevitable dross inbetween?

Trouble is Digs, there's a perverse incentive; on the one hand there's sufficient endorsements to finance the futility, and then there's the slice of the PGA Tour pension pie that gets bigger every time you make a cut.

The only thing I would say in favour of Harrington is that when he does play, over here at least, in my experience he's great with the fans.

I'm sure he is Kwini, always liked Paddy. It's just that being good with the fans isn't really sport is it, it's just entertainment.
You'd think he'd have plenty of cash for the pension not to be relevant apart from greed.
Why not spend some consistent time with his two boys and wife who he must not see for weeks on end?
Just seems a bit sad constantly seeking past glories which are ever less likely to cone along.

Fair enough, but golf needs some entertainers out there too - 156-man fields so not everyone is going to be competitive, unfortunately it's just the nature of the beast that some can't be eliminated in the qualifying rounds or preliminary heats.

Don't disagree with your premise, but the on-site fans love watching glimpses of past glories. Even if some are as competitive now as watching Yannick Noah vs Vilas.

I wonder how much Harrington did to curry favor with sponsors.  Did he go to pro-am parties, and "Meet and Greets", doing clinics etc.

A couple of years ago, Brad Faxon was getting a bunch of sponsors exemptions (and Missing the cut badly).  Part of the reason is that Faxon did a lot of stuff with sponsors when he was good player.

If Harrington was a "Pro's Pro" he should expect to receive his fair share of Sponsor's invites.

Paddy is 36th on the all time money list and just 3.4 Million ahead of 51st spot.  He will likely be down at least two more spots before the end of the season  (Rory is #38 and Watney is #39).

I figure he can only afford one more season like this one before he is out of the Top 50.  It is highly unlikely that he gets passed next year, Since many of the players between #37 and #50 are (nearly) retired players like Funk, Lehman, Ames, Estes, Price, and Mayfair.


Here is the all time money leader list.


http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.110.html

This may be a bit of a grim thought, but Eric Compton at 322 on the all time money list having earned $2,940,655 can't have a lot left after covering his medical bills.

Love the receptions for Thomas Bjorn, great crowds seemingly enjoying themselves to the max. Hope Marc Warren brings it home though.

Snappy 65 from Wes Roach in Greensboro, nice reminder that playing quickly (about 2 1/4 hrs?) can produce good golf.

Brooks is such a talent!

As a Harrington fan, I hope he plays in Europe for a while and tries to get some form going and start getting top 25's and gradually turn them into top 10's.

Putting terribly, not nearly as bad as Glover mind.....who seems to have the putting yips

Agreed sirb,
He won't  be going to the FedEx Play-Offs but will hopefully boost a few European tournaments in the meantime.

Fine win for Warren, time for his talent to shine; overdue really. but just a good result or two now away from the owgr Top Fifty.

Harrington needs to rediscover a comfort zone - he has played so well in patches the past few years yet his finger is never far away from self-destruct button..
PS: Was reminded of last year's Caveman Model of Glover watching Thomas Bjorn this week.

Impressive play from Warren to take home his third title.

Sellout crowds of 81,000 despite bad weather and in a fairly remote corner of the country/continent - and a mediocre field. Somewhat similar situation at the Irish Open with crowds of 100,000.

Now, golf is very popular in Denmark (and Ireland), but maybe the ET should look around their own backyard one more time and try to work with potential sponsors before blindly venturing overseas again and again.

Couldn't agree more pedro, but if I was Thomas Bjorn I'd be giving my European Tour colleagues a right b0ll0cking for not supporting this tournament. Shameful really but good for Marc Warren (and Chris Wood) for doing the right thing.

Nick Watney had the right attitude last night when he said he didn't expect to be still in the lead when he teed it up this morning.
Wonder if he expected it would be Camilo as his closest rival?

Should be a shoot-out.

If Martin Laird plays his way out of contention for a place in The Barclays field, it will be the par-3's wot done him in.
He bludgeoned the two on the back nine yesterday and has followed up by bogeying the 7th. Now well off the pace so needs to go about four under par for his final 11 holes.

Casey's place in next week's field looks increasingly secure whilst Franny Molinari will take home a nice cheque but no significant World Ryder Cup Points.

Camilo!!!!!!!
Wow, We watched him play the best part of a round and a half last time he teed it up . . . . . . and then he walked off the course, nothing good was going to happen if he'd've stayed. Off to Colombia for a week or two and, who'd've thunk it, a fourth Tour win. At last. Good for him.

Lots going on, but that big sucking sound you heard from Florida was Allenby drowning a six-pack of Fosters as Slocum missed his par putt on #18.
Survival for another year Robert. Lots of smoke and plenty of mirrors.

2 x 69's for the weekend was never going to be enough for Martin Laird, but Freddie Jac can take solace from his tournament-losing bogey at the last by hearing that CBS announcers voted his the best laugh and voice on Tour. Who knew?

Camilo, almost forgot about him. Too bad for Freddie Jac. Just missed the huge green on 18 and 3-putted for bogey.

The Tour heads to the North-East (unfamiliar territory for it these days) this week for the Barclays, Round 1 of FedEx Cup Play-Off action.

At last count the field was set at 122 Pros, all in line for a minimum bonus of $70K, one lucky fellow escaping with $10M+ in four weeks' time.

When the music finally stopped at Greensboro, Sang-Moon Bae (started the week at #126) had nicked the chair previously occupied by Nicholas Thompson (now #126), the only change in the Top 125. Heath Slocum's missed putt on #18 gave Robert Allenby a reprieve as he finished #125 and Slocum slid to #129 and WTF action.

The players below are eligible to play the WTF next month.  I wonder if any of the EuroTour players will take the chance.

Jason Allred
Thomas Bjorn
Matteo Manassero
Robert Karlsson 
Miguel Jimenez
Richard Sterne
Stephen Gallacher
Thongchai Jaidee 
Kiradech Aphibarnrat
George Coetzee 
Joost Luiten 
Branden Grace
Mikko Ilonen 
Max Homa 
Scott Hend 
John Mallinger 
Edoardo Molinari
Shane Lowry
Shiv Kapur 
Chris Wood 
Justin Thomas 
Patrick Rodgers
Marc Warren

Also be interesting to see whether Hanson & Olesen take their place . . . . .

Some of those you list will surely take their chance GPB. Hope they consult Hanson & Olesen (and Karlsson) to fully comprehend the pitfalls first.

It looks like there will be at least 190 with active players on the PGATour next year.

125 FE Top 125
4 Players in Money List Top #125 (Weir, Thompson, Beljan, Renner)
4 Players via Phantom FE List (Doobie, Koepka, Molinari, Donaldson)
7 Players with Residual Exemptions  (Woods, Gay, Austin, Clarke, Love, Laird, Points)
50 Players from the WTF Series


It does not include players who might use a Top 25 or Top 50 money list exemption or a players fulfilling the terms of a medical exemption.

And two more tournaments (both opposite field jobs) for them to play in.
Lots of media criticism at Finchem for not addressing the lack of opportunities for the WTF guys. Hopefully the Sandersons will get them an early start, if nothing else does.
Still a shame they can't find room for a Tucson event; poor show by the PGA Tour.