PGA Tour: The Top 30. OK, 29: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).That's right, 29 golfers assembling in Atlanta for their Tour Championship. Number 30 would be Dustin Johnson and wonder what would have happened if he had registered for the event instead of just sitting at home with Paulina on his lap and $175K being transferred to his bank account?

2).Of course, that's not going to happen and the remaining 29 will get their balls in the air at East Lake on Thursday, knowing that the very worst they can do is to finish the season 29th in the tournament, 29th in FedEx bonus money and $309,600.00 in the financial vehicles of their choice. Plus they'll have earned tickets to Augusta National, Chambers Bay and St.Andrews in 2015.

3).Not bad, but there is still bleating among Tour players about the FedEx format and, especially, the genius of requiring the most of the Tour's best to play four events in four weeks, six tournaments in seven and, for some who also played Royal Montreal in July, eight in nine. Can't imagine Jim Furyk, for instance, looking too refreshed by the time he rocks up on Gleneagles' first tee.
Hunter Mahan is one who's been on the road for the better part of the past two months as he extends his streak of 32 FedEx Play-Off events and counting.
There will be change next year as the 2015 Tour takes a one week break between the Boston area's Deutsche Bank and Chicago's BMW. Phew.
No word yet on what the Tour's calendar for 2016 will look like, what with the Olympics thrown in to the mix as well, golf course completion permitting.

4).Fifteen months ago Billy Horschel was in the final round shake-up at Merion - he looked the part with his octopus-design strides and a swashbuckling approach befitting the form player of the previous three months. Unfortunately he closed with a 74, slipped to 4th place and failed to earn another full-field top ten result for a year.
Fast-forward to Boston and last Monday's Deutsche Bank denouement and he mis-hit the approach to his 72nd hole knowing that a birdie would have secured him a first-place tie with Chris Kirk.
Instead his reward was a bucketful of media criticism and Horschel flew to Denver determined to "stick it" to his critics. Job done, and how Tom Watson must be wishing he could have a "raincheck" on one of his Captain's Choices for Ryder Cup action, if only to have a player who could go toe-to-toe with Ian Poulter in the "in your face" stakes.
Horschel may be a brash and sometimes brattish golfer, but he's a helluva player.

5).Five Europeans departed the FedEx Play-Offs, flying home from Cherry Hills instead of heading to East Lake, but Russell Knox at least took with him a share of the Cherry Hills course record, 62, not that anyone following the action on NBC would have known about that. Great season for the independent Scot.
Stenson, McDowell, Pettersson and Jacobson also dropped out.
And that leaves McIlroy, Garcia, Kaymer and Rose to contest the Tour Championship with 25 of their best friends.

6).The Tour is quite Georgia-centric these days with three tournaments (New York State for instance has none) and many of this week's competitors have strong connections with the State.
~Either they went to University there: Kirk, Watson, Kuchar, Reed, Tringale, Henley and Todd.
~Or won or runnered up at East Lake: Furyk, Haas, Scott, Johnson, Garcia, Mahan, Rose and Spieth.  

7).Elsewhere in FedEx news, Pete Dye's Crooked Stick in the Indianapolis area, has been announced as the venue for the 2016 BMW Championship; they return to Chicago's Conway Farms next year. I like the fact they move this tournament around, hate the fact the Tour won't make an annual stop in Chicago.

8).We're halfway through the web.com Tour Final (WTF) Series with Bud Cauley and Canada's Adam Hadwin winning the first two tournaments.
Fifty golfers will receive PGA Tour cards for 2014/2015, including 25 who are already assured a card based upon their web.com earnings this season.
Fluctuating fortunes for some well known golfers of years gone by:
~web.com qualifiers: Hadwin, Cejka, and Tour winners Jason Gore & Bill Lunde.
~Already earned enough to be assured of cards: Cauley, Greg Owen, John Peterson, Lingmerth.
~Good start but more good finishes required: Greg Chalmers, Robbie Castro (played in last year's East Lake Tour Championship), Spencer Levin.
~Struggling: Chad Campbell, boy wonder Lovemark, YE Yang, Immelman, Johnson Wagner, Kyle Stanley, O'Hair, JJ Henry, Two Gloves Gainey, Byrd, Richard Sterne, Branden Grace, Steve Marino, among others.

Europeans struggling are Richard S.Johnson, Norlander, Cappelen . . . . and Gary Christian making his last whimpering hurrah before heading for the broadcast booth.

9).Just to underscore the time of year - yes, our North Country leaves are turning and the Canadian geese are flocking south in their perfect formations - the "pre-qualifying" rounds of Q-School have begun, with First Qualifying Stage action to commence on Tuesday, October 7th. No idea yet how many, if any, European Tour members will enter.  

10).Back to the "Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola".
Of course, this is about two things, the tournament and accompanying winnings, AND the FedEx bonus, $10M to the winner of the FedEx Cup, but incremental sums earned by all 29 competitors with $180K going to the final FedEx placing, $500K for instance to 10th place.  
Despite all the media (and player?) misgivings about the structure of this FedEx sponsorship and structure, there's no doubt it provides excellent year-end tournaments, although the best ones are perversely often the first couple.
East Lake is a reclaimed Donald Ross classic, but without exciting risk/reward holes to climax the event which can make this finale seem a war of attrition. Broadcasters turn inept somersaults as they try to figure out the ramifications of every shot, so deflecting from the tournament itself.
If one of the top five FedEx points getters win, the $10Mill is theirs so Messrs Kirk, Horschel, Watson, McIlroy and Mahan know exactly what they have to do, they control their own destiny. The other 24 golfers will hope they win and the top five all stumble.

Nice write up Kwin.

Bonus money is not cash. It goes into their retirement account.  Except the $10 Million dollar winner.

Dustin Johnson qualifying for the TC tells me the that the Regular Season does indeed mean something.  Rory would be #9 in the standings if he sat out the first three events.  Jimmy would be #10.

Ridgewood CC is 10 miles from the Hudson River and 15 miles from Midtown Mahattan.  Its not like New York and NYC is got snubbed for a golf event this year.

Chicago not having a golf event is troublesome, but there are only so many weeks per year.  The John Deere is NOT that far away.  A reasonable drive of 3 hours from Downtown Chicago.  Two hours from the western suburbs.

GPB,
Don't the players have any sort of control over their "retirement account"? Would find that incredible in this age of employee-directed 401K's and 403B's.

PS: It's only ten years ago that the Tour annually visited Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee and CNY as well as the Quad Cities. Only the QC and bi-annual trip to Chicago remain.

Still doubt apparently as to whether Jason Day will be good to go on Thursday.
Back problems which caused him to get out of the Beemer persist.

I have control over my 401(k) account.  But I do not have control of my pension account.  My pension is determine by a pre determined formula based on years and pay rate.

Tournaments lose sponsorship.  Its Finchem's and the tour responsibility to replace them.

The fact is the PGATour is FULL and they really are not looking to add tournaments. 

The only tournaments that doesn't have a presenting sponsor is the Match Play (Why isn't 'Chubby' O'Grady stepping up?).

Several years ago, IIRC, there were 6 or 7 tournaments in Spain. Now the ET has one in Spain.

If there was a sponsor in the Iron Belt ready to pony up 6-7 Million dollars there would a be tournament in that region.  Heck I live in Missouri and I got to go to Memphis for the nearest PGATournament.

Kwini, I think you have a little bit of Chicken Little disease.  Finding a problem that isn't there.  I know you don't like Finchem and you want to make mountains out of molehills.

As long as there is 45-47 tournaments on the PGATournament schedule, there are no problems.  Just because they are not in places where you want them to be, it does not mean there is a problem.

The Pacific NW (Oregon/Washington) is probably the place where there should be PGATour exposure.  The PGATour has not had a tournament there for YEARS and YEARS.  Vancouver yes, but not Seattle or Portland.

It's incredible that the TC is played at such a dull course as East Lake. They should shift it around, like a real Major (ie. not The Masters). But I guess it has to do with that fizzy drink.

Lots of Propaganda to exploit by playing East Lake.

I played East Lake back in the early 1980's and the area was like a killing zone.  

The transformation of the East Lake neighborhood is a success story.

Before I was born, my parents lived a couple miles from East Lake  (early 1950's).  Poverty and Crime starting taking over in the 1960's and 1970's.

GPB!
No Chicken Little here, just hate to see the PGA Tour mirroring the rest of your country; the occasional sop to the North-East and Mid-West who subsidise so much of the South and South-West, and the rest to the parasitical, economically polarised Red States, California in all cases exempt from apbrobrium!

Agree about East Lake and the fact it's a catalyst for such transformation, but it doesn't make it an appealing venue for such a climactic event.

Seems Finchem is pretty unequivocal about "not playing four (Play Off) tournaments in a row in the foreseeable future and that's that."!!

It's going to be an iffy week in Atlanta, weatherwisae.
Mostly warm and dry Thursday, but good chance of storms the rest of the way.

Still no word on Jason Day.

Good write up as always Kwini.

But can you really call Pettersen and Jacobsen Europeans any more? Pettersen especially must be an American citizen now? He certainly has an American waistline and neck.

Ha!
Cheers ray, Pettersson is indeed an American citizen, don't know about Freddie. Am more interested in Freddie really as he had a (short) successful European Tour career, whereas Pettersson didn't really try.
But longevity doesn't a citizen make. I've been here longer than the Redneck Swede and have no interest in becoming a citizen - imagine there are plenty like that.

Hey kwin, out of interest, isn't there practical advantages (also for you) in becoming US citizen? (Not only the airport immigration nightmare..)

Advantages for US citizenship?
Don't think so, unless I wanted to live outside the country. My wife is American and a bit younger than me so going back to England probably ain't gonna happen, my children have dual citizenship and EU passports, and my green card gets me in the US channel at immigration.
Only advantage really is voting (and I'm quite involved in local politics as a hand-grenade chucker) and jobs which require citizenship - and there is a higher %age of them than one might think!

Came thru the Border a couple of weeks ago and the INS guy saw I'd been here since the mid-70's and wanted to know why I hadn't become a citizen - I didn't have the heart to tell him!

Finchem's job description does not include any geographic "fair representation" for tournament locations that I'm aware of. Interesting to comment on that, but if he's able to (1) attract long-term high paying sponsors (2) negotiate and contract the most lucrative TV deal (where the fast majority of viewers are v the "gate") and (3) attract the retain the best golfers, then he's done his job. Plain and simple (ok, not so simple).

So far, I'll suggest he's done very good against the opportunity and exceptional against the competition (European Tour, Asian Tour - we are getting "their" best players for the most part). Still, no time to stand on past glory; examples abound - throughout the UK and even US -- on how dangerous that is.

"He done good".

I'd say better than good, even very well, superbly! I think he's a genius. And he'll always be seen to be doing superbly so long as his "bosses", the players, are minting money.

But I wonder if it's healthy for the game to ignore large swaths of the population - he bent over backwards to keep events in HHI, Tampa, NOLA, Greensboro, even Memphis. So why not Detroit and/or Chicago?
Philly has the DC close by (for the time being at least) so care less about that market - but would just think he'd be keen to expand his base. Instead, he's following the Bush/Rove mantra of pandering to his immediate base, and sometimes jumping in to bed with some pretty shady characters, instead of going for large, underserved markets.

Just trying to make a constructive case for broadening the spectator opportunities - "huge crowds" at most tournaments, but relatively sparse at some others. Never in Chicago though.

Fair points Kwin. Long term impact, who knows? (My point of view is that this will ALL morph into a World Tour eventually.)

Obviously, same could be said for the Open Championship basically ignoring so many fine inland courses (and markets) in England, Scotland, Nothern Ireland and Wales.

Maybe next week Scotland won't be an issue!

World Tour? 

Where's the money coming from?  

Why would a player such as Matt Kuchar fly 12 hours each way to play tournaments in London, Istanbul, Dubai, South Africa, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Melbourne, etc when he can play 20  tournaments within a two hour flight in a puddle jumper?

The World Tour sure worked for Tennis.    Now Tennis is relevant for 4 tournaments per year.

And Tennis players tend to be younger than golfers.  Before marriage and kids.

GPB - I don't think there will be any specific organization that will run the tour ... but I have a hunch the top golfers in the world will ply their trade where they get the most money.

The European Tour's failed attempt at anything close to a world tour is not indicative of how it could run. They have shown very little acumen - small crowds, small purses, top players eager to leave, etc. Typical of the "past glory" attitude I alluded to earlier. More amusing are the armchair critics who say it "should" work; but can't get off their wallet and wonder why the golfers go bye-bye.

BUT all the money does not reside in these United States and someone will crack the code to keep the best golfers in Europe, for example, just prior or after the British Open. I can see them starting to cherry-pick away at the beginning of the year as well.

Just a guess on my part -- the US Tour may well be at its zenith.

Hopefully Tours can be complementary, not adversarial.

Disagree about Tennis. It may lose its lustre in the United States, especially the men's game without any top Americans, but it's much stronger than golf in Europe, has a strong niche in Latin America, plus the Middle East events and enjoys growing strength in China and Japan. All coexisting peacefully apparently.
I try to get to the Montreal Masters every year and that's a fabulous event, men's invariably sold out. I'm sure Toronto and Cincinnati have similar support - great tournaments.

Jason Day says he's a certain starter at East Lake.
That's a nice round figure then, 29.

Shotrock wrote:
So far, I'll suggest he's done very good against the opportunity and exceptional against the competition (European Tour, Asian Tour - we are getting "their" best players for the most part). Still, no time to stand on past glory; examples abound - throughout the UK and even US -- on how dangerous that is.

The "competition" is not the European Tour, it's other sports or tv events shown on the networks.

Not entirely true Ray -- you don't even get a chance "at bat" against other sports that day unless you attract and retain the top players. Rory, Justin, etc. are just that - "Euros" who graduated (and in the case of Rory now dominate) the big tour.

Ratings would tank if we only had the same players the ET attracts each week . And sponsors would be none too happy!

What happened to send Zanotti to hospital? Is he OK??

Got hit on the head by a golf ball. He was on the 16th fairway and was struck by a tee shot from the 14th. Play has been suspended.

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014072/news/newsid=235258.html

kwinigolfer wrote:What happened to send Zanotti to hospital? Is he OK??

He was playing the 16th and was hit on the head by a ball from the 14th tee. No idea how close they are etc but was knocked unconscious but is apparently ok at hospital.

Looks like play has resumed now

Thanks Grumps, Sand,
Saw those news snippets but couldn't find out much about his condition, let alone how it happened, especially as I didn't think Woods was playing.
It looked as if he was "retired" shortly after it happened, which made it all sound a bit sinister.
I see Ricky Gonzalez and Felipe Aguilar are also "retired". Are they out in sympathy for their mate, or were they personally involved?

Not anywhere near such gorgeous weather here as 13 yrs ago Grumps . . . . . . . .

The hole in one prize for the KLM open is a trip to space!!

Looks like Aguilar & Gonzalez w/d'd to travel in Fabrizio's ambulance.


inco:
I was thinking of starting a thread:
Who would you like to win the trip to space?
I'll go for Donald Trump.

Don't think it's a one way trip kwinny!

Wasn't over here at that time Kwini. We landed in 2005.

I initially thought that they retired in sympathy or were affected but they weren't in either group involved. Zanotti was with Koepka and Otto, it looks like finishing the 16th was a bright spot for Otto. Kaleka, who hit the fateful tee shot was playing with Kingston and Bland.

Zanotti has been discharged from hospital and has since been on social media to say he's alright and will take few weeks off to recuperate.

Grumps,
They retired to travel w/Fabrizio in the ambulance . . . . .
Great that he's OK; hope it doesn't unduly disrupt his year - it's been something of a breakthrough for him.

One report said that blood was pouring out of his head -- pretty nasty. Fabrizio was not travelling with any family so his two close tour buddies went with him. Otto apparently took care of him until medic arrived.

Latest update:

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014072/news/newsid=235273.html

Seems he's OK but probably has concussion. I wonder if Kaleka shouted "Fore" or if he just held out his arm as so many pros tend to do. Not sure Zanotti would have been looking in his direction when he was concentrating on his own game. Time for the ET and PGAT to insist on players shouting when they hit an errant tee shot.

One of my pet hates that LP, what happened to shouting fore, how arrogant are pro's that they think everyone on the course is watching them or the flight of their ball.

Ouch, a freak accident!  Hope Zanotti is OK.  I have been hit in the shoulder by a golf ball before.  It hurts

I was looking at the Prez Cup standings a few days ago and I was surprised Zanotti has a realistic chance to make the team next year.  He is 22nd in the standings and just ~45 points from being in the top 10.

Doesn't look like it did Otto any good. He suffered through 3's, 4's, 5's, a 6, a 7 and an 8. No 2's. Bit like my scorecard, without the blood.

Joost Luiten and "Dutch Master" certain to be morning headlines.

Just looked at the 14th / 16th on google maps. Looks like a fairly open linksy type part of the course. Must have been a hell of a hook to find the 16th fairway, and a disgrace if Kaleka didn't shout fore.

I know only too well the danger of being hit by a golf ball. LordPutt, when he was working as a greenkeeper, was struck on the elbow by a wayward tee shot when he was cutting the fairway. The machine was governed (restricted speed) so he was unable to get out of the way. The ball broke the elbow joint and he had to have surgery. It is now pinned with rods and a metal cage. His work were very off-hand about it all and so he sued them - and won!

I'd upload a photo but it might put you off your next meal

kwinigolfer wrote:...Saw those news snippets but couldn't find out much about his condition, let alone how it happened, especially as I didn't think Woods was playing.
It looked as if he was "retired" shortly after it happened, which made it all sound a bit sinister....

No fireworks yet at East Lake, with -2 leading after two hours' play.
But a damp squib from Martin Kaymer who slumps to +4 after only 7 holes.
Hotlanta living up to its name - some rain in each day's forecast for the rest of the way as temps should slowly moderate.

Tee-Times in Atlanta tomorrow will be brought forward three hours due to a rainy forecast for Friday afternoon.

In the WTF Series in Ohio, Trevor Immelman failed to come under starter's orders and has just 72 holes remaining to retrieve his Tour card.
He'll have "Past Champion" status for 2014/2015 but that won't do him much good. Such an elegant golfer to watch, but where will he take that style next year?

A poignant 9/11 tale from Jason Sobel:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/jason-sobel/you-never-forget/

Geoff Ogilvy will be on the first East Lake tee in half an hour to launch Round 2 of the Tour Championship - not sure how the GB TV schedule will work out, Live here at 10.00 a.m.

Thomas Bjorn has been in terrible form since the Made in Denmark tournament. He barely made last week's cut on a Crans course he's had so much success on, and this week he's playing like one (OK, all) of Captain Watson's "picks". Take a break Thomas.

Speaking of Geoff, I guess he wasn't kidding when he claimed he wasn't all that excited to play this weekend!

One of the more interesting and thoughtful guys on the tour.

Watch Rory start to steamroll.

Lots of "interesting and thoughtful" antipodeans; can't help but agree with Frank Nobilo's suggestion yesterday that East Lake would be a more attractive tournament course if they flipped the nines and finished with a Par-5 instead of an often anti-climactic Par-3.
It would also make the excellent Par-3 6th hole the 15th, make it far more pivotal as the tournament crescendos.

Aussies bringing up the rear early Friday as Senden joins Ogilvy in the leaderboard's caboose.

Positive signs for Gleneagles with Justin Rose shaking off some so-so rounds, in with a 66.
Perhaps we'll see Rose assume a leadership role in two weeks; wouldn't be surprised if McGinley will need someone new to step up and Justin's coming in to some promising form, justin time.

East Lake is a grind, isn't it? Reminds me of Firestone in that most of the holes don't seem to have any individual characteristics, tho' there are three or four notable exceptions.

The way things are going Rory has to win this to make his two Majors count for anything in FedEx terms, deja vu all over again from 2012.

Playing w/Horschel tomorrow, hope they're nice to each other. Two of six qualifiers for the Tour Championship who are survivors from the RCD Walker Cup in 2007.

Happy to see Patrick Reed slide down the leader board today -- I just can't warm to him at all.