PGA Tour: WGC:MatchPlay (sort of): Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).First, let's talk about Justin Rose's latest win, and a fine win it was, not to mention a sponsor's dream for "Zurich" as they sponsor the New Orleans tournament and employ Rose as an "ambassador", among others. After a patchy, to say the least, start to his year, Rose has now won on Tour for the 6th consecutive year; no-one has a longer current streak. Time for another Major.

2).Rose also nudges into 3rd place in terms of most post-war wins by Europeans in the United States. Current list:
8 wins: Garcia, McIlroy
7: Rose
6: Ballesteros, Faldo, Olazabal
5: Donald, Lyle, Parnevik, Pettersson

3).Imagine it was a late-night arrival at SFO for those MatchPlay competitors who played all four rounds in New Orleans, especially for Rose who presumably had winner's obligations following his win. Others included Bradley, Day, Horschel, DJohnson, Leishman and Wiesberger. Wonder if Westwood and others commuting from the Far East beat them in?

4).Streaks ending:
~Stricker finally missed a cut after a run of 36 consecutive cuts made. Kuchar now leads with 22.
~Freddie Jacobson's run of consecutive holes on Tour without a 3-putt was finally snapped at 542, by some way the best in the ShotLink era.

5).There are reports that the PGA Of America have chosen Kiawah Island as the venue for the 2021 PGA Championship. The logistics of getting spectators in and out of Kiawah in 2012 was apparently horrendous (not so bad at the War on the Shore though), so that has to be sorted. Perhaps they'll be using drones by then?

6).Difficult to think of a drone and golf without automatically imagining the ghastly, ghostly apparition of Donald Trump, host of the 2022 PGA Championship in New Jersey. Trump is busy tweeting racially combustible headlines about the situation this week in Baltimore. Isn't it just about time the USGA, PGA Of America and PGA Tour, all of whom are in bed at various of Trump's venues, stood up to the egotistical blowhard and told him racist twitterage is unacceptable and take their tournaments away from him?

7).Hopefully they'll also kick Steve Elkington off the Champions Tour again for his twittering commentary on the Bruce Jenner revelations.

8).And so to the MatchPlay, sponsored for one year only by Cadillac. They'll be playing at Harding Park, San Francisco, the venue of many pro events including the:
*2005 WGC:American Express Championship where Woods beat birthday (49 today!) boy Daly in a play-off - arguably the beginning of the end of Daly as a competitive force.
Those in the field who qualified for this week's MatchPlay include:
T3: Garcia, Stenson
T6: McDowell
T11: Donald
T15: Furyk
T18: Schwartzel, Clark, Poulter
T29: Mickelson, Scott
Plus: Jimenez, Zach Johnson, Westwood, Jaidee

*2009 Presidents Cup where Zach Johnson, Mickelson, Furyk and Mahan played for the USA, Scott and Clark for The Internationals.

9).No doubt the International Golfing Federations (known by the acronym Finchem) had little choice on this week's date, but let's just say it's a shame that it will undoubtedly reduce the buzz for The Players, and have the collateral damage of reducing the quality of the New Orleans and Charlotte fields. No opposite field event this year either, so the better among the Tour's rank and file will have the week off, those journeymen qualifying for neither the MatchPlay nor Players will sit down for a fortnight.
Dell sponsors next year's action, in Austin, Texas, with a late March date.  

10).Monday's "random draw" for the MatchPlay was a made for TV affair, no-one other than Golf Channel personnel in evidence, and it looked almost as if it was pre-recorded then edited to make it look live. Whatever.
It's ironic that the capitalist PGA Tour felt the need to change from a straight knock-out competition to the more socialist round-robin foreplay that we'll be enduring Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Whatever.
The Golf Channel certainly nailed their colours to the self-interest mast in their "Monday Scramble":
"Our only hope is that we don't get Joost Luiten vs Tommy Fleetwood in the finals and have to go back to the drawing board."
Whatever. Sure they meant Gary Woodland & Harris English. Berks.

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Does anyone else think how they're showing the scoring online is crap?  Wouldn't it be better to see the first match out at the top or the bottom?  Seems unnecessarily complicated to me.

I agree. The PGA Tour has shown them how to make user-unfriendly websites.

Westwood the first European Ryder Cupper to grab a win after four losses. Nice win from Danny Willett though.
EDIT: That's wrong of course, isn't it Sergio. Thanks for the call.

That's it, Day One is Done.
As for the TV coverage, hardly saw any until the last ninety minutes, just two matches the last hour. But it had its reward as the miserable Kevin Na is shown the way to go home, eventually, by Joost Luiten.

It looks like they reverted to the Harding Park configuration that they used for the Presidents Cup rather than the Champions Tour routing. Maybe better for match play, but I love that 14th hole that the Seniors played as 18. Good looking course.

Spieth with the round of the day. How long can he keep this up?

Ben Martin with the shot of the day: Hole in one at #17 to beat Kuchar.

Tigers summer schedule

@TigerWoods wrote:See you at the US Open, Open Champ, Memorial, Greenbrier and my Foundation’s event, the Quicken Loans National. Going to be a busy summer.

Busy? It's only 6 events. He really is a pap.

super_realist wrote:Busy? It's only 6 events. He really is a pap.

Only 6 events if he doesn't get injured again.. or only 6 events so he doesn't get injured again.

(6 events is a veritable feast compared to what he's achieved of late)

Could be 12 rounds.

super_realist wrote:Could be 12 rounds.

Could be 6 rounds. Or 6 holes.

Did not catch much as well ... but I did see match play stalwart Ian Poulter lash his bag with his putter as he took it on the chin from Webbo.

I like this format a lot better than the one and done.

A well-written Joe Posnanski appreciation of Calvin Peete from golfchannel.com:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/joe-posnanski/peete-worked-achieve-miracle-career/?cid=rr_editorial_p4

In the decades since racial integration of the PGA Tour, it has become increasingly less likely that a story such as Peete's will ever be repeated.


Sr,
Apparently Stenson thought he'd got a half yesterday; not surprising he lost his second walk down #1 to Senden!

Worth watching the dregs of the coverage for me if only to see that miserable twerp Kevin Na get beaten.

Kwin - Stenson obviously not aware of American's inability to understand a "drew". Also enjoyed watching twitterer Ian go down.

what is a "drew"

That's what I'm trying to figure out ...

ScottieD18 wrote:I think the new format will make it harder for the top 16 to make the last 16. Previously a top 16 had to win twice. Now three round robin matches. If the seed wins all 3 games then that's 1 more win. If he loses one match then the guy that beats him only has to win 1 out of 2 other matches to go through because if 2 are tied the head to head result decides.

I'm assuming there are no half matches because it's not stated in the rules and USA don't understand a drew.

On the positive we get 3 games from each player.

We'll actually see some proper match play today with the consequences of a loss possibly meaning elimination.
Wonder how many eliminated players will stick around?
Nothing enthusiastic about Justin Rose's comment for instance: "Maybe I'd rather go home". Surely a sentiment shared by many.

Strengthening rumours that Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts (Boston), will be invited to stage the 2022 US Open.

Faldo lost in a play-off with Curtis Strange last time it was there. Then Tom Lehman led the trampling of Jose Maria Olazabal's putting line at the Ryder Cup, before Matt Fitzpatrick exacted some revenge by winning the US Amateur.

Does anyone know if prize money/FedEx points/OWGR points vary if you finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th in your group?

Ned,
They do!

Link here to the prizemoney/FedEx points - presumably the "position" affects owgr currency also:

http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/cadillac-match-play/money-points-distribution.html

Matty Fitz struggling to keep his card at the moment, and has a schedule lighter than that of woods so far this season. I guess it is tough to be away from home and your mothers bosom for 4 days (mostly 2 in his case) every month or so.

Fitzpatrick's played ten events so far this season Mac, albeit with a conspicuous lack of success. About three times more than Woods. And doing slightly better than Justin Rose at a similar stage in their career.

Kwini

You are correct, I just had a quick glance at his euro tour page and didn't realise you had to expand the box to see all the events he has played this year.

He might be doing a little better than rose did at a similar age but he has mastered the missed cut in the same way Rose did.

Furyk will be the first out of the stalls in half an hour, playing Thongchai.
A sunny day, highs in the high 70's by the time the last group goes out.

Confirmation that Austin CC in Austin, Texas, will be next year's MatchPlay venue, with Dell as the title sponsor.
I don't care for this year's date or format, but I DO like Harding Park; place looks a picture and gorgeous views.

kwinigolfer wrote:A well-written Joe Posnanski appreciation of Calvin Peete from golfchannel.com:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/joe-posnanski/peete-worked-achieve-miracle-career/?cid=rr_editorial_p4

In the decades since racial integration of the PGA Tour, it has become increasingly less likely that a story such as Peete's will ever be repeated....

Thanks for the link Kwini. Knew Peete was a lovely success story but didn't know much of the back story. Always seemed a really good guy as well.

Good lord, Furyk four down after four holes, just like Dubuisson yesterday.

Agree with Grumpy's comment yesterday about the WGC web-site leaderboard. Incredible to think they can't do any better than that.

Five down after six now Kwini.

They did "fix" something in comparison to the old method of scoring by making it clear who is winning but they really need to have the opening match at the top.  That way it's obvious where each match is on the course and it's clear who will be out in the later tee times.

There'll be some eliminations today, from Top 16 contention anyway:
Holmes or Henley
McDowell or English
Gallacher or Kuchar
Stenson or Todd
Day or Grace
Moore or Sullivan
Dubuisson or Jones
Levy or Na

Austin CC, chosen site for next year's MatchPlay, is a Pete Dye design. That'll be four Pete Dye courses in about a 7-week span of events. Monopoly!

kwinigolfer wrote:Austin CC, chosen site for next year's MatchPlay, is a Pete Dye design. That'll be four Pete Dye courses in about a 7-week span of events. Monopoly!

Is Dye Blatter's love child?

It looks like Coetzee will be the first golfer eliminated. Can Keegan Bradley be far behind?

EDIT that! Kaymer 3-putts, but Bradley's out of it.

What a mess from Kaymer.
And a mess in progress from Marc Warren. He needs to get Alf Ramsey to tell him, "Come on, you've won it once, go and win it again".
(Have to say I was more confident in Bobby Moore.)

Surprised at McDool being eliminated early; not a good year for him so far.
Looks like The Mechanic will also be going through the motions tomorrow.

kwinigolfer wrote:
Looks like The Mechanic will also be going through the motions tomorrow.

Heading for Napa I reckon.

!!!!

Very disappointing collapse by Marc Warren, so much talent when he puts it altogether. Like many others I suppose.

Dubie and, as it looks, Poultry going the same way. Weren't they supposed to be matchplay specialists?

And Adam Scott out of contention too - good for Casey though.

And Kaymer missing a 4-footer for the win and eventually goes down against Coetzee.

How does Bruce Critchley still have a job, makes mistake after mistake.


Just called Jordan Spieth.....Gordan lol! Absymal

Kaymer and Warren must be sick after those losses.

Spieth is playing sensational stuff again! His putting from the 12-30 feet range is just unreal

Dubuisson season has yet to start, he needs to start improving or he will go the way of say someone like Villegas. I know Camillo won last year but my point still stands!

The English guys came good at the end of the day with Fleetwood, Sullivan, Westwood and Willett (surely a Top Four player after his win?) all winning.

But no-one playing better than Spieth. Spieth vs Westwood, Rory vs Billy Horschel at the top of the bill Friday.

PS: SIX guys came to the 18th with a one-shot lead and ended up losing, Walker for the second day running.

Gallacher, Poulter, Lowry & McDowell all eliminated, plus Scott, Day, Walker, Stenson, and my "bracket".

kwinigolfer wrote: SIX guys came to the 18th with a one-shot lead and ended up losing, Walker for the second day running.

That's a pretty amazing stat. Some of them had bigger leads that got whittled down to 1 on the 18th tee which goes to show the value of momentum.

I'm enjoying watching this competition and like this course.

The course looks amazing.

Some old-fashioned match-play to look forward to today with Rory/Horschel, Spieth/Westwood, Simpson/Woodland, Bubba/Louis.

Fowler and Senden already through resulting in the sort of quote from Stenson that Finchem must love to hear. Talking about his meaningless match with Haas, Hedrick has this to say, talking about his appearance for a "glorified practice round":
"It's just a juiced-up practice round for me."

Agree about Harding Park, Bob - apart from anything else it looks pretty playable for the average hacker; wish they could find a way to use it for more tournaments.

PS: Anyone who hasn't seen it would do themselves a favour and watch Danny Willett's tee-shot on the short Par-4 (12th??), finished about four inches from the hole, Top Five visibly unimpressed. A win today and we could be witnessing Willett's coming out party. (But don't tell Mac.)

What's the Hedrick reference Kwini?

Looking forward to former world number 1 amateur against up and coming Former England amateur. Assume they know each other well.
And yes, Willett's tee shot was superb. I've hit a few like that, but always wake up just after they pitch!!

Stenson!!
Can't quite remember except that some moron journo started referring to him as Hedrick a couple of weeks ago, couldn't quite get his tongue round Henrik.

Amazing stat of the week so far: Hunner Mahan hasn't lost a single hole. Plays Kuchar today.

puligny,
Would say that "former world number 1 amateur" has been the most impressive of the Europeans so far; not quite sure Reed actually managed a proper handshake yesterday, a la Kevin Na the day before vs Joost.
That would aggravate me, if you don't want to congratulate your opponent, don't even make any pretence. Having said that, Reed provided the best piece of hand-eye coordination after losing another hole he flipped his ball up with his putter and with one swing launched it over mid-wicket!

kwinigolfer wrote:some moron journo started referring to him as Hedrick a couple of weeks ago

maybe the journo had a cold?

Didnt see any of this so far but apparently the Fowler/Lowry match was awesome, Fowler's putting won it for him.

Koepka and Reed in the field for Wentworth in 3 weeks, plus 15 other Top 50 golfers and about 20 more from the Top 100.

Wow, What is it with the retired members of the Tour's Black Caucus. Charlie Sifford took a header a couple of months ago, Calvin Peete followed him earlier this week and now Pete Brown's left us.
Brown was the first black golfer to win a PGA Tour event, beating Sir Tony Jacklin in a San Diego play-off.


On the bright side, weather in San Francisco this morning is definitely on the bright side, sunny with temps reaching the 70's.