PGA Tour: "A Spaniard In The Works": Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).kwini and son made our annual pilgrimage to Friday's play at the Travelers Championship last week and, quite by chance, witnessed a traumatic collapse by a popular (in Europe anyway) player who has staked the peaks years of his golfing life on succeeding in the US but is now in grave danger of losing his card and jeopardising any "status" on Tour. Enter Gonzalo Fernandez Castano, Gonzo, and a plummet down the leaderboard which was as hard to watch as it was to comprehend, but very much "in his own write".

2).Many years ago on the old BBC 606 board there was one of those random surveys of posters as to who the best-dressed European Tour player was. Not sure if Gonzo won but he was certainly mentioned a lot. He seemed popular, won pretty much on an annual basis with a game that was probably just below the top class, and Mrs Gonzo would grace his gallery.
Fast forward to "Special Temporary Membership" on the PGA Tour which he won, somewhat fortuitously, in the spring of 2013 and the ensuing Membership that he took for 2013/2014. He played OK until a late season flurry highlighted by last July's T4 in Montreal, T15 in the Barclays and resultant advance to the Deutsche Bank. His bank account and FedEx pts tally were fortified by a full slate of WGC's and Majors and all seemed good.

3).But it didn't last; his owgr position slumped, he lost all his Major/WGC exemptions and his early season 2014/15 form was awful. 14 missed cuts in 21 efforts were the result until he conjured up a 2-under par 68 in Round 1 of the Travelers.
Round 2 started poorly with a three-putt followed by four tentative birdie putts. But he chipped up close at the short Par-4 15th for a tap-in and went on a run up the leaderboard with five birdies in six holes to reach 6-under for the tournament.
He was still four-under par standing on the 9th tee, faced with a drive to a generous fairway and short iron to the green. The weather was cool and the drive straight into a strong breeze, but no excuse for a wide right flare into flower beds and out of bounds. With the cut-line likely to be 2-under, his second tee shot was dead-centre and faced a shot of about 150 yards to a generous pin. Double-bogey beckoned but at least he'd make the weekend, right?

4).Wrong. Pulled his iron, short-sided himself, tried to follow a poor shot with a perfect shot which was dubbed up and back down the slope to his feet. Up and down for a seven.
Gonzo seems a good guy, but this must have been heartbreaking - he refused the customary cart-ride back to the club-house and the last we saw him he was stalking, back straight, but shoulders slumped, visor down (you know the look) through hundreds of punters looking for lunch rather than the probable demise of a very good golfer's American dream.
He played well at last year's Travelers and must have dreamed of at least a similar result, perhaps better as he was birdieing his way round the turn. Perhaps he looked forward to a week off, he certainly looks like he needs it.

5).But no, his FedEx rank has dropped to 178th, and he's off to this week's Greenbrier event to try again. He had no gallery, no "team" on hand, and one imagines his pursuit of a successful Tour career is pretty lonely stuff, the more so when you find yourself on the threshold of some success (or at least a payday) and shoot yourself in both feet. Still time of course, but you'd have to think it's destination web.com Tour Finals for him. Europe in 2016?

6).Gonzo's experience should be a salutary lesson to Europeans who want to double-dip or commit themselves to the PGA Tour. Recently Colsaerts, Hanson, Lynn, Olesen and, apparently, Dubuisson have all tried and failed for one reason or another. Brian Davis is in trouble this year, and so is Jamie Donaldson.

7).On the bright side for Europeans, Paul Casey had another fine finish, while Pettersson and Donald showed some form. They needed it.

8).On to The Greenbrier and the ego trip that is Greenbrier owner Jim Justice, who makes Samuel Peabody look like a saint and has the gall to run for Governor in West Virginia while still owing the Federal Government millions of dollars in fines imposed for thousands of safety violations in his mines, despite a reported wealth of $1.6 Billion. It only figures that he'd find a way to cajole Tiger Woods to his line-up - how much did that cost Jim?, and has unearthed John Daly for a first outing in months.
You'll see his fat arse interviewed on the TV coverage, but this is one of the Bobby Ginn/Allan Stanford type relationships that will end in tears for Finchem and the PGA Tour.

9).Talking of which, how long will the Golfing grandees stick with Republican Presidential candidate Blowhard Trump? After his recent incendiary comments about "Mexicans" and other immigrant communities, and subsequent dumping by various US Corporations, the silence from the LPGA, PGA Tour, PGA Of America, USGA and R&A is deafening.

10).And so to the future.
Tony Finau and Justin Thomas were in the same Hartford group so we watched a few holes of their second round. We know both hit it a mile, but are they ready for prime time? On the six-hole cameo that we saw, Finau has all the shots - he hit an exquisite flop shot that would have made Bubba or Phil proud, but putted poorly. Thomas drove a green we'd never seen reached before (and with a 3-wood according to him as he tried to explain himself to a discombobulated trio of putters), but struggled around the greens and missed the cut. It'll be interesting to see how each take their careers forward.
It'll be interesting too to see how Maverick (yup, that's his real name, brother to Scout, Dakota and Colt) McNealy makes out this week. He's playing just his second Tour event but comes in ranked second-leading amateur in the world.
There is speculation that he'll be a lifetime amateur and he can certainly afford it: His father's wealth, he was a co-founder of SUN Microsystems, approaches that of Jim Justice. Billionaires Club.

Just seen a photo on Facebook of him in a large ankle brace. Total rupture of left ATFL (ankle ligament) according to the post. That's him out for quite some time I suspect!

You're hot off the press with that one Grumps!

At least we can stop worrying about when Simba will get to number 1 now. Should be a fairly easy calculation if Rory won't be teeing it up this summer.

Golf writers better start reading this paper.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10028133

That'll put the bookies in a tizzy. And I'd just finished reading princedrac's tweets about this week's projections. Cancel them.

Spieth will be unbackable now

BlueCoverman wrote:You're hot off the press with that one Grumps!

I like to think I've got my finger on the pulse of European golf but, if my recent performance in the French Open is anything to go by it flatlined a long time ago...

What for?
The John Deere Classic??
Don't fancy Spieth for St.Andrews at all.

Kwini

Saying you don't fancy Simba for the open is a pretty odd statement?

Why?
He's bound to be at an artificially low price too, which makes many others way more attractive.
Just don't see an American win. Except at the JDC.

Depends how you read kwini's statement I guess.

Do I think he could win at Stan Drews? Of course I do. Would I bet on him at those artifically low prices? No!

Paddy Power latest:
11/2: Spieth
12/1: Dustin
18/1: Justin
20/1: Stenson
20/1: Scott
22/1: Oosthuizen
25/1: Fowler
28/1: Garcia, Woods, Mickelson
30/1: Day, Bubba
33/1: Kaymer, Casey, Matsuyama
35/1: Lowry
40/1: Grace
50's and up: Bar those.

Oosthuizen surely only that high up owing to winning at TOC before?
I know he did ok in the last round of the US Open but his recent (last few years) form can't warrant being 6th fav surely?

Don't you think there's always the sense with Oosthuizen that, on any given week, he's as good as he wants to be? Reasonably healthy at the moment and I certainly like his TOC chances more than I do Spieth's.

Will be interested to see prices for a win by country - fancy South Africa a LOT!

Didnt Louis O, do pretty well in the last 3 rounds of the US Open not just the final round. He has a good chance if he is in the mood.

I suppose he did Ben, but only really noticeable - at least by me - on the last day as had some recovering from his first round to do.

Kwin, he's certainly good enough to win any tournament but I think you could say that about loads of players - DJ, Casey, Snorkel, Rose and so on.  

Maybe it's just me but King Louis hasn't been on my radar as 'in form' for quite some time

Louis didn't play so well at the Travelers missing the cut. Didn't play badly but just not good enough.

He seems to be the sort of player that will underperfom in the more standard events, but can turn it up a notch in the majors if fit and healthy anyway.

Rory's camp not ruling out playing St.Andrews. Seems wildly optimistic but that's what they're saying.

Agreed ben
That's what I was getting at, "on any given week, he's as good as he wants to be". Hope it's one of those weeks!

If Rory misses both Scottish and OpenChampionship then Jordan has to win both the Deere and Open Champ to become #1.

If Rory skips Scottish and plays Open Championship (and Misses the Cut at the Open Championship) Spieth has to finish solo third at the Deere and win the Open Championship to become #1.

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:

BlueCoverman wrote:You're hot off the press with that one Grumps!

I like to think I've got my finger on the pulse of European golf but, if my recent performance in the French Open is anything to go by it flatlined a long time ago...

I see what you mean Grumps, you were seriously crap last week!  

UFR, I made a mistake with the #1 projections for Jordan.

Assuming Rory skips both Scottish and Open Champ, Jordan needs to earn 105 pts at the Deere and Open Champ to take the #1 spot.

And he has to earn 94 pts if Rory skips Scottish and misses the cut at the Open Championship.

Richie Ramsay reckoned it took him three months to recover from a similar injury, and much longer before he felt really comfortable and back at full strength.

Take a break Rory, don't push yourself and make things worse. Pity if he misses Whistling Straits though, thought he stood a favourite's chance there.

BlueCoverman wrote:

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:

BlueCoverman wrote:You're hot off the press with that one Grumps!

I like to think I've got my finger on the pulse of European golf but, if my recent performance in the French Open is anything to go by it flatlined a long time ago...

I see what you mean Grumps, you were seriously crap last week!  

I know, even Super beat me!?!?!

I'm guessing Russell Knox is now first alternate for The Open.
Looks like he could be followed by Streelman, Ramsay, McNeill and Wood.
But haven't seen anything official, so just guesswork really.

Big changes to qualifying process for HSBC Champions. Not sure how much difference it will make in reality but it looks like the notion of earning exemption via a big win (apart from Majors, Players, WGC's) goes by the board. So much for the "Champions" concept.

It seems that Scott Stallings is out of commission for three months, suspended by the PGA Tour after calling a penalty on himself for PED's.

What we know so far:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/scott-stallings-suspended-pga-tour-90-days/

Good for him for turning himself in, but . . . . . . . . what a moron.

That means Scottie has 90 days to fill himself up with that stuff..,

PS. Funny that Tiger's last Major came the same year as the anti doping policy was introduced.

Thing I don't understand with Stallings is:
He turned himself in in February - why has it taken so long to send him down?
"OK, Scott. You've broken the rules, albeit we didn't catch you, and you can have five months to line your pockets, then take a break and come back for the start of the 2015/2016 season."
Surely that's penalizing the guys who played by the rules and had money taken out of their pockets when Stallings beat them? Which thankfully didn't happen as often as it might.

If super_ were to pass comment, no doubt he'd suggest the best way to return to proper health would be to lose forty lb's.

I'm just not sure I get the concept of taking PEDs to improve golf performance. No PED on it's own would work would it??
Steroids for more power (translates into extra distance but as we all know extra distance can take you nearer trouble).
EPO more stamina and so less likely to fatigue by Sunday afternoon? Oh come on they're all for enough these days to walk 5 miles 4 days in a row without any serious performance drop off, certainly one that EPO would help
Beta Blockers - to calm those putting nerves, what would that do to the full swing??

Pity the body that took a cocktail of all of those together though

Then again theres always deer horn powder, it works doesn't it?? Where's Vijay ranked now?? :-p

I suspect that drugs in Golf wouldn't be the type which make you train harder or make you more strong. After all, golf is full of winners who've been slight, fat or ripped, I would think that it would be the type which make you more serene and less emotional on the course, so that you suffer no nerves or anxiety and keep plugging away at a manchurian level of calmness and programmed rigour.

Either that or get a lobotomy. Worked for 9C, must be wearing off now.

If you're a gym bunny (as 9C was), then I imagine anabolic steroids would be of use (not that I'm suggesting 9C was on them). Beta-blockers? Definitely useful I would imagine. Stimulants? Maybe. People will do anything is they think it'll give them an advantage (see VJ)....even if in reality it doesn't.

Not sure all the rules (including anti-doping) are just about gaining an unfair advantage - lots of them are about the image of the game (for instance not being allowed to replace a club you damage in anger - that's aimed more at preventing unsightly shows of bad temper as it's unlikely that advantage would be gained). I don't think golf authorities would want the game to be viewed as a safe haven for junkies, whether or not their drug of choice helped them play better.

As long as whatever he took (reported as DHEA) induced a placebo effect then he benefited.  Given that placebo might be the only effect PEDs could have on golf it is a shame he didn't go down the homeopathic route as he would still be teeing it up.

Or get his doctor up to speed (!) as to what he could take.

Homeopathic PEDs (PEPs?) - there's an idea! Enough golfers wear those ridiculous bracelet things to prove they'd be massively popular.