PGA Tour: Aloha!: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).We've said our Happy New Years, the only turkeys in sight are contesting the Republican Primaries, the stock market is tanking, our first cold spell has delivered "smoke on the water", and sunrise ticks earlier by Friday. What does it all mean? That's right. Kapalua.

2).It's back! PGA Tour golf returns Thursday for what looks to be a terrific field at gorgeous Kapalua.
Furyk is still nursing the wrist "bone contusion" that he injured during last September's Play Offs, Lowry, McIlroy and Rose are resting on last year's laurels, but everyone else who's eligible will be teeing off the new year at the "Hyundai Tournament of Champions", the best field there for ten years. The forecast is excellent, so none of the rain or unplayable wind of years past is expected, just longer drives than ever and green complexes that can give the players fits. Experience matters more than size this week.

3).The press has been writing about "Tiger at Forty" for the past month, but let's not look back, look forward to the year ahead. In no particular order:

4).Anchored putting has left the Tours, perhaps never to return, and some golfers will be affected, maybe to the permanent decline of their careers. Bradley and Simpson tried the short putter last season with disappointing results, the jury is out on Adam Scott, though he was brilliant in his Presidents Cup singles, and Pettersson and Clark are still to stand up and be counted. Brendan Steele has adjusted reasonably well but he seems to be the only one.
When the Champions Tour resumes, all eyes will be on Bernhard Langer to see what he comes up with.
The anchoring along one's arm that Kuchar and some others indulge in looks awkward but it may well be the technique of last resort to some of the contortionists. As for Martin Laird, not quite sure how his efforts with the putter are categorized, but he'll need to putt a lot better with whatever it is he does to keep his card this year.

5).Talking of Martin Laird, it's going to be a crucial year for some of England's fading flag-bearers, Messrs Donald, Poulter and Westwood, especially if they harbour Ryder Cup aspirations. Right now, you'd bet against them. After Justin Rose, the next English golfers in the owgrs are Willett, (Casey who for these purposes doesn't count), Sullivan, Fitzpatrick and Chris Wood before we get to Westwood and Poulter, Donald even further adrift.
For double-dipping purposes, Donald has no current Major or WGC eligibility, Poulter's just in The Masters, Westwood is in The Masters and Open, while both will contest the PGA if they retain owgr Top 100 status, no certainty based upon the past six months.

6).Current European Ryder Cup qualifying top nine: Rory, Vic, Fitz, Sullivan, Stenson, Rose, Wood, Broberg, Willett. With Sergio and Martin Kaymer in the wings, and Lowry, McDool, Knox and Donaldson all hoping to play, Lukey, IJP and lw1 need to get cracking.

7).The US Ryder Cup Team will look very much like the recent Presidents Cup squad, perhaps with Kisner, Justin Thomas, Koepka, Sneds, perhaps Horschel, and even the little squirt known as Kevin Na in contention.

8).Davis Love is playing Kapalua following his win at Greensboro. DLIII is into his fifties these days, but I'd suggest he's been the best player of the past 30 years not to have multiple Majors. Discussion on that?

9).Always difficult to know who to fancy at Kapalua; course experience plays a big part, but one never knows from year to year who's still working off the mince pies and Christmas pud, and who's been in the gym and on the range.
Reed was in terrific form at the end of 2015 and is defending champ so you'd think he's favourite going in. Used to be that Southern Hamisphere golfers had an edge, Ernie and Vijay, Ogilvy and Apples, but not to much since Aussies and Saffers have stopped winning.
In the absence of Rory, Rosey and Shane, GB&I is represented by Harrington, McDowell and Knox. A sneaking fancy here for McDool who looked newly motivated at Mayakoba after mailing it in for most of 2015.  

10).Lastly, it's goodbye to Ryder Cuppers, Bromley's Jimmy Hitchcock (1965) and Christy O'Connor Jr, nephew of Himself and hero of the 1989 win at The Belfry. Only one win in three matches between the two of them, but what a win it was. Farewell Christy.

McLaren wrote:Els was broken by Tiger very early on.  However Rory tackles the Spieth problem he needs to avoid that outcome.

Eh??  I'm not getting where you're coming from or where you're going with that one. By that I mean Ernie won Majors before, during and after the Tiger era (depending on when you consider the Tiger era finished) so he hardly broke him did he?? Blunted his potential Major haul, yeah perhaps, but broke him, I don't think so.

A pretty good line up for today's Monday Qualie for the Sony Open, including Thomas Aiken, three or four Champions Tour golfers and recent Tour Members like Garrigus, Merrick, Jhonny Vegas.
And some sons of golfers including Mark Wiebe's son. Named Gunner. At the risk of offending GPB, what the hell kind of name is that? Either an Arsenal fan or paid up member of the NRA - I suspect the letter. Idiotic.

Ernie won one major while Tiger was in his prime

1994 US open is pre tiger
1997 US open is too early to be considered the true tiger era
and 2012 is clearly post tiger.


As to where this is going, there are parallels to be drawn between Ernie and Rory. Ernie looked certain to be the dominant player of his era and then Tiger cam along and changed that. Up until the masters last year we would all have confidently predicted that no one was getting to close to Rory.


It is widely accepted (even by kwini at a point in the past) that Ernie had a mental block about beating Tiger and that hammerings like the final round in Kapalu didn't help.

So my point is that I hope Rory seeks out Spieth at every opportunity and ensures he doesn't loose his high ground.

sirbenson wrote:Great start to the season Padraig!! Now let's keep the momentum and have another good tournament this week!

Spieth is head and shoulders above Day and Mcilroy imo!

I can't see Day replicating last year and for me Spieth is so much more mentally stronger than Rory, and that is not even taking into account his far superior putting.

Think Rory would need to dump a few more girlfriends in quick succession to get up to snuff with Spieth.

The lads at the Drones Club must be spilling Gin and Tonics all over their club ties at such an improper name.

Good grief.

Mac,
Woods was POTY in 1997 and in 2013. And I DO think Els had a mental block vs Woods.
Tho' Ernie never got a "hammering" at Kapalua from Tiger, it was just the sense of inevitability that Woods would top whatever Els threw at him. Can't call a defeat in a Play Off a "hammering". OK, you can.
I'm just suggesting that seven Majors wouldn't be a bad career for Rory (although many of us hope, not you, he might exceed that).

Grumpy

I accept Tiger had a good 1997 but can we really claim that from april 1997 onward Tiger had reached his untouchable level of play? Remember he tinkered with his swing for a bit before winning another major in 99.

McLaren wrote:Rory need to seriously consider altering his schedule so that he faces Spieth more often.  If possible, handing a wupping to Spieth might be the only way to break his momentum.  Rory can't just sit at home and hope that Spieth will stop winning.

I think that's a very good point Mac, be good to see them playing one another more often. The Science Denier, seems to turn up to many more events than McIlroy, there's rather too much picking and choosing going on these days, just play and stop fannying about.

Gunner is a common name in Scandinavia, but has nothing to do with either Arsenal or NRA. I REALLY hope a) Wiebe has some Scandinavian ancestry or b) is not a muslim.

super_,
You can see from an earlier post that they'll be in the same field at least four times before The Masters.
"Just play and stop fannying around"? Message to Jurgen Kloppppppp?

McLaren wrote:Grumpy

I accept Tiger had a good 1997 but can we really claim that from april 1997 onward Tiger had reached his untouchable level of play?  Remember he tinkered with his swing for a bit before winning another major in 99.

Mac, I'm not sure what this has to do with the Fantasy League but Woods winning majors again is most likely rather fanciful.

Grumpy

Nothing to do with the fantasy league. I was responding to questions about which of Ernies majors could be said to have happened in the Tiger era.

And I agree, sadly Tiger will never win another major. I still thought he would until around early 2014 as he was pretty much the best player in the world, but has since faltered badly.

We'd been discussing Fantasy League stuff but don't remember talking about Tiger or Els before; maybe confusing me with Kwini?

I think he was being rude and calling Kwini "grumpy"

McLaren wrote:
So my point is that I hope Rory seeks out Spieth at every opportunity and ensures he doesn't loose his high ground.

Which high ground is that? Spieth has the high ground at the moment

Much as I hate to try and speak for Mac, I think he means 4 majors to 2 and 3/4 of the way to the career slam rather than halfway. Rory's record in the WGCs is significantly better than Jordan's too - even if you just compare them over the years Jordan has competed in them (2 wins versus a best of tied 7th).

McLaren wrote:Rory need to seriously consider altering his schedule so that he faces Spieth more often.  If possible, handing a wupping to Spieth might be the only way to break his momentum.  Rory can't just sit at home and hope that Spieth will stop winning.

I disagree. personally, I would prefer that every time they teed up in the same tournament it is special. So the Majors, WGCs and a few other tournaments will be enough for me. The broadcasters will hype their meetings to the roof, and I bet you tournament officials will pair them together Thursday/Friday whenever they play in the same event. Look what happened with Fowler and McIlroy. Then you have disproportionate coverage. If either player can't take the other winning they need to get their heads sorted out.

Some interesting points here.

I understand what Mac is saying about Rory/Speith. Winning builds confidence which leads to more wins. If Spieth heads into the Masters on the back of a winning streak without going head to head against his main challenger for number 1 it increases his chance of performing. You could say the same about Rory though... he could stay in those European cities like Jo'burg and Doha, get some wins under his belt against weaker fields and turn up in the US on a roll.

As for the Tiger broke Els thing. Well who knows, did Ernie fall apart when Tiger walked in the room? Was Ernie the Theon Grejoy / Reek to Tiger's Ramsey Snow? Or was Tiger just a better golfer than Ernie, when he turned up he outplayed everyone.

I think we're in for a treat in 2016.

Day's hitting reminds me of Tiger, in that it always looks like he's smashing it flat out. He hits it long, high and straight, which is enough to win tournaments when his putter is hot. I don't think he has the subtlety and control that Speith and Rory have, but he is a bit of a streaky putter, when it's hot he rolls them in from all over the place like Speith.

Speith's putting was astonishingly good at Kapalua. Those greens are so hard to read, with grain, slope and wind coming into play. What surprised me most though was that he was sneaky long off the tee, maybe it's something he was working on over Christmas, but he seems to have closed the driving gap between him and McIlroy / Day.

As for Rory, I still think tee to green his best golf is better than anyone else's. Whereas Speith's game is built on not making mistakes, playing to safe parts of the green and rolling in outrageous putts, Rory has the greatest ability to attack a course, fire at pins and take the game away from the field.

Golf is a bit like Tennis now.

A top 3, then everyone else.

Tennis is a top one.

ray,
Completely agree with everything you say there. Plus, I think Spieth only had one 3-putt in his last eight rounds at Kapalua, and that was for par on a Par-5.
Mac is conveniently ignoring that Spieth and McIlroy will be in the same field four times before Augusta. What more does anyone want? Plenty of other golfers will be competitive with them on any given day. But this past week was Tiger/Roryesque.

A bit late but Happy New Year to everyone!

Kwini, glad to see you are still here with your ballwasher... I trust your cheeks are rosey and your cellar is in need of a restock!

I've been so busy with family and work (always in that order) golf has taken a bit of a back seat - playing and viewing! I must try harder to get it back to the front of the queue... Managed to catch most of the majors last year and the odd boobie bit but by the time;
- Day was pounding the field at the US PGA,
- GMaC was spotted in Mexico outside Spring Break
- and the US tour started the wrap around season (code for xmas present wrapping?)
I was neck deep in nappies, toddler classes, deliverables and professional reviews. Never mind, at this time of year the virtues of the world golf tour schedule means I can catch some golf either late night or first thing when the troop are in bed.

Enviously depressing to watch such a young Speith play so brilliantly. I looove the simplicity of his golf. Put it in the fairway, put in on the green and hole the putts. No faffing. Why would you play any other way?! The contrast in his play to others will be the making of any great rivalry I feel. I'd like to add Fowler to the possible list of rivals - mainly on the back of his win at TPC Sawgrass last year. Not a better finish did I see all year.

Anyway, seen as the membership as gone I can start looking at away ties. Gullane did look nice at the Scottish last year....

Hope you are well,
Lairdy

I was talking to a guy that works in my office who played Kapalua and he said it was more stunning than Pebble Beach. He also said there are plenty of uphill shots that you can't appreciate on the TV feed (sounds like Augusta). He concurred with the advice here to NOT try and view the event in person.

So, it's now on my bucket list to play!

Hi Lairdy,
Happy New Year to you. All well here, winter having a tough time reaching the North-East but snow due tonight and perhaps that'll be the start of things to come.
No comment on the ballwasher cheeks, but cellar definitely depleted.
Your namesake has been doing a bit of a walkabout for the past year or so; better get his act together otherwise he'll lose his place on the gravy train. Knox now the AmeriScot du jour.
Keep in touch, Cheers.

Good advice on Kapalua, Sr!
The thing with the uphill shots at Kapalua is that the pros "carry" hills that lesser mortals don't; hence the appearance on TV that it's flat or downhill.
Visually it's in a class of its own, but Pebble Beach the preferable golf experience, for moi anyway.

Shotrock wrote:I was talking to a guy that works in my office who played Kapalua and he said it was more stunning than Pebble Beach. He also said there are plenty of uphill shots that you can't appreciate on the TV feed (sounds like Augusta). He concurred with the advice here to NOT try and view the event in person.

So, it's now on my bucket list to play!

Absolutely Shotrock!

Not played Pebble, but have played Kapalua. It's way out front in my list of stunning settings for golf. TV and photos really flatten the contours on any golf course. On TV its only when you see a golf ball rolling for a 100 yards (e.g. drives on 6th) when you realise just how downhill the fairway is. You can't see wind on TV either, I was surprised how strong the breeze was, although I did play in the afternoon when the trade winds pick up.

The other thing which stands out is the scale of the place. I didn't play off the back tees, but it was still 7000 yards, and the holes are incredibly spaced out. The area the course takes up is probably 3 or 4 times larger than a typical British course. I don't like buggies, I enjoy walking round a golf course, so I was a bit disappointed when I was told in the pro shop that buggies were compulsory. However, when out on the course I realised why they were necessary.