PGA Tour: Some Close Shaves Expected at Barbasol Championship: Note from the Ballwasher

1).July in the heat of the Auburn, Alabama, summer is a vastly different proposition to Open Championship golf at Royal Troon, but the Barbasol Championship is an important event nevertheless, with $630K to the winner and FedEx points ever more crucial as the season nears its end. Scott Piercy won the tournament last year, using it as a springboard into the Tour Championship and a ticket to every big event including the Majors. And look where that has got him. Oh, 25th in the World and on the tee tomorrow at Troon.

2).This week's champ will earn places in the 2016 PGA Championship, the 2017 Tournament of Champions and the 2017 Players, all invitationals and a Tour card for two years. Plus the rest of the currency in cash and points. For Camilo Villegas it also represents his final chance to secure his playing card for 2016/17 and free himself up for Olympic action. Anything less than a Top two finish and his FedEx position will be precarious and I'd imagine he'd forego Olympic participation.

3).Other "notables" in the field with their Tour status on the line include with FedEx positions:
DeLaet (105th)
Crane (113th)
Stallings (118th)
Wilcox (122nd)
Johnson Wagner (124th)
Laird (125th)
Overton (146th)
Greg Owen (147th)
MacKenzie (148th)
Appleby (152nd)
deJonge (159th)
Morgan Hoffmann (160th)
Michael Thompson (163rd)
Mark Wilson (165th)
Aiken (169th)
Cabrera (180th)
Brendon Todd (207th), he of the brilliant short game, but haywire off the tee.

4).And then there's Hunter Mahan, 173rd in points but with exemptions that he still has available. But what a fall from grace, a Ryder Cup "pick" two years ago, as he returns from paternity leave with only one Top 30 finish (in a WGC no less!) to show for his season. Long-time caddie John Wood departed to Kuchar's bag and Hunner has struggled, especially in hitting greens, which is compounded by the fact that his traditionally dodgy chipping has deteriorated. Hoping to see him at Hartford in three weeks, he's entertaining to follow, so hopefully he'll get his act together for the second half of the year.

5).This time last year I plugged Will Wilcox as terrific value at 22/1 for this event - he was a ball-striking machine, a local lad playing well and no surprise he finished second behind Piercy. What a difference a year makes - summer has seen his ball-striking stats go downhill fast, he hasn't cashed a cheque for almost two months, no top 40 results in three.
Two stat comparisons tell the story:
2015: Greens hit in regulation: 4th
2016: GIR: 157th
2015: Strokes gained around the green: 81st.
2016: Strokes gained around the green: 181st.

Will Wilcox is a good golfer so gawd only knows what's behind this sort of decline, but he has suffered injury niggles recently, and one wonders whether there's a lifestyle issue as well. Dunno.

6).What an olympian scale mess with the Olympics for men's golf.
Whether or not it should be there in the first place is one thing. But, having got their holy grail, surely the golf associations should have made sure there'd be a tournament worth watching. They've failed on just about every count, most of all in the US with the "compressed" schedule at a time the calendar is congested anyway. Hopefully they'll see the errors of their ways and get their sh1t together for Tokyo. But will it be too late by then?

7).Meanwhile, who do we fancy this week? If class is permanent there are plenty of good candidates. But form of many of the classiest players has been dismal. One local guy who enjoyed a decent start to the season before hitting the skids is Blayne Barber; some signs of life recently and, at 126th in FedEx points, he has his career on the line.
Martin Laird needs another good result and Greg Owen's traditional struggle against relegation is looking increasingly futile, rapidly becoming the Hull City or Norwich of the PGA Tour.

8).Scoring should be good for those who can withstand withering heat and humidity - heat indexes approaching 100F, but not much wind and the daily risk of storms should keep the greens soft.
Perhaps a win here will propel the lucky lad to a streak of form that culminates in a trip to Birkdale next year.

Martin Laird and Angel Cabrera going well early on; two guys who wish they were at Troon. Keep it up chaps.

Hoping for a Graham Delaet win at Barbasol.

He would make for a great poster boy.

Nice one GPB, He's off to a decent start . . . . . .

Happy to see Cabrera up front.

El Pato is one of my favorite players to watch when he gets into contention. I think he is the love child of and Seve, Daly and Arnold Palmer.

Grab the Driver, Hitch Up your pants and Swing Hard in cae you hit it.

Delaet shaved his beard?

I put Calc (rather than Daly who I couldn't give a sh1t about) in the same category as El Pato.

Smooth as a baby's bottom for DeLaet.

Cheers for still posting one Kwin. Do still read it even though the focus is on hoping pampered pros get wet and windswept this side of the pond for a week.

Cheers Roller, Must admit, I like following guys playing for their careers as much as I do the ones playing for history. Lots on the line this week on the undercard.

Jhonny Vegas on 59 watch: nine under par after 11 holes. Already made two eagles, on Par-5 and Par-3.

Well done to Jhonny Vegas - no 59, but went 28 - 32 for a total of 60.

Now for Martin Laird to go out and emulate him . . . . . . . .

kwinigolfer wrote:Well done to Jhonny Vegas - no 59, but went 28 - 32 for a total of 60. 

.....including a bogey.....

Camilo withdraws from the Barbasol - Olympics next?

kwinigolfer wrote:Well done to Jhonny Vegas - no 59, but went 28 - 32 for a total of 60. 

Italy's Nicolo Ravano shot 59 on the Challenge tour today.

Back underway in Round 3 at the Barbie following a lengthy weather delay.
Jhonny Vegas struggling a bit after yesterday's fireworks, but still has a four stroke lead from the soon-to-be senior David Toms.

Martin Laird is still in reverse gear following a dismal Friday and, with 82 golfers having made the cut, is just a bogey or two from the dreaded MDF and a worthless week in Alabama. Not much better from Greg Owen - they both desperately need birdies and eagles to give themselves a chance of a decent cheque on Sunday.

Action suspended for the day, play to resume, weather permitting, at 7.30 a.m. Sunday, CDT.
Among those contending is Stuart Appleby who has two remaining starts, including this one, to "graduate" from Major Medical Exemption - a 2nd place finish this week would do the trick.

Great win from Badds, one of the most fun guys to follow.
GJ The Aussie Stud would be so proud . . . . . . . ! Not to say nauseating.

Poor from Laird and Owen and now both have their work cut out for them to retain their cards.
As for El Pato: First round leader concluded with a third round MDF. Bizarre.

There goes Camilo - no Olympics for him.

Don't understand the announcement of exemptions into the PGA. Luke Donald, for instance, in but no Stricker or Beef. Not announced yet anyway.

Rob Bolton's Major exemptions column at PGATour has 139 exempt for the PGA. Includes 6 players that will or may not play:

Love, Poulter, Howell, Woods, Berger, Koepka

there are 6 players inside the Top 100 not yet on the exempt list

65 Billy Horschel (Hard to believe he is not already exempt)
86 Steve Stricker
89 Andrew Johnston
94 Brandon Stone
98 Ross Fisher
100 Bradley Dredge

I don't fully understand the PGA's rationale - for instance, Luke Donald is in, but Billy Ho is not.
I'm missing something there, but can't figure out what!

kwinigolfer wrote:I don't fully understand the PGA's rationale - for instance, Luke Donald is in, but Billy Ho is not.
I'm missing something there, but can't figure out what!

Yep, I don't see how Luke is in right now, but BillyHo is not

BillyHo is ranked higher in the OWGR (65th to 85th)
BillyHo is ranked higher in the PGA Championship Points ranking (74th to 93rd).

Tiger Woods listed...... who he?

Doug Ferguson suggesting that the PGA is awarding spots all the way down to #120 on the owgr listing; can't find that corroborated anywhere, but that includes Merritt, Morrison, Broberg, Bourdy, Katayama, Song, KJ Choi, Kokrak, Senden and the Dude.

Strange, especially as there's still no apparent confirmation that Billy Ho, Beef, Stricker etc are in.

Getting word from Rob Bolton that "Donald was added in a mass addition of internationals a couple of editions ago."

I guess players like Pieters, Oleson, Jeunghun Wang, Hatton, and Soomin Lee added at this time.

Here are the players ranked from #101 to #120 that are not yet in the field

103 Troy Merritt
106 James Morrison
109 Freddie Jacobson
110 Kristoffer Broberg
111 Younghan Song
112 Shingo Katayama
114 John Senden
115 Gregory Bourdy
116 K.J. Choi
117 Jason Kokrak
120 Nicolas Colsaerts

Woods out of the PGA and the rest of the season.

Ironic that he's replaced by Harry Varner. So 71 to 80 in the PGA Championship money list are already in.

Here's the full list (Luke not included):

http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/news/2016-pga-championship-field

Presumably Berger, Koepka and Wood still have to be considered questionable participants.

Chucky 3 sticks is listed on that page.

I think he is out until the playoffs.

Perhaps CHIII might give it a go.
Jonas Blixt on deck.

GPB wrote:Chucky 3 sticks.

Is that Rory?

Oh no, he's only chucky 1 stick

Great to see badds back in the winners circle been too long.

Great to see GJ back in the 606 circle, been too long!

Cheers Pedro good to be back

Not a STUD any more, GJ?

Well done Badds! Thought you'd be pleased.

kwinigolfer wrote:Not a STUD any more, GJ?

Guess he's married now...