PGA Tour: Stadium Golf: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).It is not that long ago that many tournaments featured "party" holes, usually Par-3's with plenty of seating and plenty of nearby bars; the Greater Greensboro Open had one such example when the tournament was held at Forest Oaks.
The old Buick Open outside Detroit, had another, Warwick Hills' 17th which attracted John Daly for one: "This is a great tournament to play in, it's a beer drinkers' tournament."
Even "Doral" was something of a social scene until ticket prices multiplied and the (new) brand trumped the tournament and the WGC took its act to Mexico. Kinda ironic that.

2).It was never clear the extent to which the PGA Tour embraced the cocktail party atmospheres, but any negative sentiments were proved moot when the GGO was relocated and the Detroit market was abandoned.
But however the Tour viewed those venues, the Phoenix Open's Par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale just grew and grew, to the stadium-come-ampitheatre it has now become. Apparently loved by most, especially the TV coverage, it is now pretty much a one-off in Tour golf and will have doubtless expanded even more this year, 20,000 rowdies there? 30,000?? The city of Phoenix's name was suggested by a 19th century English settler because it reminded him of an earlier civilization - perhaps he had the 16th in mind?

3).Like it or loathe it, it's come to be the trademark of this week's event, aptly sponsored by "Waste Management", and the crowds attending will doubtless be in the hundreds of thousands. Players will toss paraphernalia to the crowd and some may wear a shirt specially for the occasion - as Arizona native Billy Mayfair did in 2009 when the Arizona Cardinals somehow squeezed thru extreme vetting to reach the Super Bowl and laugh-a-minute Billy changed in to a Cardinals shirt for the occasion, to hoots and hollers from the "patrons".

4).The Phoenix area is also the home of Arizona State University, which has enjoyed strong golf programmes for many years, with alumni including Mickelson and Mayfair, Pat Perez and Paul Casey, Johansson and Nordqvist, plus a pair of Spaniards, Alejandro Canizares and Azahara Munoz. Oh, and Jon Rahm.

5).Rahm received an invite to the 2015 tournament, just his second Tour event, and served notice to the golfing world by finishing 5th. He followed up last year with a 3rd at Congressional and a T2 in Canada, and now it's no surprise to watch him break through with a win in San Diego.
I followed Rahm for a few holes last year and he's an imposing figure, seemingly taller than the 6 ft 2 the Tour guide lists him at, and Greg Norman-type shoulders. In his 17 Tour appearances to date, as amateur and pro, he's only missed two cuts and he could find himself the crowd favourite in his Spieth & Fowler group on Thursday and Friday.
Spieth fluked his way into a play-off on his way to winning his first Tour title, and Rahm won't hole many 60-foot, septuple breaking putts to win many titles. But he's arrived, and European Tour objective #1 must be to get him in the ET fold for future Ryder Cup Teams - about ten or eleven of them.

6).Rahm will also now, most likely, qualify for all this year's WGC's and Majors, and certainly he'll have received the BillyPayne-o-gram beckoning him to Augusta in April. Coming up fast are some deadlines for upcoming WGC's as well as The Masters:
WGC Mexico:
Feb 20th: Top Ten in R2D (Currently those in the Top Ten not already qualified are: Fleetwood, Brazel, Larrazabal, Van Zyl, Storm, Dodt, Aiken, Lagergren).
Feb 27th: Top Ten in FedEx (As of now: Perez, Steele, Hughes, Rahm, Swafford, HowellIII, Pampling, Gribble).
Feb 20 AND 27th: Top 50 in owgr:

WGC MatchPlay:
March 13th: Top 64 in owgr.

WGC Bridgestone:
Feb 19th: Winner of Dimension Data tournament on the Sunshine Tour - no idea why they receive that sweetheart deal; plus other tournament winners with stipulated strength of field.

7).Masters:
Top 50 in owgr as at March 27th
PGA Tournament winners through "Houston" on April 2nd - (haven't seen anything published on likely Houston sponsor recently . . . . . . . now that Shell is pulling out).
And, presumably, the Ishikawa invitation.

8).Lots to be playing for then.
A strong field in "Phoenix" with last year's play-off winner, Matsuyama, and Spieth leading the way.
I don't feel sorry for Rickie Fowler very often, but last year he was followed by his grandfather & father who had never seen him win. Unfortunately Rickie snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by putting balls in the water on the short Par-4 17th, once in "regulation", once in overtime. Coming in on the crest of a wave having won in Abu Dhabi, he must have felt borderline invincible. Down to earth in a hurry and his golf seemed to suffer the rest of the year. Until the Ryder Cup unfortunately.

9).Europeans in the field include Harrington, Johnston, Knox, Laird, Lowry, Molinari (hole in one on the 16th a couple of years ago), plus Jon Rahm of course. And Luke Donald with his first start of the year.
Luke has only registered 2 x Top Ten Tour finishes in the past 18 months. Doesn't this look like a sh1t or bust kind of year for him? He's not likely to be content with being an also-ran week after week - he'll be 40 this year, his family is growing up and I can't imagine him hanging about with Top 30 finishes, on a good week, for much longer. A win could revitalize him obviously, but his skill-set is becoming outdated unless he's absolutely on top of his game. Which he hasn't been for a few years.

10).Past Waste Management Champion Tiger Woods is taking his talents overseas this week, to Dubai, his choice of desert du jour.
A news release about his travels caught my eye - he flew "commercial", apparently for the first time, in his reckoning, for ten years. It's not clear what has grounded TWA, perhaps he's downsizing?
And was interested to see punters in Dubai were clamouring for his autograph; reportedly in similar numbers to a visiting Brian Lara.
Don't know if there are any stadium holes at the Dubai venue, but Woods will be playing a different type of course after Torrey Pines (which looked great), and imagine he must be formulating ideas of which courses to play this season, whether his regular schedule lends itself to his new swing, his mended(?) body. Something to look for over the coming months.

I think Woods is the only witness to his Round 1 who thinks he looked pain-free during his 77.
So where does he go next? Riviera, which his Foundation is involved is his next commitment, but I can't see why he would play if there's any fitness doubt at all. Honda next up after Riviera but PGA National seems an unwise choice for anyone not in command of his game.

Meanwhile, the morning wave in Phoenix is halfway thru their round; Martin Laird up to T4 on a course he should have won on two years ago. He's the only GB&I golfer making any forward progress so far.

Bogey instead of a (needed) birdie on #18 for Padraig, so he'll join Knox, Bubba and, probably, Justin Thomas in missing the cut.

Luke Donald & Beef with it all to do to play the weekend.

Be_the_ball wrote:He wasn't great last week SirB, being the defending champion this week he's got very fresh memories of this course. Fowler still within striking distance, could be a bit of payback on the cards.

RE Matsuyama
I don't think World Number One's win every week, sure look how long Jason Day has gone without a win...that being said I think Jordan Spieth is ready to rule the golfing world again, he has certainly picked up some distance off the tee in the last while and his tee to green game seems a lot sharper

Looks like Beef's bacon was saved by a 12-footer on #17, a 17-footer on #18. Rare.

Nothing much wrong with Spieth's game that a few more fairways hit won't put right.

Spieth's OWGR avg is very vulnerable for the next few months. His avg is dropping about 0.17 pts per week and on regular tournaments, he has to finish Top 7 to tread water. Comparing that to Hideki, where he has to finish Top 20 to tread water for the next few tournaments.

An interesting "My Shot" with LPGA Hall of Famer Carol Mann. At 6 ft 3 inches, she said she was the tallest player in the Hall of Fame, male or female, until Jim Barnes was inducted.

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/myshot_gd0610

Kwini after his comments re only being there for his sponsors its hard to tell with Bubba, doesn't look like he cares, certainly on the greens anyway. Im really surprised re JT though, as are a lot of ppl I'd expect, he's just played so well recently. He's probably guilty of expecting too much of himself to be fair, getting in his own way.

SirB, until Matsuyama really contends in the Majors i'll reserve judgement. He picked Fowlers pocket here last year and played well in a few "everyone's on holidays" tournaments, plus that ridiculous pause at the top, he doesn't do it for me im afraid, Dufner would have two balls in the fairway before he gets the club on the back of the ball.

Be the ball. There's a video showing duffer and matsuyama hitting drivers on the range. It was on this forum somewhere

GPB, SirB, Spieth has woken up by the looks of it. Right on cue. I know Ray, heart broken with Matsuyama

Scratch that re Spieth, Jordan finding a way to mess up a perfectly good round. Still impressed to see him signing autographs afterwards. A day of could have beens except for the Glasgow lad, good stuff from him.

Published field for next week's Pebble Beach action include:

Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Phil, Patrick Reed, Sneds, Spieth

Luke Donald, Gonzo, Harrington, Beef, Laird, Shane, Power, Rahm, Justin Rose

The Monterey area has been drenched, but long-range forecast looks brighter by the day.

One European we haven't seen for five months is Freddie Jac. He finished 4th at Pebble last year, but not in next week's field; hope he's OK.


PS: Good day for Lowry, Luke is already headed up to Cannery Row.

Be_the_ball wrote:GPB, SirB, Spieth has woken up by the looks of it. Right on cue. I know Ray, heart broken with Matsuyama

That's been Spieth too often ever since the Masters. Puts himself in position then has a bad round or bad run of holes..... Instead of just 2-3 back, now he's 6 back with lots of other good players between himself and the lead. Not impossible, but a much taller mountain to climb over the weekend now.

kwinigolfer wrote:One European we haven't seen for five months is Freddie Jac. He finished 4th at Pebble last year, but not in next week's field; hope he's OK.

last I heard, Freddie Jac is fine, it was a health issue with one of his kids. Hope that situation is working out OK too....

Re Freddie, Yup, was thinking about his lad; very surprising/alarming that the season will be at least one third over by the time he joins up - perhaps Riviera, where he's played well, or Florida?


Almost a full complement of European Ryder Cuppers turning out for next week's Champions Tour action:
Broadhurst, Jimenez, Langer, Lyle, McGinley, Montgomerie, Olazabal, Parnevik, Price, Woosnam . . . . . . . .

Bowditch was arrested for "extreme DUI" on Thursday Night/Friday morning.

Apparently BAC was on the North side of 0.2.

Still managed to get bailed out to play Round 2 (and missing the cut)

http://golfweek.com/2017/02/03/steven-bowditch-arrested-for-dui-in-scottsdale-extreme-phoenix-open/

Thanks GPB, Hadn't heard that.
Kinda sad on a number of levels, but sounds as if he needs help. Again.

Spieth out tomorrow with John Peterson & Boo Weekley; possibly not the group he'd've chosen.

Yep, Bowdo has fought all kinds of demons since coming to America.

Here is an article from 6+ years detailing some of the demons.

From his twitter feed, he seems like a guy that I would drink a beer with at our local club. or a Pitcher apiece. By all indications with his game, he is spiraling down a rabbit hole and I hope he can get his life together.

A friend of mine is relapsing back into the brown bottle after 5 to 6 years of sobriety. Its a helpless feeling, knowing that you can't help someone who won't help themselves. His brother and some closer friends are trying to help him, but he was just forced into retirement (against his wishes) and he has really nothing to live for.

The thing about Bowditch I was surprised about was that he is only 33. He's in disgraceful shape.
There's nothing to suggest he's a dipso GPB, just that he went on a bender.

super,
He has a mind-boggling history of severe depression; agree that he looks awful but GPB is spot on about the demons chasing him, and not just the bottle.
The Aussie guys who grew up with him reckon he was some kind of golfing savant.
Hope he gets the help he needs.

Looks like I forgot to post the article

http://www.espn.com/golf/columns/story?id=6007639&columnist=sobel_jason

kwinigolfer wrote:super,
He has a mind-boggling history of severe depression; agree that he looks awful but GPB is spot on about the demons chasing him, and not just the bottle.
The Aussie guys who grew up with him reckon he was some kind of golfing savant.
Hope he gets the help he needs.

OK, I thought GPB was being like the American waiter who hands you an Alcohol Awareness Factsheet when you order a second bottle of wine.

Personally, I hope he gets the help he needs long term (if he wants it, and if he seeks it), but I hope he is severely punished for driving at such a ludicrous amount over the drink drive limit. I know in the US there is a chronic drink drive problem compared to the UK and that it is in many places culturally ingrained, but this is not acceptable, and in this case, on this occasion, I couldn't care less if he has depression or is a dipso. He put others in danger, and that's a disgrace and I hope they throw the book at him, of course they won't though.

Looks like I forgot to post the article

http://www.espn.com/golf/columns/story?id=6007639&columnist=sobel_jason

super,
You're right about the tolerance for drinking and driving; any sanctions for Bowditch, for instance, will be minimal compared to say Firmino's recent fine and ban. Probably for much less. If you've got enough money here you can get away with anything, no doubt.
But Bowditch needs treatment even more than any penal hammer.

Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm are on fire!

Great round of golf from Martin Laird, put himself into a great position for tomorrow's round. Wonder if he was inspired by todays events in Murrayfield

Lots of interesting stories leading into the final round:
Ben An has done poorly on the PGA Tour - was thinking of mentioning that. Don't think I'll bother now.
Laird should have won here two years ago, hope he gets there Sunday, though having a tough time having much confidence. But  

Peterson lost all his sponsors a year or so ago when he was injured - Knowing (a little bit about) him, he'd find a tactless way of sticking it to them if he crossed the line in front.

And what about DeLaet, possibly the worst chipper on the planet, embarrassing at times. Hope he's not reading, he seems a really good guy.

Lowry can really get his season going. Or waste a golden chance - he's done all the hard work.

63 tomorrow? From whom?? Weather should be perfect.

Matt Fitzpatrick & Danny Willett may just be gettin more enjoyment out of the footie than the golf at the minute, Blades back to the top of League 1.

That's probably why TW withdrew, couldn't understand a word those lads were talking about. Good result for Fitz though, as you say, in two ways.

Hope Sergio brings that form to Riviera where he's played well, should have won two years ago (as should some others).

Meanwhile, Tigers back spasm has spread to his middle finger...

pedro wrote:Meanwhile, Tigers back spasm has spread to his middle finger...

Can you give some context to that comment?

Some OWGR news

As of tomorrow, Jason Day's OWGR avg has fallen below 10.0, to 9.93. On Sept 1, his average was 14.42

With his solo 2nd place finish in Dubai, Stenson has moved ahead of DJohnson, to #3

Speaking of Dustin Johnson, he has a fully populated 2 year resume now. For the past 6 months, he has been adding a tournament to his divisor every time he played a tournament. In the near term, he is basically dropping a tournament every time he plays a tournament. Depending on the SoF at Pebble Beach, he could be #1 a week from tomorrow if he wins.

Sergio is provisionally back in the OWGR Top 10, probably number 9. Reed has to finish in the Top 7 and Fowler has to win to prevent Sergio from being in the Top 10. I doubt either of these scenarios happen.

Ben An looks like he will be reclaiming the Highest Ranked Korean that he lost when Jeunghun Wang won last week's EuroTournament in Qatar. He needs a solo 4th or better to pass Wang, and a win could launch him to 25th in the OWGR.

=============

Observation:

A Spaniard won on the PGATour last week, A different Spaniard won the EuroTour this week
A Korean won on the EuroTour last week, A different Korean is the betting favorite to win on the PGATour this week.

Something similar has probably happened before, but probably not countries with few elite players like Korea and Spain.

Like three Kiwis winning on the same day on three different Tours way back when . . . . . . And two Duvals

GPB wrote:

pedro wrote:Meanwhile, Tigers back spasm has spread to his middle finger...

Can you give some context to that comment?

Sergio winning in Dubai.

It looks like another perfect day for scoring at TPC Scottsdale.
But an hour's play already and no-one with their foot on the throttle.
Plenty of media muttering about Ben An having to play with the lead, win from the front, but realistically he's got a 4-shot edge on 3rd place, so if he and The Laird can somehow shoot in the 60's, the posse will need a 65 or better to beat them. Not that one would put that past Matsuyama, but don't really see a threat from anyone else.

Really slow starts for Martin Laird and Shane Lowry; they both need to turn their fortunes around because they're spending beaucoup bucks right now.
And then there's Beef; he's projected to rise to 187th in FedEx points at his present rate. Not much good.

Yeah kwini, no one's really mounting a charge. Phil doing his best but those back to back bogeys have put a big dent in his chances...

Splash from Ben An; didn't see that coming - could be a whole new tournament now.
Hideki the new favourite?

Woods always wears Sunday red.
Laird always wears Sunday blue - something to celebrate with Rugby pride today, looking for a Scottish double?
Not surprising Lowry's struggling. In mourning.

Yeah big time, doors open now. An could be frazzled mentally now.

Great game of Rugby yesterday, congrats to Scotland.

Laird is in a great position, but needs to get under par. There are -4's and -5's out there, Lowry needed a -4 or -5 and a prayer, just content now by the looks of it. I did think Berger would make a run..

Laird can't buy a putt.

Yeah gettin bunched a bit now, hope Laird can sink a few putts, he does have some holes left...

We officially have a shoot-out.

King Louis looking threatening, but with a bit of a Charlie Adam belly these days.

2017 Presidents' Cup Team looking good . . . . .

The Laird not making anything.

Phil in meltdown, anything around level par is not a good score today An & Laird have had their chances...

Interesting that 16 is not a playoff hole, probably just as well....

Well done Hideki,
princedrac has already posted the essential details of the brand new owgr's, Tyrrell Hatton in to the Top 20. Imagine Beef might lose his place in the top 100.

Well done Hideki - but I can't believe he can survive long term lurching at the ball as he does. Everything seems to be hit flat out with zero subtlety, but good luck - hope I'm wrong.
Slightly surprised at An, who has seemed a very cool head, but got the big hook into water wrong, and it seemed to rattle him, despite the fact the one putt he holed on the way in was on that green for a 'good' bogey!

Puligny - I agree. Not unlike Jason Day.

OWGR Update:

Hideki moves up to #5, however it is essentially a three way tie for #3. #3 Stenson is less than 0.15 avg pts ahead of Hideki.

Since the OWGR went to their current formula and attrition rates, I don't think there has been a time when #5 had an average of 8.8. Here are the averages of the fifth ranked player at Week 6 of each of the last ten years

2017 8.80 avg
2016 7.32 avg
2015 6.80 avg
2014 6.50 avg
2013 6.44 avg
2012 5.77 avg
2011 6.39 avg
2010 5.40 avg
2009 6.37 avg
2008 6.06 avg
2007 6.68 avg
2006 7.47 avg

Dustin Johnson can almost catch J-Day with a win and J-Day finishes worse than T52.

If J-Day continues to sputter any one of the Top 5 could be #1 if they win the WGC Mexico event.

AFAIK,

J-Day is only playing Pebble Beach before Mexico.
Rory is not playing until Mexico
Stenson is not playing until Mexico
DJohnson is playing Pebble, Los Angeles, and Honda
Hideki is playing Los Angeles

Spieth has a chance to get into the #1 talk at the WGC, if he can win either Pebble or Los Angeles and a top 5 finish in the other event.

Nick Dougherty made quite a big deal about the unsporting heckling Matsuyama was getting, in particular mid-swing. I dozed off and missed it - was it bad? So glad he won if that is the case.

Ray - he did back off a couple of times but to be honest there was so much background noise it was difficult to tell precisely what or how much was directed at Hideki. One wild scream was rightly met by a chorus of boos from the crowd. He was smiling throughout and didn't seem disturbed at all.

GPB,
I was thinking the exact same thing, in general of course, didn't have your level of detail. Wouldn't it be nice if Adam Scott entered the discussion Riviera/Honda/WGC as he did last year?


ray, Agree w/puligny; not sure the extent to which it was malicious or not. Along the same lines, for reasons I can't imagine, Justin Rose also seems to get more than his share of interference at tournaments. It happened big time at Chambers Bay, then a couple of times last year and then I noticed some possible problems with him backing off/turning round again a few weeks ago.