PGA Tour: John Deere Classic - 6 Weeks To Go: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).6 weeks to go, that is, in the 2016/2017 Tour season; just 5 weeks if a player doesn't qualify for the PGA Championship. The calendar looks like this:
John Deere Classic (Quad Cities)
Open Championship / Barbasol Championship (Alabama)
RBC Canadian Open
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational / Barracuda Championship (Reno)
PGA Championship
Wyndham Championship (Greensboro)
Then the FedEx Play-Offs start with Northern Trust action, next season to resume at the Safeway tournament in early October.

2).This week the Tour has moved to America's Mid-West, the Quad Cities either side of the Mississippi (Iowa to the west, Illinois to the east); some in the field will be in Lancashire next week so a charter is provided for those playing both weeks, though presumably anyone missing Friday's 36-hole cut high-tail it to Chicago and fly out early so that they can catch an extra couple of days of cricket from Trent Bridge. This week's winner also gets a ticket to Birkdale as well as the normal perks, so plenty to play for.

3).Last week saw the first win by a Xander, Schauffele perhaps making a name for himself before Zander Lombard passes the winning post. Schauffele finished 5th at Erin Hills and seems to have a pretty rounded game, but for every young Spieth or Berger or Thomas, there's a highly-touted young gun or three that is launched out of college onto the Tour in a flurry of sponsor exemptions and either doesn't fancy it or doesn't quite have the right stuff.
We watched Sanderson Farms winner Cody Gribble stumble round Hartford a few weeks ago; sure he enjoyed an early win, but I'd be surprised if went on to a solid Tour career unless he undergoes an attitude adjustment. At least Gribble will dribble his way into the Play-Offs, but last year's winner straight out of the stalls, Smylie Kaufman, has struggled this year and competes this week at 134th in the FedEx points list. Only time will tell if he's anything more than best buddies with Spieth or has the fortitude to carve out a good career.

4).Along these lines is the curious case of Bryson DeChambeau, he of the set of irons, all the same length. He's surely made more money this year in endorsements than on the course, but seems to be finding some form at last. Faldo expressed the opinion on CBS last weekend that he was not in favour of the one-length-fits-all irons strategerie, that it limits him and doesn't offer an outlet for a Plan B when things go awry. Not sure but DeChambo certainly goes through some troughs along with occasional good results; he suffered thru eight straight missed cuts before stitching together a hat-trick of Top 26's the past three weeks.

5).The Greenbrier's Old White course looked great last week; hadn't realised they'd had to replace all the greens, which makes the recovery from the floods even more impressive. If robopz is correct, expect to see this tournament played a week earlier next year. Which reminds me: Don't think the 2017/2018 Tour Schedule has been published yet. Has it?  

6).Regardless, the PGA Of America calendar shows its Championships still scheduled for August, and not the much-speculated move to May:
Quail Hollow (Charlotte) this year, Bellerive (St.Louis) in 2018, etc. Including 2022 at TI Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
TI GC is, coincidentally, hosting this week's US Women's Open for the USGA.

7).It sounds as if the USGA's executive committee reviewed inflammatory comments by the Bedminster course's owner a couple of years ago and considered moving the Championship - USA Today reported this week that USGA Executive Director, Mike Davis, told committee members, "You can't do that. He's going to sue us." That's par for every course for course owner Drumpf, but it's usually just bullying bluster; he seldom wins when he does sue and being POTUS won't make any difference.
But one might suggest that the R&A would be playing with fire if Turnberry were awarded The Open Championship anytime soon, or at least under current ownership.
Meanwhile, no comment from the USGA or Drumpf Organization. Or from The Kremlin.

8).Ben Curtis has followed Scott Piercy in withdrawing from The Open, and is replaced in the field by Tony Finau - anyone going to Birkdale would do worse than to follow Finau for a few holes. He absolutely murders the ball off the tee with a much lower flight, for instance, than Dustin Johnson. If only his short game were as impressive, but it's not quite there yet. Meanwhile, James Hahn is first in the revised "alternate" queue, followed by Danny Lee.

9).Very few Europeans playing the excellent Weibring design at TPC Deere Run; those who turn up badly need to turbo-charge their game if they want to secure fully exempt Tour status for next season. The list, with their current FedEx position:
Gonzo: 175th
Owen: 153rd
Cejka: 138th
Pettersson: 195th
Power: 145th (someone needs to remind Seamus of the value of finishing in the Top 150)
. . . . plus qualifier Sam Horsfield.

10).That's about it for this week - Notes next week will focus on the Barbasol Championship, so early warning for someone who knows plenty more about Birkdale than I ever will to start an Open Championship thread.

Curtis out Finau in.

McLaren wrote:Curtis out Finau in.

Proof positive that you never read these notes!!


But I know you like the weather outlook so:
The Quad Cities could have heavy storms tonight, but hopefully they'll clear up, not cause any damage, and play can start promptly Thursday. Chances of rain thru'out but, if they can dodge tonight's bullet, nothing serious.

Good write-up Kwini,

BTW...did you know that Ben Curtis pulled out of Birkdale, replaced by Tony Finau?  

Here is Seamus Power's twitter if you want to remind him of the importance of the Top 150

https://twitter.com/power4seamus?lang=en

2016-17 PGATour schedule was released at the end of June 2016. I think they might be waiting on the status of the Quicken Loans tournament.

!!!!
I have a Twitter account but never post on it! So many irons in smouldering fires it would be tough. So never post at all!

Agree about the Quickens, but surprised they haven't at least posted the 2017 part of it, showing how the Korea adventure fits in. All they seem to have confirmed so far is the Safeway starting on Thursday, Oct 5th, the week following the Presidents Cup.

Along the lines of Tony Finau, third alternate is now Jim Furyk.

Good notes Kwini...    

I wouldn't read anything into the 2017-18 PGAT schedule not being released yet, as it wasn't released until late July the year before.  But there are lots of balls in the air beyond just the Quicken Loans National...  But the late 2017 schedule is set as follows:

Sep 28-Oct 1 - Presidents Cup
Oct 2-8 - Safeway Open
Oct 9-15 - CIMB Classic
Oct 16-22 - CJ Cup at Nine Bridges - Korea
Oct 23-29 - WGC-HSBC Champions
Oct 23-29 - Sanderson Farms Championship
Oct 30-Nov 5 - Shriners Hospitals for Children Open
Nov 6-12 - OHL Classic at Mayakoba
Nov 13-19 - RSM Classic

Balls in the air:

1. WGC-HSBC - Issues with schizo Chinese attitude on golf has already forced PGA Tour China into "hiatus".  No concrete indications WGC-HSBC is in jeopardy... but the Korea event coming in with a $9.25 mil purse (almost WGC level) raises some eyebrows. My thoughts when I saw that was to question if Korea was being positioned for a future new WGC or maybe to transfer China's WGC there if there are "issues".

2. Tournament of Champions - SBS (Seoul Broadcasting, PGAT's Korea broadcast partner) is committed as ToC title sponsor thru 2019, but they were a player in the new CJ Cup Korea event so there's questions if there might be some musical chairs going on there.  Hyundai had the ToC for a while as a "farm out" from SBS, before leaving to take Los Angeles (Genesis)... which leads us to...

3. Genesis took over the final year of Northern Trust's contract in L.A.  But no extension of that contract for 2018 or beyond was announced this year. Seems kinda odd the topic was avoided.

4. AT&T has not "formally" announced an extension with the Byron Nelson as they were expected to do this past May.  ALL signs are they are long term as they were involved in the development of the new Nelson venue Trinity Forest and have Dallas favorite son Jordan Spieth as the sole racehorse in their player sponsorship stable as well.  But still... no announcement is no announcement.  

5. Quicken Loans leaving the "National" has been discussed. As far as I know it's not 100% the National is dead... but if it doesn't walk like a duck anymore, or quack like a duck anymore... is it still a duck?  Doubtful.

6. Boston - "White Knight" Dell's deal with Boston is year to year.  There's been speculation of the playoffs being reduced to 3 events with Boston being the casualty and with the upcoming PGA move to May and playing playoffs earlier some events might be shed from the schedule. But Monahan seemed to strongly signal at his presser at the Players that it wasn't the Tour's plan to reduce the event count. So no sure thing a 4th playoff event or it being in Boston is out. Which brings us to:....

7. 3M Championship in Minnesota - Speculation has been it will take the National's spot, but if the National somehow survives it could also take the Boston playoff spot.

Have a good week...

Thanks for the update robo

But you've omitted the elephant in your room: Houston!!

kwini

Sorry, didn't have time to read the notes this morning and just posted as this was the most recent thread.

I have read them now, and wow only 6 weeks left of the regular season. That will have come as an even bigger shock to some of the players than it did to me.

On DeShampoo do you know when he switched to the one length irons,, as I know he had them for a fair bit of his college career but I assume he hasn't used them since he took up the game.

kwinigolfer wrote:Thanks for the update robo

But you've omitted the elephant in your room: Houston!!

Sorry... totally omitted Houston... maybe I just don't want to think about it.   Rumors were around that QL had  met with Steve Timms of the HGA and might be moving a title sponsorship here.  I can not confirm those rumors are true or false, but I am close enough to some in position to have more insight than I who doubt it.  They don't know positively it's not true, but they doubt it.   BUT FWIW... I'm also getting some more positive vibes of late.  One thing for sure though, whatever is or isn't going on with he Houston Title Sponsor front, its damn clear the order of the day is for anyone in the know to STFU about it.  My only reliable source retired last year... so I've lost my direct pipeline.  

Another thing IS for sure in a positive vein.... HGA has the reserves to self fund for at least one year (with resources to draw on to possibly go longer if need be) and have committed to doing so for 2018.. so Houston won't be booted off next year's schedule.  But without a strong sponsor, they could get nudged out of their coveted pre-Masters spot. It's no secret Valero wants the spot...

McLaren wrote:On DeShampoo do you know when he switched to the one length irons,, as I know he had them for a fair bit of his college career but I assume he hasn't used them since he took up the game.

Maybe DeChapeau has finally realized the only golf science that really matters is the mathematics of  Lower Scores = Better Results.  

I still believe the guy has a lot of talent and potential, if he'll concentrate on honing his game instead of reinventing golf right now...  

1: Can't be only 6 weeks left of the regular season  
2: Reminds me of those weeks where Brian Davis and Greg Owen were the only ones to cheer for.
3: David Gossett.
4: The lads doing something different, Faldo should back off, Bryson's been very busy balancing off course commitments with practice and playing. Im sure he'll figure out a balance.
5:Too busy watching another Spaniard make his first ET win at the Irish Open.. I was at the other one, 1999 in Druids Glen...
6: The PGA in May would be very weird, I wouldn't know where I am for the rest of the summer.
7: Curiouser and curiouser.
8: Ben Curtis for the Open, Cummon!!
9: One shot at a time Seamus, don't mind this shower of pups! And No Tweeting! The cheek!!
10: Time for Padraig to do a "balls from the notewasher".

Has Charles Howell decided not to take up his open spot?

sirbenson wrote:Has Charles Howell decided not to take up his open spot?

Not sure, I think Ben Curtis is out though...

Actually the Open sign wasn't beside his name for a while
on the PGA Tour but it's reappeared, so my mistake

Andres Romero eligible to play the Scottish Open, presumably(?), but competing at the JDC instead. Best US round for ages, in with a 4-under 67 including 8 birdies. That's his best US effort and first round in the 60's since last November!
I know he hasn't shown it recently, OK then, not in this decade, but Romero can play!

Return from hibernation from Sabbatini as well, two strokes behind leader CHIII.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/golf/us-pga-championship-set-for-tv-blackout-as-sky-lose-rights-1.3154087

So Sky were raving about there golf channel while they knew they were in the middle of losing rights of one of the majors...bizarre

Is Ben Curtis playing?

Who cares?

What's that whooshing noise?

Just another gag going right over Super's head

I've got a cheeky few quid on Curtis for the open, maybe a backdoor top 5.

In other news, young Englishman, recently turned pro, Sam Horsfield shot 66 at the John Deere, good for a T7 after Round 1.

sirbenson wrote:https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/golf/us-pga-championship-set-for-tv-blackout-as-sky-lose-rights-1.3154087

So Sky were raving about there golf channel while they knew they were in the middle of losing rights of one of the majors...bizarre

Can anyone fill in the holes in the story. Who is the other media outlet (BBC?).

GPB wrote:

sirbenson wrote:https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/golf/us-pga-championship-set-for-tv-blackout-as-sky-lose-rights-1.3154087

So Sky were raving about there golf channel while they knew they were in the middle of losing rights of one of the majors...bizarre

Can anyone fill in the holes in the story.  Who is the other media outlet (BBC?).  

Looks like they are moving away from traditional television all together. Possibly their own streaming service? Not much detail of their "plan".

GPB

The other options would be BT sport, BBC, Channel 4 or ITV, with that being the order of most to least likely to show the PGA champs.

As for filling in the holes of the story there is little information in the UK media about what exactly went sour with Sky/PGAofA. Although you have to think that the PGAofA would have allowed sky to show it had the price been right.

Can't imagine the outrage among UK golf fans if the PGA final round features a few players like Rose/Rory/Fleetwood etc in contention.

Rory's going to have to start making cuts to play in final rounds!

GPB wrote:Can't imagine the outrage among UK golf fans if the PGA final round features a few players like Rose/Rory/Fleetwood etc in contention.

Meh.

DeShampoo must have been reading this weeks notes... very decent round today.

GPB wrote:Can't imagine the outrage among UK golf fans if the PGA final round features a few players like Rose/Rory/Fleetwood etc in contention.

Very hypothetical there GPB...

Hootie Johnson, former Augusta National Chairman, died this morning.

One less Hootie, but plenty of Blowfish.

Awful field for next week's Barbasol, only matched by the abysmal performance by Europeans at the John Deere. But happy to see Seamus Power hanging on by the skin of his teeth; MDF's after 54 holes so something in the 60's tomorrow will go a long way.

With only 6 weeks to go I have looked through the fedex rankings and tried to pick out the Europeans.

5. Rahm
17. Garcia
21. Rose
25. Casey
37. Molinari, F.
44. Laird
57. Blixt
64. Knox
71. McIlroy
79. RCB
82. Poulter
91. Donald
94. Lingmerth
95. Stenson
109. G-mac
130. Shane
141. Kjeldsen
145. Power
153. Owen
184. Beef
188. Paddy
215. Freddie Jac
219. Willett


I bit of a mixed bag but what stands out is the number of big names that need to play all the play offs to meet their minimum that are currently going to struggle to play more than one or two of the play offs.

McLaren wrote:With only 6 weeks to go I have looked through the fedex rankings and tried to pick out the Europeans.

5. Rahm
17. Garcia
21. Rose
25. Casey
37. Molinari, F.
44. Laird
57. Blixt
64. Knox
71. McIlroy
79. RCB
82. Poulter
91. Donald
94. Lingmerth
95. Stenson
109. G-mac
130. Shane
141. Kjeldsen
145. Power
153. Owen
184. Beef
188. Paddy
215. Freddie Jac
219. Willett


I bit of a mixed bag but what stands out is the number of big names that need to play all the play offs to meet their minimum that are currently going to struggle to play more than one or two of the play offs.

Who are you thinking of in particular, Mac?

Stenson & Lowry are the only dodgy ones that I can see, at least of those whose season has not been interrupted by injury.
Wounded soldiers would include Rory, Padraig, Freddie Jac.
Johnston & Willett seem to have given up, and the rest of the questionable ones don't have full status.

Kwini

Those you mention above and possibly Rory (I am not as convinced as you that he will just get a by) and RCB. Both could easily only make the first play off event if they have a dodgy summer.

Mac,
Rafa will play Open, B'stone & PGA. No messing.
And: Tour would be stupid to zap Rory.

GPB wrote:Can't imagine the outrage among UK golf fans if the PGA final round features a few players like Rose/Rory/Fleetwood etc in contention.

Not a lot of difference tbh. So many don't have a subscription to Sky Sports in any case.

Kwini

Just checked and it looks like RCB might not need to make any of the play offs to reach his 15. He must play a really full schedule, and actually quite sensible schedule. Is it wise to assume you will play a certain number of the play offs?

RCB needs to make the playoffs if he wants to play the PGATour next year.

At 79th in the standings and 479 pts, RCB has clinched a spot in the Playoffs.  He has played 13 events, and he is presumably playing Birkdale, Akron, and PGA.  

Stenson is the player treading a fine line.  He has played 9 events, and has to play 6 events.

I guess he is expecting to play Birkdale, B-Stone, and the PGA plus three playoff events.  At this point, he is not guaranteed to play two playoff events, let alone three.

FWIW, Ryder Cups count as an event towards the 15 tourney minimum, but I am not sure if the 2016 Ryder Cup counts towards the 2015-16 season or the 2016-17 season.

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

Edit: Robo tells me that the 2016 Ryder Cup counts towards the 2016-17 season. Stenson has to play five events to get his minimum. Two playoff events is not guaranteed for him.

Birdies and eagles flying at the John Deere; par for the day looks like being either 3 or four under par. Seamus Power going nicely but treading water on the leaderboard despite being 3-under par for the day after 10 holes.

Rick Lamb (no, I don't know anything about him either) currently -9 for the round, 5 holes still to play. 59 watch? There's been one here before you know: #Paul Goydos.

http://www.globalgolfpost.com/journey-of-david-duval?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral Fascinating article about David Duval

At least Rory seems to be working on a new swing

https://www.europeantour.com/en/europeantour/tournaments/2017/aberdeen-asset-management-scottish-open/the-left-handed-challenge/

Just read tgat sky haven't got the masters coverage for next year yet. The bbc have the weekend all signed up though.

Off and running for Round 4 of the John Deere Classic.
One-time College hot-shot Patrick Rodgers has the lead, by two from Berger and Stallings, but scores have been low and we could be set for a shoot-out.

Coincidentally, three of the four rookies from the 2006 US Ryder Cup team, JJ Henry, Vaughn Taylor and Zach Johnson, are in the Top 10 - fair to say their careers have gone in different directions, a star, two relative journeymen. Number Four has plunged to obscurity, Brett Wetterich who burst onto the scene, got injured and largely disappeared; an alternate for the coming week's Barbasol tournament though.

Also coincidentally, the parochial European interest today is confined to the 8.37 a.m. tee-time, with Sam Horsfield and Seamus Power playing together. Excellent rounds by both on Saturday, but need to go low again today, especially Power who still has an outside chance of reaching the season-ending Top 125.

Bryson DeChambeau putting rankings. With all those different measurements, I would think he would do something well against his peers. If he can figure out his putting, he will be a regular contender on the PGATour.

195th … STROKES GAINED PUTTING
153rd … PUTTING AVERAGE
123rd … OVERALL PUTTING
142nd … ONE PUTT PERCENTAGE
153rd … 3 PUTT AVOIDANCE
124TH … PUTTS PER ROUND
113TH … PUTTS PER ROUND - ROUND 1
130TH … PUTTS PER ROUND - ROUND 2
139TH … PUTTS PER ROUND - ROUND 3
71ST … PUTTS PER ROUND - ROUND 4
90TH … PUTTING FROM 3'
76TH … PUTTING FROM 4'
114TH … PUTTING FROM 5'
166TH … PUTTING FROM 6'
154TH … PUTTING FROM 7'
190TH … PUTTING FROM 8'
158TH … PUTTING FROM 9'
159TH … PUTTING FROM 10'
182ND … PUTTING FROM 4-8'
198TH … PUTTING - INSIDE 10'
142ND … PUTTING FROM - 10-15'
45TH … PUTTING FROM - 15-20'
157TH … PUTTING FROM - 20-25'
176TH … PUTTING FROM - > 25'
25TH … LONGEST PUTTS
109TH … APPROACH PUTT PERFORMANCE

Interesting comments yesterday for McCord, Pepper and IB-F about DeCh; basically saying that, whatever else he does, he needs to get more open-face wedges, for chipping from the rough and, especially his sand play. He had a downhill lie in the sand yesterday and just about skulled his shot, ended up making an 8-footer for bogey. Jury still out for me.

Seamus Powering his way up the leaderboard now, five holes to play and two or three more birds would taste pretty good.

Power in with a 67 which means he was -9 for the weekend. Fine play and he'll move up a spot or two in the FedEx points list, though highly likely his current 20th place on the leaderboard will be more like 30th in a couple of hours.

Seamus must have got the message that the Top 150 is important.

Nice win for DeChapeau!

He is like Frank Sinatra...he does it his way.

GPB wrote:Nice win for DeChapeau!

He is like Frank Sinatra...he does it his way.

What a finish!
Not sure he'll ever reach my Top 200 fave golfers, but what a way to finish.

Patrick Rodgers must be doing some soul-searching right now . . . . . . . .

Open Championship field complete.