PGA Tour: San Diego - He's Baaack!: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Yup, following a season most notable for three runner-up finishes, one of them a very, very near miss, Justin Rose is back in PGA Tour action for the first time since his victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions in November.
And not just that win, but he also brings a string of TEN consecutive Top Ten finishes worldwide (plus last week's aberrational T21 in Abu Dhabi) in owgr-eligible tournaments to San Diego's Torrey Pines.
Without drilling too far down his career record, I'd imagine that's his longest sustained run of excellence, and to that lot he can also point to a T4 at last year's "Farmers Insurance Open".

2).Whether justified or not, I've always regarded Rose as something of a momentum golfer, as of course most are. But his "momentum" is usually dictated by the health of his body and his putting stroke. Tough to put stats together from tournaments in some of the diverse places he's plied his trade recently, but perhaps both components are now in excellent working order? Or as much as they can be following travel from Abu Dhabi.

3).No doubt like any other Pro worth his salt, Rose would love any Major that came his way, but it's his record at Augusta National that really stands out, his win at Merion notwithstanding.
Played: 12
Cuts made: 12
Top tens: 5
Last 3 years: T2, T10, 2 (play-off loss to Sergio)
Given that he worked (and travelled) pretty hard last autumn, one just hopes his schedule allows adequate recovery time before returning to this year's Masters.

4).At the risk of having missed someone obvious, this is a league table of Europeans under 50 at Majors:
Top tens:
23: Garcia
18: Westwood
16: McIlroy
15: Harrington
13: Rosey
11: Stenson
9: Casey
8: Bjorn, Donald, Poults

5).Top threes:
9: Westwood
7: Garcia, McIlroy
6: Stenson
4: Bjorn, Rose

Of course, another bloke is coming back to Tour action this week and he knocks this lot into the proverbial cocked hat:
Woods: Top tens: 38. Top threes: 24

6).The upcoming four events are at least as strong as any four consecutive weeks on Tour, Majors excluded, three of them with fantastic host courses:
Torrey Pines, Phoenix, Pebble Beach, Riviera - any string of events beat that lot? Certainly not any WGC's.

7).The migration of double-dippers begins in earnest in San Diego, with Harrington, Lowry, Molinari and Noren joining Justin Rose. Poulter flies west next week and the following week sees Casey, McDowell and Mcilroy.  

8).After noting last week that the Tour's season is about 25% of the way through, let's have a butcher's at the top Europeans in the all-important FedEx Points list, by position:
2nd: Rahm
10th: Rose
23rd: Cejka(!) (Will what happened in Vegas stay in Vegas or does he have more form to show? Usually plays well @ Pebble for instance.)
34th: Rafa C-B
44th: Stenson
53rd: Casey
60th: Knox
That'll change soon!

9).The Tour Champions defending their titles this next month or so are: Rahm this week, Matsuyama, Spieth at PB, Dustin, Fowler, DJ again - a pretty stout list.
As is the shorter list of the last three Farmers winners: Rahm, Snedeker, Day. Day and Snedeker both have excellent form here but you wouldn't bet on the health and/or form of either.
One pro who's been going through an awful time recently is Harris English and he had a dismal start (five missed cuts) to the season; but he conjured up an 11th place effort last week, has some course form, and might just be worth a tanner each way at a very long price this week. I'll go with Leishman as my one-and-done but his recent form has been up and down, to say the least.

10).Tiger Woods tees off with new BFF Patrick Reed and local lad Charley Hoffman, and has 8 W's here. Great that he's back and one hopes that his play matches the breathless anticipation. Even more important that his body holds up - if he makes the cut I can easily see him finishing Top Ten. And then he'll be talking Ryder Cup selection.
And on that subject, great to see Sergio, Fleetwood and Rahm scoring wins last week - but I would suggest that it's at least as important that Rose and Stenson stay fit and in form for Paris. They were neither in Minnesota, but their leadership and points will be crucial to bring the RC back to Europe. Whether Tiger is playing or not.

NB: Happy to see Justin will host the British Masters at Walton Heath. Great for WH to be showcased again.

Remarkable win from Li HaoTong.  Would never thought Rory would give up a 2 shot lead with 6 holes to play. Should get to #32 pending Farmers results.
Stenson will fall out of the Top 10, for the first time in 232 weeks.
Spieth at 164 weeks has the longest tenure inside the OWGR. Since December 2014.
Only three players have been inside the Top 10 for the last 52 weeks, Spieth (164), DJ (151) and Hideki (65).
Hatton will pass Casey and possibly Day in the OWGR.  If Noren wins, he will pass all three of them, and Leishman too to the #13 spot, just behind Fleetwood.
Fritelli & HaoTong Li have tentatively passed Mickelson. With Steele at T16, Mickelson reign in the Top 50 is in jeopardy.  He needs a good round today.
Poulter might move up a couple of spots this week but really not gaining on that critical #50 spot.

Right, we've had a Chinese winner and an American winner so far today; would be disappointing if, after last week's hat-trick, Europeans were shut out today.
So, unless Russell Knox can go crazy low, it's up to Alex Noren, Rosey & Rahm to keep the flags flying in San Diego. Should be another great day for scoring, temps reaching 80 this afternoon (which will presumably firm the greens up even more).


Just found an old list of tournament tee-times from 2006. Bubba Watson, Ryan Palmer, Matt Every and a (very) young Jason Day - hadn't realised he was there! Plus other Aussies Craig Parry, Brendan Jones and Scott Hend! Plus plenty of others I've long since forgotten - whatever happened to Forrest Gump's brother Scott for instance? Runner up in The Players once.

Worth mentioning that Haotong was already in the Masters thanks to his finish at last year’s Open. The OWGR will get him into Mexico after today’s win though. Frittelli and Levy also starting to circle the top fifty along with Poults.

Really hoping Noren gets it done today, I’ve been anticipating big things for him for years before he got derailed by injury. Certainly got the game for big events more than a lot of European Tour exports, but I wasn’t sure if he had the confidence to get it done outside of Europe.

Rahm should be leading this tournament, but pretty much self destructed from the middle of the fairway on 18 ... and with an iron in his hand. He looked a bit like pea brain as he dumped it in the water. He certainly has the firepower to bounce back today however.

Yup, a win for Noren would set him up for the next three years - a big ask however, lots of likely lads breathing down his neck. (Rahm not out of it, pea-brained or not.)

Sounds as if Siralex has his next few months all planned out:
Phoenix, Riviera, Honda, Mexico, Hay Bill, Match Play, Augusta, Harbour Town - according to the GC.

Tasty threesome just starting out: Woods, Franny, Hideki.

A rahmbling performance on 18.

Conditions WERE perfect - where did this wind come from?!

And: Where did JB Holmes come from? No top tens for over six months and now tied for the lead.
Rahm now tied with Woods, but still has 4 x Par-5's to play - Noren, Rose and Knox still well in this.

What’s going on with the pace of play?? I’m keeping half an eye on the leaderboard whilst doing Sunday night jobs, only it doesn’t seem to be moving.....

Ned, They're all clogged up on the Par-3 3rd - pace of play not improved as CT Pan's chances in the toilet after he took an EIGHT there.
Woods's group could well be waiting on the tee for half an hour.

That won’t help. Are Woods Franny and Hideki slotted in behind or in front of the final group?

They are behind the final group on the course

Playing two groups behind; Hoge, Hadwin and Danny Lee in between.

There’s like a 25 minute wait on the 3rd

Lovely tap in birdie for Noren, one stroke lead. Now for the Par-5's.
Thought Justin Rose would play well today, but not giving himself any chances so far.
Garrigus with the best round on the course at -3, three -2's and then a handful of -1's, including TW. Not getting any easier by the looks of things.

Day next to Noren at -11 and Noren now in trouble

Noren ‘saves’ his bogey on the par 5 6th and only drops back to -10

The new bloke in the sky sports studio is painful to listen to. The lady who presents it is bad enough but together it's almost unwatchable.

Noren back to -11 and tied for the lead with Day

Day moves to -12

Doesn't seem the wind is such a factor as it was an hour or so ago. Another nice putt from Noren; now he's got to take advantage of the 9th. (Which Rose messed up.)

Come on Alex Noren let’s get the job done

Noren's got to give himself some shorter par putts - he ain't gonna make all of these four or five footers.
Four horse race?

Good call Kwini, Noren misses a short par putt

Oracle Kwini

Rahm has no chance to claim the #1 spot in the OWGR next week.  (Unless he does something spectacular on 17 and 18).

He needs a solo 16th or better to have a chance.

Looks as if Noren's in deep weeds on #14; if he falls behind, perhaps he can relax and attack the four remaining holes.

Rahm just bogeyed 17 so we know the answer to his prospects for #1.

Or maybe Noren'll still be tied for the lead. WOW!!!

Happy to see Keegs continue his steady return to the fringe of contention. Very consistent on certain courses; a longshot for Riviera?

Been catching the last half hour of this, looks pretty tricky out there. But Day should win this, birdie on 18 should do it. But good for noren, whats his status based on for pga tour?

Keegs will have been wondering whether he needed to get back out on the range for a few minutes there. Wasn’t there a story of a journeyman pro back in the 80s who signed his card, got comfy in the clubhouse bar and watched the leaders make a mess of things? Had to go out and attempt a playoff four or five beers down....

Jb holmes is gone. Day not guaranteed his birdie on 18. Maybe Noren?

JB Holmes takes far too long...no wonder he has had a bad patch

It’s not exactly a list of quick guys at the top of the leaderboard. Noren and Day love a deliberation. And then there’s Keegs.

JB makes everyone look like they are playing at John Daly pace

Noren has balls, I'll give him that

This is ridiculous from JB Holmes

Jb holmes killed noren

Where's John Paramor when you need him? When you think about how he did Ross Fisher at Celtic Manor a few years ago, why can't anyone step in and apply a penalty.
Sorry GPB, you'll hate this post, but JB Holmes gets away with crap like this thru'out his career. Hope Noren finds a way to ice him.

I honestly feel for noren. I'm not staying up for the playoff

Everyone moans about Jay Day being slow, and yet the final group fell miles behind him, 30 mins or more?

ray,
There was another threesome between them, so not quite that bad.
Looking forward to the play-off, JB on his bike.
Stay up ben!

ok I'm going to bed. This play off will take too long, and the sky pundit in the studio is getting on my nerves, what a d!ck.

If anyone is still awake have a bit of trivia to keep you going in the playoff. Noren could become the tenth Swede to win a PGA Tour event.... the other nine?

"Jason Day is going to get a lot of shearage in the L1 L2 position". What ever that means. For our US forum people, this is the kind of insightful punditry the British viewers are listening to when the US network goes to commercials.

NedB-H wrote:If anyone is still awake have a bit of trivia to keep you going in the playoff. Noren could become the tenth Swede to win a PGA Tour event.... the other nine?

Gabriel Hjeshdedt ( or something like it) was the first.
Jesper, Freddie, Richard S, Henrik, gosh, Alex Noren

More soon!

Chopra

Hjerthingy is the left field one, good work. Wonder what happened to him.

No idea who the guy on Sky Sports is this week, but at least he’s not Mark Roe. Wish they’d get Gary Christian back, him and Denis Pugh are the only good ones.

Since 1970, More Swedes than Englishmen have won on the PGATour.

Probably more Swedish Women than Englishwomen have won on the LPGATour.

edit: Duh...LPGA Tour

Nick Bradley is his name, hopefully Sky don’t use him again, in the near future anyway

Impressive golf from both!! But what a shot from Day

Good stat that GPB. Jacklin, Oosterhuis, Faldo, Westy, Poults, Casey, Willett, Rose?