PGA Tour: The Players: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Well done to Tyrrell Hatton, great win at Bay Hill which continued the run of non-American winners - Day, Leishman, McIlroy, Molinari, Hatton.
This was also an Open Championship qualifier and Keith Mitchell (for the second year running), Danny Lee and Dahmen get to battle the traffic at Royal St.George's in July.

2).For the second week running, the course set-up seemed to make scoring unnecessarily tricky given the prevailing weather conditions. A war of attrition, but not necessarily the most attractive golf for the TV viewer to enjoy.
Hopefully the set-up at TPC Sawgrass will enable the world's best to play their shots.

3).Scott Piercy made news for all the wrong reasons last week and now Tour Commish Monahan has expressed disappointment "in the lack of judgment used" and "that it has been addressed with Scott directly". Good thing Monahan didn't say "he knows better" because Piercy clearly doesn't. But his sponsors do, thankfully, tho' any Tour punishment will be kept unpublished - unless he starts missing tournaments, from which we might draw our own conclusions.
Personally, I'd like to have seen his "invitation" to Bay Hill revoked, but no such disapproval reported from the API.

4).Interesting graph from princedrac's twitter account this week showing the top ten owgr points-getters at The Players:
Four Americans: Woods, DLIII, Furyk, Couples
Three Aussies: Elk, Scott, Shark
Nick Price
Sergio & Langer
A good week, of which there haven't been many recently, will see Garcia can jump from 2nd to 1st, ahead of Tiger.

5).That's reflective of an international honours board with eight of the last twelve winners being "overseas" players.
And first-timers at TPC have a tough time too - after Jerry Pate won on the course's debut in 1982, only Hal Sutton and Craig Perks have won trophy on their first trip. Leading "rookie" last year was Eddie Pepperell who stormed home in 3rd place - but he's busy trying to figure out how you get dq'd three times in less than 2 years.

6).This week looks like the exact halfway point of the pre-Play-Off PGA Tour season, the 23rd event out of a total of 46. About 50 pros have already won enough FedEx Points to assure them a tee-time at the Northern Trust, Round 1 of the FedEx Cup Play-Offs.
Not many are Europeans: McIlroy, Hatton, Rahm, Hovland.

7).And only Fleetwood among other Europeans is comfortably placed, for now.
Those who have struggled this season so far, but are exempt at least through next year, include McDowell (79th), Casey (93rd), Lowry (140th), Molinari (168th), Donald (assuming he takes another earnings exemption - 172nd), Garcia (179th), Willett (181st), Stenson (197th), Wallace (202nd), Rose (205th),
While this lot, all not yet exempt for 2020/21 have it all to do: Straka (82nd), Norlander (84th), Knox (90th), Fitzpatrick (100th), Noren (107th), Rafa C-B (120th), Poulter (128th), Cappelen (130th), Laird (158th), Ventura (175th), Power (201st), Bjerregard (224th), Lewis (227th), plus 3 or 4 others on more tenuous status.

8).But one or two American "faces" are also struggling, with these three less than half-way to a Play-Off goal about 400 pts:
110th: Spieth
111th: D.Johnson
213th: Koepka

9).The Florida "Swing" has a musical chairs of dates next year, starting with Bay Hill, then The Players, followed by "Honda". No word yet on how Valspar fits in, but hopefully retains its fourth slot in Florida.

10).Finally, the Top 64 in the owgr's after The Players will qualify for the WGC-MatchPlay in Austin in a fortnight's time.

Any Valspar Notes will be added here next week.

GPB wrote:Super doesn't have any ratings from Australia, or Korea, or Japan, or South Africa.

Super constantly complains that I am USA Centric, but there he goes, ignoring the other 98% of the world.

Lets look at a ratings comparison between the 2020 Farmers and the 2018 Ryder Cup.

USA - Centric of course, to keep it Apples to Apples.

FWIW, the 2020 Farmers maxed out at 3.2 Million viewers

https://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2020/1/28/whew-ratings-return-without-nfl-return-of-stars-at-2020-farmers-insurance-open

and the 2018 Ryder Cup maxed out at 2.71 Million viewers

NBC’s final-day coverage on Sunday posted a total audience delivery of 2.71 million viewers across a 5 1/2-hour telecast (7AM-12:30PM ET), up 23 percent vs. 2014 (2.21m, Gleneagles, Scotland).

https://www.golfchannel.com/article/golf-central-blog/ratings-road-ryder-cup


Oh look, GPB actually PROVIDED citations

Conclusion.  The FARMERS is more Popular than the Ryder Cup!!

And you accuse me of being a strawman. Since when were we talking about the Ryder Cup?

Anyway I'm not surprised the Ryder Cup isn't as popular in the US seeing as you get pumped most of the time.

LMAO.

You poor little thing.

You just can't admit that you are wrong!

You are the one that is always comparing the PC to the RC.

GPB wrote:LMAO.

You poor little thing.

You just can't admit that you are wrong!

You are the one that is always comparing the PC to the RC.

All I've been saying is that the Presidents Cup isn't a big event and you've done nothing to counteract that.

super_realist wrote:

All I've been saying is that the Presidents Cup isn't a big event and you've done nothing to counteract that.

That is not all you been saying.

Should I go back and pull the posts were you said that no one cares about Presidents Cup?

"This is a niche event which holds very little interest in the golf world at all."

"...Christ Mac, I said very little interest, and I've not seen anything that suggests otherwise..."

Hmm. Dangerous to compare US ratings for tournaments in different time zones. I guess very few wake up at 2 am. to watch the Ryder Cup, whereas a 6 pm PT finish at the Farmers must be attractive for those on the East Coast.

pedro wrote:Hmm. Dangerous to compare US ratings for tournaments in different time zones. I guess very few wake up at 2 am. to watch the Ryder Cup, whereas a 6 pm PT finish at the Farmers must be attractive for those on the East Coast.

ITA, Very True.

But you do realize that Super was citing TV ratings on the Prez Cup that was conducted in Melbourne to that of a tournament staged in America.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.golfchannel.com/news/saturday-becomes-most-watched-cable-telecast-ever-presidents-cup%3famp

Now, I'm no expert on tv coverage. But this says it broke cable records. So was the live coverage only available on pay tv? Is the comparison to the farmers based on that being on network tv?

"cable records" for Presidents Cup . . . . . . .

In more sombre news, an interesting piece about the potential ravages of COVID-19 within Navajo Nation, though the eyes of Presidents Cupper Notah Begay:

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/notah-begay-iii-navajo-community-decimated-covid-19-crisis

Statistically, not a fraction of the impact so far as, say, Scotland (which is possibly 10% larger in terms of area), but also without a fraction of the resources of Scotland so this will get a lot worse for the Navajo before it ever gets better.

Yes, people that watch a "cable" broadcast can hardly be of the same quality as Network or, better yet, SKY or BBC viewers.

Some Open Championship Trivia

Lowest Scoring Avg with at least 20 rounds: Jordan Spieth (70.39, 28 rounds
Lowest Scoring Avg with at least 40 rounds: Jesper Parnevik (70.71, 42 rounds)
Lowest Scoring Avg with at least 60 & 80 rounds: Tiger Woods (70.85, 82 rounds)
Lowest Scoring Avg with at least 100 rounds: Ernie Els (70.88, 104 rounds).

In 1960, the field size was 74 players which was typical of the field size right after WWII

It increased to 108 players in 1961, then jumped to ~120 for a few years, then to ~130 players finally getting to the current field of ~150 players in 1971

Jack Nicklaus beat the field avg score in 70 of the 72 rounds he played from 1963 through 1980. 1965 Third round when he shot 77 and 1973 third round when he shot 76. His average finish in this time period was 3rd place.

For comparison, from 1997 through 2010, Tiger Woods played 56 rounds, beating the field average 51 of those rounds.

12 scores of 63 or better have been recorded. Only three of those times did the winner shoot a 63. Norman in 1986, Stenson in 2016, and Lowry in 2019

The highest round shot by an eventual winner was 76, by Paul Lawrie, in Round 3 of the 1999 Championship.

Hey I'm bored! Anything you want to know?

GPB wrote:

pedro wrote:Hmm. Dangerous to compare US ratings for tournaments in different time zones. I guess very few wake up at 2 am. to watch the Ryder Cup, whereas a 6 pm PT finish at the Farmers must be attractive for those on the East Coast.

ITA,  Very True.

But you do realize that Super was citing TV ratings on the Prez Cup that was conducted in Melbourne to that of a tournament staged in America.

Even worse. They tee’d off in the morning Aussie time which is US prime time / evening. First tee off on Sunday was at 7 pm ET. Should be better than (early) afternoon for a regular US event.

Pedro - What number should they have pulled? Please. Be. Specific. For a tournament no one cares about and with "cable" ratings.

And what next? The US team were wearing belts ...

pedro wrote:

GPB wrote:

pedro wrote:Hmm. Dangerous to compare US ratings for tournaments in different time zones. I guess very few wake up at 2 am. to watch the Ryder Cup, whereas a 6 pm PT finish at the Farmers must be attractive for those on the East Coast.

ITA,  Very True.

But you do realize that Super was citing TV ratings on the Prez Cup that was conducted in Melbourne to that of a tournament staged in America.

Even worse. They tee’d off in the morning Aussie time which is US prime time / evening. First tee off on Sunday was at 7 pm ET. Should be better than (early) afternoon for a regular US event.

"...First tee off on Sunday was at 7 pm ET..."

Not Sunday, but Saturday Night. You remember Saturday nights, before CV-19. Here in America, Saturday is a dead zone for TV Watching. People go out for dinner and movie. They might go to club and go dancing, over to friends house for Game Night.

Seen a few old masters videos on tv recently. I forgot how well Willet played in the final round. And also that Spieth struggled on 10/11 before his blow up at 12.

Also forgot Sergio was a cone from behind win aswell.

beninho wrote:Seen a few old masters videos on tv recently. I forgot how well Willet played in the final round. And also that Spieth struggled on 10/11 before his blow up at 12.

Also forgot Sergio was a cone from behind win aswell.

Too often when there's a choke involved, The one that actually wins doesn't get the credit he deserved.  Nick Faldo against Norman in '96 is another one that comes to mind.

He will for 2019 though . . . . . .

Just watching the 2018 Masters. Ewen Murray commented that no one has completed 4 rounds in the 60's. Strange that. 83 tournaments.

kwinigolfer wrote:He will for 2019 though . . . . . .

No doubt...  But none of those chokes were Spieth or Norman-ish...  Jack used to talk about his strategy of just playing conservative in majors and not making mistakes... And let the field come back to him.  Worked a lot apparently...

Franny was pretty close . . . . . . having said which, I hate the word "choke".

GPB wrote:

pedro wrote:

GPB wrote:

pedro wrote:Hmm. Dangerous to compare US ratings for tournaments in different time zones. I guess very few wake up at 2 am. to watch the Ryder Cup, whereas a 6 pm PT finish at the Farmers must be attractive for those on the East Coast.

ITA,  Very True.

But you do realize that Super was citing TV ratings on the Prez Cup that was conducted in Melbourne to that of a tournament staged in America.

Even worse. They tee’d off in the morning Aussie time which is US prime time / evening. First tee off on Sunday was at 7 pm ET. Should be better than (early) afternoon for a regular US event.

"...First tee off on Sunday was at 7 pm ET..."

Not Sunday, but Saturday Night.  You remember Saturday nights, before CV-19.  Here in America, Saturday is a dead zone for TV Watching.  People go out for dinner and movie.  They might go to club and go dancing, over to friends house for Game Night.  

Ok fair enough, Saturday night. Can’t believe it’s a dead’er zone than Sunday early pm though.

Shotrock wrote:Pedro - What number should they have pulled? Please. Be. Specific. For a tournament no one cares about and with "cable" ratings.

And what next? The US team were wearing belts ...

Just saying that time of day/night influence TV ratings, just as whichever tournament is played does. I’m sure one can pull stats to fit any agenda one might have. But comparing a 2 am Ryder Cup with a 7 pm Prez Cup or 2 pm Farmers doesn’t seem right.

Saturday Night, a 2.5 weeks before Christmas.

No one in their right mind would be out. They would not be out eating dinner. They would not be out going to a movie. They would not be out shopping. They would not be out at a holiday party with friends.

Not a chance.

It's been a terrible day for sporting greats.
First Stirling Moss, then Peter Bonetti and now Doug Sanders - second in three of the four Majors and 4th in the other, something of a nearly man but at the very highest level. Sad to see him go.


. . . . . . And Tim Brooke Taylor as well. Would Monty Python have become Monty Python without him? Funny man.

kwinigolfer wrote:It's been a terrible day for sporting greats.
First Stirling Moss, then Peter Bonetti and now Doug Sanders - second in three of the four Majors and 4th in the other, something of a nearly man but at the very highest level. Sad to see him go.


. . . . . . And Tim Brooke Taylor as well. Would Monty Python have become Monty Python without him? Funny man.

Doug Sanders was the Director of Golf here at the Woodlands Country Club when I first joined.  By that time, Doug had already greatly improved the field and popularity of the Houston Open by bringing in his friends to play and celebrities to the pro-am. To say the parties that week were EPIC would actually be a massive understatement. Oh the stories that he and his wing-man Mancil Davis told... and a bunch of them didn't even need telling... all of us were there.  In fact it was one such party that was the reason for Doug {ahem} "leaving" The Woodlands.  

Doug would then go on to bring the first Senior Tour Celebrity Classic event to Houston... and that pretty much restarted it all for a while.  Man that guy was something. NOT what you would expect. Not a big man, so softspoken and seemingly physically frail, but he was a FORCE... both on the golf course and off.   Rest in Peace Doug... you are MOST fondly remembered around these parts... (well... except for a few husbands here and there maybe...

So apparently Scottish Golf has canceled all remaining events for 2020, including the Scottish Open?

  https://twitter.com/DempsterMartin/status/1249732259751563264?s=19

Mancil Davis?
Is that the hole-in-one King?

Good memories robo . . . . . . . .

kwinigolfer wrote:Mancil Davis?
Is that the hole-in-one King?

Good memories robo . . . . . . . .

Yes...  Mancil was an assistant pro at The Woodlands at the time, then Head Pro under Sanders. Didn't last long after Doug left. We became really good friends and played tons of golf together. I even won one of his $million hole in one contests for charity. Didn't win the million but hit it a couple feet and got a set of Tour Edge irons as a consolation prize. 

Mancil was recently diagnosed with cancer in his jaw/mouth... Sigh.

PS to Mancil... Some people tried to question his hole-in-one records once. Turned out he had all of them verified. Thing about the guy, he was good for a club pro, but still probably nothing better than scratch at best. But on the par 3s the guy hit more quality lasers right at the flag than anybody I've ever seen at any level ever. It was literally uncanny. He could look like a high handicap hack on a par-4 before a par 3. Then dang near Hit the flag out of the hole on the par 3, then back to hacking it up on the next hole... then he would get to the next par 3, another dart.  Crazy really.

robopz wrote:PS to Mancil... Some people tried to question his hole-in-one records once. Turned out he had all of them verified. Thing about the guy, he was good for a club pro, but still probably nothing better than scratch at best. But on the par 3s the guy hit more quality lasers right at the flag than anybody I've ever seen at any level ever. It was literally uncanny. He could look like a high handicap hack on a par-4 before a par 3. Then dang near Hit the flag out of the hole on the par 3, then back to hacking it up on the next hole... then he would get to the next par 3, another dart.  Crazy really.

Sounds Moe Norman-esque.

From what I understand, Moe Norman was laser like with every club in his bag. Except his putter.

Wish I had a chance to see him play.

in 2000-2002, Sanders played the Bob Hope every year, with predictable results. edged out Arnold Palmer a couple of those years to avoid DFL.

Could not verify through the PGATour site (because it is cruddy) but I recall Sanders leading the tour in fairway percentage after three tournaments in one of those years. Perhaps at 100%. But his driving distance was something like 190 yds.

I never got to see him play much either, a few times on the Sr Tour. Someone once said he learned to swing in a phone booth.

Millennials would not know what a phone booth is.

Nice piece about Jimmy Johnson and Zach Rasego . . . .

https://www.pgatour.com/news/2020/04/14/40-years-unlikely-caddie-friendship-jimmy-johnson-zack-rasego-south-africa-christiaan-bezuidenhout-nick-price-louis-oosthuizen-gary-player-branden-grace-steve-stricker-justin-thomas.html

In the "nice little earner" category:

After Callum Hill's "Outlaw Tour" win earlier, Alex Cejka won the past week's event! $5,000.00 into the Cejker account, after a $1,600.00 pay day earlier.

The 2019/2020 PGA Tour schedule will resume on the week beginning June 8th, in Fort Worth with the Schwab event at Colonial.

A revised schedule has been posted on pgatour.com, but so far I'm unable to provide a link.

EDIT: Here it is!

https://www.pgatour.com/news/2020/04/16/pga-tour-schedule-adjustments-2019-2020-fedexcup-season-2020-2021-regular-season-coronavirus.html


Highlights, or lowlights depending upon which way you look at it, include the cancellation of the Canadian Open and the rescheduling of several events including The Masters and US Open, and Harbour Town (to June) and Memorial (to July).

The Travelers will go ahead as currently scheduled but this will be TV only, no spectators permitted, as advised by The Travelers. Not sure if spectators are permitted to other events.
EDIT: The Tour says the first four events will all be spectator-free; that'll make for weird viewing.
But my string of Travelers attendance stops at about 12!

kwinigolfer wrote:The 2019/2020 PGA Tour schedule will resume on the week beginning June 8th, in Fort Worth with the Schwab event at Colonial.

A revised schedule has been posted on pgatour.com, but so far I'm unable to provide a link.
Highlights, or lowlights depending upon which way you look at it, include the cancellation of the Canadian Open and the rescheduling of several events including The Masters and US Open, and Harbour Town (to June) and Memorial (to July).

The Travelers will go ahead as currently scheduled but this will be TV only, no spectators permitted, as advised by The Travelers. Not sure if spectators are permitted to other events.
EDIT: The Tour says the first four events will all be spectator-free; that'll make for weird viewing.
But my string of Travelers attendance stops at about 12!

Just like watching the Presidents Cup

PGA tour announces schedule adjustments. Here is the  Revised golf schedules as best we know it. 1st 4 events on the PGA tour restart are supposed to be with no fans in attendance.

GPB wrote:From what I understand, Moe Norman was laser like with every club in his bag.  Except his putter.

Wish I had a chance to see him play.

Mancil was no Mo Norman thru the bag... So when he could peg it on a par 3, he was money.

Great tweet!

https://twitter.com/FantasyGolfMan/status/1250814306435960834

PGA tour schedule I posted above already has two new changes...  

First PGAT Corona virus casualty... Greenbrier and the PGA tour agreed to cancel the remainder of their sponsorship. (Which had recently been renewed to run through 2026)

Safeway Open will move up to the first event of the 2020-21 season.

I think Safeway is one of the events that could have possibly moved to December

robopz wrote:PGA tour schedule I posted above already has two new changes...  

First PGAT Corona virus casualty... Greenbrier and the PGA tour agreed to cancel the remainder of their sponsorship. (Which had recently been renewed to run through 2026)

Safeway Open will move up to the first event of the 2020-21 season.

Justice is served! John Prine would have been thrilled.

kwinigolfer wrote:

robopz wrote:PGA tour schedule I posted above already has two new changes...  

First PGAT Corona virus casualty... Greenbrier and the PGA tour agreed to cancel the remainder of their sponsorship. (Which had recently been renewed to run through 2026)

Safeway Open will move up to the first event of the 2020-21 season.

Justice is served! John Prine would have been thrilled.

Never understood your odd aversion to Jim Justice... Oh well... At least you won't have him to kick around anymore.

As you say!

robo,
It looks as if the Barracuda has a new venue: Tahoe Mountain, Truckee.
I always enjoyed Montreux, great views, some interesting closing holes. Any clue as to why they changed?

And: Hadn't realised that the Byron Nelson was being similarly relocated, for next year. How do you rate Craig Ranch?

kwinigolfer wrote:As you say!

robo,
It looks as if the Barracuda has a new venue: Tahoe Mountain, Truckee.
I always enjoyed Montreux, great views, some interesting closing holes. Any clue as to why they changed?

And: Hadn't realised that the Byron Nelson was being similarly relocated, for next year. How do you rate Craig Ranch?

Got no clue what happened with Montreaux, but I got some people I can ask.  

The Nelson was originally a three year deal with Trinity Forest. Everything that could go wrong did. Mostly really bad location, and no way to get out of this sun or weather for most unless you bought a suite or something.  I've played TPC Craig Ranch years ago. I mean it was a really nice course, but I don't recall anything about it that would have screamed boy they SHOULD hold a tour event here, Even though it was clear they COULD. Better course than TPC Four Seasons though, except the Four Seasons facility was the nuts. But McKinney is a really neat little town on its own, so it's got that.

It will probably be a good bridge until they move over to PGA of A headquarters

Thanks, I had thought they were returning to Irving; happy they're not! Where will the PGA of A be?

kwinigolfer wrote:Thanks, I had thought they were returning to Irving; happy they're not! Where will the PGA of A be?

2 new courses along with a couple of resorts in Frisco,Texas. Really nice piece of property & master plan. Frisco straddles the Denton and Collin county lines. NNW of Dallas proper.

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/golf/2019/10/19/sneak-peek-get-your-first-look-at-the-golf-courses-being-built-as-part-of-the-pga-frisco-project/

Will Gray said the PGATour is aware that at least 25 players and 35 caddies that are not currently in the USA could be impacted by the travel restrictions.

https://twitter.com/WillGrayGC/status/1250784488902275078

Whats wrong with Irving?

GPB wrote:Will Gray said the PGATour is aware that at least 25 players and 35 caddies that are not currently in the USA could be impacted by the travel restrictions.

https://twitter.com/WillGrayGC/status/1250784488902275078

Whats wrong with Irving?

GPB / robo,

Have either of you seen anything to address the 25 players - don't know exactly who they are, or what their Membership Status might be - who are out of the country?
Wonder what would happen if players were unwilling to return to the States and Tour action because of the existing state of COVID here - which clearly may not be as bad as it is in GB&NI where many of them may be?

Among other conundrums might be the status of Members taking a career earnings exemption. Luke Donald's situation especially not looking too good right now!

Depends where these guys are living as to whether the rate is worse than America or not. Everything is very regionalised and it depends how bad it is where they are proposing to head to.

Doesn't Donald get tour exemption for being a World Number 1? Seem to remember hearing something about them being protected, but I'm probably wrong.

Regionalised here too, super; but what we don't know is to what extent, here anyway, the greater impact is still to come. Many more of these brainless protests here and the next waves will be in rural Michigan, Virginia, Minnesota, Austin.

Ironically, one of the first events on the revised revised schedule is the RBC Heritage. And the Canada / US border remains closed.
So: Will the sponsors and Canadian golfers be allowed in to the US? And can any of the "international" players return to their home countries?

I don't know of any #1 exemption that Luke Donald can cling to, but he'll stil have a Top 50 career earnings free pass to cling to.

Long-term, There is no "tangible" Perk to be an OWGR #1, other than the specific accomplishments that got a player to be #1.

At least nothing official. It might get Luke Donald an edge over a unknown player asking for the same sponsor's exemption.

Kwini, no matter what, some Card holders are going to get the short end of the stick. I don't think the tour can start giving special attention to players stuck in their home countries because of CV19. If they do, then dominoes are going to fall on someone with less priority.

I don't see how a player like Tom Lewis is going to play in any regular PGATour event for the rest of the year. He is near the bottom of the pecking order. That would normally get him into the 156 player fields. But the card holders who normally play 65% of the available tournaments start playing 85% available there is not going to be any room in the fields.