PGA Tour: "Wells Fargo Championship" in Charlotte: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).The Zurich Classic of New Orleans continued it's new lease on life last weekend with a decent field, a fine leaderboard, exciting finish and a deserving winner - first-timer Jason Dufner, the third first-time winner of the season.
New Orleans was once a popular Tour stop but a change of course, continued messing around of the dates, and some awful weather resulted in progressively weaker fields and uncertainty about its future. Thankfully "Zurich" stepped in, the course has matured somewhat (looked really good last week) and fields are steadily improving. Credit also to the Tour veterans who have supported the tournament through thick and mostly thin: David Toms, Jerry Kelly and Stricker among them. Now the future is looking very bright.

2).A rare appearance from Stricker in an increasingly light schedule. He's just playing The Players and (defending at) Memorial before his return to Olympic Club for the US Open, where he contended in 1998 before finishing 5th.

3).Despite the best efforts of Ernie Els (a limp conclusion to a fine tournament) we are still to see the first "International" win on Tour this season - six runner-up finishes from those eligible for Presidents Cup selection, but nary a winner.

4).Consolation for Ernie will almost certainly be a berth in the owgr Top 60 in three weeks time and qualification for the US Open. And that will save the USGA from having to offer him an invitation, for this year at least.

5).Another good week for Luke Donald as he put Augusta and Hilton Head disappointments behind him. No doubt that Luke is one of my favourite golfers, but I see he's leaving himself open to criticism in his statement that "it would be great to have more (events) in England". "With myself, Lee, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and others from Britain, it makes sense to me to push for another event."
No question about that but Celtic Manor is only just across the border and recent support by these players has been conspicuous by its absence, Luke's sop to Montgomerie in 2010 apart. And there's the rub for sponsors: If you build it, will they come? And the answer from "Luke, Lee, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter" and so many others (McDowell excepted) has been a resounding "No!".
Come on Luke, time to put your money (or at least your itinerary) where your mouth is.

6).Wells Fargo has come a long way from its early days running the westbound part of the Pony Express delivering express mail and banking services to California, its stagecoaches now replaced by a glittering banking empire and the successor to Wachovia, the original sponsor of the Charlotte stop on the PGA Tour. The Lone Ranger and all those who protected those mail runs would doubtless turn over in their graves had they seen the extent to which Wells Fargo has been the sinner, rather than the sinned against, these past few years, but none of the 156-strong field this week will give a monkey's about banking irregularities, taxing avoidance scandals and forced foreclosures as they tee it up at Quail Hollow for a few $mill of Wells Fargo's (or is it America's tax-payers'?) petty cash.

7).But you can't buy Tiger Woods. Oh no, no, no!
Tiger's had enough of inquisitions by the media prior to tournament play so now conducts a question/answer session via social media instead.
Read Geoff Shackleford's take on this latest snub to journalists in GolfWorld:
"It seems Team Tiger believes taking the questions you want and answering them in an edited video is the most effective way to use social media. But one of the main attractions of Twitter and Facebook - especially when it invloves the famous and admired - is the sense by participants that the interaction is genuine, spontaneous and open. 'We're probably a little bit behind with social media,' admitted (Tiger's agent Mark) Steinberg.
With this latest move, Team Tiger will continue to be so."
Sponsors must be delighted . . . . . .

8).Quail Hollow (the course, not a commentary on the first Bush's Vice President's understanding of international affairs) is an early 60's design by George Cobb redesigned by Tom Fazio in the nineties. CBS will wax orgasmic about the course, but it's not universally popular and its short par-4 eighth is a borderline ridiculous hole (though the short par-4 14th is a good 'un).
Phil Mickelson described the greens as "by far the worst-designed greens we play on Tour", and others have been equally uncharitable resulting in a somewhat disappointing field. Regardless, the PGA Championship is due here in 2017 and the tournament has the reputation as one of the best run of the year.

9).Rory, Lee, Hunter, Tiger and Phil lead the entry, but no other European-based pros are on hand, nor Scott, Els, Schwartzel, Poulter, McDowell, Garcia, Oosthuizen, Rose etc, etc. The list of Champions here includes Toms, Vijay, Furyk, Woods, McIlroy and Lucas Glover, while Mickelson has arguably the best record here among the non-winners. Some of the top pros are based in the Carolinas, but very few of them are showing much recent form and this looks a wide open event.

10).I wrote last week about one son of the Carolinas who sadly won't be with us this week, the Legend of Willie Mac (Will MacKenzie). A postscript to his costly double bogey on the last hole at San Antonio: In last week's Nationwide tournament in Georgia he outdid himself by falling from a lead halfway through his final round, six over par the rest of the way concluding with a triple bogey on the last. Of such stuff are careers made. And lost.

Kwini, thanks for the reminder!

Hopefully that was BVP getting something out his system. That birdie will hopefully settle him. David Duval going ok again.

Mac/Super, I will leave you two to fight over the average Scottish burd then?

Lairdy,



Has Westwood really just 3-putted from inside 4ft????

I was just going to say what a good start Lee had... If it was anywhere close to what shottracker is suggesting, that was a real stinker at 16th...

But certainly a magnificent start from Noh, when is he going to show what he is capable of on the PGA Tour? Followed him for just a few of holes at the Irish Open a couple of years ago and he can be mightily impressive...

Is Fowler begining to show some signs of revival or it's just a phase...?

Disappointing from Lawrie IMO.

To play in any Major should be more important than to play a RC .....not that this is even the choice he had here but i guess it's his decision...........it does smack a bit of him raising the white flag a bit on his major aspirations

I took Westy in my Yahoo side this week, reckon I'll be swapping him for Fowler unless he picks up the pace.

Hoping for a good week from Laird, he's due a big week soon after a quiet couple of months.

Duval finishes R1 at +4, including a 9(!) on the par5 7th. I've done a little reading on Duval recently and ultimately it is driver trouble, namely the lefts off the tee, that seem to be his nemisis.

kwinigolfer wrote:...Quail Hollow (the course, not a commentary on the first Bush's Vice President's understanding of international affairs)...

That's made my day that has. Off home with smile on my face. Great article, as usual, Kwini.

Will we have two Brian's in the lead shortly?

Both enjoying great runs. Worth remembering also that Davis, amidst a plethora of missed cuts, has a 5th place finish at TPC, plus a couple of 20-somethings. Always seems to get hot in the spring.

And another promising start by Patrick Reed - perhaps this year's Bud Cauley?

Not too bad by Lee Westwood given the number of strokes he left out there, Mickelson too.

Bubba tweeting that he's giving The Players a miss so that he can spend quality time changing nappies. Too bad, but I for one would never criticise a new parent for doing whatever they feel is right.
You only get one chance.

Tiger Wooops!

Tiger Wow!

Tiger Woops Wow Woops Wow Woops ... ...

Tiger is playing at a time of year we haven't seen him recently. w/d from The Players the past two years, and only one completed Wells Fargo tournament since his 2007 win.

Amazing that, amidst all the dreadful swings, he's still hitting enough quality shots to ensure he hasn't completely torpedoed his round. Pretty much what we've seen all year except his win at Bay Hill.

Love Faldo's reminder that he's second on Tour in "total driving"; and he's 7th in "ball striking", 9th in "strokes gained putting" and 3rd in the "all around".

Difficult to believe.

With Goydos definitely out, and Johnson and Watson declaring they won't be playing next week at TPC, it's worth noting that Matt Every is first alternate, Bud Cauley second in line.

Cue another hackneyed cliched interview from Woods on how be is 'doing all the right things and am nearly there'

Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

kwinigolfer wrote:Tiger is playing at a time of year we haven't seen him recently. w/d from The Players the past two years, and only one completed Wells Fargo tournament since his 2007 win.

He has not "completed" this tournament yet.

kwinigolfer wrote:Tiger is playing at a time of year we haven't seen him recently. w/d from The Players the past two years, and only one completed Wells Fargo tournament since his 2007 win.

Amazing that, amidst all the dreadful swings, he's still hitting enough quality shots to ensure he hasn't completely torpedoed his round. Pretty much what we've seen all year except his win at Bay Hill.

Love Faldo's reminder that he's second on Tour in "total driving"; and he's 7th in "ball striking", 9th in "strokes gained putting" and 3rd in the "all around".

Difficult to believe.

Apparently no.1 in scoring average too.

LastDamnation wrote:Apparently no.1 in scoring average too.

but not eligible to win the Vardon Trophy because he WD from Doral.

Nationwide Update:
David Skinns is tied with Lee Janzen(!) after Round 1, having posted a -6 total of 66.
Ben Briscoe in 50th place, on the cut-line.

Yup, top three in scoring average:
1).Woods (He must be right at the minimum number of rounds to be included in the stat.)
2).Westwood
3).Rose

kwinigolfer wrote:With Goydos definitely out, and Johnson and Watson declaring they won't be playing next week at TPC, it's worth noting that Matt Every is first alternate, Bud Cauley second in line.

With Goydos, DJ, Schwartzel and Bubba out of the PLAYERS... that puts 1st alternate Matt Every in for sure. I have yet to verify status of Quiros, Molinari Dyson, A. Hansen and Lawrie. And Bjorn is still questionable with Injury.

Next alternates in line are Bud Cauley, Colt Knost, Ken Duke, John Mallinger, Harris English and Graham DeLeat.

How come Cauley was only an alternate? I thought he earned enough to take full membership last year, and the top 125 earners get in the Players, surely that would include him?

Cauley earned his privileges as a "special temporary" member last year, but "special temps" are only granted FULL membership at the start of the next year. So technically his earnings last year were "non-member" earnings. Had Cauley WON an event last year, then he could have taken full membership immediately and his earnings for last year would have been official.

NOTE: Since Cauley did become a full member... last year's earnings are counted for his official PGAT Career Earnings total.

Anyone else think that Tiger looks slimmer again this week?

Lairdy wrote:Anyone else think that Tiger looks slimmer again this week?

Hadn't noticed, but have heard others say the same, is he on a diet or something?

i actually thought his pants looked too big for him!

He was in danger of ending up like his dad, he's certainly got a few chins now.

How could you see his pants Hendo?, was he not wearing any trousers?

Agree about Tiger's physique, and his strides!

Hadn't seen that Schwartzel might be out of The Players. Is that for definite??

Edit: Ooh, now I see an "unconfirmed report". Wow, that's a surprise, and wonder what his schedule will be now; he'll struggle for 15 events I imagine.

A bit breezier this morning in Charlotte than we saw most of Thursday, temp already mid-60's, mid 80's by the afternoon with just a chance of a shower later on. In otherwords, should be good scoring conditions.
But not for Anthony Kim whose season of misery (in golfing terms anyway) continues as he joins Trahan on the Quail Hollow rubbish heap.

Imagine the cut-line might remain at about -1, which means Furyk, Mickelson, Ogilvy, Westwood and Woods are right on the cusp, while Laird, Christian, Mahan, Toms, Russell Knox and Greg Owen are among those with ground to make up.

kwinigolfer wrote:...Yup, top three in scoring average:
1).Woods (He must be right at the minimum number of rounds to be included in the stat.)
2).Westwood
3).Rose

That's a bit of a surprise. Lies, damned lies and statistics? Maybe not but I guess they'd take a bit less consistency and few more of Tiger's "W"s.

I think Westwood and Woods will need to improve their scoring this week to maintain their position! Woods looks like he's just missed a tiddler on his first hole.

He made tiddler #2... Good start from Rory, hoping for a low scoring round from him today...

Anyone know why AK has withdrawn

More wrist problems Fader.
Sounds like he might be getting it checked out again and likely taking a break to rest it.

Heavy going for Mr.Woods this morning; big disparity in scoring early on.

Nothing better than seeing him struggle.

Just another tour pro now?

Anyone know when US open qualifying is over here.Cant see it on the site.
Usually sunningdale I think be a good day out

super_realist wrote:Nothing better than seeing him struggle.

Just another tour pro now?

Give the kid a break, remember a Tiger is at its most dangerous when wounded!

dynamark:
It's definitely Monday, May 28th, at Walton Heath.

incontinentia wrote:

super_realist wrote:Nothing better than seeing him struggle.

Just another tour pro now?

Give the kid a break, remember a Tiger is at its most dangerous when wounded!

Don't be stupid, he's not an actual Tiger, just a man with a preposterously stupid name and as far as we know he isn't injured.

His pride is injured, and in my book that's more serious than any physical ailment.

Yeah, that wounded "pride" is really making him a dangerous player

Currently in a tie for 86th

Gonna be a tough decision who to pick for kwini's fantasy game - was almost certainly going for donald but now watney seems to have finally found form :P

The leaderboard is chock-a-block with players who have been in poor form, or at least failed to meet expectations based upon their last year.

Weekend off for Tiger and I don't expect much better next week. But would be very surprised if he doesn't have his act together by Memorial in four weeks' time.

Meanwhile, the cut will climb to minus two shortly as conditions should still be excellent. Mickelson and Westwood need to get on their respective bikes.
Grisly start for Russell Knox on a course I thought he might take to. Quail Hollow really sorting out the wheat from the chaff.

Sounds like Tiger Woods received a favourable ruling on the 5th hole today.

His second shot on the par-5 went way left and the ball could not be found.
Based on fans' reports of the ball having bounced, Tour Official Mark Russell gave Woods a free drop, saying:
"Based on the evidence there it looked to me like somebody picked up the ball." 3rd shot on the green, two-putt par.

Sure that's a common sense ruling, but it's the first time I've ever heard of a free drop being given in such circumstances. Would Jason Kokrak, for instance, have received a similar ruling?

I have a feeling we've only heard the beginning of the "free drop" situation.

Here's some tweets from Steve Elling who "seemed" to be on top of it as it was happening...

++++++++++++

Steve Elling ‏ @EllingYelling

Russell, in a tough spot, said based on "evidence" from fans, he granted drop. But nobody saw the ball being taken. So, partial evidence.
Expand
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The tour official who made the ruling, senior man Mark Russell, said he could not recall making a similar call "Very weird situation."
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@JFK03 This has nothing to do with the cut. This is about logic of a very shaky ruling.
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So, the tour THINKS a fan took Tiger's ball after it landed, but nobody in gallery of hundreds saw ball picked up? Free drop? What?
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Official to latter fan who waited until after ruling to speak: "Why didn't you chime in?" Might have been docked two shots if interceded.
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The latter fan, after Woods had been given a free drop, said ball never came out of trees. No, now MUCH uncertainty about what happened.
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Fans told rules official they saw Tiger's ball on ground. Then ball could not be found. After ruling, another fan disputed that account.
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This is incredible. Tiger's ball at 5 was never found. Gave him free drop anyway. Saved par. Tour said fan presumably took ball.
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Woods yanks approach shot on par-5 14th hole so far left, ball can't be located, fans helping to search. Could be game over.
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whats going on- woods gets a ruling that no one ever has before!! its based on presumptions!! ermmm

Decent round for Rory on his 23rd birthday - if he can produce a 62 like 2 years ago either tomorrow or Sunday he's in with a great shout of winning - or at least getting back to no.1.

A 62 will get you moving fast forward anywhere, but scoring is much, much better than the week Rory won. That was truly an astonishing weekend of golf.


OK, just seen Tiger's second shot on #5 (obviously Golf Channel's opening sequence was nothing about the leaders, all about someone who's on his way home) and his free drop looked to be much closer to the green than where it appeared his ball would have finished up. Academic now of course, but sure there'll be some idle chatter in the clubhouse, not to mention the blogosphere.

Golf Channel offering the notion that cut might slip back to even par, but there would have to be a lot of disasters for that to happen.
Which is bad tidings for Mr.Woods, not to mention Mr.Westwood if he doesn't extract the Worksop digit. Currently 122nd in greens hit, 133rd in putting. Recipe for a weekend spent in Jacksonville instead of Charlotte.

"Disasters" aplenty this afternoon, and Woods had better tell his TWA Captain to turn back to Charlotte.