PGA Tour: Double-Header - Bridgestone, Reno: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).That's right, two tournaments this week with:
WGC: Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio, and:
The Barracuda Championship, at Montreux G&CC in the Reno/Tahoe area of Nevada. New sponsor, nothing to do with Heart, same Jack Nicklaus course, probably the Tour's most beautiful setting east of the California coast.

2).But first some thoughts further to two gorgeous days (Rounds 1 & 2) in Montreal for last week's RBC Canadian Open. The course looked even better on TV, I thought, than in person, a few great holes and one or two very "samey" pairs of consecutive par-4's.
With soft and slowish greens it was unfortunate, I thought, that a few testing holes were played with the tees up - nevertheless, watching the likes of Clark, Furyk and McDowell was a reminder of short-hitting 3-time Major winner Larry Nelson's boast that he didn't mind long courses as his fairway wood shots were more accurate than most guys' long irons.

3).We followed 18 Friday holes of Clark, Goosen and Watney and what a pleasure it is to watch Tour Pros who seem to be having a good time together. Not surprisingly they all played well. A 225 yard Goosen rocket off a cart-path, under a tree, that never rose above four feet high was alone worth the price of admission.
David Hearn was my Canadian Pro to watch and followed his threesome (with Camilo & Kisner). We watched Hearn shoot a Thursday 67 which could have been so much better, but he's got less charisma than my dentist. Camilo lost interest but Kisner is one to watch. Doesn't hit it a mile but plays aggressively.
Also watched three hours of Martin Laird who looks to have found some form - he's also playing more quickly and in better humour, might be worth a couple of bob each way this week in Reno where he's played well in the past.

4).Tour pros and Broadcasters continually rabbit on about 6ft 4in guys, "athletes" a la Dustin Johnson, coming out of college and threatening to take the Tour by storm. They may find the proverbial lightning in a bottle and win occasionally, but not consistently until they learn to ratchet things down a touch and introduce some course management to their game.
Interestingly, the Canadian Open featured just one under-30 golfer in its Top 19 finishers, Jamie Lovemark who has been a work in progress for five years now and is still a long way from the finished article and, not incidentally, from renewing his Tour card.
The top 11 had an average age of 37, with the likes of 50-year-old Joe Durant, Els and Goosen all one shot behind.

5).Impossible not to feel for Jim Furyk as he runnered up again, Clark (4) and Sunny Jim (5) enduring 9x2nd place finishes since their last wins, in 2010.
Baker Finch was talking about Furyk's record compared to that of Mickelson on Sunday. The two of them, plus Els, are 44-years-old.
Furyk:
Played: 519
Cuts made: 430, 83%
Top 25's: 293: 56%
Top 10's: 168: 32%
Wins: 16: 3.1%

6).Els:
Played: 380
Cuts made: 322: 85%
Top 25's: 208: 55%
Top 10's: 123: 32%
Wins: 19: 5%
(Obviously a fabulous international record in addition.)

7).Mickelson:
Played: 502
Cuts made: 419: 83.5%
Top 25's: 273: 54%
Top 10's: 172: 34%
Wins: 42: 8.4%

8).US Ryder Cup Team places are on the line this week and next.
Dufner (8th) and Zach Johnson (9th) are the vulnerable players currently inside the qualifying places with bags of experience, mostly in a losing cause, right behind them and in the cases of Stricker and Woods far adrift.
I fancy Dufner and Keegan Bradley (outside looking in) to have strong fortnights leaving Tom Watson with tough choices to make:
Senior pros: Mickelson, Stricker, Woods, Zach?
Young guns: Reed, Kirk, Todd?
Good mate: Snedeker?
Not to mention a raft of golfers who are only a win, or two hot weeks, away from moving in, Simpson & Mahan being others who would have expected to go to Gleneagles.

9).With Gonzo finishing 4th place in Montreal, his Tour card is secure for next season and I'd expect him now to consolidate his Tour status and become a popular figure in the US.
It seems half the European Tour will be in Akron and they'll be greeted by unseasonably low temps as the eastern half of the U.S. is cool (mid-60's in Akron midday Tuesday). Sure we'll hear the usual nonsense about Europeans feeling right at home - hopefully they'll respond by earning lots of loot and "points"! Donald? Poulter?? Westwood???

10).The Reno field has suffered a dozen or more withdrawals since Friday commitments were announced. Hopefully guys I enjoyed watching last week like Laird and Watney will take advantage and boost their chances of a trip to The Barclays. And Padraig Harrington will be there, perhaps inspired by the "Modified Stableford" format - he can just pick up his ball once the errors of his Par-5 ways exceed double-bogey.

Trivia supplied by "GPB":
With the report that Molinari and Manassero have accepted Special Temporary Membership of the PGA Tour for the remainder of 2013/2014, he asks:
Who is the last Italian golfer to have earned PGA Tour Membership?

Nice article kwini! Cheers. Two interesting weeks approaching.

Trivia: did Eddie Molinari earn membership after winning the US Amateur? Otherwise Rocca?

This nonsense about Langer getting a captains pick needs to stop....


Fascinating two weeks ahead! Bring on the PGA!

Don't think Poulter will show, unless he plays well when wound. Got bitten by an insect as was on an IV until he flew out today.

Question:- Why the strange tee times for the WGC? Start and go to 10.40 then a break till 1 pm.

Cheers pedro, Not Eddie or Rocca.

Even worse than clamouring for Langer to receive a pick is noise about Montgomerie receiving one - but imagine it's Montgomerie floating that balloon.

Inw,
I think Poults declared himself fit.

Tee-times? Morning wave / Afternoon wave.

kwinigolfer wrote:Cheers pedro, Not Eddie or Rocca.

Even worse than clamouring for Langer to receive a pick is noise about Montgomerie receiving one - but imagine it's Montgomerie floating that balloon.

Inw,
I think Poults declared himself fit.

Tee-times? Morning wave / Afternoon wave.

Oh my word hahaha

Kwini any way to find out who actually gets the special invites for the PGA, do they disclose that info or are they just added to the field.....Amazing that the top 108 of the rankings are in the field!

PGA: I'm sure that there's a note somewhere in the bowels of pga.com that shows how each guy qualified.
The only Special Invitees that I know about are Messrs McGinley (sick note), Perry and Watson.
They fill up the field from the owgr placings and then supply "alternates" from the PGA Championship special money list. Top 70 qualify as of right, alternates start at #71.

kwinigolfer wrote:Inw,
I think Poults declared himself fit.

Tee-times? Morning wave / Afternoon wave.

My poor use of words. I knew he was going, don't think he will be leading the pack.

Thanks re tee times.

Poulter's best at The Bridgestone is T13 so he's not set the bar too high for a personal best anyway.
Luke Donald had a 6th and an 8th a few years ago and a 2nd, 8th and 9th the past three years.
Westwood's had a runner up plus 3 x 9th places.
McDowell has yet to enjoy a Top 20 result in 8 visits.

I saw something today about the possibility that this years PGA championship could have the top 100 in the OWGR for the first time (or at least the first time in a while). Anyone know if this is actually the case?


As bad as it seems Westwood and Donald's seasons have been, they have only lost 9 and 8 positions respectively this year. There must have been some better golf in there than it looked from the outside.

Mac,
The PGA always invite at least the Top 100; not sure if there are any likely no shows - Dustin has certainly w/d'd from Bridgestone and there are some others carrying injuries.

Donald has nothing better in the US than T38 since Harbour Town. Westwood was 7th at Augusta, 6th at The Players and hasn't made a Tour cut since - tho' he did win in Malaysia.
Don't know how you can sugar-coat that recent form.

I know they invite the top 100 but for some reason it was predicted the top 100 would all actually tee it up this year. Who knows?


There is no way to sugar coat Donald and Westwoods form other than to note they may have some time left in the top 50 to do something about it, if the rate the drop down the rankings is as slow as it seems.

kwinigolfer wrote:Cheers pedro, Not Eddie or Rocca.

.

Aaah, long hitter Emanuele Canonica?

Here is an online auction selling the ball R-mac threw into the crowd after winning the open;

http://www.greenjacketauctions.com/site/bid/bidplace.asp?itemid=13142

Is it poor taste to sell this online? As it seems unlikely Rory threw it into the crowd for someone to make a quick buck from.

Or is it fair game to make some money when you are lucky enough to be the recipient of such an object.

Canonica is correct!  Club Maker Toney Penna won 4 tournaments in the WWII era was born in Naples Italy.

 pedro!
I think Canonica hit it 900 yards along a runway once!!

Given how weak the field (understandably) is in Reno, it seems slightly surprising to me that they haven't handed out a few invites to internationals who are in the field for Valhalla but not Bridgestone, and might fancy a warm up. From a quick scan, Lowry, Manassero, Wiesberger, RCB, Casey, Wood, Fleetwood, Ross Fisher, Eddie Molinari, Lahiri and Koumei Oda are all OWGR top 100 and not playing, you would think one or two at least would be keen to take a sponsor's invite and recoup the investment. Instead invites have gone to Oliver Goss, Patrick Rodgers, Bobby Wyatt and Jason Allred... all with some reason I guess, but only George Coetzee is playing on an invite of every non-member in the PGA field.

Agreed Ned, Was also hoping Karlsson might have warranted an invite.

Had Casey wanted to play, he would have entered.  He would have qualified for Reno had he wanted to play via Cat 31.

A bit beneath Casey . . . . in Casey's eyes anyway.
Too bad, could've and should've played Canada also.

Just came across another article claiming the PGA might host the top 100 for the 1st time in major history.

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/barring-wds-pga-set-host-all-top-100-players/?cid=twitter-gc-a-pga-top-100-072914

Are there usually more WD's by this point?

Hadn't realised how far beyond the Top 100 the PGA has gone to fill the field, but GREAT to see Karlsson squeak in, a real chance for him I would think in his current form.
But Cink is also in, and reckon that must be a genuine "Special Invitation". Still, no complaints, he's been in consistently middling form, making tons of cuts.

A few golfers playing in Reno who need a good finish or two to secure their cards for 2014/2015. These are shown with their current FedEx points total, bearing in mind one reckons 450 pts will assure safety:

438 FedEx pts: Allenby
431: Ricky Barnes
428: Jhonny Vegas
425: Andres Romero - top 3's the past two years at Reno
425: Molder
421: Morgan Hoffmann
403: Watney
377: Curtis
368: JJ Henry
364: Lingmerth
344: Immelman
337: Robbie Castro
291: Ogilvy
290: Byrd
etc, etc.

Watney has a residual exemption that gives him a card through the 2014-15 season.

Winning the 2011 Cadillac gave him exemption through 2013 season
Winning the 2011 ATT National added an additional year through this season
Winning the 2012 Barclays gives him an additional year through next season

But that doesn't get Watney into the Playoffs.

Thanks for that GPB, Wasn't completely sure how those "residuals" worked.
Watney' will be unlucky if he missed the Play-Offs as he had to withdraw after Round 3 of The Cadillac when inside the Top Ten. Even allowing for a modest Sunday, he'd likely be inside the Barclays threshold by now.

Kwini:  Watney might actually have a card through the 2015-2016 season since he won the 2011 Cadillac which gives a 3 year exemption...instead of the normal 2 year exemption.

Winning the 2011 Cadillac gave him exemption through 2013-14 season
Winning the 2011 ATT National added an additional year through 2014-15 season
Winning the 2012 Barclays gives him an additional year through the 2015-16 season.

But that doesn't get Watney into the Playoffs.

Hi kwini, goldwolf here. Been a while, how are you? I'm catching up with the golf scene atm so thought I'd check out your posts.

Hi gw!
Welcome back!!
Was thinking of you last week when I noticed that Gary Boyd had cashed a decent cheque in Russia! First of the year perhaps - still hoping he gets things back together.

Glad to see your Wolves got promoted, onwards and upwards, for them and PFC.

Hope you and yours are well, drop me a pm if anything exciting happening. All the best . . . . . .

Ha yes I thought about 606 when I tuned in to watch the final round, I forgot my password and can't remember the email I used to register it with, so had to create a new account.

Unfortunately Gary flopped which has become all too familiar, but still better signs recently of a return to form. Not been in contact with him for a few years now since I stopped playing (golf still beyond my budget unfortunately, which kills me especially during summer! still mustn't grumble there are many worse off than me).

Yep went to Molineux a couple of times last season, they're playing a better brand of football under Jackett, makes really good viewing. I can see he's building a really good squad. Will be interesting to see how they cope with the Championship, I'm thinking mid table consolidation is the target. Got a feeling Portsmouth will do well this year, I hope so anyway.

Hope you and the family are well   

http://www.pgatour.com/content/pgatour/tourreport/2014/07/30/dufner-bridgestone.html

Dufner carrying a injury/niggle it seems.

Woof,
I kinda liked Dufner this week - good play the past couple of years at Firestone and you'd think Valhalla would suit him too.

Same I backed him this year....I backed him here last year as well (I didn't at the PGA) I was thinking before this week of backing him next week as well.

Too much dufnering or grabbing his gf's butt perhaps?
I've backed him with a fiver e.w. this week (before I knew of this).  

Not sure about the Dufnering but Amanda has a bottom well worth grabbing - good for the Duf.

In a not-so-subtle gesture towards two of its more edgy members, the PGA Tour in its wisdom sends out Matt Every and Patrick Reed in the first pairs, off each tee - no idea why they don't just play 38 twosomes straight through but that's the PGA Tour for you.

Should be a gorgeous day for golf in Akron, Ohio, sunny and temps rising from high 50's to low 80's. 80 degrees and chance of showers each day for Rounds 2, 3 & 4. Course likely to play a bit soft after a cool, dampish summer so far.

Wonder whether Gonzo will strut his stuff this week knowing his Tour Membership is in the bag for next season - he's looked a bit haunted this year so far, as if golf is a job and a not very pleasant one at that. That's not the Gonzo we know and love . . . . !!

Action starts at 9.10 a.m.

Cheers Kwini.

As a matter of curiosity, why is Every considered edgy?

I know about Reed's [i]short) history.

Hi Bob,

Every's had his run-ins with the Tour including a suspension a few years ago for (not-proven) marijuana possession. Has his intemperate ways about him - meanwhile, Top Five is holing it from everywhere, just chipped in for 3rd birdie running.

Top 5 only currently equaled by Matt Jones who started birdie-eagle

Birdies still abound at Firestone GC and Les Enfants Terrible, Top Five and Every, are bookending the early starters.
Team GB not taking advantage of the early bird barrage - all at level par or worse.

Looks like Gonzo is gonzo after a NINE on a Par-4 - perhaps he celebrated with Eggs Rioja at breakfast? Horrible start.

David Howell going nicely, been playing well recently and wouldn't it be something if he could make a run at Ryder Cup selection instead of his under-performing compadres?

Is it F'Dez-Castano playing today or Gonzo from the Muppets?

Great to see Howell getting back to consistent, if not dazzling form this year and last.

Always thought he was one of the nicer guys on tour. Doesn't take himself too seriously and always seems to be enjoying himself.

Ryder Cup statements made by fringe candidates in the "morning wave":

Positive:
Ryan Moore, Reed, Sneds, Keegs
Molinari, Donaldson

Negative:
Donald, Luiten, Westwood, Every, Simpson

Don't look now, but T.Woods playing some wonderful golf shots.

How did howeller get into this event? Has he risen tgat high in the rankings?? David lynn seems to have given up on golf. He had his moment in the sun I suppose.

kwinigolfer wrote:Don't look now, but T.Woods playing some wonderful golf shots.

I think you've put the mockers on him, Kwini.

Howell won the Dunhill.

Agree about David Lynn, seems to have checked out completely.

But big news that DJ is taking time out from Tour Golf for personal reasons. There goes the Top 100 in the PGA and possibly Ryder Cup competition.

Birdie for ETW. Hitting great irons, just as he mostly did at Congressional & Hoylake. Just doesn't know where his driver is going and has squandered shots around the greens. Still, five birdies in ten holes is good Match-Play stuff! Who cares about the drivers in to the trees??!!

DJ got a habit?

That statement is so open....more clarity is needed to shush the speculation...Sad news whatever is wrong, I am a big DJ fan.

DJ seeking professional help for personal challenges, good luck to him.

They're speculating on sky that it's a secretive drugs ban.

Re Tiger, I don't think I've ever such a mixture of absolute brilliance and complete rubbish is the same round?!! Incredible