PGA Tour: Remembering Arnie at Bay Hill: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

Slim pickings today, snowed under here on the West Coast of New England, so just a couple of thoughts to get the thread going:

1).I always enjoy the Valspar tournament and especially love the look of the course, the "Copperhead" at Innisbrook resort. It seems to offer a chance to all types of players, from Gary Woodland to Luke Donald, and very happy to see Adam Hadwin get the "W". Hadwin's rise has been as steady as it has been unspectacular, first appearing on the TV audience's screen at the 2011 Canadian Open staged at another appealing course, Shaughnessy in the Vancouver area. Hadwin hung on well to finish 4th behind Sean O'Hair who has also won at Innisbrook. Coincidence? Possibly not!

2).The Tour travels from Tampa to Orlando and complaints by some that the top pros are short-changing Arnold Palmer's legacy have proved somewhat unfounded. Sure Dustin, Spieth, Scott and Justin Thomas are missing, but last year's champ Jason Day will defend his title, provided he gets his doctor's OK, Rory, Henrik and Hideki are all on parade as well as a very strong international contingent, especially from Europe.
This week's winner will earn 64 owgr points, compared for instance to the 54 pts haul by Rickie Fowler at the Honda.

3).But the top players can't be expected to play every week and the dates of Bay Hill's "Arnold Palmer Invitational" and next week's WGC-Dell MatchPlay have come under scrutiny.
The first load of drivel coming from my keyboard to the BBC 606 forum was written in reference to the lousy date and resultant disappointing field at Dallas's Byron Nelson in the first year after Lord Byron's death. It almost looked as if the Tour was complicit in the date assigned that year, but that certainly doesn't appear to be the case with the "Arnie". Regardless, the Tour will not like the top players who like to play the week before Augusta saying they have to skip either this week or next, or both in Adam Scott's case. Expect some tweaks to the schedule - perhaps either the Mexico WGC or the MatchPlay can be rescheduled.

4).I posted an interesting interview with Matt Fitzpatrick a couple of days ago - among other interesting snippets was his plan to aim for his PGA Tour exemption this year to take full membership next. He hastily confirmed Europe would always be his home Tour. Just as a reminder, these "double-dipping" Europeans appear to be off the pace to keep their PGA Tour cards; players listed with their FedEx rank:
119th: Donald - he's ducking Bay Hill and is ineligible for the MatchPlay (tho' he could turn up in opposite-field event in Puerto Rico) so is likely to be outside the Top 125 next time he tees it up.
139th: Poulter - just four tournaments remaining on his Medical Extension - badly needs a top result this week or next (in PR).
141st: Kjeldsen - slowly seems to be getting comfortable, but needs to capitalise on his WGC & Major opportunities.
158th: Lingmerth - Exempt for next year courtesy of his Memorial win.
181st: Gonzo - Played 9 events, only secured 29 x FedEx points. Sad.
196th: Beef - Only played four times, and not very well in those events.
199th: Harrington - Under the knife, Unsure where we'll see him next? US Open qualifying if all goes well apparently.
214th: Willett - No idea. Is he doing a Kaymer? Has he read the rules??

5).This week will be all about Arnold Palmer, and no complaints, not yet anyway, about that. Bay Hill isn't the most well-liked course on Tour but some pros seem to love it - take Stenson for instance. Never missed a cut in 8 visits, top 25 six times and 15th, 8th, 5th, 2nd, 3rd the past five years. When Stenson wins it's usually a biggie: WGC-MatchPlay, Players, Deutsche Bank, Tour Championship (and FedEx Cup), Open Championship. He may never win the "Arnie" but it won't be for lack of trying - hope he plays well again this week.

How many times have we seen Tiger make miracle putts on 18, can Rory do the same?

Own goal from Rory. Would probably at least have been in a play-off.
Longest putt he made on the back nice was 4ft 6ins.

Be_the_ball wrote:How many times have we seen Tiger make miracle putts on 18, can Rory do the same?

Kiss of death that comment, sorry 'bout that Rory

Wouldn't begrudge Leishman the Win, he's been good for a long time now. He's pulled off the best shots down the stretch.

kwinigolfer wrote:Own goal from Rory. Would probably at least have been in a play-off.
Longest putt he made on the back nice was 4ft 6ins.

Agreed.

Didn't see that coming, but well done Leishman.
Loads of would'ves, could'ves, should'ves, but for the second week running a good putter with a 50+ foot putt wins the day.

Pretty disappointing day for the Europeans.

Poulter Update

4 way T41, Earned 13.5 FEX pts and $33,000.

He has total of 100 FEX pts (needs a total of 218) and $203k (needs a total $346k)

He has two tournaments left on his major medical. Needs a solo fourth (or better) at Puerto Rico to meet the requirements.

Trivia conundrum:
I wonder if this is the first time that the Champions' Tour winner (Lehman) has its full name spelt out in the winner's name on the PGA Tour - except Duval of course.

GPB,
That Poulter status looks correct to me but surely means Rob Bolton's update last Monday is incorrect?

It's going to be a small Masters field unless something dramatic happens next week.

I made this weeks update based on Bolton's update from last week.

I got 92 players in the Masters right now.  Including both Woosie and Woodsie.

Billy Payne's invite list:

There are about 8 players in the Match play that can get an 11th hour invite with a good week.

Remember that MatchPlay action begins on Wednesday - looks a decent forecast for the week, but quite breezy.

Tour "non-member" earnings for some top European Tour players so far this season include:
Pieters: $616K
Hatton: $614K
Kaymer: $309K
Fleetwood: $226K
Fitzpatrick: $176K

#busmansholidays

I only followed this via the leaderboard, did Rory have any realistic chance of winning this?

Well, if he'd birdied the last instead of bogeying it Mac, then yes.

Mac - Very realistic chance. Once again, my favorite for Augusta and, like Tiger before him, has the extra gear plus. Good win for Leishman.

He did Mc, he made a good run playing aggressively all day. Unfortunately pushed a little too hard in places and dropped 1 on 14 and then 1 on 18 while being aggressive on the birdie putt. But it was great entertainment watching him go for it all day, couple of monster drives 381 & 371yds then pitched it close each time. Good fun to watch.

Yup, entertaining tournament - Rory's putter let him down, plus aggressiveness (but aggressiveness might've been wot got 'im there in the first place. Missed some shorties and only holed one putt outside 8ft (a 16-footer) all day, nothing outside 5ft on the final 10 holes.

Thought Kisner rather lost it with some uncharacteristically poor pitches/chips - too good a putter on Bermuda to go away completely, well worth doubling up on until he pays off.

Hoffman now squeezes into the Top 50 in career earnings which, especially at his age (40), is a big effing deal. He should be worth following now too.

I didn't watch any of the API at all - apart from 2 mins on Friday night when I was flicking through the channels and saw O'Hair putt into the water. So I have 2 questions:

1. What did O'Hair do next? Stroke and distance?

2. How was Rory managing drives of 381 & 371yds? Was there a strong breeze and firm fairways? Or is Florida suddenly high altitude?

kwinigolfer wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Great news from FP, puligny, starting to look a little better, nice to be getting some goals for a change - big game vs Stevenage this weekend.

I'm going to this tomorrow, big game! Good indicator of who will go up

ray,
My hero! 6-pointer really. Stevenage have been on quite a run, so hope they hit the buffers tomorrow.
(I used to work in Stevenage and you could no more expect a Football League team there in those days than you'd expect Knebworth GC to host The Open. KGC seemed a snotty place. I tried to join once and they demanded a letter from my "pro" - which we sent concocting all sorts of nonsense about the importance of wearing shirts in the clubhouse, carrying no more than one cooler per golf cart, etc. Seemed funny at the time, but they weren't amused.)
My son is an ardent footie fan but growing up without the game surrounding him, despite my best efforts, we often discuss who should be Prem-worthy teams, etc all the way down. Impossible to think that PFC will return to former glories, but a challenging position in the Championship shouldn't be too much to ask.

Well what can I say, Pompey fans were magnificent, not only were they large in number but they didn't stop singing for 90 minutes, and even after the match had finished as well.  I only rarely go to League 2 matches, this support was worthy of a Championship team, and they deserved a lot more than the team performance. The Portsmouth players didn't turn up, the Stevenage keeper had nothing to do for 85 minutes other than take a few goal kicks. And then he had to face a penalty, which he duly saved. Although I use the word "save" in the loosest context, all he did was stand still while the penalty taker Chaplin chipped the ball into his hands.

I don't know if this was just a little blip - Portsmouth still in the automatic promotion places but Stevenage hot on their heels and looking a lot more dangerous.

Personally, I had a great time: it was my 3-year-old's first ever match, and she loved it.

As for Knebworth GC - I've never played it, but you can see it when driving down the A1, and this really puts me off. It may be harsh but I don't want the constant drone of traffic when trying to escape on a golf course.

Well done ray!
Surprised the crowd wasn't larger, but then I've no idea of the capacity there.
What a frustratingly inconsistent team Pompey are to follow - that Conor Chaplin has been highly regarded, Eddie Howe interested according to reports, but in and out of the team so much you wonder if his head is screwed on straight.
Knebworth DOES look unattractive, was just looking for somewhere to play on my drive back to N1.

Oh well, hopefully it'll be further up the A1M to Peterborough, MKD's and Northampton next season.

The ground was pretty full, Portsmouth fans certainly filled their end.

As you said previously, Stevenage having a league team is a bit of a strange concept. I remember when they first got promoted to the football league... not that long ago, 2010 in fact!

Kwini - golf in Orlando, and now news that Mickey Mouse's former boss, Michael Eisner, putting together bid to buy Pompey! Hope distraction wasn't responsible for poor display at Stevenage! Apparently looked at Reading but appears to be settling on Pompey.

Hi puligny,
Yes, saw that, first I'd heard of the PFC approach.
American trophy hunters haven't done a good job of stewardship of clubs, by and large; I thought the current set up was appropriate and suggested that everyone at the club had learned the errors of its ways. Always thought that a Green Bay (certainly not Kerry) Packer-type structure would serve football clubs well, allow for appropriate organic growth. Not impressed with big money at Fratton Park. Unless it's mine of course.

Here are princedrac's projections for the Masters' field:

https://twitter.com/VC606?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Fisher better win his pod if he wants an Augusta Invite.

2nd place in his pod might be enough, but I would bet against it.

Anyone else watching the Matchplay draw come in and feeling slightly underwhelmed? Might or might not throw up some OK groups, but it very quickly becomes tough to follow... The old format, with a straight knockout, and seeded pairings, was one of the his highlights of the year for me, great viewing for the whole tournament. If the players didn't like it, surely the solution was to make it more appealing (ie ranking and FedEx points) rather than a less entertaining tournament.

Sort of Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream, every body has their favorites.

And I prefer the current format to the old format.

NedB-H wrote:Anyone else watching the Matchplay draw come in and feeling slightly underwhelmed? Might or might not throw up some OK groups, but it very quickly becomes tough to follow... The old format, with a straight knockout, and seeded pairings, was one of the his highlights of the year for me, great viewing for the whole tournament. If the players didn't like it, surely the solution was to make it more appealing (ie ranking and FedEx points) rather than a less entertaining tournament.

Agree 100% Ned, almost seems contrived as things now are, not to mention the dead rubbers that crop up, if not on Thursday, certainly on Friday. I always felt that the sudden death was its greatest appeal; not surprising that some pros are voting with their feet. Lousy date and a rotten format, otherwise just fine. Ideally I'd toss out the seeding too and make it straight knock-out with daily draw - could even have numbered golfballs being drawn out of a hat, a la FA Cup.

GPB wrote:Fisher better win his pod if he wants an Augusta Invite.

2nd place in his pod might be enough, but I would bet against it.

Pod? Are we doing an Azinger now?

Haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else, but US Ryder Cup Team member from 1969, Ken Still, died last Sunday, the final day of the Arnie Invitational whose predecessor, the Florida Citrus Open, was Still's first Tour win.
3 PGA Tour wins and a stalwart of the Senior Tour for ten years.
Can't find any record of him playing in Europe apart from that Birkdale Ryder Cup, but a popular US Touring Pro, and sounds as if he was a good friend of the Nicklauses.

Kwini

Are you auditioning for Peter Alliss spot on the beeb?

Why? Has he died too??

No, just your tales of old timers deaths are a little reminiscent of Alliss's commentary.  If you could just update us on Mrs Tiggy Winkle of Hendon golf clubs monthly tombola you will have nailed the part.   :D   :sorry:

McLaren wrote:Kwini

Are you auditioning for Peter Alliss spot on the beeb?  

Kwini, I was googling Ken Still yesterday after I learned of his death and I came across the newspaper article on one his Ryder Cup Matches. Playing with Dave Hill

http://tinyurl.com/mpb8z6l

Hill played out of turn (he wasn't away) and the referees (wrongly) told Hill/Still that they lost the hole.

Just noticed a league two football discussion broke out briefly.

Wycombe still in the search for the playoffs.