PGA Tour: Tractor Boys Classic in the "Quad Cities": Notes from the Ballwasher

1).No, nothing to do with Alf Ramsey's or Bobby Robson's overachievers, Ray Crawford or Mick Mills, Terry Butcher or Kevin Beattie, but a trip to the American Mid-West where a long-time PGA Tour sponsor has been "rewarded" with another dismal field for this week's "John Deere Classic" in the Iowa/Illinois Quad Cities which (the cities, not the course) straddle the Mighty Mississippi.

2).Nothing "mighty" about the field that the PGA Tour has assembled to compete at TPC Deere Run as there's a return to the PGA Tour's minimum world ranking points reward of 24pts to the winner. The concept of pros playing an "extra" tournament at an event they'd not supported recently hardly seems to have extended to the JDC, though Franny Molinari is a glittering exception.
Defending champ DeChambeau leads the US contingent in terms of ranking, while Zach Johnson will be miles ahead in terms of local interest and he also needs a strong result to ensure he returns to Firestone CC for the final WGC-Bridgestone after having played there annually since about 2004 - currently ranked 51st when only the Top 50 will be qualified. Not sure that Zach still has the winning game, perhaps starting to slide down the slippery 40-something slope?

3).Well done to Kevin Na who spreadeagled last week's Greenbrier field.
Na was quite emotional after his win; he'll never be my favourite golfer but he certainly played well, his first win since a breakthrough victory in Las Vegas seven years ago. Na is up to fortieth in the Tour's career earnings chart, behind only Chuck Howell (21st!) for most money banked for a pro with so few wins, testimony to his game and consistency, even if he's had more than his share of d1ckhead career lowlights.

4).Lots of chat about the US Ryder Cup team, but what about the Hazeltine winners who have slipped from the Top 12 in the latest qualification rankings?
Koepka (1st), Dustin (2nd), Reed (3rd), Spieth (6th) and Fowler (7th) are all currently in the Top 8, with Phil (10) and Kuchar (11th) close behind.

But the remaining five from LoveIII's latest team will need at least one win (unless in a Major) to reach the Top 8 automatic placings, let alone the Top 12:
Jimmy Walker is 18th, Zach 21st, Holmes 24th, Moore 30th and Sneds 39th.

So there'll likely be two new faces, Justin Thomas and Mad Scientist, two old stagers with undistinguished RC records (Woods & Watson), and anyone's guess out of Simpson (you know he'll be texting Furyk), Harman, Na, Finau, Schauffele, Wise, Stanley - you get the picture.

5).We've been keeping track of those reaching the 400 FedEx point threshold and this lot secured their Play-Off places last week:
Stallings, Snedeker.

6).And there was confirmation this week that The Masters will feature a longer Par-4 5th hole in 2019. With all the Golfing Institutions seemingly unanimous in contending that length is not an issue, Augusta National will introduce a new back tee at their little club. According to Golf Channel, this is to "restore the shot value that has been taken away by the distances achieved by the modern game. Instead of 3-woods and 7-irons, the new fifth should require driver and 5-iron". Would have thought they might want to make the green more receptive to a 5-iron approach but no word on that, yet.

7).DeChambeau will be in the news this week, not just because he's defending Champion and close to stitching up an automatic Ryder Cup place. But also because the PGA Tour has decided that his use of a compass on greens to assess whether the hole is cut where the Tour says it's cut is illegal. No retrospective sanction for boffin Bryson as he continues to push the limits of Tour rules.

8).Apart from Molinari, there's little European interest in this week's JDC action, the usual soap operas of Power and Lingmerth striving for a Play-Off berth and not much else. I hope Zach will show there's life in the old dog yet, and hopefully Ryan Moore will be another course specialist to play well.
I have half a crown each way on last year's runner-up, Patrick Rodgers - a one-time hot-shot coming out of college, but struggling to prove he's any more than a steady pro who has half a dozen decent enough finishes per year, nothing much else. Perhaps he'll turn that page this week?

Cheers kwini
Re 6). I read this too, but can’t figure out how 30 yds equate to 3wood-7iron vs driver-5iron?

pedro wrote:Cheers kwini
Re 6). I read this too, but can’t figure out how 30 yds equate to 3wood-7iron vs driver-5iron?

Not sure myself pedro, but I think the landing area from the tee is uphill, and the pros' goal is to reach the top of the hill, driver might still leave them further back.

Another good day's work from Molinari finishes with him in another top ten position. Not bad from Power but he needs to have a good result this week with so many top players away.


Hadn't realised that DeChambeau withdrew due to a sore shoulder . . . . . . . and the Tour telling him he couldn't give himself arthroscopic surgery during the round. Too bad.

kwinigolfer wrote:Hadn't realised that DeChambeau withdrew due to a sore shoulder . . . . . . . and the Tour telling him he couldn't give himself arthroscopic surgery during the round. Too bad.

Maybe he should try different irons.....
Or maybe just too much twisting and turning of his compass..

I love the leaderboard at the JDC, Andres Romero to the fore!
Should he win, long shot I know but very capable of it, he'd earn a tee-time for Carnoustie where he could (should?) so easily have won 11 years ago.
Given his talent, is there a pro anywhere, in the post-Daly generation anyway, who has under-achieved more than Romero?

Franny just behind and Seamus Power in the top ten.

kwinigolfer wrote: is there a pro anywhere, in the post-Daly generation anyway, who has under-achieved more than Romero?

Charles Howell III? (as far as wins goes)

Nah, Romero disappears for months (and sometimes years) at a time, then puts in a performance.


Scoring a little trickier today, not sure why.

GPB wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote: is there a pro anywhere, in the post-Daly generation anyway, who has under-achieved more than Romero?

Charles Howell III?  (as far as wins goes)

Jeff Overton, couldn't win a raffle.

super_realist wrote:

GPB wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote: is there a pro anywhere, in the post-Daly generation anyway, who has under-achieved more than Romero?

Charles Howell III?  (as far as wins goes)

Jeff Overton, couldn't win a raffle.

Do you know what under-achieved means? Did you expect him to have a notable career? I sure did not.

BTW, some trivia about Jeff Overton. His wife is a (somewhat) accomplished opera singer.

https://twitter.com/JeffOvertonPGA/status/961723514448437253

super_realist wrote:

GPB wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote: is there a pro anywhere, in the post-Daly generation anyway, who has under-achieved more than Romero?

Charles Howell III?  (as far as wins goes)

Jeff Overton, couldn't win a raffle.

I reckon that's a good call - would have thought most people expected him to get a win or two after his 2010; you can't fluke 5 podiums in one year.
Some stupidity, some serious health issues and pffft goes a career. Still has veteran status, so you never know!


Haven't seen any update to BDeC's bad shoulder - still planning to fly to Bonnie on Monday apparently.

Round 2 has wrapped up Saturday morning at the JDC, leaving 82 golfers making the cut, so there'll be a 54-hole cut this evening.

Will Franny win his 3rd tournament in 3 months?

GPB wrote:

super_realist wrote:

GPB wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote: is there a pro anywhere, in the post-Daly generation anyway, who has under-achieved more than Romero?

Charles Howell III?  (as far as wins goes)

Jeff Overton, couldn't win a raffle.

Do you know what under-achieved means?  Did you expect him to have a notable career?  I sure did not.

BTW, some trivia about Jeff Overton.  His wife is a (somewhat) accomplished opera singer.

https://twitter.com/JeffOvertonPGA/status/961723514448437253

Is he the only Ryder Cup player never to have won a tournament?

Ooh, That's a possibility. Not sure. But don't think Rickie Fowler, on that same Team, had won at that stage either. Not surprising they lost.

A head-scratcher up there with Ned's "only top ten in a Major was a win".

Ollie Wilson was my fallback for Ryder Cuppers to have never won. Then he went and ruined it winning the Dunhill Links out of the blue.

On the original question, if we’re going for underachieved I always thought Marino had more ability than Overton. Both now in the same boat of less status than Daniel Chopra.

There's a hell of a lot of players who have simply disappeared. Chopra is one, Steve Marino is certainly another whilst Weekley is presumably "huntin' and fishin' or perhaps looking for a sensible name.

At the time Eamonn Darcy played the 1975 Ryder Cup, he had never won a significant professional tournament.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eamonn_Darcy

5 potential US Ryder Cuppers join Furyk for a practice round in Paris

https://twitter.com/RyderCupUSA/status/1018151793799376896

So this happened!

Anyone want to start an Open Championship thread?

I'll do a PGA Tour note later, but won't touch The Open.

The Molinari machine ran into mechanical problems in Round 3 and his run of 60-something scoring screeched to an untimely end. But he still has the chance for a good finish, as does Seamus Power, tied with Franny for 12th place. 65 for Power yesterday, and another 65 will see him make a giant leap towards the Play-Offs and retaining his card.

Michael Kim leads by five but is close to last on Tour in Greens in Regulation and final round scoring. If the real Michael Kim reverts to normal it will be anyone's tournament.

-27!

Molinari is on a roll. Will Carnoustie suit him?

I would think so Pedro, Greens aren't very difficult and he could hit it up an alley so should suit him.

I think Molinari was mental to play here.

His tour status is secure so didn't need to play and now with travelling and jet-lag most of Monday will be a write-off giving him two days to prepare for an Open Championship he has a realistic chance of winning.

Denis Pugh was playing down the lack of prep time on the TV last night but I think it an opportunity lost (watch him cruise to victory now )

I read somewhere that the John Deere was going to be Frankie's new event for this season.

Not sure why he wanted until mid July for his new event.

FWIW, Zach played the John Deere in 2015, the week before he won at St Andrews, as did Spieth, who was one shot out of the 2015 playoff.

Speaking of Spieth and new events, he has not played his "new event" this season, and only has two opportunities left (Canadian and Wyndham). Assuming he plays Bridgestone and Playoff events, Canadian would mean he plays 4 events in a row, and Wyndham would mean he plays five events in a row.

I think he might be skipping Bridgestone.

I wonder if the Tournament of Champions will count as a new event for Franny next year?
Hopefully he'll play Hawaii too as he sometimes has in the past.

I guess that makes sense GPB although as you say it seems a bit weird to leave it this long. Also they did talk about Zach winning in 2015 after playing at the John Deere but that Open was filled with weather delays to the extent a full extra day was needed so maybe should be looked at slightly differently.

I recall Spieth and Reed going head to head at the Wyndam with Reed coming out on top, was that more than 5 years ago? Jeez I'm getting old.

The new event policy defines a "new event" as one where a player hasn't played in 4 years. So Spieth's playoff loss in 2013 to Reed at Wyndham does not count.

With Keegan Bradley taking John Daly's place (thank goodness) and curiously being grouped with Dufner - some dufnering in prospect? - the leading alternates are:
Otaegui
Wise
Holmes

Assume this is Sandy Lyle's last Open . . . . . . .

Well he is getting on a bit Kwini, can't be too long for this world.

Pretty much confirms my opinion of Poulter.

https://sports.yahoo.com/ian-poulter-responds-scottish-open-194743495.html

Says more about the marshal than it does about Poults.

Three sides to every story.

Person A's perspective, Person B's perspective and somewhere in between, the truth.

Guy sounds like the world's most pointless & useless marshall (and clearly with a pre-existing chip on his shoulder about Poulter).

How can a marshall not know such a basic rule about searching for a ball (ie. no penalty if he steps on it), and just casually tell a player "it's in there somewhere"? Exactly how did he think Poulter would react to a lamentable comment like that?!

Surely making some effort to locate a player's ball in the rough is pretty much his entire job description for the day.
Woeful.

Maybe no penalty if he steps on it but there would be a competitive advantage to Poulter if he did step on it.

Traffic sign seen near Carnoustie: "British Open"

https://twitter.com/dougferguson405/status/1018871088305065984

The careful reader will observe the Highway Maintenance hitting the brakes to pull over and fix it...

PS. I wonder if the 146th and 148th British Opens are also signposted?

Brittany vs Smylie at the Barbasol.

Who do you like?

1977 Players Champion, Mark Hayes, died yesterday, just 69.
A good player in his 20's who pretty much disappeared later and never made a significant mark on the Senior Tour.

In 1977 he shot the first Open Championship 63, at Turnberry, and played as a last-minute sub on the 1979 US Ryder Cup Team.