Thanks, Manzivino - that's exactly the sort of data I was looking for (and was curious about).
2015 PGA Tour
- Thread starter FL4WL3SS
- Start date
In other golf news, the Presidents Cup starts tomorrow. It doesn't have the same hype and buzz as the Ryder Cup, but it is still a fun team event. It is in South Korea, so the matches are late night (10pm, EST).
Team USA: Spieth, Bubba, Jimmy Walker, ZJ, DJ, Fowler, Reed, Kuchar and Chris Kirk. Mickelson and Bill Haas were captains picks, and JB Holmes is replacing the injured Jim Furyk.
Team International: Day, Oosty, Scott, Matsuyama, Grace, Leishman, Lahiri, Scheartzel, Jaidee, Danny Lee. Captains picks were Steven Bowditch and Sang Moon Bae.
Team USA: Spieth, Bubba, Jimmy Walker, ZJ, DJ, Fowler, Reed, Kuchar and Chris Kirk. Mickelson and Bill Haas were captains picks, and JB Holmes is replacing the injured Jim Furyk.
Team International: Day, Oosty, Scott, Matsuyama, Grace, Leishman, Lahiri, Scheartzel, Jaidee, Danny Lee. Captains picks were Steven Bowditch and Sang Moon Bae.
Is it bad that I want to root for Team International? I can't stand that american team outside of a couple of guys. I hate rooting for Bubba, ZJ, Reed, Kuchar and Mickelson. Thank god Furyk is OUT.
FL4WL3SS said:
I feel the same way, but don't harbor the feelings towards ZJ. I guess I will just root for good golf.
I'll root for Furyk staying injured long enough that he can't qualify for the Ryder Cup next year.
The Presidents Cup is basically just a cheap ripoff of the Ryder Cup. But it's golf, so I'll watch it. And I really don't care who wins.
The one thing I like better about the President's Cup is how they do the pairings. In the Ryder Cup the captain just writes the players name in the order he wants not knowing who the other captain is playing or the order. And in the President's Cup one captain puts a team out and then the other captain puts a team out to play them and then he puts his next team up and so on. And I wish the Ryder cup played more matches like the President's Cup.
Manzivino said:
Sorry I couldn't respond earlier guys, but this is right. Rob has the lowest priority ranking of anyone, but that's where this "wraparound" season is an advantage. Starting next week with the Frys.com, there are like 5 events between now and Thanksgiving, none of which are very elite. Generally, the top guys in the world use this portion of the season as a break, and come back after the holidays on the Hawaii swing with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and Sony Open. For Rob, these first 5 or so events are huge, and he has to play in all of them that he can. If he finishes high enough in one of them, he can earn enough Fedex Cup points to move himself up the rankings and thus, be eligible to get into anything down the road. Like it's been for him for years now, his future is completely dependent on how he plays, but coming out of the meat grinder he's had the past few months, and playing really good golf (he made the cut in all four playoff events against some really good fields), I like his chances to make some noise early on. Shit, 21 events on the PGA Tour would be awesome if you asked him a week ago, and when he's not able to play on Tour, he's exempt on the Web.com by virtue of his win this year, so he can go and play any of those tournaments any time he wants to, with very little stress. It's going to be fun as hell to follow.
Re: the President's Cup, I find it very difficult to care about a glorified exhibition in which none of the participants *really* care who wins. In the aftermath of last year's Ryder Cup, I wrote a column which included these two paragraphs:
The four potential teams I identified this time last year, based upon the then-current world rankings (which have obviously changed quite a bit - e.g., Tiger was still #17 in the world!), were as follows:
The four potential teams I identified this time last year, based upon the then-current world rankings (which have obviously changed quite a bit - e.g., Tiger was still #17 in the world!), were as follows:
- USA: Furyk, B. Watson, Kuchar, Fowler, Mickelson, Horschel, Spieth, D. Johnson, Z. Johnson, Woods, Walker, Kirk
- GB&I: McIlroy, Rose, McDowell, Donaldson, Donald, Gallacher, Poulter, Westwood, Lowry, Fleetwood, Warren, Casey
- Cont. Europe: Garcia, Stenson, Kaymer, Dubuisson, Bjorn, Jiminez, Luiten, F. Molinari, Ilonen, Blixt, Wiesberger, Larrazabal
- Commonwealth: Scott, Day, Schwartzel, Delaet, Leishman, Senden, Els, Oosthuizen, M. Jones, Sterne, Ogilvy, T. Clark
For those that are interested, I spoke to Rob today, and he's like 10 spots out from getting into the field next week at the Frys.com, so it doesn't look good. However, he expects to get into Jackson, MS, Sea Island and probably Mexico, so it looks good for at least 3 of the first 5 events. A break over the next couple of weeks after what he's been through the past few months may not be a bad thing.
By the by, here's a link for the results of Eric Axley's 2014-15 season:
http://www.pgatour.com/players/player.23048.eric-axley.html/season
He actually only made one of his first seven cuts, although that was a T22 in his second event (The McGladrey Classic), so I suspect that must have helped him get into a few other events near the start of the wraparound season late last year. Axley did only make 7 of 21 cuts on the season, which I guess is encouraging insofar as that means someone in Rob's position ought to get plenty of chances even if he doesn't play great right away.
http://www.pgatour.com/players/player.23048.eric-axley.html/season
He actually only made one of his first seven cuts, although that was a T22 in his second event (The McGladrey Classic), so I suspect that must have helped him get into a few other events near the start of the wraparound season late last year. Axley did only make 7 of 21 cuts on the season, which I guess is encouraging insofar as that means someone in Rob's position ought to get plenty of chances even if he doesn't play great right away.
It's going to be tough.Deathofthebambino said:
I have a friend that finished 21st in the Web.com standings before the playoffs and even he is going to struggle to get into these fields. I am actually playing a round with him in Pinehurst tomorrow and am interested to hear how close he is to getting into the Frys. If Rob is 10 spots out, then he might not be that far off.
I'm pretty sure Rob knows your friend pretty well. I didn't know you knew him, but it gives me someone else to root for this season. I imagine he'll have no issue getting into the Fry's, and most of the events before Thanksgiving for that matter.
Nope-good stuff, although some of these guys could use a little help in match play strategy. No reason for Matsuyama to not try to make that pitch the second time. At the very least it's practice
JB making a bid to replace Webb Simpson and be the "guy who can tolerate and team with Bubba" on next years Ryder Cup team. They're 2-0 already and 2-up now.
Great 18th hole here, but pretty ugly all around.
Bubba misses a straight in 5 footer to blow a chance to win the match
Haas with an awful second shot and the US blow a 1-up lead
Schwartzel leaves a layup shot from the fairway bunker in the bunker as they blew a big lead in the match and end up losing
Bubba misses a straight in 5 footer to blow a chance to win the match
Haas with an awful second shot and the US blow a 1-up lead
Schwartzel leaves a layup shot from the fairway bunker in the bunker as they blew a big lead in the match and end up losing
I think the great majority of times the US kills the last day in singles. it's often not enough because they played poorly in the earlier rounds.patinorange said:
As of this morning he's 4 guys out and will be teeing off in the Monday qualifier at 11.Deathofthebambino said:
Spent all day Friday with him and he's in a good place. I'm praying he gets in.
FL4WL3SS said:
I assume he didn't get in? That sucks. Do you know how he played in the qualifier? I always found it strange that it's hard, if not impossible, to find the qualifier results each week. Hopefully, they'll both get in and play well next week.
Frys.com qualifier info:Deathofthebambino said:
https://ncpga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/ncpga15/event/ncpga1566/contest/1/leaderboard.htm
If the US loses the Ryder Cup in 2016 because of Poulter, we can all blame Rich Beem.
Pretty wild/crazy story here. Basically, Poulter very nearly pulled a Kaymer and lost his European Tour Card. You need to play at least 13 events to keep your card. Poulter was at 12 and 13 was to be the WGC HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai in a few weeks. Problem is Poults fell out of the top 50 OWGR this week and thus isn't qualified for the WGC. There is only 1 non-playoff Euro event left, the UBS Hong Kong Open. Poults dropped everything and is flying to Hong Kong from Florida. Players are supposed to register 2 weeks in advance, and all the sponsor exemptions were gone. Rich Beem dropped out so Poults could play. Thanks, Rich.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/rydercup/11942494/Ian-Poulter-dashes-from-Florida-home-to-Hong-Kong-Open-to-ensure-he-is-eligible-to-play-in-2016-Ryder-Cup.html
Pretty wild/crazy story here. Basically, Poulter very nearly pulled a Kaymer and lost his European Tour Card. You need to play at least 13 events to keep your card. Poulter was at 12 and 13 was to be the WGC HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai in a few weeks. Problem is Poults fell out of the top 50 OWGR this week and thus isn't qualified for the WGC. There is only 1 non-playoff Euro event left, the UBS Hong Kong Open. Poults dropped everything and is flying to Hong Kong from Florida. Players are supposed to register 2 weeks in advance, and all the sponsor exemptions were gone. Rich Beem dropped out so Poults could play. Thanks, Rich.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/rydercup/11942494/Ian-Poulter-dashes-from-Florida-home-to-Hong-Kong-Open-to-ensure-he-is-eligible-to-play-in-2016-Ryder-Cup.html
Beemer has become a prominent member of the Sky Sports commentary team here in the UK - I wonder if he got a brown envelope from Sky to thank him for his generosity?
The Four Peters said:
You also have to send in and have your passport returned for new visas.
Rob is out this week, tried to Monday qualify for the Shriners in Vegas, but didn't get in. His brother says they expect he's going to get into the next three events starting next Thursday.
For a cool story, Emiliano Grillo has played on the European Tour for a few years, doing nothing really spectacular. Last year, he got into the Puerto Rico open on a sponsor's exemption and finished 2nd. On the strength of that, he made enough money to qualify for the Web.com playoffs (he didn't play a single Web.com event this year until then). He finished 2nd in the playoffs (that's where Rob finished 25th) thanks to winning the final event, and finishing 2nd and 9th in two others.
In his first event as a full member of the PGA Tour last week, he beat Kevin Na in a sudden death playoff after making a 25 foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to get in, and won the Frys Open and $1,080,000, He now has, I think, two years of status on the PGA Tour, and will play in both the Masters and the PGA Championship this year no matter what else he does. Man, wouldn't it be nice if Rob pulled something like that off in one of these early events. Life changing shit.
For a cool story, Emiliano Grillo has played on the European Tour for a few years, doing nothing really spectacular. Last year, he got into the Puerto Rico open on a sponsor's exemption and finished 2nd. On the strength of that, he made enough money to qualify for the Web.com playoffs (he didn't play a single Web.com event this year until then). He finished 2nd in the playoffs (that's where Rob finished 25th) thanks to winning the final event, and finishing 2nd and 9th in two others.
In his first event as a full member of the PGA Tour last week, he beat Kevin Na in a sudden death playoff after making a 25 foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to get in, and won the Frys Open and $1,080,000, He now has, I think, two years of status on the PGA Tour, and will play in both the Masters and the PGA Championship this year no matter what else he does. Man, wouldn't it be nice if Rob pulled something like that off in one of these early events. Life changing shit.
https://swpga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/swpga15/event/swpga1517/contest/1/leaderboard.htmDeathofthebambino said:
It looks like Rob had an up and down round. Six birdies should be a silver lining.
If there is one thing you'll learn if you follow him this year, it's that he makes a lot of birdies. He's an all world putter, so when he hits greens, he makes a lot of putts. His problem has always been his tee ball. It can get erratic, and when you factor in that he's not super long, he can give back a lot of shots. When he has the rounds where he hits his driver well, he can go really low. The problem is it's rare for him to have four days in a row where the tee ball is on.
Rob and Darron are in the same boat. He also didn't get in this week and finished T30 with Rob at -2.
He's also not long and isn't one to go super low, which you need to do in this Monday qualifiers.
He was 4 out of the field both weeks, hopefully they can start to get into some tournaments.
He's also not long and isn't one to go super low, which you need to do in this Monday qualifiers.
He was 4 out of the field both weeks, hopefully they can start to get into some tournaments.
40 years old, many surgeries in many spots and hasn't played well in two full years now. Tiger isn't coming back in any way that is appreciable.
Will be more surprising than not if he ever is a top ten-ish player again. Might sneak away with a few wins through his 40s but his body is broken. Probably can rehab his image significantly if he plays more of the weak events and takes on something of an ambassador role.
Eh, if he wants to be like Vijay I'm sure Vijay can hook him up with some extra deer antler spray.
I think this is a smart move for him. His body obviously can't take the grind right now (who knows if it ever will again), and I can't imagine that the lack of success he had this year due to that did anything good for his mental state, and i don't think playing is going to make either of those get any better.
I agree that he will likely not be a top 10 player ever again, but if he can find some way to come back and show any ability to actually be able to compete, I think it would be good for the sport and the fans.
I agree that he will likely not be a top 10 player ever again, but if he can find some way to come back and show any ability to actually be able to compete, I think it would be good for the sport and the fans.
61 for Smylie Kaufman essentially locks up his card for next year regardless of how it plays out.
Looks like Rob is in the field this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi.
Good luck to him, DOTB.
Good luck to him, DOTB.
-3 through 13 of Round 2 when play was called. Cut is projected at -3 so if he can hold up over the final 5 he'll make his first cut.
Edit: After rain washed out most of Saturday, Rob started Sunday sitting right on the cut line with 2 holes left of his second round (8 and 9). Put his tee shot into the rough on 8, got his second shot onto the green, and buried a 42 footer for birdie to move to -4.
Parred 9 to finish the second round at -4, currently T45 but should comfortably make his first PGA cut.
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He's -3 through 8 holes today (made a bogey on the last), and is up to 24th for the tournament. Awesome stuff. A top 15 would be enormous for his first tournament.