2020 PGA Tour

bostonbeerbelly

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 26, 2008
2,224
San Fran
I was up in Nh this weekend and was playing around with the sports betting on draft kings. Put $10 on Finau Saturday morning at +1700 so I’d like to see him get a W.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
3,147
Arvada, Co
The coverage sucks. It’s final group, An and Piercy a hole ahead, and 16. Tony Finau is -3 through 8, 3 shots back, the biggest star on the leaderboard right now and they haven’t shown a single shot of his.
This will be a complaint of the past very soon:
https://www.pgatour.com/company/2019/10/07/live-streaming-every-shot-live-during-the-players-championship-2020.html
If you like to see every shot you want with just natural sound it's going to be a great experience. As it matures, it's going to make for some great viewing.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
3,147
Arvada, Co
USGA and the R&A today released their distance report and found that the increase in distance has been detrimental to the game.

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/usgara-distance-report-ever-increasing-length-detrimental-game
There's not really anything they can do about it without creating a different set of rules for the pros than for everyone else without the equipment manufacturers losing it. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It works for baseball, but part of what's great about watching PGA golfers is that you can play the same course and the same equipment as they do, so it's damn near a real comp to them. Of course they have rock hard and shaved down fairways, super deep rough, perfect sand, perfect greens, coaches, caddies and super custom gear so it's not really apples-to-apples. If it's just about distance off the tee then water the shit out of the fairways and place some nasty bunkers/water at 295 yards and watch those averages drop. I don't think the average guy hitting a 240 drive over a 225 drive is doing anything but helping the game.

Edit: Just read an article about amateur golfers and the story is very different. There's a chart at the end that shows that over time, the average driving distances of amateurs hasn't changed, and has even gone down over the past 20 years.

https://www.golf.com/news/2020/02/04/how-far-amateur-golfers-driving-golf-ball-2019/
Second edit: The amateur data is total crap for comparison to any of the tours (just read the whole insights doc). It's from 6 courses, all in the UK. The avg in the golf.com article includes tee shots not hit with drivers while the pro one includes only drivers. Avg for just drivers on amateurs goes up to over 250. If you were to eliminate everyone over 45 (to more closely reflect the tour), that avg would go up even more.
 
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cshea

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
36,047
306, row 14
Mickelson says he won’t apply for or accept a special exemption from the USGA for the US Open. He’s currently 72nd in the rankings, needs to be in the top 60 by 5/18 to auto quality, otherwise he’d need to do it the old fashioned way and go through sectionals.
 

ezemerson

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 19, 2013
1,541
interesting there are three leaders right now at -5, each of them playing a different course
 

cshea

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
36,047
306, row 14
David Duval is +21 through 26 holes this tournament, 11 shots behind his closest competitor.

I like him and think he’s a good analyst, but I’m not sure what’s being accomplished here. He has a weird exemption into this, so good for him I guess, but feels like he should probably give this one up. Feels like this spot would be better used for someone like Rob. I know he’s in this week, but that kind of player, KFT graduate grinding it out to stay on tour.
 

The Needler

New Member
Dec 7, 2016
1,803
David Duval is +21 through 26 holes this tournament, 11 shots behind his closest competitor.

I like him and think he’s a good analyst, but I’m not sure what’s being accomplished here. He has a weird exemption into this, so good for him I guess, but feels like he should probably give this one up. Feels like this spot would be better used for someone like Rob. I know he’s in this week, but that kind of player, KFT graduate grinding it out to stay on tour.
Every Korn Ferry graduate who wanted in this week got in. They are so far down the exemption list on this tournament, that the next guys who would’ve gotten in are Tommy Two Gloves, Rod Pampling, etc. That is, other 40+ year-old guys who have had more than ample opportunity to play themselves in.
 

The Needler

New Member
Dec 7, 2016
1,803
Wait, isn't Tommy Two Gloves pretty high on the priority list? He won on the KFT a few weeks ago.
Winning once on the KFT doesn’t get you any status or priority or improve your status on the big tour; they’re totally separate. You get a promotion with three wins in a season. Otherwise, you’re waiting until next year.
 

cshea

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
36,047
306, row 14
Today’s not so bad since the amateurs are gone. This has basically turned into match play between Nick Taylor and Phil.
 

Average Reds

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 24, 2007
35,330
Southwestern CT
Mickelson just hit the worst flop shot I’ve ever seen from him on 8.

Edit: to be clear, it wasn’t simple. But from a clean lie, he hit it exactly as he wanted. He just hit it twice as far as he needed and now has a twisting 8-9 footer for bogie after butchering the comeback chip.