Here’s a thread to discuss the PGA tour for this year.
It’s Super Bowl week so that also means it is time for the Phoenix Open. The West Coast swing is my favorite part of the year, aside from the majors. I’m getting a bit tired of the excessive coverage of the 16th hole idiots in the stands, but I’m not at all getting tired of watching Phil Mickelson who is currently tied for 12th.
Jordan Spieth missed the cut.
The Phoenix Open wraps up today, and since I’ve never commented on it before, I figured I’d may as well get it out of the way here.
“Why do I have to be quiet on a golf course? In baseball, the batter has to hit a 90 MPH fastball with a stadium full of screaming fans!” Then go to a fricking baseball game.
“Golfers are such wimps!” Yes, yes they are, and you’re on their turf, so you’d goddam better respect their wimpiness.
Seriously, is it that hard to understand that different places and different institutions have different rules? Of course there’s going to be some place where it’s totally acceptable to be loud and obnoxious and irritating and jerkish (even more now that social media has become a thing). So keep your obnoxious punk butt away from the golf course and go to where trash like you belongs. The rules on being quiet and showing respect to both players and officials have been in place for many, many years, they’re as ingrained into the culture of the game as par scores, and the PGA is not going to change them on your behalf for Miku knows what reason. Accept that the whole goddam world does not have to accommodate your dirtbag sensibilities.
Now, if this one tournament says that it’s perfectly okay for the crowd to act like out-of-control drunken yahoos…eh, I think it’s a ridiculous idea, but as long as the players know what they’re getting into, I can live with it. It should not be an official PGA event, though. It could be one of those nonranking dealies like the Ryder Cup, a fun free-for-all where the toxic atmosphere acts as an equalizer for the field. Come one, come all, scream your head off and heckle and belch and shriek “Noonan” or whatever the hell it is now during the players’ backswings and guzzle half your body weight in beer and do those tiresome chants and run naked across a green and puke on the same green because that’s what happens when you drink that much beer and hurl insults and hurl lots of other things and in general act like the most irresponsible, infantile sociopath imaginable! There are no rules in Phoenix! Go nuts! And once it’s over, crawl back your hole and let the real fans enjoy their sport in peace.
Next week is the AT&T. I’ll be there all 4 days. The weather is going to be great, and I can hardly wait!
I am jealous. I used to live a few minutes away, and often would attend (I can recall when they used to play at Cypress!). It’s a wonderful tournament to attend. 
I was down on the beach just below Pebble this morning, and everything is all set. If you know the area, you can appreciate that with temps in the mid to upper 70s, it doesn’t usually get this warm in the summer here!
It’s a shame Cypress is out of the rotation, but times change. I’ve played all three courses that they play these days, and no doubt Spyglass is the toughest.
Spyglass is a real pain, especially once you get to #6 and go back up into the trees. I recall that day with some admiration and some horror.
MPCC is also a pretty good track. It’s decidedly better than Poppy Hills.
70s? Dayum…
(favorite memory: standing on the hill above #7 green at Pebble in '92 and watching the final 7 twosomes play it on Sunday at the Open. Lots of 4s, 5s, and 6s. One very memorable 2. And they were hitting 4 irons into a green 125 yards away. 
Sure, different standards for different sports. But I don’t understand why golfers are such fragile flowers that cameras clicking cause them to throw a hissy fit.
I’m a DJ fan (which results in plenty of frustration), so I was glad to see him win to start the year (tho I guess they say the year starts LAST year now…)
Yes. I’ve racked up some high scores on that hole!
I’ve only played Pebble once, and I birdied #7, much to my delight. No wind that day so we were hitting wedges. Was it 125 yards back in the 90s? I don’t think they set the tees more than 110 now. But yeah, the wind can be a bitch. The US Open is there next year, BTW.
Epic day at Pebble today. I did a hike in from the Carmel gate and up around a trail in the Del Monte Forest that eventually takes you to the Lodge. Hung out at the 18th green long enough to see Jon Rahm come thru. It was so warn today, I felt lucky I got a spot right at the ropes in the shade of that big cypress tree in front of the front right bunker at the green. Worked my way back towards the 10th hole and saw KJ Choi, Condi Rice, DeChambeau, Sabbatini, Ian Poulter and a few others.
The hike was something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile, so it was a good combo-- get some decent exercise and then watch the pros play some golf!
It’s just such a beautiful course. Obscenely expensive (495 + you’re going to want a caddie, and they’re 92 bucks plus tip), and you de facto need a room at either the Inn or the Lodge in order to get a tee time. Those’ll run you (Holy Fucking Shit! It’s been awhile since I looked at the rates: 720 to get in the door at the Inn, not counting service charge. Plan on a K for a decent room. 1k to 1500 for the Lodge. Maybe I’m looking at Pro-Am rates right now?)
Anyway, before I got flabbergasted, I’d tell people that, much like the wait at Franklin BBQ, it’s something every fan needs to do. Once. Regardless of how well you play. Spyglass, OTOH, skip it unless you’re a single digit handicap. Or a masochist. I liked Spanish Bay, and I still am amazed that PBC didn’t end up buying Bayonet and Black Horse, way back when.
Glad you got to go, John, and I’m almost as flabbergasted that you got decent weather, as I was at how much it costs to play there now. Doubt they still let the employees play for free anymore…
The old Fort Ord courses are the real bitches, especially Bayonet. If you’re under one of those trees, forget it. Often, you can’t even take unplayable lie relief with two club lengths. Oh, that was a memorable time when my club played theirs in the home-and-home matches one year. 
Although I’ve never played Pebble, I’ve watched so many tournaments on it (going back to the '77 PGA; silent moment for poor Gene the Machine 
) that I know how all the holes work. The whole bit about “breaking toward the ocean” is a result of your eye and brain leveling out the slope as the land runs down to the ocean. It can make you think the ball will go a foot left, when it goes two feet right. Scary to try and read greens like that.
One day, I’ll shell out for Pebble. In the meantime, I’ll cherish (I think that’s the word) my round at Spyglass and my much better round at Spanish Bay.
Glad to hear it was a great day yesterday!
Had you played Bayonet after they changed it? They’re building (or trying to build) houses in between a lot of the fairways and as result a LOT of those trees are no longer there. Bayonet is one of my favorite courses, but it’s actually much harder with the changes. They added some traps and lengthened some of the holes. Blackhorse, too. The practice range was moved, and originally they were supposed to build a big resort hotel there, but that got nixed during the Great Recession. Now it’s just a big, empty, ugly field in an otherwise beautiful spot. Funny thing is, it’s now sort of the undiscovered secret in the area-- it’s super easy to get tee times, and it’s not so pricy.
I see DJ is atop the leaderboard again. He’s going to be tough to beat!
Or not!
A good day for Ted Potter, Jr. I was only on the course a few hours today. Much cooler and some stronger winds. I did get to see DJ tee off on the 13th. He’s amazing to watch with a driver in his hands. All in all a very successful Pro Am.
Man, was that an incredible finish to the WGC Mexico or what?
Mickelson had about as rock-solid a day as anyone could have had. His drives were on the mark, he was making recoveries, his putter was working. After a slight stumble on 11, just his second bogey of the day, he made three straight pars, putting him in a tie with Justin Thomas at -14. So you figure, just keep it up, get one more birdie, and cruise to victory, right?
Make no mistake, this was big for him. He’s 47 now, and his last win was in 2013. That meant that pretty much all his big exemptions would be hitting their expiration this date. Go winless another year and the safety net is gone; he’s clawing and scratching for FedEx points to cling to his card for another season. He’d been in contention a lot of times since then but just could never seal the deal. He needed this resounding “Not yet, kiddo!” to prove to the world that he still deserved to be considered PGA elite, that he still had the ability to triumph and not just scrach and claw and grind for his bread from week to week.
And then Thomas fricking chips in on 18 for eagle.
Isn’t this just classic? Mickelson never. ever gets the wimp who utterly crumbles under pressure or throws in a boondoggle at the worst possible time. No, it’s always a steel-nerved, fire-eating, lionhearted, eagle-eyed, bazooka-armed terror with the blessings of a hundred gods who laughs in the face of adversity as he turns it up fifty notches. Sheesh. Now Mickelson needs to go -2 in the last four holes just to force a playoff.
Which he does. It takes two incredibly clutch putts on 15th and 16th (15 and 20 feet), but he evens the score. Now it’s on to the first playoff hole. Thomas is eventually left with about 8 feet for par, while Mickelson can seal the deal, put the knife in, regain the elite status he felt he still deserved, by sinking a 16-footer.
It lips out.
Good lord…I still remember the inexplicable lipout that denied him a 59. How many times can this happen? How many missed-it-by-microns? How does such a man retain the will to get up in the morning? Well, nothing anyone can do now. Thomas has a much shorter one to force a second playoff hole. He’s been on target all day, and…
…it’s not even close. To the left by two, three inches, easily.
When the final reckoning comes for just what the impact of Phil Mickelson’s career was, there’s going to be plenty to debate, that’s for sure. But one thing that absolutely needs to be included is this: That old bastard just wouldn’t quit.
Thanks for that - a good story well told. I don’t follow golf very closely so I’m always interested to read an update such as this.
Yeah, nice recap. I only tuned in to see the last two holes plus the playoff hole. Wow. I am so glad that Phil was able to win. I was kind of surprised when the announcers said he hasn’t won a tournament since 2013. The youngun’s are taking over golf, but you can’t always count the old guys out.
Paul Casey got off to a strong start and hung on by his fingernails in what was apparently a very tricky homestretch to win the Valspar Championship. Remarkably, this is his first win of any kind since the 2009 Shell Houston Open. Since then he’s been up there and had several top-5 finishes, but just could never reach the top. Good on him.
As for Tiger Woods…ugh. The hype has always been excessive, but it’s getting downright surreal now. Okay, let’s just get this out of the way: after all the travails he’d been through, finishing second against what looked like a pretty strong field is a very good result. Granted, none of the truly elite players showed up, but he was tested, and he has to be happy with the result. (He’s almost guaranteed to keep his card for 2019, although that’s a minor issue at this point as no one’s going to deny him a sponsorship exemption.) It was not sudden, it does not presage a return to even 2013 form, much less the rampaging juggernaut era, and it’s still far too early to read anything into it. I don’t give a rip how many dozens of times NBC replays that stupid putt, this is still a work in progress. And you know what, I’ll say it: Tiger Woods Winning A Tournament no longer qualifies as a big deal. He’s won all over the world, he’s set two pretty much untouchable ranking records, he’s conquered and dominated and ruled and overwhelmed. Simply winning a tournament is been there-done that territory and has been for a long time. There’s only one thing matters now…fourteen. That’s the only great barrier left, that’s the final frontier, that’s what we should be talking about. Dammit, if I want to hear stories about “improvement” or “returning to form”, I’ll go to an Al-Anon meeting.
When 14 comes, it’ll be “that meant nothing - the field wilted All that’s ever counted was 18.” Sorry, 19. To be the best you have to have the most.
Casey has won three time in Europe since 2009,.
Tiger is in no danger of losing his playing privileges, any player with 20 or more wins on Tour has Lifetime Membership. Tiger, Mickelson, Singh, and Davis Love III are active players and have lifetime membership.
Just got back to this thread. Okay, thanks. Neither the NBC nor ESPN guys said a thing about those three wins.
And I know that Woods has life membership (and has for many years now) but to actually use it requires results (I don’t remember the exact numbers). That’s exactly why Greg Norman was taken off the list; he stopped playing, and in time his most recent results became too old to for him to use his life exemption. Incidentally, there’s no formal retirement on the PGA Tour; as long as he has the credentials, he can play. At any rate, Woods is still ambitious enough that he wants to have as many tournament options as possible, so he definitely wants to keep those FedEx Cup points rolling in and his place on the ladder secure.
As for today: Rory McIlroy, who was a bit lackluster in the first two rounds, turns on the afterburners today with 8 birdies and no bogeys to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational by 3 over Bryson DeChambeau. Y’know, I knew his star would fade after that stupid soccer kickaround injury, but he’s been virtually a nonentity over the past year, downright shocking given how much he’s accomplished. I was really worried that he’d go the way of Vijay Singh…one phenomenal year and that’s it. The “I still matter, dammit!” moment is one of the nice things about sports, and I’m happy I got to see it today.