There are some really big names on the leaderboard, but half of them are complete mysteries. I follow golf closely, but I’ve never heard of many of these guys.
I turned it on yesterday afternoon, but they were showing round 1 due to rain delay. Are they back on schedule yet? Coverage here begins in a few minutes.
Looks like they are on track for Round 3 today. Looked at the leaderboard, and they were all regulars. Who is it that you don’t recognize?
Bellerive (beautiful river?)-- I was thinking Streetcar Named Desire, but that was Belle Reve.
Gary Woodland
Kevin Kisner
A bunch of Euros.
Both of those guys are top 50 in World Golf rankings. Woodland probably isn’t that well known, but Kisner took 2nd place at the British Open just last month. He’s been in contention quite a bit in the last couple years and was on the 2017 Presidents Cup team.
I tell ya, if Jordan Spieth had just a tenth of the course management skills that say Ben Hogan or Jack had, he’d never lose. How many times in the last few years have we seen him charge into contention, only to put up a big number and drop right back out? He tried a miracle shot by threading the needle between some branches yesterday, vs. just punching out and taking his chances on pitching it up and down, and instead hit a high branch of a tree and had the ball ricochet out of bounds.
So do we get to watch Tiger fail again to come from behind to win a major?
I think that his failure to do that over the years is the biggest indictment to the claim that he is a superior golfer to Nicklaus. He has time; Nicklaus at Augusta in '86 was 46 years old. Maybe today Tiger can put that meme to rest. But I doubt it. If he was going to do it, he would have nailed the eagle at 17 yesterday…
Koepka is going to be tough to beat. That sure is one gorgeous golf course, btw, and I’m enjoying this tournament immensely. Except for that crazy business about split screen commercials. There is so much dead time in golf it really doesn’t make much sense.
So don’t watch them. I mean, seriously, how is it a detriment to have them? 
Tiger can’t hit a tee shot. That’s gonna really hurt, given that he was pin-seeking with the irons early.
Tiger might be up shit’s creek. Literaly.
Shoots one off the all-time PGA scoring record from all over the place. Unfortunately, he ran into a guy who drove like a machine, who broke the all-time PGA scoring record.
Not bad for being about nine months away from starting at zero. It will be interesting to see what he can do next year, with several more months of practicing his driver.
By the way, good call on whoever granted Scott a special exemption.
I was wondering why he needed that. Had he fallen that far down the money list?
Coming in to the tournament, I believe he was 120th on the FedEx Cup list. He’s up to 70th now.
It should be noted that there were 38 exemptions granted, including not only Scott, but also Shane Lowry, Stewart Cink, Tyrell Hatton, Julian Suri and Matt Wallace, among those who did well. Jim Furyk and Bill Haas were also on the list. It’s interesting reading.
Top-70 on the money list are granted spots. This year, due to needing alternates, four added players from the list played. The field is a bit narrower in part because of the 20 spots granted to club pros.
Better than the 1960’s, when over 110 spots went to club pros.
ETA: I would guess that made it a bit easier to win from behind.
ETA^2: Although Tiger has won from behind many times.
The US Amateur Tournament is being played at Pebble this week. I’m going to check it out this coming weekend-- should be a fun day or two at the course. It’s a brutal schedule for those who make it to the end:
Two days of stroke play, alternating between Pebble and Spyglass, today and tomorrow.
Then the top 64 go into sudden elimination match play at Pebble thru Sunday.
The guy who worries me is Rory. In 1994, he’s on top of the world w/ 4 majors thru age 25. Since then he’s had several smatterings of top tens, but never in contention down to the wire until this year’s Open Championship, and 3 straight missed US Open cuts. He will be 30 next year, and welp he just basically wasted his prime years.
I’m guessing that “1994” was a typo in that post? 
Prior to 1968, there was no special category for “club pros”, as the PGA Tour had not split off, and the PGA Championship was the only championship for the member professionals (“club” or “touring”). Qualification for the tournament prior to 1958 (the years it was match play) was either sectional or by 36-hole qualifying tournament. After the establishment of the PGA Club Professional Championship in 1968, the top 25 spots were granted the right to play in the next PGA Championship.
I’ve yet to find evidence of how spots for the years 1958 to 1967 was determined.
It really is amazing Tiger was able to shoot that score without using the fairways. Just absolutely amazing.
I think you mean prior to 1969, as the touring pros did not split from the PGA until August of 1968, and the PGA Championship was played in July. In fact, that 1968 PGA Championship may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, as many pros complained about the venue and the field, which (according to Jack, one of the ringleaders of the rebellion) consisted of 55 touring pros and 113 club pros (he may have been a bit off, because the official PGA Media Guide says the field was 165 that year). Even when they spit, originally to form their own organization called the American Professional Golfers, the touring pros said they intended to let the PGA run all remaining 1968 events. It’s difficult to reconstruct all the wrangling, with suits and countersuits, but things were finally settled in December of that year, with the touring pros nominally back under the umbrella of the PGA, but as an autonomous Tournament Players Division which would eventually become the PGA TOUR. I would like to say it was an amicable settlement, but the PGA refused to name a Player of the Year for 1968, which Billy Casper, the best player in the world during the late 60’s, would have won easily. The man just couldn’t catch a break.
The PGA Media Guide has only brief summaries of the tournaments of that time, but this is what Jack had to say about the 1968 PGA Championship field:
“There were only 56 touring pros in the starting field of 168 players at San Antonio. One day a writer asked me about this ratio, and I said, “It’s absurd and unfortunate.” Only a third of the players at the PGA were regular tour competitors—or, in other words, the best players in the world. The PGA’s antiquated qualifying system prevented top players such as Bob Murphy, Lee Elder and Deane Beman from playing at San Antonio. As a member of the Tournament Committee, I spoke out against the system. I had nothing to gain for myself; I was exempt from qualifying for the PGA tournament. I wanted a proper tour representation at the pros’ own championship. The PGA should be the No. 1 tournament in golf because it is our own championship. It cannot be No. 1, though, when many top players—the tour players—cannot tee the ball up.”
I heartily endorse his comments about the field strength of his era.
Fun fact: 56 touring pros in the field, 76 players made the cut, and both Jack and Tom Weiskopf missed it — Jack by one, Weiskopf by ten shots.