Could Snedeker Salvage The FedEx Cup?

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snedekerx.jpgAfter winning Greensboro, Brandt Snedeker actually seems to be one of the few players whose life could be impacted by a FedEx Cup run and win:

Snedeker, a 26-year-old Tennessee native and former Vanderbilt player, had the best round of the tournament. He finished at 22-under 266, earned $900,000 — and, perhaps most importantly, jumped 17 spots to No. 9 on the FedEx Cup points list.

"Everything the tour has been telling us, you have a legitimate chance to win the FedEx Cup, (but) you've got to be inside the Top 15," Snedeker said. "That's why I came here — I wanted to get in the Top 15 and give myself a chance. ... I know my game can leave me tomorrow and I can have the shanks. I wanted to go as high as I could."

With most of the elite players yawning at the $10 million annuity given to the FedEx Cup winner, it would seem that a less established player sneaking in to win may be the only hope for some genuine passion and emotion?

I for one would love to see someone like Snedeker make a run, since the annuity would actually mean something to him.

Otherwise, if this is just an extension of the rich-get-richer pyramid scheme where underdogs have no chance to contend, then it'll probably fail.

"But the truth is, I'm just not ready."

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Tiger's official explanation for passing up the Barclay's:
I have decided not to play in The Barclays Classic next week at Westchester Country Club. As I have said all along, my intention was to compete in all four PGA Tour Playoff events, including the inaugural Barclays Classic. But the truth is, I'm just not ready.

Playing the last two weeks in the heat and humidity were mentally and physically draining. Although I managed to pull out victories in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship, my body is spent and I need a short break. Major championships are grueling experiences and usually necessitate recovery time.

Ever since turning professional in 1996, my goal has always been the same: To win every event I enter. I've done pretty well, winning 59 times on the PGA Tour. If I don't feel that way prior to a tournament, I won't commit.

This is in no way a knock on Barclays, their new event next week or the new FedEx Cup series, which I fully support. I just hope that this extra week of rest will rejuvenate me for the final three Playoff events and Presidents Cup. It is still my goal to win the FedExCup and I am hopeful this will give me the best opportunity to finish the year strong.

Tiger

Silver Lining In Woods Playoff Pass?

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The news that Tiger is skipping the Barclay's may not be all bad, as Jeff Rude notes somewhat intentionally.

Should Woods skip the first playoff event at Westchester (N.Y.) Country Club, it wouldn’t give the initial B-12 shot the Tour’s pet project was looking for and needed. After all, the Tour has used more than $40 million worth of advertising inventory this year to trumpet the new Cup series.

Good news for Woods and the Tour is this: He can still win the FedEx Cup if he misses Week 1. He’ll be the points leader at 100,000 after the reset on Sunday night. Based on Tour computer models, he’ll need to get to about 112,000 to win the Cup. That means he’d probably win the Cup with a victory, a fifth and a 10th in the playoffs. If he skips the opener, he’d just have three weeks to get those points instead of four.

That shouldn’t be too much of a hurdle for him considering the way he’s playing and the fact he has played well at the final three playoff courses. He won last year at the TPC Boston, site of the Week 2 Deutsche Bank Championship; he has won three times at Cog Hill, the BMW Championship venue in Week 3; and he has three seconds at East Lake in Atlanta, site of the Tour Championship grand finale.

Should Woods win the Deutsche Bank and BMW, he would be all but a mathematical lock to win the Cup. And the Tour Championship would become, to the Tour’s dismay, anticlimax.

So see, not playing Westchester is just one less Cup clinching win that would mess up this otherwise wonderfully concocted idea! 

Tiger Finishes Majors -1

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Steve Elling takes his annual look at the players who made all four major cuts and breaks down the numbers.

 For the second time in four years, Woods is the major-championship major domo, unseating Phil Mickelson, who won the honor in 2004 and 2006. Woods was the low man at the Slam events in 2005, but missed the cut at the U.S. Open in '06, his lone weekend off at a major in his 11-year pro career.

There were several statistical oddities this year.

Of the 10 players who made all four majors cuts in 2006, none did likewise this year. In fact, in an eye-popping turnaround of the wrong sort, Australia's Robert Allenby finished seventh among the players who completed all 16 rounds at the '06 majors at a collective 3 over. This year? He shot the highest score of any player who appeared in all four, missing the cut across the board and finishing a collective 45 over in eight rounds.

 Because of difficult conditions at 2007's first two majors -- this year marked the third time in history that winning scores were above par at both the Masters and U.S. Open -- the cumulative numbers skewed inordinately high. Since we began tracking the cumulative Grand Slam winners four years ago, 2007 stands as the first time fewer than 10 players made the cut in all four events.

Check out the story for the list of the elite 10. 

Skins Game To Feature Four Players!

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Twenty five years ago it was Nicklaus, Palmer, Watson and Player. And now... 

G SKINS GAME LEGEND FRED COUPLES, DEFENDING CHAMPION STEPHEN AMES, MASTERS CHAMPION ZACH JOHNSON, LONG-HITTING BRETT WETTERICH FORM FIELD FOR 2007 LG SKINS GAME

25th anniversary of the LG SKINS GAME to be played on new Celebrity Course at Indian Wells Golf Resort

And what celebrities they have added alongside the one celebrity in the group, Fred Couples.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (August 14, 2007) — LG SKINS GAME defending champion Stephen Ames, SKINS GAME legend Fred Couples, Masters champion Zach Johnson and long-hitting Brett Wetterich will form the field for the Silver Anniversary LG SKINS GAME to be played Thanksgiving weekend at the spectacular new Celebrity Course at Indian Wells Golf Resort.
 
The announcement was made jointly by ESPN Regional Television (ERT), Trans World International (TWI), LG Electronics USA, Inc. and the City of Indian Wells.
 
The $1 million 2007 LG SKINS GAME will be produced by ESPN and broadcast on ABC in its customary Thanksgiving home: Saturday, Nov. 24 and Sunday, Nov. 25. Nine holes will be aired Saturday from 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 3:30 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (check\ local listings). This is the 17th year ABC has served as the U.S. broadcast home to the SKINS GAME.
 
“You have one of the hottest up-and-coming golfers in Zach Johnson, who everyone saw hold off Tiger Woods in the Masters, a member of last year’s Ryder Cup, Brett Wetterich, whose powerful long drives are fun to watch, our defending champion Stephen Ames and the most successful player in SKINS GAME history – Fred Couples,” said Barry Frank, vice chairman of IMG Media. “This field has something to offer both the devoted golf fan and the casual golf fan, and the vistas and challenges of the Celebrity Course simply add to the allure of our 25th LG SKINS GAME.”
 
Title Sponsor LG Electronics applauded the field for the 2007 LG SKINS GAME. “As LG Electronics proudly returns as sponsor of one of professional golf’s best-loved televised events, we are enthusiastic about this diverse and talented group of players that promises to deliver an exciting Thanksgiving weekend of world-class golf,” said Michael Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics North American Headquarters.
 
“Over the past 25 years, the LG SKINS GAME has become a Thanksgiving weekend institution,” said Tony Renaud, vice president of new business for ESPN. “We are thrilled to feature such an accomplished, yet diverse field that will not only celebrate the past 25 years, but add to the rich history of this very special golf event that families and golf fans have enjoyed.”

Wait, the pile-on isn't finished...

“Our exceptional resort city is delighted to play host to the LG SKINS GAME, and we’re very excited to showcase this famed event’s silver anniversary on our new Celebrity Course,” said City of Indian Wells Mayor Rob Bernheimer. “This promises to be a great year for the LG SKINS GAME and one that fans will not want to miss.” 
For sure. Oh you said will NOT want to miss. My bad.

Half Price Sale Starts Early In Greensboro!

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They paid $525,000 to help secure this date? 

John Dell reports the stunning news that the last spot on the FedEx Cup schedule isn't all that the folks in Greensboro hoped it would be.

Mark Brazil, the tournament director, says that concession prices have been slashed in an effort to attract fans to Greensboro’s Forest Oaks Country Club for the four days of the tournament and its pro-ams.

“We want the fans to be able to have a great experience out here,” Brazil said. “I ran this idea past other tournament directors, and they said they just never had the guts to do this. But we are focusing on making this a better experience for the fans, even if we might lose a little money with concessions.”

The price for a beer has been cut from $4 to $3, and all Coca-Cola products, including bottled water, will be $1. Other concession prices have also been reduced, Brazil said.

So get them drunk!

The tournament is doing what it can to offset a lack of star power in the field. The Wyndham is the final regular-season tournament of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup, and only the top 144 players in the points race advance to the playoffs, which will start next week.

There is no shortage of players hovering around the 144th spot on the points list, but those already secure for the playoffs are taking the week off. The Wyndham has a $5 million purse with $900,000 going to the winner, but the players are looking at the FedEx Cup points to be won as much as the money.

K.J. Choi, who is ranked 12th and won in Greensboro in 2005, pulled out of the tournament yesterday, citing fatigue. He was the highest-ranked player to have committed to the tournament.

Only two of the top 50 in the updated world rankings are in the field - Davis Love III, the defending champion and ranked 43rd, and Carl Pettersson, ranked 48th. Pettersson, a former player at N.C. State, lives near Raleigh and played his high-school golf at Greensboro Grimlsey.

Davis Love is playing because he's the defending champion and Carl Pettersson is in because it's his hometown event. Otherwise no one in the top 50 would be in to uh, jockey for more points.

I hate to belabor this, but it was noted here a year ago:

Of course, now that we know this final event before the FedEx Cup finale amounts to a shootout between spots 140-150 for those final places in the playoffs, and that it's before a stretch of four straight weeks of golf, is it really that great of a date?

Why would Tiger, Phil or Vijay or any other stars play Greensboro after playing the PGA/WGC Firestone and before the four-week stretch?

"But every week it starts to get boring. It lacks imagination.”

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Doug Ferguson looks at the results of the PGA Tour's increasingly difficult course setup approach that made it a lot easier for me to TiVo the Women's Open instead of Firestone.

But as Steve Stricker noted last week, “It seems like every week we’re getting one of these.”

“The golf courses are so much harder,” Woods said. “Stevie (Williams) and I were talking about this. Have we played a tournament yet where you had to go low? With our schedule of tournaments I’ve played in, that hasn’t been the case at all.”
Fast forward...
One indicator that has surprised everyone from players to rules officials is birdies per round. The PGA Tour leader in that category has averaged at least 4.4 birdies per round every year since 1999. Going into the PGA Championship, the leader is Jonathan Byrd at 3.85.

If the trend continues – and it doesn’t figure to get easier the next month – it would be the first time since 1990 that no one on the PGA Tour averaged more than four birdies per round.

Woods, who has never finished lower than fifth in that category, is currently at No. 39.

“It just gets to the point where every course is a long, long golf course with deep, deep rough,” Davis Love III said. “It gets a little stressful. You can’t get away with very much, and you have to be right on perfect. You miss a fairway, you’re hard-pressed to get it back on the green. They keep lengthening courses that are already long. It’s just tough.”
I think Davis should take this up with the Tour Policy Board!

 

Adam Scott was asked how many majors it feels as though he has played this year. He used his fingers to start ticking them off, and he wound up using both hands.

“Probably seven,” he said, and this was before he went out for his first practice round at Southern Hills.

He mentioned the three majors that already have taken place. There was the Wachovia Championship and The Players Championship in consecutive weeks. The International, which produced birdies and eagles galore, was replaced by the AT&T National at Congressional.

And don’t forget Firestone, which several players figured was suitable for a U.S. Open without any gimmicks from the USGA.

“You’ve got to play for par these days,” Scott said. “You used to have that one or two times a year, and that was a challenge. But every week it starts to get boring. It lacks imagination.”

But Adamn, it makes bad golfers feel good about their games to watch you struggle. It's all about ME!

PGA Tour rules official Slugger White says nothing was changed, and he was surprised to hear the average birdies for round was significantly down from last year.

“We don’t think about birdies and bogeys,” White said. “We’re trying to give them the fairest and the best test. Our general philosophy is difficult and fair every day. There’s not one ounce of difference in our philosophy this year at all.”

And...

“It’s gotten that way a little more as time goes on,” Mark Calcavecchia said. “It seems like years ago, it was just kind of easy. The rough was never this deep week in and week out. I think the pin placements have gotten tougher over the years. Obviously, we’re playing courses longer than we ever have. They’re trying to combat technology a little bit with course conditions and course setups.

“But that’s kind of a good thing,” he added, “to know you don’t have to go out and shoot really low.”

Oh sure, and boy don't the ratings support it as a sound vision for the future.

Woods also is a fan of the tougher conditions. He often says he doesn’t like tournaments won at 25 under par, where making a par means losing strokes to the field.

But is such a steady diet of pars good for the entertainment value of professional golf?

“I think it’s great,” Woods said. “You’ve got to be smart. The golf ball doesn’t go as crooked as it used to, so you’ve got to do something overall – making pins closer to the edges, the rough is certainly higher. You’ve got to do it, or guys will go low. If you give them a golf course that’s pretty easy, they’re going to tear it apart.”

Thanks Tiger. You're a big help.

Monty Weeps As Hecklers Move On To Rory Sabbatini

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From Doug Ferguson's story, after Tiger slaughtered Sabbatini for the second time this year:

Sabbatini took five to reach the green and made double bogey, and as he walked toward the 10th tee, a spectator said: "Hey, Rory, still think Tiger is beatable?"

Sabbatini turned and glared. He barked at a police officer and demanded — with an obscenity thrown in — that the fan be taken "out of here."
Ahhh, he can dish it and he may continue to!
Asked if he would temper his comments in the future, Sabbatini looked indignant.

"Why?" he said. "I hope I inspire him and play well enough that I can give him a good challenge."
Meanwhile, check out this exchange after the round:
 Q. The guy on the 9th hole, I guess you pointed him out and they led him off, was that just -- he didn't seem to be that -- he didn't curse or anything.
RORY SABBATINI: Well, you know, the situation is we're out here to do our job. Let us do our job. You know, even on 18 there, the guys being very insulting towards Kenny Perry's first putt. Have a little bit of decorum and a little bit of class out there. That's the way it's supposed to be. But I guess a few too many beers were talking.

Q. What do you think of Tiger's game now?
RORY SABBATINI: Today he played significantly better than he did in the final round at Wachovia. He struck the ball better. He made all the shots he needed to. You know, he was definitely playing a lot better golf today than five, six weeks ago, whatever that was.

Q. Did you wear the belt with the skull for inspiration for yourself?
RORY SABBATINI: No, just like the belt.

Q. It's pretty cool.
RORY SABBATINI: Thanks.

Could we ask our questions in the form of a question instead of gushing praise for skull cap belt buckles? 

Tiger Goes Entire Press Conference Without Celebrating Firestone's It's-All-Right-In-Front-Of-You Architectural Brilliance

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Though I do understand he dropped his favorite design compliment in a rare post-victory gabfest with his most beloved on-course annoyance, Peter Kostis. Actually, his post round Q&A with the assembled inkslingers featured several entertaining exchanges.

Meanwhile, what is missing from AP's Doug Ferguson's game story here:

Woods earned $1.35 million for his 58th career victory. Since the start of the 2005 season, Woods has not gone more than five starts on the PGA Tour without winning.
And, and, and? The points Doug? Sheesh. The playoffs? Hello?

 

"When everything's said and done we'll lose $3 million. It's a concern."

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John Strege files a fascinating (and sad) Canadian Open game story in this week's Golf World, though I could swear only part of it made it online and I read some other interesting stuff in the print version about the slugs who used the chartered flight provided by the tournament, but skipped out on playing. Anyway:
Two of the preeminent stars in golf gave the top of the leaderboard a sheen that belied the troubles lurking beneath the surface. For the second straight year, the Canadian Open was played without a title sponsor. "When everything's said and done," tournament director Bill Paul said, "we'll lose $3 million. It's a concern."

This, too, was the first year of a six-year contract for the tournament to be played in this dubious place in the schedule. It will dramatically hinder its ability to secure a field worthy of a national championship that began in 1904 and counts among its winners Walter Hagen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods, an event Furyk said once "probably had a feeling about it that it was the fifth major." Tournament management even chartered a plane to ferry players from Scotland to Canada, as an inducement to British Open participants who might have been balking at playing the Canadian Open because of the logistics. Among the 18 players who accepted the offer was Furyk, who was coming anyway.

"I wonder if the members of the Green Bay Packers when they won the very first Super Bowl in 1967.."

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The bigwigs gathered to plug the upcoming Deutsche Bank event at TPC Boston, and they even included my pal Gil Hanse to talk about the course architecture. Even though you and I know we'll be watching to see those exciting FedEx Cup point permutations unfold.

RIC CLARSON: I wonder if the members of the Green Bay Packers when they won the very first Super Bowl in 1967, which wasn't even called the Super Bowl then, realized their place in history. The fact of the matter is they knew it was a big game and an important game, but they didn't realize that the way that New England's fans realized it when the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Thus we embark on a new era in golf called the FedExCup.
Wow Ric, how long did you spend sculpting that gem? 
Adam Scott, the very first winner of the Deutsche Bank Championship, you never get a second chance to be first, and we're delighted on behalf of the PGA TOUR after 24 years to actually have a season now that is structured like other sports where our athletes have the chance to not only perform over a 33-week regular season but a four-week Playoffs.

Some of the greatest moments in sports come from Playoffs. Some of the greatest moments in golf have happened right here at the Deutsche Bank, and when you combine those two ingredients, we think we're in for a great new era in golf.

Some of the greatest moments in golf have happened at the Deutsche Bank? And you say you don't learn things coming to this website?

BRAD FAXON: I just want to say here, I've been part of the TPC since day one when we broke ground here. It's been six or seven years ago we broke ground. We always needed a facility like this, and I'm proud to say that the TPC of Boston is the best TPC in the country, especially now with what's been done, with everybody partnering now to make this tournament, the Deutsche Bank tournament, Seth, the TPC, the PGA TOUR, to go ahead and let us make changes to make this tournament-worthy golf course.

Easy Brad, let's break 'em in slow!

Like Seth said, everybody knows Deutsche Bank is on Labor Day. We're going to have an unbelievable field, and I'm pretty excited to see the reaction of all the players when they come here and see a course that was maybe liked but not super-well-liked, and hopefully the changes that you're going to get to see now, you're going to say, wow, this is different, this is a New England-style golf course, this looks old, it looks like it's been here. The bad lies and the bad shots that you get today are going to be Gil's fault (laughter).

And from Gil:

As Brad mentioned, what we were really hopeful of doing was trying to create a golf course that looked and felt a little bit more like New England. So I think the touches that you'll see out there will really be reflective of we borrowed literally and liberally from The Country Club, places that are close to our hearts, great old New England golf courses, drop mounds, some blind shots, fescue edged bunkers, fescue out in the rough areas. So hopefully the golf course will feel and look a little bit more rustic and a little bit more like New England.

From a playability standpoint, these guys are so good that I'm skeptical that there's anything we can do from a physical standpoint to limit or restrict what they do. You can always make bunkers so deep, you can only grow rough so thick and tall and you can only have greens so fast.
But what we really tried to concentrate on is the place where I think is the most vulnerable is the mental aspect, trying to make them have to think significantly of different options and different ways to play golf holes, making them feel uncomfortable over shots because they can't quite see the bottom of the flagstick or they might have been in a bunker or on an island and they don't quite have a perfect lie. I think these are the things that architects are going to have to rely more and more on as we go forward with technology and as good athletes as these gentlemen are and the way they play the game.

So hopefully you'll find more strategy, more areas -- I think Pete Dye has a phrase, "Once you get these guys thinking, they're in trouble." I think that's what we're hoping for is we can make them think a little bit more as they go around the golf course and explore different options and opportunities.

Tiger then joined in at this point and he artfully sidestepped questions about the course changes he hasn't seen yet.

Love Takes Week Off To Better Position Himself In FedEx Cup

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Secure at 84th in the FedEx Cup standings, Davis Love only has to secure six top-8 six finishes (or the top 6 eight times), or win twice, or give Senior VP Ric Clarson a ride on his camper to accumulate enough points to get in the Tour Championship. Therefore he has opted not to enter this week's Canadian Open, even though he just finished a design redo of host site Angus Glen's North Course.

 

Since the first week of May, Bill Paul has been expecting Davis Love III to be playing in this week's Canadian Open. But not having him in the field, on a course he was paid handsomely to tweak, represents the biggest disappointment of the year to the tournament director.

"Every time we talked from The Players Championship on, he was going to play," Paul said yesterday of Love. "He is the biggest disappointment ... obviously, he should be here."

Love, who missed the cut last week at the British Open, is the name behind the design company that made several subtle changes to the 7,320-yard Angus Glen North Course.

When he was in Markham to discuss the changes he made in early June, Love was noncommittal about his plans for the $5 million (all figures U.S.) championship that begins Thursday.

He said one factor in the decision would be his form heading into the final few weeks of the PGA Tour season; if he needed to crowd his schedule to make enough points to qualify for the season-ending FedEx Cup playoff, he said he'd give the Canadian Open serious consideration.
Just look how that 144-man cut off is making guys add events!

 

Of course, getting to Toronto from Carnoustie was very, very, err...easy.