Thursday, June 19, 2014
PGA Tour Update
The U.S. Open was last weekend, and the British Open will be July 17-20. Majors weekends at the HP have become four of my favorite weekends of the year, so I want to extend the fun a little into the gaps. We'll see how long this lasts.
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The tournament this weekend is the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn. In the first round today, Brendan Steele, a 31-year-old from Idyllwild, Calif., has played the first 14 holes in 47 strokes--eight under par and four better than anyone else in the field so far.
ReplyDeleteOf course, action is hot and heavy in the HeathPostdotcom Yahoo! Fantasy Golf League. Here are this weekend's competitors for Matthew's Siler City Samurai and my Hooray for Earth! teams.
Scores counting today:
My Hunter Mahan-b, 3-under through 14 holes (10 points projected)
Matthew's J.J. Henry-b, 2-under through 15 holes (8 points projected)
My Morgan Hoffmann-b, 1-under through 10 holes (6 points projected)
Matthew's Ben Crane-b, even through 14 holes (4 points projected)
My David Duval-c, 1-over through 11 holes (2 points projected)
Matthew's Brandt Snedeker-a
Matthew's Troy Merritt-c
My Ryan Moore-a
Scores not counting today:
Matthew's Marc Leishman-a
Matthew's Dustin Johnson-b
Matthew's Ted Potter Jr.-b
Matthew's Brooks Koepka-c
My Brian Gay-a, even through 14
My Bryce Molder-b, 4-over through 4 holes
My Johnson Wagner-b, 1-over through 12 holes
My Spencer Levin-c
Up in Cromwell, Conn., 31-year-old Ryan Moore of Tacoma, Wash.--he has shot 63-68-66 for 13-under through the first three rounds--leads 33-year-old Aaron Baddeley of Lebanon, N.H., by one stroke heading into today's final round of the Travelers Championship. Brendan Steele, who shot 62 on Thursday, faded down the leaderboard with 69 and 71 in the next two rounds; he's five strokes back at tied for 14th.
ReplyDeleteMatthew's Siler City Samurai lead my Hooray for Earth! by the scantest-possible two points in the HeathPostdotcom Yahoo! Fantasy Golf League (you pick four guys to score for you per round, and your guys each get 20-minus-2 points for every stroke they finish behind the leader of that particular round). The Sams' advantage is stronger than it appears, though because Matthew has four golfers eligible to score for him today and I have only three because of cut issues. The good news for Earth! fans is that one of my guys is 31-year-old Ryan Moore of Tacoma, Wash., who has been playing better than anyone this weekend.
Scores counting today:
My Ryan Moore-a, 13-under through three rounds
Matthew's Dustin Johnson-b, -7
Matthew's Ben Crane-b, -5
Matthew's Brandt Snedeker-a, -4
My Morgan Hoffmann-b, -3
My Johnson Wagner-b, -2
Matthew's Troy Merritt-c, -1
Sams roll in the HPdcYFGL, and 35-year-old Kevin Streelman of Winfield, Ill., cards his second-straight 64 to finish the Travelers at 15-under, a stroke better than both K.J. Choi and Sergio Garcia.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I didn't know the PGA Tour was considering its current season to start last fall. This is the 99th season of PGA Tour golf, and it's the first one to be spread over two calendar years. So, anyway, here are your individual winners so far this season:
Jimmy Walker 3
Zach Johnson 2
Martin Kaymer 2 (including the U.S. Open)
Patrick Reed 2
Bubba Watson 2 (including the Masters)
Webb Simpson 1
Ryan Moore 1
Dustin Johnson 1
Chris Kirk 1
Harris English 1
Jason Day 1
Scott Stallings 1
Kevin Stadler 1
Russell Henley 1
Chesson Hadley 1
John Senden 1
Matt Every 1
Steven Bowditch 1
Matt Jones 1
Matt Kuchar 1
Noh Seung-yui 1
J.B. Holmes 1
Brendon Todd 1
Adam Scott 1
Hideki Matsuyama 1
Ben Crane 1
Kevin Streelman 1
Ricky Barnes, a 33-year-old from Stockton, Calif., is 5-under through 14 holes in the first round of the Quicken Loans National in Bethesda, Md. That's two strokes ahead of second-place Patrick Reed, a 23-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, who has played nine (and has won twice already during this 2013-14 PGA Tour season).
ReplyDeleteThis is the first weekend of "Summer Segment" action in the HeathPostdotcom Yahoo! Fantasy Sports League, and here are the competitors for Matthew's Siler City Samurai and my Hooray for Earth! teams.
Scores count today:
Our Brendon Todd-c, 1-under through nine holes
Our Brandt Snedeker-a, even through nine holes
Matthew's Webb Simpson-b, +2 through nine holes
My Brian Harman-b, +3 through seven holes
Matthew's Keegan Bradley-b, tees off at 1:12 Eastern this afternoon
My Justin Rose-b, tees off at 1:12
Scores don't count today:
My J.B. Holmes-c, 2-under through nine holes
My Tiger Woods-a, +4 through nine holes
Our Jason Day-b, +4 through nine holes
Matthew's Marc Leishman-a, tees off at 1:12
Matthew's Billy Horschel-b, tees off at 1:12
My Matt Every-b, tees off at 1
Matthew's K.J. Choi-c, tees off at 1
Go, J.B. Holmes!
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, our very own Russ Cochran and Kenny Perry are playing in the Constellation Senior Players Championship in Pittsburgh. Paducah's Cochran is 2-under and two off the early lead; Elizabethtown/Paducah/Franklin's Perry tees later today.
ReplyDeleteBarnes is back to 4-under, joined there by Reed and challenged by Campbellsville's Holmes, who is now 3-under through 13 holes.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, 38-year-old Tiger Woods of Cypress, Calif., is now 6-over through 12 holes in his first tournament after a long injury hiatus. But let's not focus on this; today is no day for sad talk--Vanderbilt won the College World Series last night, and the A's are 48-30 and four games up in the A.L. West after beating the New York Mets last night, 8-5.
J.B. of Campbellsville must've gotten distracted following the World Cup on his smartphone. Holmes closes his first round with bogey, double, bogey and par, and he's way back to 1-over and T37.
ReplyDeleteReed is now 5-under through 16 holes, and he's the tournament leader.
And Tiger shaved three off on the back nine. He finishes 3-over 74 in his first round back in action.
Best first round in the Quicken Loans National in Bethesda yesterday was recorded by 40-year-old Greg "Superintendent" Chalmers of Sydney, Australia. He was the only golfer in the field to stay as low as 5-under through his first 18 holes. Meanwhile, Matthew's Siler City Samurai and my Hooray For Earth! fantasy teams finished in a dead heat (!) yesterday, teeing up a potentially riveting weekend of HeathPostdotcom competition.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the Senior Players Championship, our boys Kenny and Russ both scored even par yesterday; they're part of a tie at 40th place, six off the lead, going into today's second round.
Feinstein was on the Sports Junkies this morning, continuing to criticize Tiger for his many faults. One of the Sports Junkies said that he heard Feinstein was standing in front of Congressional Country Club yesterday, handing out flyers that accused Tiger of masterminding the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty good. And good for the Sports Junkies that they're still on the air.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Golf Channel is now reporting that it appears Martin Kaymer is not going to make the cut at the BMW International tournament
Incidentally, Jordan Spieth also shot 3-over yesterday at Bethesda.
ReplyDeleteMatthew's Marc Leishman, 30-year-old from Warrnambool, Australia, has moved to 6-under this morning to take the early second-round lead in the Quicken.
Bernhard Langer (unfortunately using Adam Scott's putter) has moved to 9-under and the lead of the Senior Players.
ReplyDeleteIn advance of the 1986 Masters, Langer became the first-ever officially No. 1-ranked player.
We should've named this blog, "The Heath Post Champions Tour."
Hey, hey! Our boy Kenny has moved to 4-under this morning!
ReplyDeleteThe Golf Channel just showed Kenny Perry swinging a golf club in slow motion, and the commentator said his was one of the more uncommon swings "on any tour." And then he talked a lot about different things about his swing (where Perry puts his left foot, how he aims, etc.), but I don't know enough about golf to know what about those descriptions is uncommon among pros.
ReplyDeleteOliver Goss, 20-year-old from Perth, Australia, has joined his countryman Leishman at 6-under in Bethesda, and those two are one stroke ahead of Superintendent Chalmers, also of Australia.
ReplyDeleteNow here's ol' "Crazyswing" Kenny Perry with an approach shot on 13. I'm on a conference call, so I can't hear what they're saying about his swing (not that I would understand it, anyway). It looks pretty normal to me--a little loose, with the elbows flying up here and a foot kicking out there. But come on--he's 53. I'm only 45, and my feet are so stiff and achy when I wake up in the morning that I probably look like I'm walking in high heels when I first get out of bed. Perry's approach on the 13th finds the green and rolls a little toward the hole. Our boy is now 5-under for the tournament and five back of leader Langer.
ReplyDeleteAnd Kenny rolls in the long putt for his fifth birdie in the last seven holes! He's 6-under.
ReplyDeleteMy dad used to talk all the way through his backswing. He didn't care. He'd be talking about whatever--Reagan, Don Shula, air conditioning, something. He'd walk up to his ball with some club; he didn't much care which one, as he said that all duffers like us should just have to walk around carrying a driver, a long iron, a wedge and a putter to keep things moving. He'd spit his lit cigarette into the grass. He'd keep railing about Reagan all through his backswing. The ball would go only about 125 yards, but it'd go exactly in the direction that he intended. Then he'd retrieve his still-burning cigarette, take a drag and hardly miss a beat in his tirade.
ReplyDeleteOne of the great reassurances that I find in this world that we are all of the same stuff and God is that men start to look more like women and women start to look more like men the older we get. And we all start looking more like different animals, too. We all start out looking the same, and we all end up dissolving into the same. Hooray for that.
ReplyDeleteUncle Crazyswing is dead on target with another approach shot, and I think he'll have another birdie try here on 14. He's now within three strokes of the lead, as Langer (his playing partner) is back to 9-under.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was wrong earlier--Kenny didn't birdie 13; he parred. Still, he's doing great--that's the point.
Rims off left. Uncle Kenny, who won this major Champions Tour event last year, remains at 6-under. Tante Bernhard, however, gets back the stroke he'd lost, so he's back out alone in the lead at 10-under.
ReplyDeleteI love golf!
You know, what's going on here is that my muted Golf Channel coverage is more live than my live score updates on Golf.com. Perry did par 13, but it was a birdie that I saw (on 14). And then this latest par came on 15. Anyway, he's 6-under and four off Langer's lead. That part was right.
ReplyDeleteAt the top of the hour, Golf Channel cuts to the studios for an update from the Quicken Loans. This studio looks a lot like the sets on MSNBC, so NBC probably got a bulk deal on the furniture from Staples. Tiger's even through three holes today at Bethesda, while Ricky Barnes has charged with Old Glory past the Aussies and bak to the top of the leaderboard at 7-under.
ReplyDeleteHere's Kenny for birdie in Pittsburgh ...
No. A very short miss there. Still 6-under.
ReplyDeleteOK, we're back from lunch, and the Golf Channel has switched from live coverage of the Seniors National to live coverage of the Quicken Loans PGA Tour event in Bethesda. That's just as well, because Kenny Perry's second round in Pittsburgh is over, anyway. Kenny is 7-under through two rounds, four off the lead of Bernhard Langer. Russ Cochran is -2 through two.
ReplyDeleteRicky Barnes is rolling right along in Behtesda, 8-under and two up on the aforementioned second-place Aussies. That said, we'e pretty much on Tiger Beat on Golf Channel.
The cut line is currently at 3-over for this tournament, and that's where Woods started the day. But starting on the front nine, which he played in 3-under yesterday, Woods parred four holes, double-bogeyed No. 5, parred 6 and 7 and then bogeyed 8. He was all the way back out to 6-over.
But he made a lengthy, bending birdie putt on No. 9, and, just moments ago, he rolled his drive on the par-3 No. 10 to within maybe ... oh, heck, I don't know, and I'm still on mute ... five (?) feet of the cup. So our man Eldrick of Cyprus might lock in some weekend plans, after all.
Golf Channel reiterates that the cut is projected to be 3-over, and here's 5-over Tiger standing over what now looks to me to be a birdie opportunity of at least 10 feet ...
ReplyDeleteCurves her in! To 4-over with eight to play today.
DeleteJ.B. Holmes of Campbellsville is 3-over through eight holes today.
ReplyDeleteJosh Teater is done and 5-over, so it's almost certainly back to Boyle County for him.
Danville, KY Tourism @danvilleky
Group singalong of #LetItGo at Constitution Square tonight? Let's do it! #LawnChairTheater #Frozen #partyinthepark #danvilleky
8:34 AM - 27 Jun 2014
Programming note: I will now start referring to Ricky Barnes as "Barnesy."
ReplyDeleteBarnesy back to 7-under, still one up on the field.
ReplyDeleteWait. I just got back in here, and now they're showing Tiger Woods's swing in slow motion. Somehow, I'll bet this is not as happy-go-lucky a report as was the one on Kenny Perry earlier today.
ReplyDeleteAh, yeah, Tiger bogeyed No. 11, so he's back to 5-over. I wonder if Golf Channel was slowing down his swing to look for back issues or whatever.
ReplyDeleteCome on, Tiger.
ReplyDeleteWith Tiger mulling the potential twists and turns of a bogey-putt attempt at No. 12, the Golf Channel superimposes a graphic that indicates he has made 26 consecutive cuts and last missed making it to Saturday at the 2012 Greenbriar Classic ...
ReplyDeleteThe putt is good. With the bogey, Woods is 6-over with six to play today.
DeleteAnd now Barnesy is back to 6-under with the off-duty Aussies, Goss and Leishman.
ReplyDeleteWoods ... fuming ... 8-over ... and this concludes today's live coverage of the Golf Channel's live coverage.
ReplyDeleteOK, Patrick Reed, who has already won twice on the PGA Tour this 2013-14 season, hung in there yesterday with an even-par round, and that has put him ahead of the Quicken Loads field by two strokes going into today's final round.
ReplyDeleteBut here's the big #ohky news in golf this morning: Kenny Perry and Russ Cochran both rocked it in yesterday's third round of the Constellation Senior Players Championship. Perry of Elizabethtown, Lone Oak and Franklin shot 65 to pull into second place alone at 12-under and three back of tournament-leader Bernhard Langer. Cochran of Paducah came up with a 63! That moved the ol' Saint Mary's Viking to a tie for third at 11-under. Cochran, Perry and Langer play together in today's final, final-round group, teeing off at 11:32 Central.
ReplyDeleteChannel 6 is scheduled to show some "Dew Tour" skateboarding or something and some track and field this afternoon. I feel quite certain, however, that the WPSD homeboys will be rigging it up, though, to pre-empt that with the Golf Channel's live feed of the Champions Tour final round starting at 2 Central. Golf Channel is now an NBC sitch, so that has to be the plan.
After this morning's fight with the suits at Sports Illustrated, the Kentucky desk really wants to win one today.
DeleteBernhard Langer isn't kidding around. He has opened his final round with par, birdie and birdie. So he's now 17-under for the Senior Players Championship and four ahead of second-place Kenny Perry, who is 1-under through the same three holes today. Their third, Russ Cochran, is 1-over so far and back to a tie for seventh at 10-under.
ReplyDeleteBirdie at No. 4 for Kenny, so the lead's back to three strokes.
ReplyDeleteOK, here comes Kenny! Langer bogeyed 4 (where Perry birdied), and now Kenny birdies No. 5, too. Our boy has played the first five in 3-under, and he's now within one stroke of Langer for the lead of the Senior Players Championship, which Perry won last year.
ReplyDeleteWe're tied in Pittsburgh!
ReplyDeleteKenny Perry has rolled in four birdies in his first seven holes this afternoon, and he is now tied with Bernhard Langer at 16-under for the lead of the Senior Players. Golf Channel's live coverage from Pittsburgh starts in about five minutes.
Well, I went and took a nap with the little girl, and I come back to find Jeff Sluman rolling in a 10-foot-or-so birdie putt to take the lead at 15-under in the Senior Players Championship. "Slu," age 56, of Rochester, N.Y., won the 1988 PGA Championship. Wikipedia says he's big buddies with Bobby Rahal, which is kind of fun to talk about.
ReplyDeleteKenny Perry, age 53 of Elizabethtown (originally), and Bernhard Langer, age 56 of Anhausen, West Germany, are both 14-under. Uncle Kenny played the front nine today in 4-under, but he had back-to-back bogeys before steadying himself with a par putt of some length on No. 14. Perry's an old Hilltopper, but he's wearing a Wildcat-blue cap and shirt today. He looks great. The Golf Channel guys say he's tired. Well, duh ... it's Sunday afternoon, and he didn't get to take a nap.
ReplyDeleteAnd, then, guess who has crept back within two of the lead? Russ Cochran, age 55, of Paducah, birdied No. 13 and 14 to get to 13-under for the tournament. He's alone in third place.
ReplyDeleteNow Cochran sinks a birdie on 16, and he's tied with Perry and Langer at 14-under, one stroke behind Slu, who's playing 18.
ReplyDeletePerry faces another lengthy par-saver at No. 16, and this one he fails to convert. Perry, who has won three of the last five Champions Tour majors, is now two off the lead with two holes to play.
ReplyDeleteWow! Langer and his silly putter hole a crazy-long birdie putt on the par-3 No. 17. The Golf Channel reports that Slu, ahead on the 18th green, was bending over his putt and smiled when he heard the roar from the last group behind him, apparently realizing that someone had birdied to tie him for the lead.
ReplyDeleteSluman pars 18. He's the leader in the clubhouse at 15-under. Langer is now tied with him, with one hole to play. Cochran and Perry par No. 17. The final threesome of the Senior Players Championship head to the 18th tee:
ReplyDelete-- Langer, 15-under (tied for the lead with Sluman);
-- Cochran of Saint Mary's and UK, 14-under, and
-- Perry of Lone Oak and WKU, 13-under.
No. 18 at Fox Chapel Golf Club is a 574-yard par 5. All three drives are in the fairway.
ReplyDeleteA fitting finishing hole to a thorough examination. Best to drive left and let the slope guide the ball to the middle of the fairway. Now it is decision time: cross the creek in two or lay up? In any case, a three-shot hole. Make birdie here and a win is well-earned.
Perry's ball is left. So is Cochran's, but he's shortest. Langer is along the right side.
ReplyDeleteCochran's second shot lands short of the green.
ReplyDeleteNow Langer ...
Langer's left of the green.
ReplyDeletePerry ...
Kenny has the distance, but he's off to the right of the green. He'd have to plop in his pitch to tie Slu.
ReplyDeletePERRY'S PITCH FROM THE ROUGH ROLLS JUST BARELY BY AND PAST THE HOLE! Ouch! Oh, man, that was close.
ReplyDeleteCochran flubbed his third shot from off the green, and he was left with a very, very long birdie putt. He misses. Cochran finishes 14-under.
ReplyDeleteWell, here's Langer for birdie and win, but, really, who cares?
ReplyDeleteBack in 2009, back before the HP, Kenny Perry came heartbreakingly close to becoming the oldest man ever to win a major golf tournament. (Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post wrote a simply terrific column about it.) The player that did win the 2009 Masters was Angel Cabrera of Córdoba, Argentina.
ReplyDeleteNow 44, Cabrera today won The Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. It's his first victory of the 2013-14 PGA Tour season. (Justin Rose ended up winning last weekend's tournament in Bethesda.)
Jimmy Walker 3 wins
Zach Johnson 2
Martin Kaymer 2 (including the U.S. Open)
Patrick Reed 2
Bubba Watson 2 (including the Masters)
Webb Simpson 1
Ryan Moore 1
Dustin Johnson 1
Chris Kirk 1
Harris English 1
Jason Day 1
Scott Stallings 1
Kevin Stadler 1
Russell Henley 1
Chesson Hadley 1
John Senden 1
Matt Every 1
Steven Bowditch 1
Matt Jones 1
Matt Kuchar 1
Noh Seung-yui 1
J.B. Holmes 1
Brendon Todd 1
Adam Scott 1
Hideki Matsuyama 1
Ben Crane 1
Kevin Streelman 1
Justin Rose 1
Angel Cabrera 1
Brian Harman, a 27-year-old from Savannah, Ga., won last weekend's John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill., for his first PGA Tour victory. Here are the winners thus far in the 2013-14 PGA Tour season:
ReplyDeleteJimmy Walker 3 wins
Zach Johnson 2
Martin Kaymer 2 (including the U.S. Open)
Patrick Reed 2
Bubba Watson 2 (including the Masters)
Webb Simpson 1
Ryan Moore 1
Dustin Johnson 1
Chris Kirk 1
Harris English 1
Jason Day 1
Scott Stallings 1
Kevin Stadler 1
Russell Henley 1
Chesson Hadley 1
John Senden 1
Matt Every 1
Steven Bowditch 1
Matt Jones 1
Matt Kuchar 1
Noh Seung-yui 1
J.B. Holmes 1
Brendon Todd 1
Adam Scott 1
Hideki Matsuyama 1
Ben Crane 1
Kevin Streelman 1
Justin Rose 1
Angel Cabrera 1
Brian Harman 1
And with this tournament, we conclude this interim PGA Tour Update report, as the British Open starts tomorrow! Here are some key HP reports from earlier this season:
ReplyDelete-- Bubba Watson wins the Masters.
-- J.B. Holmes of Campbellsville bounces back.
-- Martin Kaymer wins the U.S. Open.
I so love the majors weekends at the HP, and I hope we Go Heath steps to the mike to take over the hosting. Whenever we go from me to Go Heath being the primary voice of a golf report at the HP, it feels a little like watching Channel 6 on an autumn Sunday afternoon in the late 1970s when you might get Charlie Jones finishing up a noon-kickoff Browns-Bengals game that's for third place in the Central Division and then coverage rolls to Oakland for a Steelers-at-Raiders game that Dick Enberg is saying might turn out to be a preview of the AFC championship.
Oh, yeah. Feels so good, baby.
ReplyDelete