The PGA Tour Thread

Mantis Toboggan

Spieth for the grand slam?

DuckSlice

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Spieth for the grand slam?

Would be good to see it. I myself fancy Finau for the win, but i have for the last 20 majors :D

RikkFlair

Kiawah is such an interesting looking course, I take it those sandy areas are still not classed as bunkers and players can ground their clubs? DJ got badly stung by that rule before although not on this course.

Mantis Toboggan

First major with the rangefinders! Wonder will we see anyone using them.

The Big Easy

RikkFlair wrote: »

Kiawah is such an interesting looking course, I take it those sandy areas are still not classed as bunkers and players can ground their clubs? DJ got badly stung by that rule before although not on this course.

Accidental grounding or touching of the sand is now allowed, so DJ would've been alright with the new rules I think. IIRC he didn't intentionally ground just brushed the sand with his takeaway which is now allowed in all bunkers.

Deliberate versus accidental is a bit of a slippery slope though.

Frisbee

RikkFlair wrote: »

Kiawah is such an interesting looking course, I take it those sandy areas are still not classed as bunkers and players can ground their clubs? DJ got badly stung by that rule before although not on this course.

Yeah they are classified as waste areas so play away. You don't get any embedded ball relief in them either.

callaway92

Safe to say though, whether someone is a good links player or not; if you're what would be considered a shorter hitter, it really will be a monumental task.

unplayable

this is going to be a crazy few days. can see some serious blow ups

Collie D

Any thoughts on best way to follow this? Usual PGA Tour app or worth downloading the Championship app?

EDIT: Answering my own question: The Tour app is a hole behind on the couple of players I spot-checked.

Mantis Toboggan

Will be interesting to see how the European tour lads go.

Potential Underachiever

Collie D wrote: »

Any thoughts on best way to follow this? Usual PGA Tour app or worth downloading the Championship app?

EDIT: Answering my own question: The Tour app is a hole behind on the couple of players I spot-checked.

Bet365 have a good leaderboard and shot tracker for all tournaments, always well ahead of the PGA site and what's being shown on the TV.

callaway92

Collie D wrote: »

Any thoughts on best way to follow this? Usual PGA Tour app or worth downloading the Championship app?

EDIT: Answering my own question: The Tour app is a hole behind on the couple of players I spot-checked.

Always the app for the Major is the best one as PGA/European Tour don’t collect data themselves for the majors but rather pull the data from the Major’s website (other people collect it), so it makes sense that they’re behind.

Betting sites update as per the ‘official’ sites ie the Major’s site.

The Big Easy

callaway92 wrote: »

Safe to say though, whether someone is a good links player or not; if you're what would be considered a shorter hitter, it really will be a monumental task.

Those faux links just don't play the same as true links. They're never as fast and fiery no matter the weather. And you can see from the tight lies and turf around the green that they can still clip them comfortably enough.

Class course and I'd love to play it but it's just not the same imo

OEP

It's not claiming to be a links though. Different grass, raised greens etc.

Frisbee

OEP wrote: »

It's not claiming to be a links though. Different grass, raised greens etc.

Yep agree. I think there seems to be a perception with a lot of people that it's a links course because it's beside the sea and there's some long grass. It's definitely a course where you have to fly the ball to the hole.

Deeper Blue

That 16th hole is a brute of a par 5, don't think we've seen anyone birdie it yet!

LuckyGent88

Starting to get a little fun now. Colt knost on us broadcast saying some balls coming backwards by the end of their flights.

OEP

Deeper Blue wrote: »

That 16th hole is a brute of a par 5, don't think we've seen anyone birdie it yet!

Koepka did

Deeper Blue

OEP wrote: »

Koepka did

Ah ok I must've missed that, in my defence I am at work :pac:

The Big Easy

OEP wrote: »

It's not claiming to be a links though. Different grass, raised greens etc.

It's not claiming to be, but there's talk about it suiting good links proponents and Europeans when you still have to play it through the air, it's just long, windy and tough!

eagle eye

Seems like the late starters are at a huge disadvantage.

Mantis Toboggan

eagle eye wrote: »

Seems like the late starters are at a huge disadvantage.

Not so much plus they'll have the best of the conditions tomorrow.

Lip Out

The fact that players are intentionally aiming for the grandstands on the left from the 18th tee will become a farce over the next few days. And it is dangerous too as spectators are lined out below the grandstands.

GillLebowski

Lip Out wrote: »

The fact that players are intentionally aiming for the grandstands on the left from the 18th tee will become a farce over the next few days. And it is dangerous too as spectators are lined out below the grandstands.

To be honest, that idea is absolute b*llocks by the Sky team... I watched 16,17,18 on ESPN for a few hours. The second group I didn't but watched Sky coverage. Most players are definitely trying to hit a fade into it and some of them haven't worked. The Sky team saying people are aiming for the grandstand is just Sky being Sky...

I just went through all the cards of everyone at Even Par or below... 5/6 have hit it left towards the grandstand and there's no way you can say at least 4 of them were on purpose. There's 7/8 players who have gone way right too. It's a tough shot that nearly every right hander I've seen hit has gone for a fade. Some of them haven't faded at all, so they've gone straight into the grandstand, and some of them have faded too much, so they've gone bunkers/waste area/path on the right.


But if players realise now that they can do that and get away with it for an easier shot they'll probably just move the pin to the left side of the green to make it a more difficult shot from that side.

Frisbee

I don't think they were saying people were intentionally doing it today. The point was over the next few days there's a good chance players will see it as a handy bailout spot. Big target, no fear of suffering a penalty and a nice flat lie as the grass has already been well trampled down. I mean if you are leading by 2 shots coming down 18 on Sunday it's a no brainer to hit it in there really.

I take you point on moving the pin to the short side to make it a harder second shot, and they surely will as it gives you no bailout but they won't do that all three days. It's absolutely a strategy used by players, look at Pebble a few months ago where they were peppering the hospitality tent.

Whiplash85

Some turn around from Mickelson. I think he was 3 or 4 over at one stage on the front 9 and finished -2. There are plenty of birdie opportunities on the course. It is all about not compounding the errors. Sometimes a bogey is a good score. DeChambeau had a string of 4 bogeys in a row and also made it back to level par for the day.

I think the cut mark will be around +2 so anyone that finishes level par today should be in contention at the weekend.

Potential Underachiever

Whiplash85 wrote: »

Some turn around from Mickelson. I think he was 3 or 4 over at one stage on the front 9 and finished -2. There are plenty of birdie opportunities on the course. It is all about not compounding the errors. Sometimes a bogey is a good score. DeChambeau had a string of 4 bogeys in a row and also made it back to level par for the day.

I think the cut mark will be around +2 so anyone that finishes level par today should be in contention at the weekend.

If weather is similar enough today you'd have to imagine the cut will probably be +4

bren2001

GillLebowski wrote: »

To be honest, that idea is absolute b*llocks by the Sky team... I watched 16,17,18 on ESPN for a few hours. The second group I didn't but watched Sky coverage. Most players are definitely trying to hit a fade into it and some of them haven't worked. The Sky team saying people are aiming for the grandstand is just Sky being Sky...

I just went through all the cards of everyone at Even Par or below... 5/6 have hit it left towards the grandstand and there's no way you can say at least 4 of them were on purpose. There's 7/8 players who have gone way right too. It's a tough shot that nearly every right hander I've seen hit has gone for a fade. Some of them haven't faded at all, so they've gone straight into the grandstand, and some of them have faded too much, so they've gone bunkers/waste area/path on the right.


But if players realise now that they can do that and get away with it for an easier shot they'll probably just move the pin to the left side of the green to make it a more difficult shot from that side.

NLU reported Keegan Bradley saying "I hope the fans over there have helmets on because theres plenty more of this coming" - (or something to that effect).

I don't think anybody is suggesting people are aiming to hit fans but choosing that as your starting point and try and hit a fade off them seems the sensible play. If it goes well, you're in a great spot. If not, you get a free drop in a great area. It's still not easy to make par from there but very hard to make double.

It'll be a joke on Sunday if someone is leading by 2 going into 18.

Roger_007

Lip Out wrote: »

The fact that players are intentionally aiming for the grandstands on the left from the 18th tee will become a farce over the next few days. And it is dangerous too as spectators are lined out below the grandstands.

Whether they are intentionally aiming for the stands or not, there is no doubt that they can gain an advantage by doing so.
There are two ways to counteract this.
1. Stands could be deemed a penalty area and there would be no free drop.
2. The area where the stands are erected could be deemed out of bounds with the white stakes placed a few yards on the course side of the stands.

The objective would be to stop players gaining any advantage from hitting a ball into the stands.

Dav010

Interesting to hear commentators talking about course last night, what would a good score for 12 hcp golfer? 110 was the answer, that would be a good score on the Ocean course. 38 over. Must be some course to play.