The ultimate Friday
Outside of the majors and a few other tournaments, I don’t have much interest in the outcome. In fact, I often find Friday a more compelling day to watch a PGA Tour event than Sunday. Friday is “cut” day when those playing well move on and the rest go home.
This past week was the ultimate Friday. With the finals of qualifying school happening for both the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour, everything was on the line for about 300 men and women. As someone on the Golf Channel said, “this is as real as it gets. These guys are playing for jobs, not jets.”
For Canadians it was a mixed bag. Two women, Maude Aimee Leblanc and Rebecca Lee-Bentham, earned full exempt status on the LPGA Tour while Stephanie Sherlock lost out in a playoff and will get partial status. None of the nine men playing final stage qualified for the PGA Tour. Ryan Yip of Calgary missed by a single shot while Stuart Anderson and Brad Fritsch were just a couple of strokes off the magic number. All three will get full playing status on the Nationwide Tour which is a huge step up for each of them. Fritsch was there once before so it’s a return engagement for him but no doubt a welcome one as he had fallen off the radar recently.
The other six Canadians who made it to final stage will get into some Nationwide Tour events in 2012 but their schedule is uncertain and they’ll all be looking for Monday qualifying spots and perhaps Canadian Tour starts.
Final Qualifying Week never fails to deliver a full measure of heartwarming stories along with the heartbreaking ones. There’s always a guy who was pumping gas two years ago just trying to keep his game going long enough to land his dream job on the PGA Tour. Last year that guy was Matt McQuillan of Kingston who virtually gave up competitive golf for two years to tend bar but decided to give it one more shot, laboured through all three stages of q-school and made it to the PGA Tour.
This year that guy was Tommy Biershank who used to make $500 a week on a farm in North Carolina before finding enough game to make it to q-school. Biershank is 38 and has never played on the PGA Tour. He’s made it to some stage of q-school every year since 1997 but never got a card – until now.
Former PGA Tour player Jeff Maggert is going back to the big show. Major winners David Duval, Lee Janzen, Shaun Micheel and Rich Beem are not.
Bob May, who almost beat Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship 11 years ago, has battled back problems for many years but was finally healthy in 2011. He was in contention for four rounds but lost it on Sunday and Monday and now heads back to the Nationwide Tour. Likewise Canadian Adam Hadwin. Sitting pretty after three rounds, Hadwin just needed to shoot 1-under over his final three rounds to hit the number. Instead he blew up and didn’t even make the full Nationwide number.
Pedigrees, education, experience, even genes don’t seem to matter. Ty Tryon made it to the PGA Tour as a 17 year old and ten years later hasn’t had another sniff, despite two successive years at final stage. This year he finished second last. Arnold Palmer’s grandson Sam Saunders may have the best genes in the field but it doesn’t matter if you can’t sink putts. He’ll have to make do with another year on the junior circuit.
For every player there’s a story. Some of them have happy endings. Those will be the guys you see crying on TV. Others are not so happy. Most of them appear to be in shock. The consolation for all the players who make it to the finals of q-school is they will all have some status on a tour next year. Even for those with partial playing privileges on the Nationwide Tour, they can still earn a living and hone their game while they wait for another chance next year.
For really compelling TV, maybe they ought to televise the last day of second stage. That’s where they’re really playing for a job. Make it through and at least you have a spot on the Nationwide Tour. Fail to move on and you’re working in the back shop for minimum wage and playing for your own money on the mini tours.
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The PGA Tour has it pretty much figured out when it comes to qualifying school. Not so with the LPGA Tour. Unlike the Top 25 and ties scenario for the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour still thinks it needs a playoff to decide who gets into their top 20 if there’s a tie – even after two stages of q-school and 162 holes. This year 9 girls tied for 20th spot and one of them was Stephanie Sherlock of Barrie. She didn’t win the playoff so will start the year with something less than a full schedule.
The LPGA Tour denotes player status in terms of priority list categories. Category 11 players have full status, Category 16 are something less than full status and Category 20 are even further down the pecking order. Nobody knows for sure what any of the categories mean and how many events players will get into. They should rename them Hazy, Fuzzy and Really Bleak.
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One final thought on the events of the past week. While q-school participants were grinding it our for a chance to play on any Tour, eighteen of the richest golfers on the planet were playing a giggler over at Sherwood Country Club for several million bucks and a mitt full of world ranking points. Hardly seems fair. By the way, who won?
Labour Day Observations
There’s still something fundamentally flawed about the FedEx Cup playoffs. It’s this perpetual blending of the regular season and the post season. With the possible exception of NASCAR, of which I’m totally ignorant, no other sport I can think of continues to reward regular season play into the various playoff rounds. Sure it makes sense to establish seedings based on what happens during the year but once the playoffs start, it should be perform or be eliminated. This past weekend is a perfect example. A number of players missed the cut at the Deutsche Bank Championship but are still exempt into the next round based on accumulated points. The silliness climaxes at the Tour Championship where one player can win the final event while another can win the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Commissioner Finchem says the FedEx Cup playoffs are working just fine after a few tweaks during preceeding years. That likely means the sponsor isn’t getting as many irate phone calls from golf fans who can’t figure the whole shebang. And while I’m on this mini rant, what’s with the Fall Series? It’s like the season starts up again and makes some of those players who qualified for the playoffs vulnerable to losing their card because a bunch of players who didn’t make the playoffs suddenly get hot and bump out the other guys. Confused yet?
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Had to say I was intrigued when Webb teed it up against Chez in the Deutsche Bank playoff. At the start of the day Bo, Hunter and Bubba were also in the mix.
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While there were only three tournaments to report in this week’s Bulletin, it’s the first time I can recall not having any Canadians make the cut. None of them played the Deutsche Bank Championship or the Omega European Masters but at The Nationwide event there were four Canadian players in the field and none made it to weekend play. It’s not looking too good for any of them to make it to the PGA Tour next year based on a Top 25 finish. By my count Jon Mills has missed the cut in his last eight starts and continues to slip down the money list.
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What a bounce back for Alena Sharp at the PGA Women’s Championship held at Bayview last week. After missing the cut at the CN Canadian Women’s Open the week before, Sharp put it together to dominate the field, except for 16-year-old Anna Kim of Toronto. Sharp needed an extra day and eight extra holes to eliminate the teenager in a playoff but the win may be the confidence boost she needs to see some better finishes on the LPGA Tour.
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Finally, a sad note to close. Last week, the Canadian golf industry lost a friend and contributer when Norm Woods died after a relatively short battle with cancer. Norm was 67 and had started GolfScene magazine a dozen years ago, at an age when many are contemplating retirement. Always a consummate salesman, Norm was a likeable guy with a sharp wit and a kind word. He and I first crossed paths shortly after I started Fairways Magazine and although he’d only been a publisher for a year longer, he always had helpful hints and good advice. Sometimes we competed but more often it was a friendly collaboration. Over the years we travelled together on media trips or attended the same functions where we had the chance to play golf and dine together or just relax with a drink. It was always low key but very enjoyable. For those who knew Norm, you didn’t always know when he was in the room, until one of his zingers made you abundantly aware of his presence. There was a pretty good turnout from the Canadian golf media at the Celebration of Norm’s Life last Thursday at Whistle Bear. Some funny stories and a few pops turned out to be a great way to say goodbye to a friend and colleague who will be missed.
Tough choice for Monty
This past weekend delivered a boatload of intriguing golf stories beyond the usual tournament reports. Herewith, in no particular order, some Monday morning blather.
Tough choice for Monty. With three wildcard picks to complete the European Ryder Cup team, Captain Colin chooses another Molinari, Paddy Harrington and Luke Donald. That means he has to leave Paul Casey and Justin Rose off the team. Casey is ranked #9 in the world, one spot ahead of Donald while Rose is ranked #22 and has two wins on the PGA Tour this year. That’s two more than either Harrington or Donald. The toughest bit for the Scottish Captain may have been trying to choose amongst three Englishmen and an Irishman.
Some people still haven’t figured out that the LPGA Tour is not an American product anymore. Apart from the huge contingent of non-American players, twelve of the twenty-six events are played outside the US. So there’s no valid explanation for the idiotic comment from one late night pundit who suggested that Michelle Wie “still hasn’t proven anything since her two wins on the LPGA Tour were in Mexico and Canada. She still hasn’t won on US soil.” One suspects he’ll be eating those words pretty soon.
While we’re on the topic of word eating, perhaps the CBC should re-think their choice of Ron McLean as host of the CN Canadian Women’s Open telecast. McLean is clearly not a golfer. Otherwise, how to explain “the 17th and 18th holes are the 18th and 19th hardest on the course.” He certainly has a gift (curse) for inane chatter as evidenced by all the throwaway lines like the one he made after a great bunker shot by Michelle Wie. “How can you grow up in Hawaii and not be good in the sand?” Apparently Mclean has never met a silence he couldn’t fill. Gail Graham does a fabulous job as second banana, delivering solid insight and very capable commentary. Her performance is all the more laudable given that she has to teach McLean about women’s golf during commercial breaks.
Kind of a ho-hum finish to the the US Amateur at Chambers Bay yesterday. Peter Uihlein (son of Wally, head honcho at Titleist) took an early lead over David Chung and never let up, finishing 4&2. The real excitement was provided by the golf course which sits hard on the shores of Puget Sound, south of Tacoma, WA. The links course is scheduled to host the 2015 US Open and the Amateur was a test case. It has all the bluster of a typical seaside links in the UK but features several holes that might be all world. If the USGA sets up the course to play as designed (hard, fast and dangerous), then that will be one US Open you won’t want to miss.
Another decent outing for David Hearn on the Nationwide Tour. A little slippage on Sunday dropped him out of the top 10 finishers but the $10,000 pay cheque moves him up to 19th place on the all-important money list and still comfortably inside the Top 25. Hearn needs a win or a couple of top three finishes over the next two months to ensure a return to the PGA Tour next year. Apart from Jon Mills, who is still lingering in the neighbourhood, the other Canadians on the Nationwide Tour are at least a long distance call away.
Larry Smich, a journeyman caddie on the LPGA Tour has alleged that two Korean players cheated and tried to cover it up. Both players were DQ’d in Winnipeg. This particular caddie has made other allegations about conspiracies amongst the Koreans. Add recent comments made by LPGA Hall of Famer Carol Mann concerning too many Koreans on the Tour and one has to wonder if there isn’t another xenophobic brouhaha pending. If it isn’t Muslims building a mosque near Ground Zero, it’s Koreans trying to steal the Women’s Tour. Stop the insanity!
LPGA’s Speak English policy isn’t as bad as you think; it’s worse
By requiring all of its non-English speaking players to learn the language within two years or face suspension, the LPGA has found itself in maybe the biggest public relations nightmare since, since, since …..oh yeah, since LPGA Commissioner Caroline Bivens tried to manipulate the media at an event in Hawaii. If you look up the word bungle in the dictionary, there should be at least one reference to the LPGA, now maybe two.
The LPGA is trying, in a very awkward fashion, to make itself more relateable to sponsors, viewers and pro am partners. The large number of foreign-born players, particularly South Koreans, who have come to dominate the leaderboard each week, apparently isn’t a saleable commodity for the sponsor driven tour. That the LPGA is trying to educate its players with language training is commendable but the heavy handed approach may end up costing the Tour some sponsors and maybe more than a few of the top players.
NEWS FLASH – The LPGA just announced that all of the fat players on Tour will have to trim down within two years or face suspension.
The LPGA should and could market itself as the only true world golf tour. With events in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia the LPGA is clearly reaching beyond American borders to other countries and cultures. The English only policy flies in the face of that strategy. At a time when the Tour should be celebrating its worldwide support, ethnic diversity and inclusionary policies, it shoots itself in the collective foot.
NEWS FLASH – The LPGA just announced that all of the ugly girls on Tour must get plastic surgery within two years or face suspension.
As Commissioner Bivens goes into bunker mode, this firestorm won’t blow over quickly. Heads may roll at LPGA Tour headquarters. So far the only people who have come out in support of the language policy are several white supremicist fringe groups and various factions of the Rush Limbaugh Fan Club. The LPGA players have condemned it as have most athletes around the world. As you would expect, their belief is that talent and accomplishment will get you to the top and keep you there, regardless of what language you speak.
NEWS FLASH – (December 2010) – The LPGA announced today that in addition to Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer and Erica Blasberg, the 2011 player roster will consist of six Swedes and Lorena Ochoa. Several other players were close to making the cut but were highly critical of the LPGA for holding the final weigh-in just after Thanksgiving..
Oh what I would give to be a fly on the wall at the next players meeting!
Welcome to the LWieGA
If a dozen LPGA players jumped naked into the pond fronting the 18th green I don’t think they’d get as much attention as Michelle Wie doing whatever it is Michelle Wie does. Like it or not she has become the celeb du jour for the media hordes attached to the LPGA Tour.
A friend of mine hates Tiger Woods with a great deal of passion. It has nothing to do with his golf game, personality, skin colour or any or the usual reasons that inspire so much feeling. He told me that he just got fed up with all the Tiger attention. It culminated while he was watching a PGA Tour event and two no-names were engaged in an exciting battle for the lead but the TV crew chose to show Tiger eating a banana.
Wie is getting the same kind of attention from the media and both fans and LPGA players are resenting it. Following her latest fiasco with the alleged wrist injury and a potential 88, everyone from Annika to Nicole Castrale is dumping on Wie. Laura Davies stuck up for the kid but then Laura is not exactly mainstream LPGA Tour.
The Wie circus has a lot of similarities to the Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan style media frenzy. Wie doesn’t have the juicy tabloid fodder of sex, drugs, booze, rehab and jail time but it is a tale of an attractive, mixed-up young girl with way too much money making a lot of strange life choices. Time to get things under control.
Michelle needs to run away from home, find a friend who doesn’t have a financial interest in what she does, then make some tough choices. With $20 million in the bank it’s not like she has to worry about making rent but there are a lot of strings attached to that payout so it’s time Michelle started living up to the obligations. School’s not an option anymore, just a distraction. Playing in men’s tournaments is also a no-no.
Joining the LPGA Tour now is probably the best thing for her. Lord knows the Tour is probably drooling at the thought of having her in the spotlight every week. Once Michelle establishes herself on the LPGA Tour with a bunch of wins and restores some credibility, then she can do anything she wants – go to school, play with the men or fly to the moon.
In the meantime, I’ll call my friend to see if Michelle has crossed the line yet. So far I haven’t seen her eating a banana.
Peter Mumford is the Editor and Publisher of Fairways Magazine in Toronto. Fairways is intended for avid golfers and this blog site is an extension of that same philosophy - we don't dumb it down for the uninformed!