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!
Gretzky Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic Presented by Gretzky Samsung
Apparently they held a Nationwide Tour event in Collingwood this weekend but nobody heard about it. You probably heard that Wayne Gretzky and a bunch of his friends were in town for a little pro am. Hockey stars, former hockey stars, friends and brothers of former hockey stars and friends and brothers of friends of former hockey stars. Oh yeah, a former NFL star and the wife of a former hockey star.
Please don’t take this the wrong way. I have nothing against a pro am format and the cast of players in this one was pretty significant. However somewhere along the way, this event became more like a Wayne Gretzky and Friends celebrity bash than a serious golf tournament. And serious it was! Second largest purse on the Tour behind the Tour Championship. Fifty-two of the Top 60 players on the Nationwide Money List. A dozen Canadian pros trying to win a tournament in their home country and launch their careers to the next level.
In case you hadn’t heard, Justin Hicks edged Casey Wittenberg for the title in a playoff. Of the top five players, three of their final round scores were 62, 63 and 64. Half of the Canadians made the cut. There was a lot of very good golf played at Georgian Bay Club and Lora Bay this past week by a lot of people who would likely break an ankle if they ever strapped on a pair of skates. You just didn’t hear much about them. Pity!
Canadian Chris Baryla shot 72 – 96, the second round score coming after his wonky back gave out but he hung in there anyway because he got into the field on a sponsor’s exemption and didn’t want to let anyone down. Would be a great story if he jumped off the bench to score the winning goal on Hockey Night in Canada. Don Cherry would call him gritty. Didn’t see much coverage of that story however. Lots of pictures of Wayne and Friends though.
Wayne Gretzky, Ford and Samsung are committed to this event for three years. Good for them for getting behind it and making it happen. However maybe next year the people who help promote and publicize the event will get the message that this is about extremely talented golfers. The hockey players are the sideshow.
Hnatiuk back on Tour?
Lots of Canadians near the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Nationwide Tour’s Knoxville event including Jon Mills tied for fourth and David Morland tied for 9th. Interesting to see Glen Hnatiuk also in the mix. He shot 1-under and sits T34. I thought Hnatiuk had packed it in after a couple of years of lingering injuries and so-so results. When you look at his record over a 7-8 year period from the late 90′s through 2003, Glen had a pretty solid career and made over $4 million in Tour earnings. I met Glen a few years back at one of the Altamira Charity events and would see him at Canadian Opens and other events. Quiet guy but always approachable and ready with a quip or funny story from the Tour. He always seemed obsessed with his latest swing change or some fix he was working on. I don’t know whether playing this week is an attempt at a comeback or just a one-stop outing but I’ll find out. If he’s going to play regularly that’s great news for Canadian golf. Glen is one of the good guys and does a lot for golf in this country, especially junior golf.
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!