PGA Tour 2016-2017

[Jack Lambert]

I'm looking forward to the Masters as well, and will probably get the thread for it started today sometime. Unfortunately, ESPN still has the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday, which means they'll undoubtedly be talking about Woods. I've already been seeing some stuff on Woods' 1997 win. I'm looking forward to seeing the Arnold Palmer tributes throughout the week. CBS usually has a "special" on before their Sunday coverage starts. I haven't seen anything on it this year, so forgive me if something has come out, but I'm guessing it will be on Arnold Palmer in some way. I'm hoping one of the big name players starts off strong, which would help to push Woods completely out of the conversation.

It'll be interesting to see how The Masters plays out. Dustin Johnson is coming in on fire, whereas a lot of the other big names haven't exactly been tearing it up the last couple of weeks. For instance, McIlroy didn't make it out of the the group play at the WGC, Jordan Spieth didn't get out of group play at the WGC, and missed the cut this week. Stenson, Reed, and Adam Scott all missed the cut this week as well. Jason Day will probably play, but his status is up in the air as well. Fowler is the only "big name" golfer that's played halfways decent this week in Houston. I'm guessing most of these guys are looking ahead to Augusta, though.

 

[Don Wassall]

The amazing Bernhard Langer won his 8th major on the Champions Tour last weekend, tying Jack Nicklaus's mark. At 59, Langer is still a great golfer, good enough to still be competitive on the PGA Tour when he plays events like The Masters.

 

[Don Wassall]

Dustin Johnson outduels Jordan Spieth and wins the Northern Trust Open in the first playoff hole with the rest of the field well behind, the first of four weeks of FedEx Cup playoffs. Both men traded spectacular clutch shots down the stretch and in the playoff, though omega male announcers "Sir" Nick Faldo and Ian Baker-Finch made sure to keep the superlatives to about 5% of what they would have been had Tiger Woods been involved. Jim Nantz as always did his fair-minded best.

 

[Van_Slyke_CF]

I'm glad to see Dustin Johnson back in the win column and the great play from Jordan Spieth, including a couple recent wins.

 

[Don Wassall]

Justin Thomas is about to win the second leg of the four week FedEx Cup playoffs. He outdueled Jordan Spieth and Aussie Marc Lieshman.

Dustin Johnson won the first playoff tournament last week. Thomas is currently first in the FedEx Cup playoff standings, followed by Spieth and Johnson. It's still wide open with two more weeks of playoffs to go.

Thomas now has five wins this season, including of course the British Open. It's pretty heady stuff to win five times on the PGA Tour. Fantastic year for him, but Spieth and Johnson are right behind him. They have been the "Big Three" in golf in 2017, with Japanese Hideki Matsuyama a bit behind them. No one else has been close.

 

[Don Wassall]

Lost in all the uproar surrounding the NFL, Justin Thomas topped off a tremendous year by winning the FedEx Cup. He finished second in the Tour Championship on Sunday, the last event of the four weeks of playoffs, which clinched the FedEx Cup and the $10 million that comes with it.

So he ended his 2017 season with 5 wins, a major, and the FedEx Cup. And he's all of 24 years old, the same age as his good friend Jordan Spieth.

The President's Cup starts on Thursday, the last big golf competition of the year, at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, close to the NYC skyline. The U.S. has dominated this event, but that only means the international team will be determined to reverse the trend. Steve Stricker is the U.S. team captain, and he made it quite clear none of the American players will be kneeling when the national anthem is played, as if anyone expected otherwise from golfers, who exemplify class and dignity.

 

[Jack Lambert]

Being as it's already late in the competition, I figured I'd just post my President's Cup thoughts here. The United States team, led by young guns Spieth and Thomas, has just been completely dominate in this competition. The Internationals have only won one full match, and halved three more. The Americans have a chance to clinch the cup today if they're able to sweep the afternoon four-ball session. Nearly everybody on the American team has been playing great. In addition to Spieth and Thomas, Patrick Reed has been playing awesome with Jordan. 47-year old Phil Mickelson has been playing great as well with Kevin Kisner. The duo went 2-0-1 in the team session. Spieth and Reed are currently at that mark as well, and have the chance to go 3-0-1.

The United States team is looking unstoppable; I'm looking forward to seeing if this dominance will help the U.S. reclaim the Ryder Cup in Europe next year. They've got great chemistry, and the right mix of great young players and good veterans to provide leadership.

 

[Don Wassall]

Being as it's already late in the competition, I figured I'd just post my President's Cup thoughts here. The United States team, led by young guns Spieth and Thomas, has just been completely dominate in this competition. The Internationals have only won one full match, and halved three more. The Americans have a chance to clinch the cup today if they're able to sweep the afternoon four-ball session. Nearly everybody on the American team has been playing great. In addition to Spieth and Thomas, Patrick Reed has been playing awesome with Jordan. 47-year old Phil Mickelson has been playing great as well with Kevin Kisner. The duo went 2-0-1 in the team session. Spieth and Reed are currently at that mark as well, and have the chance to go 3-0-1.

The United States team is looking unstoppable; I'm looking forward to seeing if this dominance will help the U.S. reclaim the Ryder Cup in Europe next year. They've got great chemistry, and the right mix of great young players and good veterans to provide leadership.

My thoughts exactly, hoping the Ryder Cup win last year followed by this rout in the President's Cup will propel the U.S. to win the Ryder Cup in France next year. Winning on the "road" is always tougher, but the Americans are really coming together with the great mix you mentioned.

 

[Heretic]

The United States team is looking unstoppable; I'm looking forward to seeing if this dominance will help the U.S. reclaim the Ryder Cup in Europe next year. They've got great chemistry, and the right mix of great young players and good veterans to provide leadership.

But, but, but...how is that even possible without the "anointed one" playing for them?

 

[Don Wassall]

It's a slaughter, 14 1/2 to 3 1/2, the most lopsided score going into the final day in either President's Cup or Ryder Cup history. It takes 15 1/2 to win, so the Americans only have to win 1 point in tomorrow's 12 head-to-head match play duels to prevail.

The U.S. has too much star power and is too deep. The two highest ranked internationals, Hideki Matsuyama and Jason Day, were both well off their A-games going into the competition and that hasn't changed. Si Woo Kim, who won The Players back in May, has been pretty bad since. The Oriental domination of women's golf is nowhere close to being duplicated in the men's game. South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace have been the two best players on the internationals. Aussie Marc Leishman has become a world class player this year and has played well, but fellow Aussie Adam Scott hasn't been near his top form.

BTW, Tiger Woods is one of Steve Stricker's assistant captains. He's sucked it up and is participating in an enthusiastic way even though it must be thoroughly humiliating for him to be there as a has-been while Phil Mickelson is there playing and still kicking ass at the age of 47. I almost feel bad for him, being relegated to a role usually performed by former PGA stalwarts in their 50s and 60s.

 

[Jack Lambert]

It's a slaughter, 14 1/2 to 3 1/2, the most lopsided score going into the final day in either President's Cup or Ryder Cup history. It takes 15 1/2 to win, so the Americans only have to win 1 point in tomorrow's 12 head-to-head match play duels to prevail.

The U.S. has too much star power and is too deep. The two highest ranked internationals, Hideki Matsuyama and Jason Day, were both well off their A-games going into the competition and that hasn't changed. Si Woo Kim, who won The Players back in May, has been pretty bad since. The Oriental domination of women's golf is nowhere close to being duplicated in the men's game. South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace have been the two best players on the internationals. Aussie Marc Leishman has become a world class player this year and has played well, but fellow Aussie Adam Scott hasn't been near his top form.

BTW, Tiger Woods is one of Steve Stricker's assistant captains. He's sucked it up and is participating in an enthusiastic way even though it must be thoroughly humiliating for him to be there as a has-been while Phil Mickelson is there playing and still kicking ass at the age of 47. I almost feel bad for him, being relegated to a role usually performed by former PGA stalwarts in their 50s and 60s.

I agree. I don't think you'll see the Oriental domination any time soon in the men's game. Not with how popular the PGA tour is. Also, there are a lot of great young white players continuously coming up.

I think the Americans wrap it up fairly quickly tomorrow. It's been great seeing Mickelson playing so well at age 47. I just saw today that he's now the all time President's Cup leader in matches won with 25, surpassing Tiger Woods' 24 victories. His streak of making every international team since 1994 is one of the most consistent and impressive streaks in sports. It's tough to play at that high of a level for so long. He played a lot better in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, nearly playing his way back into the Top 30, so I'm hoping he's got at least one more win in him next season.