Players: Very interesting, but not a major
Today culminates the biggest tournament of the week on the PGA Tour schedule outside of the four major championships.
The Players Championship.
It’s the flagship event of the tour and there are those who want to make the Players the fifth major just by saying it’s so. But golf purists have rightly resisted those actions, insisting a tournament evolves into a major and is not designated as such.
As usual, it has been a high level event with 46 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Rankings teeing it up on Thursday. They did so on a course that had five greens damaged in a cold, wet winter in northern Florida. Once the tournament started, however, the greens became a non-issue.
Instead, it came down to great golf and that’s what we got.
The usual cast of characters: Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson were the star attractions and all made the cut. Others, most notably Phil Mickelson, played just 36 holes.
Mickelson continues his confounding season and seems to be lacking form of any sort. His dream of achieving the career grand slam next month at the U.S. Open on Pinehurst No. 2 seems to be not very likely.
The Players Championship has traditionally produced an elite winner and, chances are, one of the game’s best will be getting that big crystal trophy this evening.
Most years the tournament comes down to the final three holes: the reachable par-5 16th, the treacherous island green 17th and the thread-the-needle par four 18th.
Should make for entertaining television this afternoon and early evening.
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As expected, when the Constellation Senior Players Championship is held at Fox Chapel Golf Club June 24-29, its run in western Pennsylvania will come to an end. The tournament will move to Belmont Country Club in suburban Boston for 2015.
The reason for the move is the upcoming U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in 2016. It would be nearly impossible to create corporate support and even fan support against the behemoth that the U.S. Open has become.
All parties — the Champions Tour, Fox Chapel Golf Club and the players — are very happy with how things went the first two years and nobody has closed the door on a possible return to Fox Chapel after the Open.
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It was great to see J.B. Holmes win the Wells Fargo Championship last week.
The young man has battled back from brain surgery two years ago and his triumph over that and the field at the Quail Hollow Club on Sunday is a definite feel-good story.
But there’s also a flip side to that win. Let’s just say Holmes is one of the most deliberate players on the PGA Tour or, said another way, he’s one of the contributors to the slow play issue that continues to plague the PGA Tour.
He and Martin Flores were put on the clock in the final round as they ground over every shot, over every putt and fell a couple holes behind the group in front of them.
Holmes, like the other slowpokes out there, is never punished for his transgressions in this area. And a couple of years ago, he adamantly defended the way he played.
To paraphrase somewhat, Holmes said he’s playing for millions of dollars and he really doesn’t care how long he takes to hit a shot. He said he’d take as much time as he needed to and that’s just the way it is.
Holmes is a very stern player and doesn’t seem to enjoy playing, or at least he doesn’t give any appearance of enjoyment. Television analysts suggested he start enjoying the game and maybe winning will help with that process.
Unfortunately, every time one of the slow players wins, they validate that style of play and make it harder and harder for fans to watch it on TV.
Of course, the PGA Tour does nothing to act punitively on this issue, so it really doesn’t make much difference to the tour.
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Registration for Tri-State Section PGA Junior events is now open and information can be obtained at tristate.pga.com.
The Junior PGA Champion at Fox Run, Dick’s Sporting Goods Junior Championship at Ligonier Country Club are the highlight events. The complete Kings Restaurants/TSPGA Junior Golf Series schedules is available online.
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Do you have an interesting story about your club or course or an individual who has done something special? If so, let me know. Send your story ideas to mike.dudurich@gmail.com.