First of all hello, I haven't posted here for a wee while (December 13), so all the very best of luck to you all for 2018 with health and happiness at the top of the list !!
Yesterday Brooke Henderson capped off a solid year winning the Bobby Rosenfeld award as Canada's female athlete of the year for the second time, with 35 of 63 votes. She had 2 wins and 8 top 10's, was 6th on the money list with over $1.5m, and ended up 13th in the world rankings.
She and Adam Hadwin were atop the Canadian pro stories. Adam of course had his best PGA season with his first win in March at the Valspar Championhip after shooting a magical 59 in the desert at La Quinta at the old Bob Hope. He qualified for the Masters (T36), played in the Presidents Cup, got married, went on honeymoon and bought a new house !!
Probably the biggest story for golf, came at the end of the year in the Bahama's where Tiger held his annual Hero World Challenge, a golfing holiday for 18 invitees which Tiger turned into world wide news by playing decently and declaring himself fit to return to golf in 2018.
For me this year was all about young guns showing up to take win after win in the absence of any dominant play by the big 4 of Jordan Spieth (Open Championship), Rory McIlroy (injury), Jason Day and Dustin Johnson, who all had their moments but didn't dominate.
Justin Thomas was the biggest winner of those new young guns, winning the Fed Ex Cup along with 5 tournaments including the PGA Championship, shooting 59 at the Sony in Hawaii, and setting a US Open single round record of 63 at Erin Hills, and of course was part of the USA Team that routed the Internationals at the Presidents Cup. He begins this season in Hawaii ranked #3 in the world.
Sergio Garcia had his career year with that final majors break through winning the Masters, and finally getting married and his wife is expecting their first baby.
Other young guns who won big time were Sergio's countryman Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka (US Open), Jordan Spieth (Open Championship), MacKenzie Hughes (RSM Classic Nov. 2016), Kim Si Woo (Players), Xander Schauffele (Greenbrier, Tour Championship), Bryson DeChambeau (John Deere) just to name a few.
England's Tommy Fleetwood hung on to win the Race to Dubai by a shot over Justin Rose who was the hottest golfer in the world during October and November with 3 wins.
On the LPGA the Asian girls were atop the leaderboard more than any other nationality, but it was American Lexi Thomson who won the CME Race to the Globe despite missing a 2 foot putt, but will be remembered for losing the ANA Inspiration by a television viewer who emailed in to say she hadn't marked a tap in putt accurately.
Another big story as a result is that world golf authorities have since created a ruling banning the outcome of tournaments to be decided by television viewers call or writing in.
Despite the phenomenal games of so many of the young guys who all just hit the present day ball miles, making most par 5's obsolete, TV ratings for golf have not reflected their brilliance, so Tiger's announced return has the PGA Tour, their sponsors and all the TV networks giddy. His persona win or lose draws an extra 30% of viewers who simply don't tune in whatever shape his game is in.
Whether this is good or bad for the game is debateable and that's one of the things I will be doing in 2018.
There are 6 Canadians playing exempt on the PGA Tour next year, Graham DeLaet, Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor, MacKenzie Hughes, Ben Silverman, Corey Connors and David Hearn who does not have exempt status but will get into around 15 events.
So the 2018 season which began with the wrap around back in October resumes in Hawaii at Kapalua on January 4 and I'll be back with a preview in the New Year.
All the best my friends,
Bryan Angus
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Golf Notes for a wintery December 13th
Christmas is just a dozen days away, winter has finally arrived with the thermometer in and around -12*c, and the first snowfall has insured a white Christmas. Golf continues down under where it is summer, and on the European/Sunshine tour in South Africa, but by in large most pros are off until 2018.
Q SCHOOL: All four Canucks at Web.com Q school earned status of some sort. Ryan Yip from Calgary T10th at -18 (73-65-67-65), so he starts 2018 with guaranteed starts for the first 12 events meanwhile Albin Choi from Toronto and Stuart Macdonald from Vancouver T23 -16, while Seann Harlingten also from Vancouver T30th -15.
Those 3 Choi, Macdonald get exempt status for the first eight events: .
LOU MARSH: Joey Votto had another banner year for Cincinnati at 1st base and he was awarded this year's Lou Marsh trophy.
With 8 top 10's and 2 wins Brooke Henderson was on the ballot but was in strong competition with the likes of Votto, Sid Crosby, Rachel Homan (curler) and Alex Harvey (skier), and I'm sure her day will come.
BEST CANADIAN AMATEURS: Josh Whalen (22) (Napanee) and Maddie Szeryk (21) (dual citizen), are Canada’s top male and female amateur golfers for 2017
Josh was 3rd at the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, T6 at the Sunnehanna Amateur and had six NCAA top-20s in his senior year with the Kent State Golden Flashes.
Maddie won for the 3rd year in a row winning the B.C. Women’s Amateur and Women’s Western Amateur Championships, as well as the NCAA’s Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational playing for Texas A&M.
NO MORE TV VIEWER CALLINS: Every governing body out there finally got together and have come up with a new set of protocols for video review when applying the Rules of Golf. Basically you can stop calling in if you think you saw a ball move a hair or any other minor infraction. Here's what they are doing.
Assign one or more officials to monitor the video broadcast of a competition to help identify and resolve Rules issues as they arise
Discontinue any steps to facilitate or consider viewer call-ins as part of the Rules decision process
In addition, they have approved the adoption of a Local Rule to eliminate the additional two-stroke penalty for failing to include a penalty on the score card when the player was unaware of the penalty.
TIGER'S RETURN: Whatever your opinion is of Tiger Woods, the biggest news for the pro game, in particular for the PGA Tour and it's sponsors is that during the off season he competed adequately at his Hero World Challenge, came through the 4 rounds without pain, and as such will be announcing his playing schedule for 2018 at some time soon.
TV ratings dropped by 30% in his absence, and that 30% who don't normally watch golf will be paying attention whenever he gets back. Despite their collective brilliant play, the new crew, Rory, DJ, Rickie, Jordan, Jason etal simply don't move the needle and while they are all better than Tiger by now, the affect and the size of his shadow is something we will be debating again next year, as his mere presence will become more important than the guys who are actually winning the event.
Bryan Angus
Q SCHOOL: All four Canucks at Web.com Q school earned status of some sort. Ryan Yip from Calgary T10th at -18 (73-65-67-65), so he starts 2018 with guaranteed starts for the first 12 events meanwhile Albin Choi from Toronto and Stuart Macdonald from Vancouver T23 -16, while Seann Harlingten also from Vancouver T30th -15.
Those 3 Choi, Macdonald get exempt status for the first eight events: .
LOU MARSH: Joey Votto had another banner year for Cincinnati at 1st base and he was awarded this year's Lou Marsh trophy.
With 8 top 10's and 2 wins Brooke Henderson was on the ballot but was in strong competition with the likes of Votto, Sid Crosby, Rachel Homan (curler) and Alex Harvey (skier), and I'm sure her day will come.
BEST CANADIAN AMATEURS: Josh Whalen (22) (Napanee) and Maddie Szeryk (21) (dual citizen), are Canada’s top male and female amateur golfers for 2017
Josh was 3rd at the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, T6 at the Sunnehanna Amateur and had six NCAA top-20s in his senior year with the Kent State Golden Flashes.
Maddie won for the 3rd year in a row winning the B.C. Women’s Amateur and Women’s Western Amateur Championships, as well as the NCAA’s Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational playing for Texas A&M.
NO MORE TV VIEWER CALLINS: Every governing body out there finally got together and have come up with a new set of protocols for video review when applying the Rules of Golf. Basically you can stop calling in if you think you saw a ball move a hair or any other minor infraction. Here's what they are doing.
In addition, they have approved the adoption of a Local Rule to eliminate the additional two-stroke penalty for failing to include a penalty on the score card when the player was unaware of the penalty.
TIGER'S RETURN: Whatever your opinion is of Tiger Woods, the biggest news for the pro game, in particular for the PGA Tour and it's sponsors is that during the off season he competed adequately at his Hero World Challenge, came through the 4 rounds without pain, and as such will be announcing his playing schedule for 2018 at some time soon.
TV ratings dropped by 30% in his absence, and that 30% who don't normally watch golf will be paying attention whenever he gets back. Despite their collective brilliant play, the new crew, Rory, DJ, Rickie, Jordan, Jason etal simply don't move the needle and while they are all better than Tiger by now, the affect and the size of his shadow is something we will be debating again next year, as his mere presence will become more important than the guys who are actually winning the event.
Bryan Angus
Thursday, December 7, 2017
4 Canadians at final stage of Web.com Tour Q School
Web.com Q School leaderboard https://www.pgatour.com/webcom/leaderboard.html
Four Canadians are in the field for the final stage of the Web.com Q school starting today in Chandler, Arizona at the Whirlwind Golf Club.
They are Albin Choi from Toronto, Seann Harlingten and Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver, and Calgary’s Ryan Yip.
The winner will earn full exempt for the 2018 regular season and those finishing second through 10th (including ties) receives exempt status for the first 12 events of 2018. Finishers 11th through 45th, plus ties, will receive exempt status for the first eight events, while the remainder of the field receives conditional status.
Bryan Angus
Four Canadians are in the field for the final stage of the Web.com Q school starting today in Chandler, Arizona at the Whirlwind Golf Club.
They are Albin Choi from Toronto, Seann Harlingten and Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver, and Calgary’s Ryan Yip.
The winner will earn full exempt for the 2018 regular season and those finishing second through 10th (including ties) receives exempt status for the first 12 events of 2018. Finishers 11th through 45th, plus ties, will receive exempt status for the first eight events, while the remainder of the field receives conditional status.
Bryan Angus
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Mike Weir finishes Australian PGA T15
Australian PGA final leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2017096/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard
Two young Aussies went to a playoff to decide the winner of the Australian PGA on the Gold Coast early this morning (EST)and it was Cameron Smith from Queensland winning it with a par 4 on the 2nd hole after Jordan Zunic made a bogey 5.
It was Smith's first European Tour victory in only his 11th European Tour start. He has one PGA Tour win.
I've been chronicling Mike Weir's progress here all week and he saved the best for last with a sparkling bogey free -5 67 to T15 at -8. He went out in -2 34 and came in with -3 33 for the 67. His 5 birdies brought his total for the week to 15 and the $15,000 he won was not as important as the way he handled the RACV Royal Pines course.
This was his highest finish on the European Tour going all the way back to 2009 when he was 10th at the US Open. It was his 7th event on the European Tour this year. For his 2017 Schedule click here http://www.mikeweir.com/schedule
I'm sure he is delighted to end this 2017 season on such a positive note as he heads home for Christmas.
Bryan Angus
Two young Aussies went to a playoff to decide the winner of the Australian PGA on the Gold Coast early this morning (EST)and it was Cameron Smith from Queensland winning it with a par 4 on the 2nd hole after Jordan Zunic made a bogey 5.
It was Smith's first European Tour victory in only his 11th European Tour start. He has one PGA Tour win.
I've been chronicling Mike Weir's progress here all week and he saved the best for last with a sparkling bogey free -5 67 to T15 at -8. He went out in -2 34 and came in with -3 33 for the 67. His 5 birdies brought his total for the week to 15 and the $15,000 he won was not as important as the way he handled the RACV Royal Pines course.
This was his highest finish on the European Tour going all the way back to 2009 when he was 10th at the US Open. It was his 7th event on the European Tour this year. For his 2017 Schedule click here http://www.mikeweir.com/schedule
I'm sure he is delighted to end this 2017 season on such a positive note as he heads home for Christmas.
Bryan Angus
Saturday, December 2, 2017
Mike Weir T28 at Australian PGA Championship
Australian PGA Championship leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2017096/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard
Don't look now, but Mike Weir is having a very nice week down under with rounds of 73 69 71 -3 total he is T28, not threatening the leader, Aussie Jordan Zunic at -17, however a solid week none the less.
He's had 10 birdies through 3 rounds and 7 bogey's with all the rest pars as he heads into the final round.
You can watch this on the Golf Channel later tonight as they are 15 hours ahead of EST.
Bryan Angus
Don't look now, but Mike Weir is having a very nice week down under with rounds of 73 69 71 -3 total he is T28, not threatening the leader, Aussie Jordan Zunic at -17, however a solid week none the less.
He's had 10 birdies through 3 rounds and 7 bogey's with all the rest pars as he heads into the final round.
You can watch this on the Golf Channel later tonight as they are 15 hours ahead of EST.
Bryan Angus
3 Canadians battling to advance at LPGA Q School
LPGA Tour Q School leaderboard https://qs.lpga.com/q-school/
Later today a 72 hole cut will be made at this LPGA Tour school final stage for the low 70 and ties and then after the final round on Sunday the top 20 will get full status for next year while those finishing at 21 to 45 will get conditional status.
As it stands. Lorie Kane, Jennifer Ha, Samantha Richdale and Augusta James will not make the cut.
That leaves Maude Aimee LeBlanc 72 69 73 -3 total and currently -1 today T11, Brittany Marchand 73 74 75 +1 total, but at -5 today through 12 holes T36, and Elizabeth Tong 76 72 75 +5 total and at -2 today, T70
The cut is projected at +5
You can follow their progress on the scoring link I have provided, but it looks like Maude and Brittany for sure with Elizabeth right on the cut line.
The leader, running away with it is Japan's Nasa Hataoka a -12.
Bryan Angus
Later today a 72 hole cut will be made at this LPGA Tour school final stage for the low 70 and ties and then after the final round on Sunday the top 20 will get full status for next year while those finishing at 21 to 45 will get conditional status.
As it stands. Lorie Kane, Jennifer Ha, Samantha Richdale and Augusta James will not make the cut.
That leaves Maude Aimee LeBlanc 72 69 73 -3 total and currently -1 today T11, Brittany Marchand 73 74 75 +1 total, but at -5 today through 12 holes T36, and Elizabeth Tong 76 72 75 +5 total and at -2 today, T70
The cut is projected at +5
You can follow their progress on the scoring link I have provided, but it looks like Maude and Brittany for sure with Elizabeth right on the cut line.
The leader, running away with it is Japan's Nasa Hataoka a -12.
Bryan Angus
Tiger Woods looks fit enough to make a return to competitive golf
Hero World Challenge leaderboard
https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2018/hero-world-challenge/leaderboard.html
This week I have had several people, who never mention golf to me when we are talking sports, say something like " Hey, I see Tiger is playing again and doing good eh"
That my friends is all you need to know. It doesn't matter who else is playing, where or why. These people are not big sports fans, are from all over the world, but they pay attention when they hear about Tiger, and as a result are paying attention to golf.
So for the record with rounds of 69 68 he is at -7 down in the Bahamas at what is billed as the Hero World Challenge, and he is was five shots behind the leader who incidentally is Charley Hoffman 69 63 -12.
He's looking fit, swinging well, playing some great shots, missing a few as well and seems after a couple of rounds to be able to return to play instead of needing to recover and that is the biggest news of the week.
Hero is a burger giant in the who boast they are made with free-range, grass-fed, 100% traceable, 100% Canadian, 100% Angus beef.
A "World Challenge" is hardly the case, with 18 invited and available guys on holiday playing an exhibition with no cut. So this is all about Woods and via the Golf Channel who rely on Tiger for their ratings, his every move is being scrutinized, analyzed, but never criticized...
Heck even his caddie, veteran Joe LaCava spoke with more reporters than Hoffman after the round, and he had this to say to sum things up.
“I said at the beginning of the week, I hope he wins. It’s great for the game of golf. Hopefully, I can stop him from winning this week. But anytime he’s in contention, or even playing the golf tournaments, it brings a buzz to golf that we all need.
Bryan Angus
https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2018/hero-world-challenge/leaderboard.html
This week I have had several people, who never mention golf to me when we are talking sports, say something like " Hey, I see Tiger is playing again and doing good eh"
That my friends is all you need to know. It doesn't matter who else is playing, where or why. These people are not big sports fans, are from all over the world, but they pay attention when they hear about Tiger, and as a result are paying attention to golf.
So for the record with rounds of 69 68 he is at -7 down in the Bahamas at what is billed as the Hero World Challenge, and he is was five shots behind the leader who incidentally is Charley Hoffman 69 63 -12.
He's looking fit, swinging well, playing some great shots, missing a few as well and seems after a couple of rounds to be able to return to play instead of needing to recover and that is the biggest news of the week.
Hero is a burger giant in the who boast they are made with free-range, grass-fed, 100% traceable, 100% Canadian, 100% Angus beef.
A "World Challenge" is hardly the case, with 18 invited and available guys on holiday playing an exhibition with no cut. So this is all about Woods and via the Golf Channel who rely on Tiger for their ratings, his every move is being scrutinized, analyzed, but never criticized...
Heck even his caddie, veteran Joe LaCava spoke with more reporters than Hoffman after the round, and he had this to say to sum things up.
“I said at the beginning of the week, I hope he wins. It’s great for the game of golf. Hopefully, I can stop him from winning this week. But anytime he’s in contention, or even playing the golf tournaments, it brings a buzz to golf that we all need.
Bryan Angus
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