Monday, October 20, 2008

P.G.A. Money Bubble a Moving Target.


After last week's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open, or commonly referred to as the JTSHFCO, Davis Love III finds himself on the bubble, the 125th man on the money list for exemption on the 2009 PGA Tour. Love III has other options to play in 2009 due to his career achievements, but he's the bubble boy nonetheless. Tour rookie Marc Turnesa won the event going wire to wire for his 1st tour victory. He became the 4th rookie to win on tour this year. Let's look at what happened to last week's 11 players on and around the dubious bubble.....

120 Jeff Overton - Now at 122.
121 Brad Adamonis - Moved to 113th position.
122 Patrick Sheehan - Slipped to 124.
123 Jay Williamson - Down to 127.
124 Vaughn Taylor - Fell to ominous 126th spot.
125 Martin Laird - 128th, gave up bubble spot to Love III.
126 Matt Jones - 129th.
127 Jason Gore - Big fella dropped to 130.
128 Rich Beem - 133 for Beemer, wrong direction.
129 Tom Lehman - Not playing sent him to 134th.
130 Jason Day - Aussie down 1 to 131st.

Adamonis was the only one of the eleven to make a positive move. A couple of familiar names are now occupying the spots in and around the infamous bubble. David Toms has managed to fall to 120th and Mark Calcavecchia owns the 123rd spot.

Next up in the quest to keep their day jobs is the Frys.com Open, Oct 23-26 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ. Grayhawk is golf commentator Gary McCord's home course. Why I mentioned that is not readily apparent. Mike Weir defends.

Til' next,

8 comments:

  1. While the rest of the regular PGA Tour followers invariably switch off during this period, it is incredible to see how much rides on some of these tournaments for the journeymen on tour. While most of the Golf Pundits are not on the look out for some audacious talent in the fall season of the tour, the fact is that a win here could suddenly catapult one of these rookies to stardom and who knows last week's winner Marc Tunesa, buoyed by his performance might actually be in contention in a lot more events. It is all about confidence isn’t it!

    I cannot help but feel a little sorry for Jason Day. It is not very uncommon for Australians to indulge in a lot of big talk and with respect to that I had no problem with him openly stating his intent to topple Tiger Woods but the point to note is that it IS highly Un-Australian to be unable to back your words with action. He seems to be in serious trouble going into the last few events.

    And as for JTSHFCO, ha! I read on some other blog last week that it is a 15 Syllable tournament, quite possibly the maximum number for a tournament name on tour. They should seriously do something about the name for sure!

    Cheers

    Andy

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  2. The bubble is a bummer--depending on which side you come out of it. My buddy Bob Sowards is up from 188 a couple weeks ago to 179, but failed to make the cut at the JTSHFCO (still have to fix that acronym). That's a pretty steep mountain to climb, but I'm still cheering him on.

    I was also disappointed John Daly didn't make the cut either. A totally different kind of bubble boy, but it would have been entertaining to see him back in action.

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  3. Andy,

    Possible new young stars, yes. Aside from the exemptions I'm sure some of those guys could use a pay check period.

    Day has surprised me. He's young though and it probably takes a year to adjust to the tour and living on the other side of the world.

    Thanks for the visit,

    Bob

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  4. Heather,

    Yup, Daly's a bubble/blimp boy. As much as I used to love him though, he's taken his toll on me. He hasn't shown any visible effort to go with his talent. At his age it requires even more effort too. Sowards is much more deserving of any breaks the golf gods are handing out.

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  5. Oops brad,

    Thanks very much for the kind words.

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  6. It's hard to imagine the pressure involved in knowing that you have to perform well in this tournament to avoid Q school, which is no sure bet for anyone.

    Thanks,
    Bill

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  7. Well, probably no bread lines or soup kitchens. Many are sponsored and only pay it back when they win money. Still, the realization that you won't be able to do something you prepared so long for must be very tough to swallow.

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