Is There Such a Thing as Too Many Birdies?
by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 27, 2009 11:14 AM EST
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PrintTravelGolf blogger Tom Spousta seems to think so.
They played five rounds, too, and Perez notched his first career victory Sunday with a 69 for a 33-under total of 327.
That’s right … 33 under!!
Ok, first, it was 90 holes. Perez's total over 5 rounds is about 6 or so under per round. Over four rounds, that's -25 give or take. Mark Calcavecchia fired -28 at the FBR Open to set the PGA Tour scoring record. Is anyone saying that we should demolish TPC Scottsdale? If they are, they mean it figuratively and they're talking about getting drunk there this week.
C’mon PGA Tour, toughen up the courses. I know amateurs play this event, but they can hit and giggle all they want. Video games aren’t made this easy. At least grow some rough, narrow the fairways, tuck some pin placements and pretend you‘re trying to test the pros.
This is unbelievable: 18 guys were at 25-under or better. All totaled, 53 guys shot at least 20 under. Only 16 players couldn’t reach that score.
Again, 90 holes. And 72 holes of the event are played by amateurs alongside of the pros. Can you imagine how unbearably slow these rounds would be on a difficult golf course? Just watch the tape from 2006 and tell me how well that went. The birdies are a trade off for playing six hour rounds with amateurs that sometimes can't even read a green.
These guys are good - they’re not that good. Heck, if you’ve got to put some of these courses at 8,000 yards, do it.
The funny thing is, they ARE that good. Professionals routinely tear up their country clubs and other facilities that they practice on that aren't Tour stops.
It just irks me to no end about this line of thinking. Much of the same philosophy that so many people laud about the British Open - set up the course and let the wind determine a winner - is getting trashed on in the California desert.
It is this philosophy that made the US Open so difficult to watch during the Tom Meeks era. This is the philosophy that made Peter Kostis darn near have an epilepsy at Torrey Pines a few years back during the Buick Invitational because the pins were two and three paces from the edge. This is the philosophy that drives many to madness about Augusta National as it is today.
In other words, this is the wrong philosophy.
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statistics don't always tell the story...
…sure…if you look at final numbers and average scores – the numbers at The Hope are phenominal, and just go to show just how good these guys are under the right conditions. The weather was beyond perfect all week. How do you have an entire week in that area with no wind ? It just doesn’t happen very often. Another consideration is the pro-am. The course condtions and hole positions are not what you would normally see at a PGA Tour event because they don’t want to embarrass or frustrate the amateurs. (you see how perfectly placed the rocks by the water were at 18 when Dan Quayle’s ball bounced back onto the green with an easy line for his birdie putt) :-D
Notice, too, that the scores got a little higher on the weekend. Five rounds is a lot of golf, and the holes got a little tougher. Wednesday through Friday, you saw a lot of middle of the green holes, but they got a little more tucked on the weekend.
To answer the question – yes – there can be too many birdies. The Tour doesn’t want the course to look way too easy, and they can control the scoring to some extent with hole length, rough, green speed, and hole placement. If a course gets beat up early, the tournament officials will start tucking the holes in tougher spots – maybe they will double roll a particular green to make it harder for the players to stop the ball close to the hole.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
In a normal event
The Tour has a lot more leeway to prevent players from making a track look bad. And they usually take full advantage of it. But since this is a pro-am, the Hope cannot be set up to make amateurs look bad since they paid a ton of cash to get into it. I think it’s like $13,000, right?
by Ryan Ballengee on Jan 27, 2009 1:51 PM EST up reply actions
interesting...
…it does make sense – since not all of the amateurs are celebrities. The article didn’t say if the celebrity ams were charged – and I know that all the participants weren’t men – Brad Faxon had a woman in his group.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
amateurs
At one point last week I went looking for a list of amateurs playing in the event. I’m certain one existed somewhere, but all I found on the PGA Tour Web site was a non-linked list of group numbers, no names. Why would the Tour not proudly list the names of people who ponied up large sums of money, much of which will go to the designated charity? I’m just askin’.
Truth has a well-known liberal bias.
privacy
most people who give to charities don’t want their name trumpeted around. the names they put up on web sites and in advertising are the Alice Cooper’s and Samuel L Jackson’s and Bo Jackson’s – names that people recognize and will sell a few tickets.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
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