Big Break Disney

[flopdarock]

i hope andrew lasts for a while on that show... he might be a jackass but he's the only entertaining factor worth watching

[2bGood]

Exact same feelings. Lots of people have been liking Blake from the start and hating Andrew, but I have the EXACT opposite feeling now. All I have heard from Blake since the show started is how Mike and him are the two most talented players on the show, and him running his mouth about who he thinks are the weakest players on the show. Until he hits ONE shot that shows he is better player than the bottom 5 on the show, and doesnt struggle to avoid elimination on every show, then he should shut his mouth and quit talking (and he is saying that to Andrew!). I heard all the stories about Andrew before the show started and thought I was going to hate him, but after watching this show I really like him now. He talks a lot, but from what I have seen its not like he is being cocky or really even that annoying at all. I know we only see a fraction of whats actually taped, but what did he say this week that made that idiot Blake blow up so bad? All he was saying (from what we could see) was how he agreed with their choice of laying up and how it was a smart choice. and it was. From 230 out with a 2 shot lead, lay up, just put something on the green somewhere and 2 putt and you force the guy who ended up getting eliminated to stick a shot from 230 out and make the putt just to tie. How is that not a smart play? And people can hate on Andrew, but all I have seen from him so far is clutch. When has he NOT produced yet on this show? I havent really seen him do anything bad under pressure yet. He just goes up and hits it with confidence. He doesnt look like a scared puppy either like 75% of the other guys do. Tony Finau and Andrew to me so far seem like the contenders for the win. Even Gipper who I think is very talented has seemed nervous and on edge at times. I predict Blake will be off the show next week, as he should. One of the worst players on the show, in my opinion.

Agree 100% Andrews nerves don't show and he has produced good shots when needed on every show. Just a guess, but I assume Andrews outline for nerves is to talk, but even then it may repetative, but it is all posative.

[kawayi]

I'll be watching too,i think it will be very wonderful,but i have little time...

[Awsi Dooger]

I think James Nitties has the most potential. Or is it no longer potential if he's already had far more success than anyone else?

I was thinking of Nitties as a given.

I guess I should have specified from Ka'anapali forth. Derek Gillespie is bombing this week at Q School, three straight 75s. My impression is he no longer has the energy, or the real belief he'll make it to the PGA. Haymes Snedeker opened with an 82 last week and withdrew after three rounds. James Vargas has a chance tomorrow but he's 3 shots off the cutoff point. On the women's side, Kim Welch and Gerina Mendoza are in LPGA Q School finals, along with Christina Lecuyer and Elizabeth Stuart. I think Gerina has the most game from that group but none of them would be favored to finish in the top 20 for a high priority status card. Mesquite definitely had the deepest group of the Big Breaks I've watched. Benoit Beisser and Brian Kontak advanced to second stage last week. On edit: I left out the obvious one, Matt Every of Big Break Mesquite won the Nationwide Tour Championship last week, including head to head vs. Michael Sim on the final day, to earn his tour card with a 10th place finish on the money list.

[Ogg]

Let's not forget Bri Vega, she is in the finals at Q-School too. And where is Brian Skatell in all of these listings? OK, kidding.

[ctyankee]

I wonder if he actually hit those two shots, without needing a mulliganed edit? In Ka'anapali they used Brittany Lincicome and Brittany Lang in similar fashion and one of the contestants -- Lori Atsedes -- seemed to take particular delight at the air date in pointing out that one of the Brittanys completely missed the green in her first attempt.

In my view, you don't need to have been there to see how the segment was 'produced.' There is no way they want to have a PGA Touring Pro embarrassed as that will ensure others won't ever come on the show. What they said was that J.B. Holmes hit two shots to the green and these were used to mark target circles from the pin. I'm sure that's completely true. What they didn't say was that he was given ONLY two shots to hit the green. Let's face it, if Holmes hits two great shots to the pin the contest would stink much as if he were to hit two shots on top of one another (anywhere) much like if he were to hit one or two stinky shots. The only good option is what they showed happen and they can only control that by having him hit several shots and selecting the two that made for a good contest.

Unfortunately for the show there has been no drama toward the end. Partly, that's due to the format and part of that is bad luck. So three weeks and three shows where you could have turned it off pretty early and know who was going off. They can hype a miracle recovery shot or a playoff all they want but with the hour coming to a close and knowing that they still are going to another commercial break, you know that's not happening. And that only makes these sound bytes more queasy to digest. You know the 'recap video' the golfer isn't discussing how things could go wrong, he wants to talk about how things went right. So they need to prompt the competitors with pointed questions like 'how could K-Max get back into this thing?' so they have the sound byte to 'produce' suspense. Even though I don't like Blake he had a valid point. It's hard enough to miss a shot in front of a national audience but if that was you and you were coming to the sidelines and one of your competitors said something like 'keep your head up' ... you would be steaming too. He feels bad enough without someone pouring gas on the fire. Andrew's comments come across as condescending - basically saying 'don't get down on yourself for that tragic shot you just hit.' Who the heck is he to give unsolicited advice that no one would want?

[LeafsFanNL]

Derek Gillespie is bombing this week at Q School, three straight 75s. My impression is he no longer has the energy, or the real belief he'll make it to the PGA.

I started watching Big Break during the P.E.I edition. As a fellow Canadian I was cheering for him. I think your opinion is pretty much correct. From watching the show, I think his course management is not as good as it should be. I'd love to see him make it tho.

HB

[Awsi Dooger]

In my view, you don't need to have been there to see how the segment was 'produced.' There is no way they want to have a PGA Touring Pro embarrassed as that will ensure others won't ever come on the show. What they said was that J.B. Holmes hit two shots to the green and these were used to mark target circles from the pin. I'm sure that's completely true. What they didn't say was that he was given ONLY two shots to hit the green. Let's face it, if Holmes hits two great shots to the pin the contest would stink much as if he were to hit two shots on top of one another (anywhere) much like if he were to hit one or two stinky shots. The only good option is what they showed happen and they can only control that by having him hit several shots and selecting the two that made for a good contest.

After my post I listened to Golfgal's Big Break interviews this week. She asked one player -- I think it was Vincent -- if J.B. Holmes indeed hit the glass on his first shot, and if J.B. hit those spots on the green with only two shots. Vincent chuckled, and said, "That's what we were told." Apparently the players were on the practice range when J.B. hit the two wedge shots.

I completely agree with your next paragraph. Big Break producers have settled into a lazy blueprint, version after version. The most lame and worthless aspect, IMO, is the worst case scenario and best case scenario comments during a lopsided elimination. We understand a guy could hole it from 230 yards, followed by a 3 putt from 8 feet. It's roughly the same odds as any of these guys making it huge on the PGA tour. I wish Big Break would get rid of those worthless after the fact fillers and play real time sound bytes from the bench, whether it's conflict or humor, anything. This Big Break had a short turnaround time and the editing is weak, as I feared. K-Max lost a multi round putting playoff with several other players who had 4 points to get into that elimination. Big Break could have dealt with that in a single transition sentence but instead they didn't spell it out at all. We saw K-Max miss the putt on the low side, then Celini said K-Max is off to elimination. Also, there was very choppy editing during elimination. K-Max tried to make a point with great emphasis, that he wants to play on the PGA tour and this is his opportunity to win. But it was obvious that sentence was heading beyond that, hardly stopping with the word win. Big Break cut it off and awkwardly spliced Kevin Erdman's voice almost immediately, with an unrelated remark.

[deronsizemore]

After my post I listened to Golfgal's Big Break interviews this week. She asked one player -- I think it was Vincent -- if J.B. Holmes indeed hit the glass on his first shot, and if J.B. hit those spots on the green with only two shots. Vincent chuckled, and said, "That's what we were told." Apparently the players were on the practice range when J.B. hit the two wedge shots.

I would guess JB hit the glass on one try and hit both spots on the green in on try. I mean, this is a two time winning PGA Tour professional we're talking about, not a 15 handicap. The two shots were only from 100 yards, correct? It's not like they both landed within two feet of the cup either. The shots were not anything out of the ordinary from the PGA Tour pro from 100 yards. As for the glass, I'd have an easier time believing he didn't hit it on the first try but have no reason to doubt it either. A few of the contestants hit it on the first try so to think that they can do it but JB couldn't doesn't make much sense.

[DavidFehertysBike]

I watched that show the other day. They advertised it as the best collection of talent the show had ever had but i honestly think i could beat half of them going by the shots i saw them hit...I wasnt really that impressed at all. That gipper dude looks like he might have pro-caliber talent though.

[ctyankee]

I would guess JB hit the glass on one try and hit both spots on the green in on try. I mean, this is a two time winning PGA Tour professional we're talking about, not a 15 handicap. The two shots were only from 100 yards, correct? It's not like they both landed within two feet of the cup either. The shots were not anything out of the ordinary from the PGA Tour pro from 100 yards.

I don't think the key point is what tour pros are capable of. They are great. But if Holmes were to hit only two shots and both shots were fantastic - the show ends up with a lame event where the only difference maker would be the guys that totally miss the green and the other targets becoming meaningless. This makes the participants look bad as well.

As for the glass ... a fun event but until hitting a shot to pane of glass x feet off the ground and x yards in front of them becomes part of golf - it's simply that.

[JetFan1983]

I unfortunately never got to see Big Break Mesquite, but based on how all those guys are doing now (Matt Every, James Nitties, among others doing well in Q-School), I really wish the Golf Channel would replay it so I could check it out.

Hugo Leon definitely has game though- from what I've seen, his results lately have been great.

[deronsizemore]

I don't think the key point is what tour pros are capable of. They are great. But if Holmes were to hit only two shots and both shots were fantastic - the show ends up with a lame event where the only difference maker would be the guys that totally miss the green and the other targets becoming meaningless. This makes the participants look bad as well.

So you're essentially say that it's possible JB hit multiple shots into the green until he put placed them in positions the Golf Channel was comfortable with to make the show interesting? Yeah, I could see that seeing as different parts of the show seem to be set up in some fashion.

[bogeyhitter25]

I was pondering this last night. Who do you guys think would win this match-up? Hugo Leon and Derek Gillespie. I'm thinking Hugo but I think that would be a pretty tight match.

[JetFan1983]

I was pondering this last night. Who do you guys think would win this match-up? Hugo Leon and Derek Gillespie. I'm thinking Hugo but I think that would be a pretty tight match.

It would be a good battle, but as for who would win, I have no idea. That does give me another idea though: They should do a Big Break All Stars Edition one of these years with all the past winners and runners up.

[Awsi Dooger]

I was pondering this last night. Who do you guys think would win this match-up? Hugo Leon and Derek Gillespie. I'm thinking Hugo but I think that would be a pretty tight match.

I would pick Hugo but not with overwhelming confidence. He makes more birdies than Derek but can go on bad stretches, like late this season on the Canadian Tour when he missed two cuts, then had a 3rd place finish highlighted by a 60, then missed two more cuts. Hugo needs to get past the second stage of Q School so he can earn some status on the Nationwide Tour, at worst. He's weary of the Gateway Tour, based on an article I read a month or two ago, but enjoyed the Canadian Tour this year.

There is a bit of a direct comparison. Both played the Canadian Tour this season and Hugo made approximately three times as much money as Derek, with several high finishes. But Derek didn't play in as many events. Derek never seemed to regroup this year after losing a spring Gateway event by one shot after bogeying the last three holes. He's about 7 years older than Hugo, 31-24, so I think Hugo's big edge is he's more motivated and confident, while Derek has experienced many disappointments after high expectations out of college. Last September when Big Break PEI was filmed Derek was on a good run. He had three Canadian Tour events of -13 or better last summer including -22 in his final event prior to filming. This year he never matched that form, but it's not totally unexplainable, considering he knew he had a $100,000 check not far away but had to shut up about it and wade through the air date months, plus the sudden change in name recognition and no doubt some ribbing from fellow competitors.

[LeafsFanNL]

One wonders how long someone like Derek keeps on kicking at the can trying to make it. It must be frustrating.

HB

[deronsizemore]

Blake survives again. He keeps telling everyone how good he is and that he knows he's one of the best on the show, but he's simply not showing it if you ask me. Someone on this show who has played on professional tours and will be looking at some PGA Tour play if they win should have a little more composure than he does. As the old saying goes: "If you have to tell someone how good you are, you probably aren't."

You can tell he can play and evidently all the other guys on the show know he can play (because they keep mentioning it) but if doesn't show it when it counts, it doesn't really matter.

With that said, I still think Kevin will likely be the next to go. I still don't think I've seen him hit one good shot yet except the one to stay alive tonight and it wasn't that great. He just doesn't look like someone who's remotely ready to play professional golf. Maybe he'll surprise me.