2011 Deutsche Bank Discussion

[BigAl5150]

The PGA is hanging out at the TPC Boston this weekend!

Who's your pick?

[deasy55]

Judging by the early leaderboard, my picks are Donald and Harrington

[Zeph]

Why does this tournament run from Friday to Monday?

[sacm3bill]

Monday is a holiday here in the U.S., so I'm guessing it's to increase TV ratings.  (So 3 days of the tournament will be when most people are off work, as opposed to the usual 2.)

[deasy55]

Labor Day is on Monday. That's labour for the people using normal English

Originally Posted by Zeph

Why does this tournament run from Friday to Monday?

[Chilli Dipper]

Saturday is also the first day of the college football season, while the NFL season doesn't start until next weekend; moving the finish to Labor Day Monday also means the tournament's "weekend" rounds won't be competing with football (specifically, NBC avoids a scheduling conflict with Notre Dame's home opener).

[jamo]

Aside from Charley Hoffman and Olin Browne, this tournament has had a history of big names winning. I'm going to say it happens again, and the winner goes on to take the FedExCup.

[Chilli Dipper]

Originally Posted by jamo

Aside from Charley Hoffman and Olin Browne, this tournament has had a history of big names winning. I'm going to say it happens again, and the winner goes on to take the FedExCup.

I don't know if the Deutsche Bank champ will win the FedEx Cup (so far, only Vijay Singh in 2008 has accomplished that feat), but Charl Schwartzel, Luke Donald, and Nick Watney are all off to strong starts, and any of those three would likely clinch Player of the Year honors with a win this week.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by jamo

Aside from Charley Hoffman and Olin Browne, this tournament has had a history of big names winning. I'm going to say it happens again, and the winner goes on to take the FedExCup.

Does a big mane count?

[FowlPlay]

Rickie, Bubba, and Keegan all at -3. And Gary Woodland at -2. I'm pretty content right now. I'm hoping at least one of them contends.

[deasy55]

Snedeker went Hole In One - Bogey - Eagle on 16-18

[deasy55]

I don't like the way Kuchar was trying to get a drop from that wall.........

[c. lassiter]

I attended on Saturday with my son and was there for about 10 hours and saw the following cool things:

Dustin Johnson outdrove playing partners Matt Kuchar and Nick Watney by about 30 to 50 yards on the long par 4's we saw.  We were near the Golf Channel's Steve Sands who was walking with the group and he told us the distances were 334 on the 13th hold and 340 on 14.  When Johnson walked up to his shot on 13 he greeted Sands with a "Hey Sandy" and a fist bump, which I thought was cool.

On the 451 yard Par 4 13th, about half the players we watched (4 or 5 groups) used a sand wedge for their approach shot.

On that same hole, Camillo Villegas hit his tee shot well right, hit the cart path and bounded way forward behind some trees.  We stood about 5 feet away while he and his caddie figured out what to do, at which time I got a close up look at his bag, which contioned driver, 3wd, 5wd, 4 Hybrid and 7 Hybird.  I was very surprised to see that, figuring as one of the longer hitters he'd be playing long irons.  Anyway, he ended up hitting a wedge through the trees about 5 feet off the ground, but not before instructing his caddie to "Get that big fat guy out the way" (who was a hefty photographer).

Also spent a lot of time behind Jason Day and Tommy Gainey on the range.  Day was amazing to see up close, hitting it considerably higher than the few guys next to him, 99% the identical high slight draw.  Gainey, on the other hand, hit it much lower, with a lot more variation, but he did seem to have the most crowd support.

Few other comments:

Ryan Palmer was chatting up the gallery and seemed in a good mood, as did Jerry Kelly and Nick Whatney, who fist bumped some guy in the gallery next to us.  Adam Scott and Stevie ignored every comment (and there were a lot of them) and kept walking, as did DJ.

Saw Roger Maltbie being driven around in a golf cart while puffing away on a cigarette, not quite the same treatment for Mark Rolfing and Steve Sands, who hoofed it all over the place on a day that was much hotter than we expected.

DJ's drive on 18 was amazing, miles past anyone else we saw, flying it to the second section of fairway and ending up with a short or mid iron to the Par 5 when everyone else was hitting long irons and hybrids (or woods) and almost no one else could hold the green.

[darkhunter139]

Bubba and Ricky Fowler at the top of the leaderboard! Going to be a good finish.

[deasy55]

I'm hoping for a Schwartzel win so I can complain when Keegan Bradley wins the rookie of the year prize

[xxsoultonesxx]

So the Monday finish is looking to be exciting. A fuster-clucked leaderboard with all sorts of big names.

I would really like to see a big shootout. And I am predicting a playoff tomorrow.

[FowlPlay]

Rickie has got to go beast mode to take this one.

Good thing about this event for me is that I have about 5 of my favorite players within 4 strokes off the lead, or the lead itself. (Rickie, Bubba, Gary Woodland, Webb Simpson, and Dustin Johnson). Thank God I'm not going anywhere today. I missed too much of this weekend's coverage because of work.

[deasy55]

Harrington 4 over on the par 5s so far this week. He's 11 shots behind Bubba and has played the par 5s 14 shots worse than him