2016 Bridgestone WGC @ Firestone

[Natural Patrick]

Scoring wise, it appeared to have played tougher than some Majors.

[ChrisP]

World Rankings aside, DJ is the best in the world right now. I think that Open win two weeks ago has him ready to explode. Wouldn't surprise me if he gets another major or two before July ends.

Btw, I think DJ now has firm control on POY. Still lots of season left, though.

Edited July 3, 2016 by ChrisP

[Natural Patrick]

Bowditch gets $52,000 for finishing +28. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

[Buckeyebowman]

As regards some of the earliest posts. I hear this from time to time. Firestone is too easy! Firestone is too short! Firestone can't challenge the pros anymore! Well, how many guys shot under par this week?

There are times we can get a lot of rain around here. This year is not one of those times. It's been dry, so Firestone can control how much water goes on the course. This is when the side slopes in the fairways can come into play. It's not Augusta, but it's a lot hillier than it looks on TV!

As for some of the later posts, this was same idea that Greg Norman was severely beaten about the head and neck for back in the day! I think he called it the "World Golf Tour", and the set up was basically the same. No cut tourneys where the rich got richer! I remember the PGA Tour was violently against the idea. I think it was the word "Tour" that got their dander up.

Then, someone else comes along with the World Golf "Championships". Individual entities with individual sponsors, and suddently "God is in His Heaven, and all is right with the world!"

BTW, congrats to DJ! Unfortunately, there was no Paulina sighting after his round!

[Missouri Swede]

I was a little surprised (maybe I shouldn't be) that I Faldo commented to Kostis about Jason Day (as Day was teeing off on the 18th hole):

Quote

Well, just imagine when he gets a fade, Peter, how good…  That’s what he needs.  If you want to be an absolute complete golfer, you’ve got to have that ability to hit the fade and the draw with the driver, and then you’ve really mastered this game.

Day has gotten to to OWGR #1 with his swing, and I think that's more than just pretty good.  I can understand the desire to improve constantly (no matter how good you already are), but I would be concerned about trying to "fix" something that got you to OWGR #1.  (Even if Day didn't win today.)

Anyway, congrats to DJ!

[Shindig]

8 hours ago, Natural Patrick said:

Bowditch gets $52,000 for finishing +28. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

Yeah, I would love it if someone gave me $52,000 for Bowditch shooting +28.  I think I'd be even happier with that than I am with getting to see DJ win two big events. 

[woodzie264]

Not the biggest DJ fan, but definitely good to see him winning at bigger stages. I mean, $3.4M in the past two tourn's ain't bad either.  I'm sure a lot of us expected that after he broke the seal with his first major, winning bigger events would be come more commonplace. It's good to see. 

[k-troop]

Does this one go down as a DJ win or a JD choke?

[saevel25]

3 minutes ago, k-troop said:

Does this one go down as a DJ win or a JD choke?

Both

[Shindig]

23 minutes ago, k-troop said:

Does this one go down as a DJ win or a JD choke?

Saevel's answer is correct:  both.  These aren't mutually exclusive.  It's not like everyone in the field played horribly, and Dustin just played the lease horribly to benefit from JD's poor finish.  In the final two rounds, Dustin had the lowest score one day and was off the lowest by one the other.

[natureboy]

On 7/3/2016 at 0:31 PM, natureboy said:

In 2015, the US Open had ~ 81% of the top 78 OWGR and the Bridgestone WGC had ~ 68% of the top 78 OWGR.

@saevel25 I'm not saying WGCs are weak fields. They are clearly very strong. But how are these events stronger than Majors when the majors do top 50-60 OWGR plus qualifiers / winners / money list leaders (qualifications are very similar), they have more prestige, and they have a 36 hole cut?

@saevel25 The size of the field matters. Sure the lower ranked players don't have a big chance of getting hot and taking the event, but it's a significant reduction in the likelihood of the higher ranked player's chances. If they're not in it their win share will drop from ~ 15% - 40% to zero. With those wins and points getting redistributed among the invited field. You've got to be in it to win it.

Edited July 5, 2016 by natureboy