THE business of naming golf tournaments is a funny one. There was, for example, a Korn Ferry Tour event which fashioned itself as the Christmas in October Classic and that’s not even the best bit – the best bit is that it was contested in August.
In recent times the Scottish Open has been sponsored by a financial organisation (abrdn) that is, one hopes, more careful with numbers than it is with vowels. There is also a common trend for tournaments to hit the caps lock, notably with THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. Then there is THE PLAYERS Championship which gives the impression that someone noticed the caps lock had been on but couldn’t be bothered to tap back and correct it.
And so to the PGA Tour’s seasonal finale, the FedExCup Playoffs, a set of events that doesn’t treat the calendar like an inconvenience or dismiss vowels as unnecessary fripperies, and is happy enough to include both upper and lower case letters. It just finds the space bar a bit tiresome.
It’s a funny old world and the PGA Tour has added to the curious nature of it by enacting a series of responses to the threat of LIV Golf that increasingly resembles Basil’s attempts to manage Fawlty Towers when Sybil is in hospital with an in-growing toe nail.
A key element of this defence strategy was the creation of prestige events with no cut, enormous prize funds, elite fields and a command to players not to miss them without significant penalty. It’s a tweak that has succeeded only in appealing to absolutely no-one. The stars of the sport are grumpy about being told when and where to play, the journeymen don’t like the idea of being pushed to the margins, the board ran out of money so had to go back on their words not to flirt with Saudi Arabia, and the entire business looks tacky to those of us looking on from the cheap seats.
There’s always an upside, however. And, in this case, it’s that this exercise in crisis management has rather wonderfully backfired. Consider that Deane Beman, the one-time PGA Tour commissioner, liked to bark “Play better!” to any journeyman whining that he wasn’t making enough money. His words were repeated in various player meetings over the last few months and guess what? The journeymen listened.
So Beau Hossler, Eric Cole, Hayden Buckley and Mark Hubbard, none of them winners yet, have made the top 70 in the season’s rankings, thereby qualifying for the Playoffs, while Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry, Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott haven’t. And because of the new set-up this cock-eyed situation will echo through the schedule into 2024.
Ah, well, what of this week’s FedEx St Jude Championship? Well, it returns to TPC Southwind, home to various versions of the tournament since 1989. There was a time when it was an event for specialists. The Zoysia grass on the fairways favoured golfers who sweep their irons rather than hit excessively down on them, while the blustery conditions and Bermuda grass greens were a big plus for performers who also thrived when playing the likes of Harbour Town, Waialae and El Camaleon. Examples of these fellows included David Toms (a back-to-back winner), Justin Leonard and Daniel Berger (two-time winners), plus guys who won at bigger prices and who shrewd punters might easily have taken note of such as Brian Gay, Harris English and Fabian Gomez.
Here are three to watch this week.
Each Way – Sam Burns
In missing the cut at the Open Burns maintained his long-standing poor record in the major championships but he’s played well in elite company elsewhere. In fact, he did so on this very course when second in 2021 after a play-off. Earlier this year he won the WGC Dell Match Play and last week he closed 65-67 when his approach stats were the best he has registered since this event last year. He’s from Shreveport and loves it in his home state and those nearby that make up the Deep South (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida). In all, he has six wins there, and another 14 top 10s, from 61 starts.
Each Way – Sepp Straka
Let’s keep this simple. The Austrian has enjoyed himself over the last 18 months and, while he’s been hit or miss, enough of the hits are tempting enough for this week. The run of form that has taken him to the edge of selection for Europe’s Ryder Cup team started with victory in the Honda Classic at PGA National – a blustery track with Bermuda greens like TPC Southwind. Last month he carded a brilliant 62 to win the John Deere Classic and then claimed second place in the Open at Hoylake. In-between, he twice made play-offs, one on Bermuda greens at Jackson CC and before that on these very greens in this tournament 12 months ago.
Each Way – Harris English
Another straightforward one. As we’ve already noted, English is a past winner at Southwind and he was also the 18, 36 and 54 hole leader when he last played there in 2021. He finished that week fourth and can go well again. This year he’s been second at Bay Hill, third at Quail Hollow and contended in the US Open. Last week he had one of his best weeks of approach play in two years. We’ll take that as a hint.
