BlogQuicken Loans Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

So it’s off to a new course and a big experiment, a return to TPC Potomac at Avenel.  You may not of heard of this place, that’s because it’s the third name the course has had, it was know as TPC Avenel when first opened in 1986.  The course held the old Booz Allen (Kemper Open) between 1987 and 2004, then again in 2006.  At best it was a very unmemorable course, many of the pros disliked it and never returned.  The course needed a serious renovation and even the PGA Tour realized it.  They said that they would remodel it in 2006 and when they didn’t, Booz Allen the sponsor of the tournament dropped it’s involvement and the tournament ended.

The course had a massive renovation starting in 2007 in which every hole was worked on making it more pleasing to not only the members, but touring pros.  Both the Champions Tour and the Web.Com Tour held events and the players gave it positive reviews.  So with that Quicken Loans officials gave it a one year test, so we will see what the reaction is.  For now the event will go back to Congressional next year, but if the experiment works this year, look for the course to hold the Quicken Loans in further years.

Phil and Bones file for divorce

A shame to see the split of Phil Mickelson and Jim “Bones” Mackay.  The two met when Phil turned pro in 1992, and they teamed up for U.S. Open qualifying in Memphis, which Mickelson qualified and played his first professional event at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.  They were together 25 years, and 560 PGA Tour, European Tour, Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup matches.  No other player/caddy relationships have lasted this long, and frankly, I thought the two would grow old together and be together for the Champions Tour.  But it’s just another example of how tough it is out there, and since Phil probably believes he still can win and doesn’t realize that at 47 time his time is wrapping up, the relationship just didn’t work anymore.  Even though they have parted company friends, it’s still in all a divorce as both will go their separate ways.  For the rest of the year, Phil’s brother Tim will be on the bag, and we don’t know what will happen with Bones.  He had a very challenging surgery last year in knee replacement, and even though he is improving, it’s been a tough go.  He does have a family back home in Arizona, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take some time off.

One thing that could come up, Golf Channel has used him on some telecasts and are interested in trying him out.  If you think about it, he knows so much about golf, holes, strategy and what to do with golf shots so he could be good and different type of announcer.  I remember over 40 years ago when then ABC producer Chuck Howard thought about putting a player on the ground to talk about what a player was going to do, many thought that he was crazy.  He hired Bob Rosburg, and he turned the job into something that many enjoyed and since others have done his job and it’s a regular item on any golf show.  In a way, I think that Jim MacKay could also be a Rosie type and add something to the telecast.  I was disappointed that Fox didn’t see this because Bones would have probably been an important addition to the telecast.  Golf course architect Gil Hansen has added to the telecast, Bones could have done the same in helping people grasp the telecast better.

Talking about Fox…

…to be as positive as possible, have to say that they have gotten better in there third U.S. Open.  With eight more on the contract I think that by the end of their term, they should be pretty close to perfect.  That is the problem, we only hear them once a year, and it’s sometimes hard to grasp the different voices.  As for technology, they still haven’t done anything that we haven’t seen on NBC, CBS and Golf Channel. The only difference is they use technology more and regularly while the others use it as a special toy.  Fox also does one important item, and that is hear more of the talking between player and caddy, something that the other networks need to do more.  With that said, this is why Jim MacKay could have been a good addition to help explain more what a caddie does for a player.  Of course at the time there was no hint that MacKay and Mickelson were going to split, still, MacKay had nothing to do after Wednesday and could have joined the Fox telecast.  If Fox gets more properties when the PGA Tour contracts come up, maybe we will get to know the voices more.  Paul Azinger is wonderful, and Brad Faxon is ok.  But the rest need work, especially Joe Buck who reminds us more of when Brent Musburger did golf for ABC 20 years ago.  Buck still makes lots of mistakes, some dumb like when Brooks Koepka walked off the 18th green after winning, misidentifying Koepka’s girlfriend.  I don’t think that either Jim Nantz, Dan Hicks or Mike Tirico would have made the same mistakes and that is the reason we love those three and aren’t grasping Buck in his role at Fox.  In summing this up I have to wonder if the USGA is second guessing their choice of Fox.  When they chose them in 2013,  the reason was promoting the championships of the USGA during the year and get more viewers.  But I don’t see that happening.  Since Fox has no properties that golfers watch from February to June, they can’t promote the U.S. Open.  But look over at Golf Channel.  Since January 1st, not a day goes by in which Golf Channel doesn’t promote the British Open every day and to the fact that people are looking forward to Birkdale next month.  Gosh during the week of the U.S. Open, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Golf Channel had wall to wall U.S. Open programming.  Over at Fox, they had a pair of two-hour preview shows on Wednesday.  Sorry USGA but you may have blown it and have another nine years to fret about the mistake.

Tournament information:

At the start of the 2007 PGA season, it appeared that The International, the PGA’s lone stop in Colorado, would be gearing up to host its 21st annual golf tournament. However, very early on in the season, doubts began to arise about the tournament’s future as the search for a corporate sponsor was at a stand-still. On February 8, 2007, tournament director Greg Vickers announced that the 2007 International would not be played, primarily due to the lack of corporate sponsorship.

As soon as the date opened up on the PGA Tour calendar, Tiger Woods, who has expressed a desire to host a tournament in the past, entered into discussions with the PGA Tour. His goal was to create an exclusive event that would not only fill the year’s void left by the demise of The International, but for years to come. On March 7, with less than one month of negotiations behind the two parties, Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour announced that the Washington D.C. area would play host to the inaugural AT&T National. The event took over for the Booz Allen Classic, which folded after the July 2006 event after a 39 year run with 27 of those in the Washington D.C. area. The 2007 event was played at The Congressional Country Club in nearby Bethesda, MD.

Despite the short time in getting it ready, the first year went off well, and it looked like the future of this event was going to be great.  In 2008 tournament host Tiger Woods had surgery right before the event and was not only able to play or even attend the event. He did return the next year and won.

The event had a great run at Congressional and with it holding the U.S. Open in 2011 it needed to rebuild its greens.  So the AT&T National moved in 2010 for two years to the Philadelphia area with Aronimink Golf Club having a  successful run with Justin Rose and Nick Watney winning.  The tournament returned to Congressional in 2012 and held the event in 2013 and 2014 before it moved to Robert Trent Jones last year.  The change was brought on when Congressional members didn’t want the event on a permanent basis, so they voted to bring it back in 2016, 2018 and 2020.  Look for the event to move around the Washington area, going for a year to TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms in 2017 and then returning to Congressional next year.

Course information:

• TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms
• Bethesda, MD.
• 7,107 yards     Par 35-35–70
• Originally opened thirty-one years ago in 1986, the course was roundly criticized for poor design in its early years. It was also plagued by years of flooding and drainage problems and by various turfgrass issues which affected the greens and often produced less than satisfactory tournament conditions. As a result, many top professionals stayed away, and the Kemper/Booz Allen tournament became unofficially relegated to “B” event status.
• In the summer of 2005, Dewberry and Davis land surveying crews were regularly seen taking measurements across the facility, sparking rumors that the long criticized course would finally be reconfigured. Confirmation came in 2007 when it began a $32 million golf course and clubhouse renovation in an effort to bring back a tournament to the Washington D.C. area. The renovation covers the new course, which has been reshaped into a new 7,107-yard course at par 70 with Rock Run Creek being expanded and cleaned up.
• So what has happened to make the course better?  Numerous competitive and aesthetic changes were made to the golf course to make it more challenging for tournament play. This included significant modifications, re-shaping and enhancements to all 18 holes, featuring a complete re-design of holes 10, 11 and 13; lengthening of the course to 7,139 yards, with a new par-70 design; a new state-of-the-art irrigation system; an aesthetic and competitive design solution to storm water management issues on holes 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12.
• During the renovations, all the greens, tees and fairways were rebuilt with Bentgrass and a new irrigation and drainage system. The greens were re-orientated and re-contoured, and all bunkers were re-positioned and re-shaped giving it more of a Scottish feel, along with adding tall fescue grasses to some. All holes were re-graded and had their fairways reduced to approximately 30 to 35 yards. Accent features like stone walls and eight timber bridges create an older feel and charm. Along with all of these changes an expansive new practice facility and short game area was built.  So hopefully things will be better.

Let’s take a look at key stats that are important for those playing at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms:

So we have another course change for the Quicken Loans, in it’s 11th year TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm and it will be the fourth different course used. A bit unfortunate is the fact that Congressional members don’t want this event on a regular basis which is very understandable. It’s not just the week that the pros are on the ground, it’s the four weeks before in putting up tents, stands and TV towers. People also don’t realize that for two to three weeks after the touranment the tents, stands and TV towers will be coming down and the rough will have been trapled. So it’s understandable for members not willing to give up six weeks in the heart of the golf season to hold a tournament.
So for this year it’s off to TPC Potomac, which held the old Booz Allen (Kemper Open) between 1987 and 2004, then again in 2006. The Champions Tour and the Web.Com Tour held events there and frankly it wasn’t a well loved course. When the course was built in 1985 it was built with the purpose of holding the Kemper Open. Event organizers didn’t want to pay the high fees for Congressional and at the time the thought of it being the permanent home of the tournament was intriguing. But players hated the course, it has drainage problems and the course was never in that great a shape. One of the reasons the Booz Allen ended was because of the course. The changes the Tour promised to the course never happened so Booz Allen dropped their sponsorship. After the last Booz Allen in 2006 the course had a massive renovation with every hole being worked on making it more pleasing to not only the members, but touring pros. Both the Champions Tour and the Web.Com Tour held events and the players gave it positive reviews. So with that Quicken Loans officials gave it a one year test, so we will see what the reaction is. For now the event will go back to Congressional next year, but if the experiment works this year, look for the course to hold the Quicken Loans in further years.

In looking at the stats of the old course from 2006, it ranked 47th in driving accuracy, 46th in greens hit, T-38th in birdie average, 14th in Scrambling and 27th in putting average. As for past winners, they did have some major winners with Tom Kite, Mark Brooks, Lee Janzen, Justin Leonard, Rich Beem and Adam Scott winning. But the course was famous for producing a lot of surprise winners as Frank Lickleter, Steve Stricker, Rich Beem and Tom Scherrer claimed there first PGA Tour wins at TPC Potomac. If these names aren’t non-marquee enough, here are some more winners at TPC Potomac, Morris Hataksky, Tom Byrum, Grant Waite and Ben Curtis, guys that hardly moved the merit in marquee value. Of all the champions at TPC Potomac, Bob Estes had the most victories at the time of their win with four. So you can see the trend of the course, winners that would be hard to promote the following years.

So what has happened to make this a better course? Numerous competitive and aesthetic changes were made to the golf course to make it more challenging for tournament play. This included significant modifications, re-shaping and enhancements to all 18 holes, featuring a complete re-design of holes 10, 11 and 13; lengthening of the course to 7,139 yards, with a new par-70 design; a new state-of-the-art irrigation system; an aesthetic and competitive design solution to storm water management issues on holes 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12.

During the renovations, all the greens, tees and fairways were rebuilt with Bentgrass and a new irrigation and drainage system. The greens were re-orientated and re-contoured, and all bunkers were re-positioned and re-shaped giving it more of a Scottish feel, along with adding tall fescue grasses to some. All holes were re-graded and had their fairways reduced to approximately 30 to 35 yards. Accent features like stone walls and eight timber bridges create an older feel and charm. Along with all of these changes an expansive new practice facility and short game area was built.

So who does the course favor? In past years the winners hit lot’s of greens and putting well, so this will be something that we will think about. Still we have to judge this as a brand new course in which we really don’t know who the course favors. In picking our four categories we are going to pick four strokes gained stats which will help us chose who’s game is the sharpest going into this event.

*Strokes Gained Off-the-tee: Able to translate in shots gained off of those that hit it far and straight off the tee

*Strokes Gained approach-the green: Perfect stat to see who picks up the most strokes by hitting the green and getting it close

*Strokes Gained around the green: Of course players are going to miss greens, this stat help figure out who gets it up and down when they miss greens.

*Strokes Gained putting: So who saves the most strokes on the greens

Of the 120 players in the field, 112 have stats on the PGA Tour for 2017.

Click any column title in the table header to sort columns.

Here is the link to all of the stats for the 112 players in this year’s Quicken Loan.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Quicken Loans National:

Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:

Key stat for the winner:

• Since the course is an unknown entity, we can’t really say who the course favors.  But here are some things to think about.  I don’t think TPC Potomac will be a course players can over power.  I think players will have to hit the fairways and hit greens.  As for scrambling I don’t see that important because players will probably hit the greens.  I don’t think the bunkering will be that penal and the greens don’t have much undulation to them
• Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:
• In the years that the Kemper was played at TPC Avenel, inexperience seemed to rule and I can see a non-winner doing the deed this week.
• Hitting greens will be at a premium, just like in a any event on the PGA Tour.  Look for the winner to hit globs of greens this week.
• Weather should not play a factor on Thursday or Friday as it will be perfect each day, with temperatures in the low 90s.  But rain will plague the event on Saturday as thunderstorms will hinder play.  As for Sunday, things will be back to normal as there is a slight chance of rain with temperatures just getting into the 90s.