The July 4th weekend will see the PGA Tour split into two events. More below on the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio, and the Barracuda Championship at Reno, Nevada.
The Tour released its '16-'17 schedule for next season this week FWIW... http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/06/27/schedule-release.html
The recent devastating floods in West Virginia have unfortunately forced a cancellation of next week's Greenbrier Classic at White Sulpher Springs, WV. Not only does the region deal with loss of life, loss of homes, and still dealing with no power in many areas, but the loss of tourism dollars for the area due to the Tour event being cancelled is a quadruple whammy to many. Prayers and thoughts remain out to those here in God's Country who have suffered and continue to suffer. (note, more flooding took place from storms yesterday)
Because of the Greenbrier's cancellation, that means this week's Barracuda event will be the last chance for the majority of the Tour playing there to qualify for The (British) Open coming up the 2nd week of July. The WGC at Akron hosts the elite top 60 or so players. More...
WGC - Bridgestone Invitational
Matt Kuchar will be the only Golfing J to earn an invitation to play. He is scheduled to tee off Thursday at 11:24amET and will be paired with Daniel Berger (USA, Florida State) and Matt Jones (Australia, Arizona State). Then, the threesome will be teeing off together on Friday at 1:36pm. I don't believe at the WGC events that any of the field is cut for Saturday and Sunday play. There are 61 players in this event. Additional points are awarded for this event - not as high as the majors, but more than the regular Tour events. CBS will have weekend network TV coverage. For the first time in a while, the players should enjoy clear and gorgeous weather this week at Akron.
Kuchar is on this week's Power Rankings radar at pgatour.com... http://www.pgatour.com/power-rankings/2016/06/27/wgc-bridgestone-invitational.html
Barracuda Championship
Two GJ's will participate at Reno - Chesson Hadley and Bryce Molder. Molder gets a nod in the Barracuda Power Rankings this week... http://www.pgatour.com/power-rankings/2016/06/28/power-rankings--barracuda-championship.html
As mentioned above, because of the cancellation of the Greenbrier next week, the Barracuda for the first time ever has been given entry way to qualifying for The Open championship in two weeks to the winner. This event utilizes the unique Modified Stableford scoring system that awards or deducts points as follows:
Double Eagle: 8 pts
Eagle: 5 pts
Birdie: 2 pts
Par: 0 pts
Bogey: -1 pts
Double Bogey or Worse: -3 pts
As a reference point, the winner of this event last year compiled 47 points over his 4 days (~12 pts per day).
Good luck to our Jackets out west and to Kooch in Ohio this week.
Side note, a shout out to Ollie Schniederjans whose win last week assures him his card for next year's Tour which starts in October (see schedule above)... http://georgiatech.blog.ajc.com/2016/06/27/ollie-schniederjans-nails-down-pga-tour-card/
I look forward to following Ollie's growth professionally and starting this fall on the biggest stage. He could be the next great Golfing Jacket to hit it big.
The Tour released its '16-'17 schedule for next season this week FWIW... http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/06/27/schedule-release.html
The recent devastating floods in West Virginia have unfortunately forced a cancellation of next week's Greenbrier Classic at White Sulpher Springs, WV. Not only does the region deal with loss of life, loss of homes, and still dealing with no power in many areas, but the loss of tourism dollars for the area due to the Tour event being cancelled is a quadruple whammy to many. Prayers and thoughts remain out to those here in God's Country who have suffered and continue to suffer. (note, more flooding took place from storms yesterday)
Because of the Greenbrier's cancellation, that means this week's Barracuda event will be the last chance for the majority of the Tour playing there to qualify for The (British) Open coming up the 2nd week of July. The WGC at Akron hosts the elite top 60 or so players. More...
WGC - Bridgestone Invitational
Matt Kuchar will be the only Golfing J to earn an invitation to play. He is scheduled to tee off Thursday at 11:24amET and will be paired with Daniel Berger (USA, Florida State) and Matt Jones (Australia, Arizona State). Then, the threesome will be teeing off together on Friday at 1:36pm. I don't believe at the WGC events that any of the field is cut for Saturday and Sunday play. There are 61 players in this event. Additional points are awarded for this event - not as high as the majors, but more than the regular Tour events. CBS will have weekend network TV coverage. For the first time in a while, the players should enjoy clear and gorgeous weather this week at Akron.
Kuchar is on this week's Power Rankings radar at pgatour.com... http://www.pgatour.com/power-rankings/2016/06/27/wgc-bridgestone-invitational.html
Barracuda Championship
Two GJ's will participate at Reno - Chesson Hadley and Bryce Molder. Molder gets a nod in the Barracuda Power Rankings this week... http://www.pgatour.com/power-rankings/2016/06/28/power-rankings--barracuda-championship.html
As mentioned above, because of the cancellation of the Greenbrier next week, the Barracuda for the first time ever has been given entry way to qualifying for The Open championship in two weeks to the winner. This event utilizes the unique Modified Stableford scoring system that awards or deducts points as follows:
Double Eagle: 8 pts
Eagle: 5 pts
Birdie: 2 pts
Par: 0 pts
Bogey: -1 pts
Double Bogey or Worse: -3 pts
As a reference point, the winner of this event last year compiled 47 points over his 4 days (~12 pts per day).
Good luck to our Jackets out west and to Kooch in Ohio this week.
Side note, a shout out to Ollie Schniederjans whose win last week assures him his card for next year's Tour which starts in October (see schedule above)... http://georgiatech.blog.ajc.com/2016/06/27/ollie-schniederjans-nails-down-pga-tour-card/
I look forward to following Ollie's growth professionally and starting this fall on the biggest stage. He could be the next great Golfing Jacket to hit it big.
