In addition to jockeying for FedEx Cup position, this week on the PGA Tour was supposed to be a week where the some of the American Ryder Cup hopefuls started to establish themselves as rounding into form to be one of Captain Azinger’s wild card selections. Perhaps a couple did that, most notably Scott McCarron and Jerry Kelly. Instead it turned into an American nightmare as Carl Pettersson dominated the field and firmly established himself as a likely European Ryder Cup participant. Captain Faldo was surely watching as he performed extremely well under the enormous pressure of winning his hometown event.
Looking closely at Pettersson’s record reveals that he plays tough American style courses very well, this would bode well for him at Valhalla next month. His best performances came at the most prestigious events. There was an eighth place at Bay Hill, Arnold Palmer’s home course. Then there was a fourth place finish in Dallas at the Byron Nelson, followed a few weeks later by a tenth place at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial tournament. Totally shrouded by all the Tiger Woods/Rocco Mediate hoopla was Petterson’s sixth place finish at Torrey Pines in the U. S. Open.
As thorough a man as Nick Faldo is, you can bet this little bit of information hasn’t gone unnoticed.
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The Accidental Golfer:
Brandon Tucker:
Mark Nessmith:
Jason Scott Deegan:
What's with DJ Trahan playing SAS -any idea?
With the automatic qualifiers for the Ryder Cup team locked in, Trahan decided to travel to Sweden for the first time. "It's been a long, hard year," Trahan said. "I would have taken this week off, but I thought I'd get away from all the Ryder Cup mayhem at home and have some fun ... I think I've made a good stance for my place already but I'm hoping to go back and have two more really good weeks before Paul [Azinger] decides on his four wild-cards [on September 2]." Trahan finished 11th on the Ryder Cup points list and is likely on Azinger's short list of wild card options.