Week 38 Approach Shots: Turning Stone
By PGATOUR.COM Staff
With the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup completed, the Fall Series begins this week with the Turning Stone Resort Championship at Atunyote Golf Club in Verona, N.Y. The Fall Series features five events, with players battling to finish inside the top 125 on the money list as well as decide the Kodak Challenge, with each Fall Series event hosting a Kodak Challenge hole for the year-long competition. Dustin Johnson won his first PGA TOUR event when he won last year's Turning Stone Resort Championship. It was a sign of good things to come for the South Carolina native. Four months later, he won his second event at this season's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Johnson and Anthony Kim are the only players under age 25 with at least two PGA TOUR victories.
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EYES ON AUSSIE: Adam Scott, a Captain's Pick for The Presidents Cup International Team, will play this week before he travels to San Francisco for the biennial team affair. This is the first time Scott will tee it up in a Fall Series event. Also in the field are Jeev Milkha Singh (India), Stuart Appleby (Australia) and K.J. Choi (South Korea) who all missed on earning a spots on the International Team.
GOGGIN LOVES N.Y.: Mathew Goggin has posted two top-fives at this event, tying for fifth in 2007 and tying for third in 2008. He is a combined 21-under in his eight rounds at Atunyote Golf Club. Goggin's best finish this season was a tie for fifth at the British Open.
ALLEN STREAKING: Michael Allen, the runner-up in 2007 when he posted rounds of 69-67-68-68, stands alone as the only player to have scored all four rounds in the 60s in the two years at Turning Stone. Allen, who turned 50 at the beginning of the year, won the Senior PGA Championship after receiving a sponsor's invitation to compete and is now fully exempt on the Champions Tour and the PGA TOUR.
TOUGH TRACK: Only eight tournaments had a higher cumulative scoring average than the Turning Stone Resort Championship's 72.968 scoring average in 2008. The Wyndham Championship (68.753) had the lowest while the British Open had the highest (74.869). In 2008, the cut was 4-over 148 with 83 players making it to the weekend.
BACK FOR MORE: There are four players entered this week who competed in last week's TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, the final event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Dustin Johnson finished 14th in the standings, followed by Steve Marino (15th), Marc Leishman (20th) and John Senden (24th).
CHAMPIONS, NATIONWIDE STARS IN TOWN: Tom Pernice, Jr., fresh off his victory in last week's SAS Championship on the Champions Tour, will tee it up this week. He'll be joined in the field by another 2009 Champions Tour winner -- Michael Allen. Three-time 2009 Nationwide Tour winner Michael Sim will compete this week at the Turning Stone Resort Championship after receiving a sponsor exemption.
ON-COURSE OBSERVATIONS: PGA TOUR Network correspondent Bob Stevens is on the scene at Turning Stone for this week's satellite radio coverage (XM 146/SIRIUS 209). Reports Stevens:
For the second consecutive year, weather will be the "hot" topic all week. Temperatures are not expected to get out of the 50s this weekend. It was a classic case of "You should have been here last week" or "too bad it's not next week," as temperatures have been and are forecasted to be in the 70s before and after the event. Last year the tournament had a little hail in one of the early rounds and a constant wind that Robert Garrigus said actually factored into his putting all week since he had to play the wind on the greens. We aren't expecting as much wind this year, but it is expected to be cold and wet each day.
That cold, wet forecast should play into the hands of players like defending champion Dustin Johnson, who's third in driving distance, and Garrigus, who currently ranks No. 1 in driving distance. Marc Leishman is playing in his first Turning Stone Resort Championship, and he told me that Dustin's win here last year played a role in his decision to come because it's a good place for a big hitter like Leishman, who is 19th in driving distance. Having said all that, two years ago the winner was Steve Flesch, one of the TOUR's shorter hitters, so anything's possible.
There are two Presidents Cup International team members here this week -- Robert Allenby (last year's runner-up) and Adam Scott. Allenby came because of his success a year ago, while Scott wanted to try and bolster his confidence heading into The Presidents Cup. The controversial Captain's Pick said the selection by Greg Norman has already a boosted his confidence, and he added that playing in The Presidents Cup in South Africa six years ago was one of his greatest thrills in golf.
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