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Let's have some fun - Grade your favorite touring pro's season!

Ya have to love the Ricky fan boys, they are dedicated to their art. I give Ricky more credit for winning DGPT than Worlds. Worlds is just a single event. If i was going to look at this I'd want to measure who did the best on average over the majors. The NT championship carries more weight than either DGPT or Worlds, in terms of overall difficulty.

Nate Sexton gets a B+, simply cause he took time off for important matters. It seemed to me that he was down overall, and while USDGC brings the grade up, it was still only one event.

Barsby gets an A-. He was way up from the last year with a lot more top card appearances.
 
art_vandelay said:
If it wasn't for the walking putt, I'd enjoy watching Uli. It makes me cringe every time I see it so I'll recluse myself. :\
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Uli is about number three on my list, he earned it with ferocious play this year. What a come back season! I too hate the step putt.
 
Will Schusterick: Sigh. A+ for effort, D for reality. Here's to getting back on track and healing up, Will. Go get 'em in 2018...or '19 if you need that much time.

Eagle: B+ He's not there yet. I see shades of Ricky before his Worlds win. Just has to get over the mental barrier and he's golden. Also burnout is an issue, so he needs to watch that.

McBeast: Solid A. He's legitimately one of the favorites every event he plays, and he delivered time and time again this year.

Sexton: A- USDGC was huge, but there were missed opportunities.
 
lyleoross said:
Nate Sexton gets a B+, simply cause he took time off for important matters. It seemed to me that he was down overall, and while USDGC brings the grade up, it was still only one event.
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Worth noting that even with the time off, he still finished 3rd in the NT standings, ahead of road warriors like Turner, Brathwaite, Koling and Ulibarri. Though now that I look at the schedule, his baby girl's timing couldn't have been better as far as what events he had to skip. He only really missed BSF and Worlds (and the European swing).
 
JC17393 said:
I said finished no lower than 4th. He didn't FINISH the GMC. Injury DNFs get a pass IMO.
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You stated your first opinion as fact without any denotation about it. Then superciliously stated there is no "if" about it. Statisticians use a * to denote a skewed stat... i.e.

McBeth finished no lower than 4th*

*DNF at GMC due to injury.
 
Great discussion so far!

OK - now here's another fun one - let's keep this going thru the weekend. Which pro had the biggest "letdown" season, and which pro had the breakout one?

Another way to think about this question - which pro do you now pause before picking them to win, and which pro will you now consider picking for the podium that you didn't previously?
 
I don't think it's a "letdown," but I thought that Anthon would be more of a threat, especially after his big win (forget which tourney it was). But, all things considered, he had an awesome year.

As far as who I would now pick, James Conrad. That dude is good.

Barsby, too. He really showed this year that he's hungry. It's only a matter of time.
 
JTacoma03 said:
Great discussion so far!

OK - now here's another fun one - let's keep this going thru the weekend. Which pro had the biggest "letdown" season, and which pro had the breakout one?

Another way to think about this question - which pro do you now pause before picking them to win, and which pro will you now consider picking for the podium that you didn't previously?
Click to expand...

Breakout is easy: James Conrad. I'd add Barsby as well if I hadn't already known about his game, but he played great at some big tournaments.

Letdown: Schusterick is too easy, he's been struggling with that injury for awhile, but I'm glad he finally decided to take some time off.

I'd pick Uli; was really expecting him to vault into the winner's circle the last couple years. He messed with his putting stroke this year and I think his game suffered.
 
I think it's going to be interesting how the new rules might impact the top level game in terms of players calling foot faults. Could be a few messy situations.
 
I agree Chuck, should be interesting to see!

For the major letdowns, it's hard to say. I think Paul probably felt let down but had a very good year. For me the biggest letdown was injuries to so many great players that thinned the field in some events.

I think Catrina probably felt she could have done better too, she is another one with such a good game it's hard to say she was a letdown though.

Conrad and DG Boy were a lot of fun to watch this year. And there are a lot of guys who took steps forward but didn't win anything huge so they didn't get a lot of attention.

I know last year was really Sexons breakout, but this year really solidified it IMO.
 
For breakout year I would consider Dickerson. Top 5 at Worlds, top 10 at USDGC, great finishes at Idlewild and PFDO, nice ratings jump (1034 rated now), he did however lack a statement win. Still this year I think he showed he is going to be in the mix for a long time to come.

One of the more interesting semi-breakouts to me this year was Austin Turner. The kid can play for sure, but he is more interesting to me from a marketing perspective. He is a good looking, clearly athletic kid and Discraft could use a younger player with his attributes to help them move product for sure...and honestly when I think of a marketing face for DGers as athletes I am hard pressed to find a better one than him (though Barela is right there also I suppose) since AJ. If the kid gets some big wins I can certainly see Austin Turner market saturation in the next few years. He is going to be interesting to watch for sure.
 
Breakout - James Conrad
He is the most entertaining player on tour in my opinion.
On some holes, it feels like the process is: Player A throws safe shot, Player B throws safe shot, Player C throws safe shot, and then James Conrad has a long run up and smashes a huge hyzer flip that comes to rest 150 ft beyond any of the safe shots. Energy level and entertainment value sky high!

Letdown - Dave Feldberg
I was hoping he would be able to stay with the big boys like he has for so long, but he did not seem to be at that level this year.
 
I'm not sure it was a letdown, but Big Jerm was uneven throughout the year and even from round to round at times. I was hoping he was going to step into the top echelon with his play this year but I'd still slot him into the second level.

And I'm not sure it was a breakout as much as taking regional success and moving to the national stage, but I was very impressed by Lisa Fajkus, especially her putting, and enjoy watching her play. She's just steady and level-headed, though she will get out-driven often by PP and CA. Do expect to see her on many lead cards in the final round, and Terry said on the coverage in Jacksonville that she's planning to go full national tour next year.

I'd like to see what Zach Melton would do on a full tour.
 
jeffsk said:
For breakout year I would consider Dickerson. Top 5 at Worlds, top 10 at USDGC, great finishes at Idlewild and PFDO, nice ratings jump (1034 rated now), he did however lack a statement win. Still this year I think he showed he is going to be in the mix for a long time to come.

One of the more interesting semi-breakouts to me this year was Austin Turner. The kid can play for sure, but he is more interesting to me from a marketing perspective. He is a good looking, clearly athletic kid and Discraft could use a younger player with his attributes to help them move product for sure...and honestly when I think of a marketing face for DGers as athletes I am hard pressed to find a better one than him (though Barela is right there also I suppose) since AJ. If the kid gets some big wins I can certainly see Austin Turner market saturation in the next few years. He is going to be interesting to watch for sure.
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Someone has a man crush. I kinda thought Eagle was going to fill the role you've described for Austin Turner but Eagle still comes across as the kid he is and has not made full use of his charisma.
 
The Ricky/Paul rivalry gets better every year. Obviously, Ricky gets the edge this year with Worlds, 2 overall majors, and the DGPT honors. The money list is a good way to measure too. It looks like Paul is at $68K and change and Ricky is at $76K and change. Do those totals include the bonuses for winning the NT series (Paul) of the DGWT and DGPT (Ricky)?
 
Update to answer my own question (I should've looked more closely the first time): The $10K bonus for winning the NT series is included in Paul's total (and $5K for 2nd to Ricky). It doesn't look like there was a series bonus for the DGWT. And I only see $10K to Ricky for the DGPT, but I assume that's for winning the Tour Finale, not the points total for the series, so I guess no bonus there. I guess the NT series is the only real series bonus, so kudos to Paul for snagging that (and doing it by shooting a ridiculous round at the HoF Classic). Ricky winning the money total without getting that bonus makes it even more impressive.

A+ for Ricky
A for Paul
 
Last edited:
JC17393 said:
Worth noting that even with the time off, he still finished 3rd in the NT standings, ahead of road warriors like Turner, Brathwaite, Koling and Ulibarri. Though now that I look at the schedule, his baby girl's timing couldn't have been better as far as what events he had to skip. He only really missed BSF and Worlds (and the European swing).
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It's amazing how the guy taking a few events off convinced me he was down. Sigh! Thanks for the catch.
 
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