Fall Series underway at Turning Stone

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2009 Turning Stone Resort Championship | Preview | 29 Sep 2009

Now that the FedEx Cup playoff series is over, the PGA Tour returns to near normality this week for the first of the Fall Series of events, the Turning Stone Championship, in Vernon, New York.

The event is the first of five remaining tournaments of the regular USPGA Tour season and while many of the PGA Tour’s elite will be contemplating a long break, those at the other end of the scale face a pressure filled few weeks in order for them to be around in 2010.

The Atunyote Golf Club at Turning Point Resort is a Tom Fazio designed layout established in 2004. The course played host to this event for the first occasion in 2007 when Steve Flesch, despite a struggle over the final stages, ran out the winner by two over Michael Allen. In 2008 it was Dustin Johnson who, in his rookie season, broke through to win his first PGA Tour event by one shot over Robert Allenby.

Johnson has added another victory this season, the AT&T Pebble Beach to his CV and along with several other good finishes he made the field for last week’s Tour Championship. He did not do so well there but just making that field was in impressive effort and if he was to successfully defend then few would be surprised.

Steve Marino is another who, like Johnson, could make this event his first win on the PGA Tour. He has been frustratingly close to winning his maiden PGA Tour title on a number of occasions and after just making the cut on debut in this event last year he eventually finished 36th. He had a good run through the FedEx Cup playoffs finishing a very solid 7th last week in Atlanta.

John Senden did well last week at the Tour Championship when 10th. Senden has won only once on the PGA Tour but his game of late suggests that another win is not far away. Senden finished in a share of third in this event two years ago, suggesting that he does not mind the Atunyote Golf Club layout.

Brandt Snedeker has found some good form in recent weeks and although he will play this event for the first time this week, he is in such good form he is a genuine chance.

Robert Allenby is the highest world ranked player in the field and after his narrow miss last year in this event he deserves consideration as a chance to win. He did not have a great run in the FedEx Cup playoffs but his runner up finish a few weeks ago in Akron highlights that he was in very good form not too long ago.

Allenby and Adam Scott are the only two Presidents Cup team members from either side in this event and on that lone his performance ahead of next week’s battle in San Francisco will be watched with interest.

Michael Allen might seem like a strange choice as a possible contender and if he was to win, he would become the 6th oldest player ever on the PGA Tour to do so. It might not be quite as improbable as it sounds as the 50 year old has had a good year on the PGA Tour and in his first Champions Tour event he won their PGA Championship. He was 5th at the recent Wyndham Championship and importantly in 2007 finished runner up to Steve Flesch in this very event.

The field has an unknown factor to it given that many have not played a tournament in several weeks and so there while it will suit some to be fresh and ready to go others will need to dust a little rust off of the clubs before they can contend.

Of the Australians, other than Allenby, two will be watched with a lot of interest. Adam Scott plays his first event since his controversial selection by Greg Norman as one of his wild card choices for the International Presidents Cup Team. Scott has experienced a horror run of form for much of the year and his return to tournament golf will be watched with interest.

Michael Sim however is a young man on the way up. A graduate to the PGA Tour via the Nationwide Tour’s Battlefield Promotion, Sim gets another chance to play the PGA Tour and is certainly better prepared and has greater fitness than was the case when he last played as a card holder in 2007.

Sim played very well in two of the major championships this year and retains his almost unassailable lead on the 2009 Nationwide Tour money list where he has won three times. Most predict a bright future for the 24 year old. Sim missed the cut in this event in his only start but he is a considerably better and more experienced player now.

Other Australians with a start include brilliant rookie Marc Leishman, Canadian Open champion, Nathan Green, Mathew Goggin, Rod Pampling, Aaron Baddeley, Stuart Appleby, Nick O’Hern, Greg Chalmers, Steve Elkington, James Nitties, Peter Lonard, Jarrod Lyle and Aron Price.