61. Troy Merritt just tied it with a -10 61 today. 10 birdies/0 bogeys. 7 under back 9 with only 1 par 5.

nonsense

An ice cold 62, for the doubters

Rory doesn't play a ton and still plays Euro events, which are a bit watered down (and of course don't count as Tour wins unless they are co-sanctioned events). Don't players today play a lot less than those of the older era? There is so much money in golf now (and endorsements) that probably nobody in the top 30 in the world needs to grind nearly week to week. I'm not sure how often Jack and the old generation played but I'm guessing it was more often than players of the modern era.

It should be noted, for an elite golfer, Spieth plays a TON of events. That's going to probably change. Dude plays seemingly every Tour stop. Kuchar plays a lot, too. But most of the Top 10 guys don't get their dick hard for many stops short of majors/Players/WGCs.

In the last 2 years, Spieth has played 2 more events (58) than any other golfer in the Top 14 (Reed - 56). Compare that to Rory (48), Bubba (46), Adam Scott (41!), Jim Furyk (42). Including this week, Spieth has played almost 50% more events than Adam Scott.

In for made and future history.

Jack didn't play more than 20 tourneys a year after he turned 30.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._Jack_Nicklaus

Tiger also didn't play very many tourneys, never going over 21. During his second peak (2005-09), he had a 5-year period where he entered 75 tourneys . . . and won 31 of them (including a 19 wins in 37 tourney stretch over 3 years, matching Ernie Els' career total).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...by_Tiger_Woods

Wow, Jack played fewer events than I would have thought. Did they offer fewer events back then, or is that just how his schedule shook out?

Shuffle, I know why Spieth wants to play a lot. I'm saying he's not going to play ~30 events a year forever, or even much longer. So people who dumbly state he's going to win 50+ events might want to consider that.

That was before my time. The impression I get from others is that Jack had the same attitude Tiger did--he'd already proven he was the best and didn't want to wear himself out by playing too much.

I couldn't find tournaments entered data for Snead, Hogan, and Palmer.

But I mean even his first four years he only played 25.3 PGA Tour events per year. Not sure how many other tour events he played in. That's not a ton of golf for being early in his career.

Not necessarily. Check out Ryan Moore's last amateur season. He won basically every major event. It was amazing.

Tiger signed a near 9-figure contract when he turned pro which took every ounce of financial pressure off him for life. He's never cared about the money, just about the trophies.

Having financial and tour security makes a huge difference out there. Easier to freewheel, easier to play for the win instead of a nice check. That's what made Spieth's story so great, he earned everything the hard way.

Jack stated from the beginning that family was more important than golf. He passed up many events because of this. But yes, there were also fewer tournaments in those days.

Jack got married before he ever graduated Ohio State and had his first kid by 21. Iirc, he was working as a salesman after winning national championships. Just a different time.

not that I have a problem with sponsors exemptions but wasn't spieth first year on tour rife with these? I'd call Monday qualifying or q schooling "the hard way" before sponsors exemptions. He earned his keep rather quickly though and ended up earning his Tour card eventually.

why is getting a sponsor's exemption not looked at by you as "earning" it? there's a reason sponsors wanted Spieth in their tournaments.

You'd know this of course, but it was to the point where Nicklaus never won the Vardon Trophy for scoring average because he didn't get enough qualified rounds.

why don't you stop, think, and figure that out.

again, why is receiving a sponsor's exemption looked upon as not earning something? he put himself in a position to receive sponsors exemptions b/c he earned it on the golf course in past performances.

if you can't figure that out, then who is the obtuse one?

lol. I didn't say this. Obviously if a sponsor wants you in you have technically "earned" it via one way or another: Being a young phenom, drawing a huge crowd (John Daly), etc.

But calling his first year on Tour (iirc, getting enough sponsors exemptions that he ended up making enough $ to get his partial or full card) earning it "the hard way" is a pretty big slap in the face to those who went through Q-school or Monday qualified 3 times (like Patrick Reed) to get at least some starts, or earned their card another way like winning enough Web.com events or finishing high enough in the money at the end of a year of Web.com, or any other way people get their Tour card.

Bo knows this since he has gone to Q-school I'm pretty sure. I just don't know what he meant by that. The "hard way" compared to who? Tiger? He had just mentioend Tiger made nearly 100 million right after getting on Tour so was his intimation that Tiger's wins weren't earned the hard way because he had no financial pressure? If so, LOL. Dude was having to deal with winning The Masters and being told not to serve fried chicken by a former champion.

i never did this. i said a sponsor's exemption is something that is earned.

earned by being popular?

kind of a weird definition of earned

no. earned by his performance in golf tournaments. which made him in demand by sponsors. you see, nothing happens if Jordan never excels, you know, on the golf course.

Dude. BO is the one who said it, and was the one I initially responded to. Did you even read anything either of us wrote? I was responding to his use of "earned the hard way" then you completely ignored "the hard way" part and came at me asking why I thought he hadn't earned it - something I never ****ing said. Stop being annoying as ****.

There are a handful of ways to earn your way on Tour, and if someone asks you which is "the hard way" sponsors exemptions would quite literally be at the bottom of the list. My only point. BO said something dumb, the world turns.

Yeah plus a lot of people aren't factoring in how it's tough to stay as motivated once you've climbed the mountain.

Even Rory recently said that after he reached world #1 and won a few majors he found himself struggling on the motivation front.

Maybe Spieth is like Tiger in that his motivation and practice regimen won't dip for at least a decade and/or it'll take an injury to put him on the sidelines.

It's fine to speculate but a hot year or two doesn't make a champion on the level of Nicklaus or Woods.

Spieth seems really competitive so I won't be shocked if he finds a way to keep grinding. But it's just that, a grind, and not everyone can keep that fire burning.

In January Spieth received a sponsor's exemption to Torrey where he missed the cut. Then in March he received another at Puerto Rico where he finished 2nd. That got him into the next event where he again played well and quickly gained temporary tour status which he never relinquished.

So basically he turned two sponsor's invites into a tour card.

Wrong again. But anyway, can you elaborate on why, of all ways to earn a card, you consider that "the hard way", and also explain the context with which you used "the hard way"? Compared to who?

Great. A thread for GREAAR and ARC to argue.