Streelman's 2015 Season

[sagegrouse]

Streels is off to a good start in the new 2015 season that started in October. He placed second in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, 26th in the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lampur and in the middle of the pack in the World Golf Championship in Shanghai this past weekend. The WGC was limited to the top 80 players from around the world.

Kevin is back in the US of A and is ranked #8 in the FedEx Cup standings for the new season.

He also announced a deal with Wilson Golf a few days ago.

[sagegrouse]

The field of 32 teed off today in the first round of the Hyundai T of C on Maui, for which Kevin qualified by winning the Traveler's event last year. He shot four under 69 today and is now tied for seventh, with players still on the course. The T of C runs Friday through Monday, so (I guess) it doesn't have to go up against the NFL playoffs in its final round.

Kevin has a busy January, following the Maui event with consecutive weekends at the Sony Open in Honolulu, the Humana Challenge at La Quinta, and the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Phoenix is the same weekend and city as the Super Bowl, and it will be Tiger's first event of the 2015 season, which began in October.

Kevin ranks #10 in the FedEx Cup standings, following a second place finish in the Shriners Hospital event in October and good events in Asia afterwards.

Go Kevin! Go Duke!

[sagegrouse]

Streelman, after a fairly quite January and February, is off to a great start in his first East Coast appearance. He is tied for second at -5 in the Valspar Tournament at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbour, FL. Brendon de Jonge of So. AFrica has a one-stroke lead. Kevin is tied with Jordan Spieth, Henrik Stenson, Ryan Moore and one other player.

Streels entered this tournament at #28 in the FedEx Cup, thanks to a second-place finish at the Shriner's Hospital for Children Open at the beginning of the season (last October). He has qualified for the Masters with a win last season at the Travelers Open in Hartford.

[MChambers]

In today's WaPo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2015/04/08/boy-with-brain-tumor-will-caddie-for-kevin-streelman-in-masters-par-3-tournament/?tid=hpModule_a4df998e-86a7-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394

Very nice thing for Streelman to do.

[arnie]

In today's WaPo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2015/04/08/boy-with-brain-tumor-will-caddie-for-kevin-streelman-in-masters-par-3-tournament/?tid=hpModule_a4df998e-86a7-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394

Very nice thing for Streelman to do.

Surprised no one else beat me to this - Streelman with caddie referenced above won the Par 3 tournament at Masters. Maybe he can be the 1st winner of both tournaments in same year.

[duke79]

Surprised no one else beat me to this - Streelman with caddie referenced above won the Par 3 tournament at Masters. Maybe he can be the 1st winner of both tournaments in same year.

Let's hope he can beat the jinx......and win both. I'm picking him as my extreme long shot to win. If he gets hot, he can make a lot of birdies. Plus, I'm thinking the sports Gods are looking favorably upon Duke this week !!

[DukieInKansas]

Surprised no one else beat me to this - Streelman with caddie referenced above won the Par 3 tournament at Masters. Maybe he can be the 1st winner of both tournaments in same year.

I enjoyed watching that story on Sports Center last night. They even made the Duke connection in the tease for the story.

Another good week to be a Blue Devil!

[sagegrouse]

Streels shot -2 for a 70 and is now tied for tenth with a bunch of others (a few players still out there). Very good start. Keep it up, Kevin! Go Duke!

[duke79]

Streels shot -2 for a 70 and is now tied for tenth with a bunch of others (a few players still out there). Very good start. Keep it up, Kevin! Go Duke!

Very good start. Let's hope he continues to play well. I'd love to see him at least in contention come Sunday !! I think he is due for a big breakout.

[sagegrouse]

Streels posted his second-straight 70 and is now in a tie for seventh. Some folks are still on the course.

[Tripping William]

So, Streels finishes today at -4, tied for 8th with Kevin Na, Bill Haas and Ryan Moore. Kinda too bad Jordan Spieth is running away with this thing .....

[Tripping William]

Streels with another 70, putting him at -6 and tied with Tiger, Rory, Dustin Johnson& Na. But, absent a Greg Normanesque collapse, no one will catch Spieth.

[uh_no]

Streels with another 70, putting him at -6 and tied with Tiger, Rory, Dustin Johnson& Na. But, absent a Greg Normanesque collapse, no one will catch Spieth.

if he shoots anything under 70, yeah...

but rose could easily shoot a 66 (especailly after the low scores that were out today, and are often out on the back 9 on sunday), and speith shoots 70 like he did today. the double on 17 killed him and the par save on 18 was huge.

we'll know by the turn whether he's going to win for sure or not.

[Tripping William]

if he shoots anything under 70, yeah...

but rose could easily shoot a 66 (especailly after the low scores that were out today, and are often out on the back 9 on sunday), and speith shoots 70 like he did today. the double on 17 killed him and the par save on 18 was huge.

we'll know by the turn whether he's going to win for sure or not.

Agreed. I posted that just before Spieth doubled 17.

[diablesseblu]

Kevin finished tied for 12th after shooting even par today. He bogeyed 16 but rebounded with a birdie on 17. The top 12 and ties earn berths in next year's tourney.

[rsvman]

Good tourney for Streelman!

[sagegrouse]

Kevin had a -7 65 today in the third round of Nicklaus's Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. He has moved into the top ten as play continues this afternoon.

Tiger, who made the cut on the number, shot 85 today, by far his worst score as a pro. He looks lost out there on the course.

[Bob Green]

Tiger, who made the cut on the number, shot 85 today, by far his worst score as a pro. He looks lost out there on the course.

Woods shot 74 today to finish the tournament in last place at +14. Second to last place was 8 shots better at +6. Missing the cut would have been less embarrassing for Woods.

[arnie]

Brittany Lang tied for lead with a few holes left in final round. On golf channel.

[sagegrouse]

Just got a tweet that our man Streels was a last-minute addition (http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2015/07/11/chris-kirk-withdraws-from-british-open-at-st-andrews-replaced-by-kevin/) to the Open field at St. Andrew's.

[75Crazie]

Sorry to say, with much of the morning wave complete, Streels is sitting dead last at 78. Worsening weather this afternoon might give him some company.

[CameronBlue]

Sorry to say, with much of the morning wave complete, Streels is sitting dead last at 78. Worsening weather this afternoon might give him some company.

Some Daly character is -4 at the turn, must be Tyne. Looks like Tyne...oh wait, no it's John. Red numbers abound.

[BD80]

Sorry to say, with much of the morning wave complete, Streels is sitting dead last at 78. Worsening weather this afternoon might give him some company.

There was a time when sitting 2 strokes behind Tiger was a very good thing.

[Tom B.]

There was a time when sitting 2 strokes behind Tiger was a very good thing.

At least Streelman can say that he's beating two former Open winners (Calcavecchia and Faldo) and tied with a third (Justin Leonard).

[Tom B.]

Some Daly character is -4 at the turn, must be Tyne. Looks like Tyne...oh wait, no it's John.


Wow.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CKCyRHjWcAAd2Vl.jpg:large

[sagegrouse]

Streels is in the field and made the cut, but is not threatening the leaders -- tied for 65th.

What is news is that current co-leader, Tony Finau from the island of Tonga in the South Pacific, is Jabari Parker's second cousin. Jabari's mom is Lola Finau-Parker, who is also from Tonga and the first cousin of Tony's father. One article referred to Jabari as the first Tongan to play in the NBA. Funny I read Jabari's huge Wikipedia bio, and it made no mention of his Tongan ancestry. Jabari's dad Sonny was an NBA player. The family, as we recognize, is Mormon, which have explained how his parents met.

[Utley]

I find impossible not to be rooting for Matt Jones

[Tripping William]

I find impossible not to be rooting for Matt Jones

Agreed. I have found myself saying, "Matt Jones .... for three!" on numerous occasions. Not numerous enough yesterday, though.

[Bob Green]

Streelman is -2 through 9 holes today. Ryan Moore is -6 through 9. My point being there are obviously birdies out on the course today so we should be in for an exciting 4th Round. Jason Day and Jordan Spieth will be going at it in the final pairing, but there are several other golfers within striking range such as Branden Grace, Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer.

The final day of this year's final major championship should be a good one.

[Furniture]

It's going to be a great final day. I am pulling for both Speith and Day. Should be fun and exciting!!

[sagegrouse]

Streels is in the field and made the cut, but is not threatening the leaders -- tied for 65th.



Kevin finished today with his best round of the week, a -2 score of 70. Currently stands 58th at even par for the week.

I agree with Bob Green and others that it should be a good competitive day of golf. The top nine players include leader Jason Day, playing with wunderkind Jordan Spieth. They are being pursued by Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer (who won here five years ago) and Dustin Johnson (who lost last time because of a penalty for grounding the club in one of the thousands of hazards on the course). The top nine also includes Branden Grace, who played well at the U.S. Open; the aforementioned Tony Finau and Matt Jones; and Indian golfer, Anirban Lahiri.

[sagegrouse]

Kevin easily qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs as the #61 qualifier and is playing this week at the Barclay's in Edison, NJ, which has a field of 125. Kevin shot 70-71 for a +1 and made the cut. He is assured of a place in next week's second round FedEx Cup event, the Deutsche Bank Championship for the top 100 players.

Winners in the FedEx Cup events receive 2,000 points -- compared with 500 for regular tour events and 600 for the majors.

After the top 100 qualify for the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, there are 70 in the subsequent BMW Championship in Chicago. Following these eliminations, the top 30 qualify for the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola in Atlanta. As things stand now, Kevin now is projected to be 65th after this weekend. The real prizes occur in making the Tour Championship, and he will need a couple of top ten finishes or perhaps one finish in the top three to make the finals in Atlanta.

While playing reasonably well, he is not finishing strong in his rounds. For example, he was +3 on the second nine today, but tomorrow is another day.... Go Kevin! Go Duke!

[sagegrouse]

While playing reasonably well, he is not finishing strong in his rounds. For example, he was +3 on the second nine today, but tomorrow is another day.... Go Kevin! Go Duke!

Perhaps I should amend my remarks. Kevin finished his third round with even par 70, going three-under on the back nine after a poor start. Streels's round ended with a 55-foot chip-in for birdie on 18. Looking at all three rounds, he is finding the front nine much harder than the back. Kevin is eight-over on the front but seven-under on the back. In yesterday's apparent swoon, Kevin started on the back nine and finished on the front.

In fact, the front nine is harder than the back at the Plainfield CC course outside of New York City. Looking at the hole rankings, four of the five hardest holes are on the front and the four easiest holes are on the back.

Go Kevin! Go Duke!

[sagegrouse]

Kevin, who sat all week just inside the top 70 players who qualify for the BMW Championship next week, crashed and burned on the back nine today, ending his FedEx Cup participation and his season.

Kevin was -3 for the tournament after four holes today and -2 after nine. But he shot a seven-over 42 on the back nine to end the Deutsche Bank tournament at +5. His FedEx ranking fell from 65 to 75, keeping him out of the BMW and the Tour Championship the following week. It was a tough loss for Streels.

The good news is that new season starts in October.