And You Think There's No Reason To Watch The Farmers Insurance Open!

On Wednesday at Torrey Pines I was on the range and impressed with a player's swing, so I turned to a colleague who cares about such non-major winner types and he informed me it was Kyle Stanley. It's a shame I didn't make the third round Farmers Insurance Open leader my fantasy pool pick this week since he's got a five-shot lead over Huh, Rollins, Haas, Bai, Tringale and Blixt to name a few golfers you've probably not heard of.

Now, I know some will say this is the worst leaderboard they've seen in ages, particularly in light of the Tiger Woods-show in Abu Dhabi. But there are actually a couple of reasons to tune into the final round from Torrey Pines.

First there's Stanley's charming honesty about his prodigious driving distance, as Helen Ross notes in her story about the leader's plans to play boring golf Sunday. Check out what he says about his ridiculous length (311 off the tee this week):

Q.  Brandt was really impressed with your length off the tee today.  It's the first time he's said he's played with you.  Have you always been that way as a golfer and how much of an advantage do you see it giving you out there?

Yeah, I mean, for some reason I've always been long. 

Pssst...you're supposed to say it's all the core work you're doing, Kyle! Go on...

I don't know why, because I'm not the biggest guy in the world.  But you take a golf course like this where you're hitting 7‑irons into par‑5s and short irons into long par‑4s, it definitely helps.  I mean, it's helped me a lot this week.

Q.  How do you account for your length?  You must have a theory or people have examined it.

KYLE STANLEY:  I don't know.  I've done some stuff up at TPR where they put the 3‑D on you and stuff like that.  But I think it's about moving the right part of the body at the right time. But that's about all I know.

Can't be the ball or clubs!

Later on...

Q.  Is there any competition on TOUR among the long drivers?  Is that ever a thing?  Have you had to work on dialing back the distance to get more accuracy?

KYLE STANLEY:  Yeah, as far as distance goes, I think it's probably the least important stat if you're not hitting fairways.  I don't really pay much attention to it.  I think it's fun for the fans to see guys hitting the ball long.  But as far as we're concerned if you're hitting it 340 crooked, I'd rather hit it 300 or 295 on the fairway.

Just think, in five years there'll be a guy who says he'd rather hit it 340 in the fairway instead of 385 crooked, and the USGA ball study will be almost wrapping up!

Anyway, the other reason to watch Sunday: Huh!

Jeff Rude notes the incredible performance of Q-School graduate Johnny Huh, who hasn't played the Nationwide Tour, isn't a product of the college golf system and yet somehow is contending. And if he wins well, then we must revisit this Q-School debate!

You may also recall that Jill Painter was the first to profile Huh and it's a great story.

So there you have it, excited now about the Farmers Insurance Open?

The third round highlights...

Comments

[Option720]

As Sean O'hairs taylormade rocketballz 3 wood might say..." that's un@$?€ing believable"

[rump-ranger]

you'd hit that geoff, right?

[Grant]

Got to see a fair bit of John Huh in Korea on the One Asia Tour over the lest 18 months. Had a win back in 2010. Good player, but he's just the tip of the iceberg on young Korean talent at the moment. So many terrific young players on the up.

[D. maculata]

There's a kernel of truth in what Kyle is saying. There were guys in ever era of equipment that were just plain longer than the rest and had the advantage on approach shots. The equation changed when the sweet spot became gargantuan making them consistently long and on the short grass more often.

[Ivan Morris]

Tiger isn't quite there yet. Full marks to Robert Rock's caddy who made good calls on Nos. 16 and 18. Wdn't criticize the driver choice off 18 but RR should have been hitting well up the left. Even from the rough, two 7 or 8-irons would get you home from there. BTW - here's some food for thought for those closing Q-School - Robert Rock made his way onto the Euro Tour as an invitee into the Volvo PGA at Wentworth as the OM leader of the Southern England PGA. He finished 10th; finished in the top 10 again the next two weeks and before anyone knew it he had won enough money to stay out there. Now he is winning and contending in majors - without ever going to Tour School. What does all of that mean? It means I am STILL in FAVOUR of Tour School. Confining qualification to the Nationwide route solely is too restrictive and a BIG mistake. There should be as many ways as possible of skinning cats. I'd reduce the number of all exempt spots to allow for more fluidity. More promotion and relegation between the Tours and QS would increase interest for keen golf followers.

[D. maculata]

It was a great early morning viewing for both tennis and golf ! A job well done by Rock, even if most of the pressure was self-imposed with TW having the left miss going full monty. The GIR stat thru 14 was TW 3/14, Rock 11/14, but he did get a little tight going protect mode on 11 & 12 with makeable birdie putts left dead in short, and a skank pitch on 13. He did have the bounce back factor though and Tiger allowed him to breath for his birdie put on 16 with that USA lag. Almost made it interesting on 18, but TW couldn't tweak him by getting it on in two blows.

Nadal & Djokovic was epic ! But what's going on with Rafa grabbing at his backside constantly, can't the Nike apparel boys fit him correctly? Either that or he's the progeny of the legendary 'Tres Huevos"

[No Longer Used to be Former S&T Convert]

"I think it's about moving the right part of the body at the right time." Great line and the truth about why some players are longer than others, when playing with similar gear.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Johnny Huh has already shown the proposed TOUR School abomination to be just that, whatever happens later today.

Ivan has the right idea. Go to 75 all-exempt, keep Q-School, and do the silly Nationwide Tour thingy, too. Leave room for 15 qualifiers for every regular TOUR event. More turnover is a good thing! Except for the current and perpetual 76-125.

[Ivan Morris]

A compliment from the ghost? WOW!! But it's just a couple of great minds thinking alike. The more fluidity the better. The cream will always rise. I liked the top 60 business and Monday qualifying. Tried it and came through it a few times. That was an achievement in itself and it was great to be given the chance.

[dbh]

Well, Gary McCord won the race to make fun of John Huh's last name: Johnny Question Mark. Even threw in a 'Huh?' Har har. :(
Props to Mr. Huh. First time in the big show spotlight and fighting back from a very rocky start, like a good Q school grad.

[OWGR Fan]

Paging Kyle Stanley...... Dr Heimlich calling on the white courtesy phone.........

Wow that was brutal.

[JW]

Prodigious distance worked out well for Stanley today...

Geez, we're not even into February and the "ball is too long" crap is already spilling over....

[fourputter]

Now, after moaning to this blog to everyones' extreme boredom and great annoyance for years about CBS continuing to show football overrunning its already huge time allocation, a situation that is actually deteriorating rather than improving as a football game is now taking as long as a round of professional golf, and postponing the start of one of its rare adult programs, 60 Minutes, tonight, in the middle of a play-off, they transferred their broadcast to the GC, so that 60 Minutes could start on time! If I were a viewer who did not have access to the GC I would have gone postal.

Let them be consistent. For any sports event that overruns its already generous time slot, except for play-off / overtime situations let it be that it is either discontinued or transfered to another channel. I know this'll piss some people off, but it might cause the sports in question (and basketball is another in which slow play is now endemic) to speed up their product.

The irony of this particular golf event was that after 2 days of complete boredom something actually happened that was exciting, and the network terminated the broadcast! Amazing!

[GolfFan]

Prophetic. Geoff we all bow to you, even if you didn't list "Watch Kyle Stanley puke on his Sunday best" as a reason, it's always there.