No-Names Dominate New Orleans
Not to be demeaning or anything, but the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has a leaderboard that’s full of, to be PC, 2nd-tier players on the PGA tour. The leader after three rounds is Nick Watney; Ken Duke is 2 back; Mark Calcavecchia and Scott Gutschewski are three back. Save for Calcavecchia, the rest of the guys are hardly household names, but they’re heading into Sunday well within striking distance of the leader.
This tournament used to draw big names not all that long ago, but with the purses being so large today, the top-25 can pick and choose where they play with more scrutiny than ever, and that’s a shame on one hand because these tournaments need the marquee players over the long-haul to remain viable (remember the International?).
And my own opinion is that the more difficult the scoring opportunities are, the better odds of attracting the top players. Woods and Mickelson both have said in recent years that they don’t enjoy the tournaments that are nothing more than birdie-fests, as much as they do the harder courses. The winning score here will probably be around 17 to 20-under par by the end of tomorrow, which means it’s truly wide open.