The PGA Tour has moved west from Nevada to northern California and more specifically the area about an hour s drive south of San Francisco to the CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin. This week s event is the Frys.com Open, the second of the four Fall Series event which bring the chase for money list positions to a close. Successful European Ryder Cup team member player Nicolas Colsaerts is in the field and with four top ten finishes in his last seven starts worldwide then he is playing well enough to contend for his first PGA Tour title.Colsaerts finished 7th at the Wyndham Championship and a top two finish this week would earn him full status on the PGA Tour next season. Open Champion Ernie Els played this event very well in 2011 when finishing 4th and although he has not contended since his win at Royal Lytham and St Annes he has made seven of eight cuts. A return to a golf course where he has done well could be enough to inspire him to greater heights. Vijay Singh gets to play the event and the golf course for the first occasion but he has played well enough in recent weeks for him to be a genuine consideration to win. His recent 8th place finish against a much stronger field at the BMW Championship is proof of just that. Bud Cauley slips along under the radar to a large extent but he has played well this season with several top tens and importantly he did finish 3rd in this event twelve months ago. The Australian contingent is headed by Aaron Baddeley and Robert Allenby who will safely retain their playing privileges for 2013 but for the likes of Stuart Appleby, Rod Pampling, Mathew Goggin, Steve Bowditch, Nick O Hern, Nathan Green, Gavin Coles and Matt Jones there is a lot of work still to do in the three remaining tournaments on the 2012 schedule if they are to have full status next year. For some it is a case of earning enough money to avoid Stage Two of Tour School.
Author: Bruce Young / iseekgolf.com