Round 2 Notebook
Writing from Cherry Hills Village, Colorado
Friday, September 5, 2014
From trampolines to pin cushions.
That’s how the condition of the greens at Cherry Hills Country Club changed from Thursday to Friday. A shot that would bound in the air like a Super Ball in the first round hugged the turf and spun back in the second round.
Henrik Stenson was the first to find out when he watched his approach shot react on the ninth green in the storm-delayed conclusion of the first round. It hit 12 feet short of the cup. Then the adventure began.
“I had a lovely 8-iron in,” Stenson said. “Yesterday we couldn’t stop the balls, really. Now with the rain, it spun back 35 feet to short of the green there. That was a bit of a tough start.
“Then I whacked the first putt seven feet by and left a tricky little downhill putt. I managed to trickle it in. So I got away with it.”
Stenson expected better overall scoring from the field, and was correct. The first round average was 71.116, over a stroke over par. The second round average, a bit more than a stroke less, was 70.059. That had much more to do with the conditioning than the slightly lesser yardage (7,301 for Round 1, compared to 7,259 for Round 2).
He contributed to the better numbers with a 1-under 69 that leaves him five adrift of leader Sergio Garcia with two rounds to play.
A 67 with a difference
Top-ranked Rory McIlroy added a second 3-under 67 to his resume on Friday, but it was hardly like Thursday’s effort.
He hit three more fairways (10 rather than seven), took as many more putts (30 rather tha 27), and still put the number up, with birdies on three of the last four holes making it happen.
“It’s amazing what a different finish to a round can do,” McIlroy said. “I tried not to get too frustrated, even though ... I was stuck in neutral for most of the day.”
McIlroy sank a 27-footer for a birdie 2 on the 15th, a 34-footer for a birdie 3 on the 16th, and two-putted for a birdie 4 on the island-green 17th after slashing his approach shot out of the rough from 223 yards, clearing the moat and landing 40 feet from the cup.
“I hit a 6-iron and I was in-between a 5 and a 6,” McIlroy said. “I just went with a hard 6 and gave J.P. (caddie J.P. Fitzgerald) a look. I thought it was a little bit shorter than what it was.
“He gets that look a lot.”
Back knocks Day out
Almost always with golfers, it’s the back, and that was the case on Friday for Jason Day. In contention in the first two weeks of the playoffs, Day arrived at Cherry Hills with a strained lower back. He scored even-par 70 on Thursday, and was just 3-over through eight holes on Friday, but pulled out after bogeys on the sixth and eighth holes.
He underwent treatment in the PGA Tour’s scoring trailer for about an hour after pulling out, and remains hopeful to play in the Tour Championship next week at East Lake.
Around Cherry Hills
Rory McIlroy and Graham DeLeat drove the first green on Friday. McIlroy parred, DeLeat birdied. Two players have driven the green each day, with the quartet 4-under on those four drives. ... Phil Mickelson may have won the 1990 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills, but you can’t tell it from this week. He fired a 76 on Friday and is at 6-over 146 at the halfway point. ... Ryan Moore rebounded from Thursday’s 80 with a 1-under 69. ... If this was a few months ago, McIlroy would have a major distraction on Sunday. Former fiancee Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the U.S. Open tennis finals on Friday. The championship match against Serena Williams is Sunday afternoon. Wozniacki is 1-8 against Williams, but has been playing her best tennis of the year since McIlroy got cold feet after the wedding invitations had been mailed. ... Thursday’s half-inch rainfall jumbled the parking situation, but it didn’t appear to dampen the enthusiasm of the gallery. Many people were bussed in from Mile High Stadium. Those lots can be used Saturday, but not Sunday, when the Broncos host Indianapolis in the evening. A pair of large church lots will also be unavailable.
– Tim Cronin