Round 4 Notebook
Writing from Cherry Hills Village, Colorado
Sunday, September 7, 2014
It can be tough to be Rory McIlroy. Especially when you could have contended in the BMW Championship except for how you played the 12th hole over the course of the week.
Basically, over the weekend the world’s top player played it like he was wearing boxing gloves instead of a golf glove. A triple-bogey 6 on Saturday. A double-bogey 5 on Sunday. A pair of four-putts.
It was unfathomable.
“It hasn’t been what I wanted,” McIlroy said. “But I’m playing solidly and hopefully I can just put everything together next week.”
But what of the 12th green, the little putting surface of horrors?
“It’s not my worst, I’ve five-putted before,” McIlroy said. “It’s one of those things that at least I can laugh about and move on.”
Saturday’s misadventure came into his mind when he was over the second putt on Sunday. He knocked his first putt from 19 feet 4 inches to 5-9. Not gimme range, but he Rory McIlroy, for crying out loud.
“I said to myself, ‘Let’s not give any more shots away to this hole.’ That was what I said. So maybe I out a little bit too much pressure on myself to hole the second putt,” McIlroy said.
The putt rolled past the hole, and kept going. It stopped 7 feet 6 inches away.
“On the third putt, I’m thinking ‘OK, you don’t want to 4-putt again,’ ” he said.
And it ran 4 feet 3 inches by.
“I actually holed a decent-length putt for a 4-putt. So.” And there was the boyish grin again.
McIlroy finished tied for eighth at 8-under 272. Pars on the 12th on Saturday and Sunday, and his total is 13-under 267, a stroke behind winner Billy Horschel. And who knows how the final 25 holes would have played out?
But McIlroy won’t dwell on the mishaps.
“It sort of shows everyone out there that we do the same things as they do every weekend,” McIlroy said.
The road ends for Appleby, Bradley
That Morgan Hoffman and Ryan Palmer played their way into the top 30 and Tour Championship berths means two players can take next week off. Those two are Stuart Appleby and Keegan Bradley.
Bradley cast his die snake eyes on Saturday morning, when he withdrew because of personal doubt over an embedded ball ruling on Thursday. He finished 33rd after starting the week 28th.
Appleby started 26th and finished 31st by playing 46th in the BMW. Hoffman rose from 68th to 21st, while Palmer moved from 37th to 23rd. And Hoffman's 62-63 for 125 over the weekend is a Western Open / BMW record for 36 holes by three strokes.
The 30-man field will be a man short thanks to Dustin Johnson’s presence in the No. 30 spot. Johnson is in what he and the PGA Tour calls a “leave of absence” but what has been reported as a six-month suspension for a third drug-use violation. Whatever you call it, Johnson will still profit. The 30th spot in the standings earns $303,000 from FedEx, part of their $35 million distribution to the top 125 players, with $10 million going to the winner.
The top five can win it all next week by winning the tournament: Chris Kirk, Horschel, Bubba Watson, McIlroy and Hunter Mahan. One with no shot is Henrik Stenson, who won last year’s playoffs. He didn’t qualify, finishing 23rd in the BMW for a 52nd-place points finish.
To Castle Pines in 2018?
There’s a possible second option for the WGA for a return visit to the Denver area, which could happen as early as 2018. It’s Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Pines, south of downtown Denver by about 23 miles, and 18 miles south of Cherry Hills.
WGA director and Cherry Hills member George Solich, the prime mover behind the presence of the tournament here this week, is also a member there. Castle Pines owner Jack Vickers, who created the International, the modified Stableford format tournament that was a success for 21 years through 2006 until the PGA Tour asked him to put move to the old Western Open dates when the Western became the BMW and moved to September, might be persuaded to open the gates of his club again.
The first tee at Cherry Hills is 5,411 feet above sea level, and the ball flies. Castle Pines is even more lofty, at 6,335 feet. Bubba Watson could launch one into orbit there.
The sticking point, aside from Cherry Hills being interested, is the age of Vickers. He’s 89. At that age, long-term plans aren’t always made.
Around Cherry Hills
Defending champion Zach Johnson finished 43rd at 2-over 282. ... For the fifth straight day, the gallery – a sellout of 28,000 – arrived early and stayed late, savoring the appearance of the PGA Tour’s best. ... With 45 players bettering par and another five at par, the field posted a blistering 68.697 strokes on the par-70 (for the week) layout. It’ll be back to a par 72 for the members. The average for the week was 69.840. ... Sergio Garcia’s 3-under 67 started with an outward 29 featuring his second eagle 2 of the week on the par-5 seventh. He’ll not remember that as long as he does the snowman at the 17th. ... Next year’s tournament at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, from Sept. 17-20, two weeks later than this year because there’s no Ryder Cup to jam up the schedule.
– Tim Cronin