Matsuyama's 67 paces field at Olympia Fields

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Golf tournaments have a way of reminding one of previous tournaments. It happens at the Masters all the time. It happens in the other majors more often than not.

It happened Thursday on several levels at Olympia Fields Country Club, where the first round of the 117th Western Open / BMW Championship was played before an audience of a few hundred volunteers, TV personnel and a handful of others.

The best reminder of the past was almost the last stroke of the day. It came from the magic wand of Hideki Matsuyama, whose 66-foot, 10-inch putt on his final green of the day found the hole, earning him the lead with a 3-under-par 67. It triggered memories because it was on the same green, albeit in the opposite direction, as Jerry Barber’s 60-foot putt that earned him a spot in a playoff for the 1961 PGA Championship against Don January.

Barber’s putt was to the north. Matsuyama’s was to the south. Each had to deal with the ridge that runs through the ninth green – it was used as the 18th hole in the 1961 PGA – and each succeeded. Barber won the title in the playoff, the only native Illinoisan to win a major in his home state. Matsuyama, a stroke ahead of Tyler Duncan and two ahead of Mackenzie Hughes, could match Barber’s feat with three more solid rounds.

The next reminder was in the atmosphere. This was likely the smallest gallery since before 1920, when, thanks to Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones, attending golf tournaments became popular.

There might have been 1,000 people on the grounds at any moment, but certainly not many more. Matsuyama, whose 13 greens hit in regulation was exceeded only by the 15 found by Matthew Fitzpatrick, was watched by a handful of people, Tiger Woods, usually the draw for any gallery, by not many more. At one point, NBC / Golf Channel cameras caught a glimpse of perhaps two dozen people congregated around the third and fifth greens, which are only a few yards apart. That, except for a few people watching from the other side of the fence on Vollmer Road, was the extent of the gallery.

“I’m not sure what I had going today, but that last putt, that long putt that went in, very happy with that one,” Matsuyama said.

The third reminder was in the scoring. Even with a stern par of 70, a 3-under 67 just doesn’t lead pro tournaments in this era of bomb and blast. It did on Thursday because the wind blew – out of the southwest at 15 mph with gusts to 22 mph – and because the greens were nearly as hard as car hoods. That meant a properly-struck shot out of the fairway would be rewarded but a shot out of the rough, thick and up to five inches in some places, would be punished and bounce off the putting surface.

“You’ve got to just hit the fairways, hit the greens, otherwise it’s tricky,” said Alex Noren after his 2-over 72. “But I’m all for it.”

An interesting day thus created an unusual leader board. It you had Harry Higgs as one of the 10 players tied for fourth at even-par 70 – along with former champions Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel, along with Fitzpatrick, hats off to you.

“I think everyone found it a grind out there,” McIlroy said. “That felt like Saturday at the U.S. Open out there rather than Thursday at a PGA Tour event.”

If you thought world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, a two-time winner of this fandango, would be tied for 14th at 1-over 71, and joined by Tom Hoge and Joel Dahmen, congratulations.

“It’s a fair test of golf, but it’s just hard,” Johnson said. “If you want a golf course to play tough, grow a little rough, make it firm and fast. If I can get my bad round out of the way today and play three solid ones the next couple days, I’ll be all right.”

Bryson DeChambeau, who won the U.S. Amateur on the North Course in 2015, opened with a 3-over 73. So did Tiger Woods, who has won everywhere but Olympia Fields. World No. 2 Jon Rahm opened with a 75. Recent PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa posted a 76, along with former winner Jason Day and Winfield’s own Kevin Streelman. Marc Leishman, who like Day won at Conway Farms, brought up the rear with an 80.

Playing on rather than protesting

Wednesday’s boycott of the NBA playoffs and WNBA games to protest racial injustice, in this case triggered by the shooting in Kenosha, Wis., spread Thursday to include the NHL, MLS and more baseball games, but the PGA Tour played on.

“It didn’t really cross my mind,” said Tony Finau of not playing. “But I understood the magnitude of what the NBA was doing and what they were boycotting for, and I know the PGA Tour is in full support of that. It’s a conversation that’s uncomfortable, sensitive for our country, but if we’re not willing to have those, I don’t think we can move forward as a country.”

Said Tiger Woods, “We’re all on board, on the same page.”

Cameron Champ, who like Finau and Woods is biracial, wore one black shoe and one white shoe to display his feelings.

“It’s part of me, it’s part of my family,” Champ said. “I think it’s a good thing we’re all talking about it, because again, it’s what needs to happen for change to happen.”

Around Olympia

With spectators barred, there were fewer structures built on the course than any Western Open since the 1970s. Only TV towers dotted the landscape. There was nary a hospitality tent. … The course averaged 72.826 strokes, the first over-par round in the BMW since 2014 at Cherry Hills in Denver. At 2.826 strokes over par, it’s the highest single round in relation to par since the playoff era began in 2007. … DeChambeau bombed a 401-yard drive on the 17th hole, the longest of the day, and also hit the longest drive on the fourth, fifth and 11th holes. Justin Thomas hammered his drive on the par-5 first 389 yards.

– Tim Cronin