Leishman leads in BMW's birdieville

Writing from Lake Forest, Illinois

Friday, September 15, 2017

Marc Leishman, with 18 birdies in 36 holes, leading the BMW Championship by three strokes at 16-under 126 at the halfway mark, says of Conway Farms Golf Club, “I don’t think it’s a pushover.”

Perhaps the affable Aussie is just being coy. Or polite.

Conway Farms is a pushover. It was in 2013, when Jim Furyk scored a course-record 59 and red numbers permeated the scoreboard. It was in 2015, when Jason Day opened with a 61, finished on top at 22-under-par 262, and 58 players finished under par.

It is again this time, with Leishman racing ahead of fellow speedsters Day and Rickie Fowler, who share second place at 13-under 129. The field average for two rounds: 68.964, more than two strokes under par.

The PGA Tour’s old slogan, “These Guys Are Good,” certainly applies to this field of elite playoff contenders. But “This Course Is Soft” also works. With tees moved up on several holes, Conway was only 6,916 yards long on Friday.

In the era of Trackman, titanium and multi-piece balls, that might as well be the distance of a par-3 course. The 15th hole, a par-4 with water on the left, was arranged to be a drivable hole on Friday, 275 yards. Everyone in the field went for the green, collecting 39 birdies and an eagle – Fowler bagged it – and the hole averaged 3.478 strokes.

That setup was the exception, but long irons into greens are the exception, except on par 5s. Then, as in the dogleg-left eighth hole, 583 yards for the second round, players are tempted more often than not. Forty of the 69 players went for it in two, and seven hit the green. Only one of the 79 players three-putter, and the hole played a half-stroke (4.507) under par.

Entertaining, it is. The gallery of approximately 22,000 was whooping it up much of the time, no more so than at 1:55 p.m., when Day aced the 188-yard 17th with an into-the-wind 7-iron. BMW donated $100,000 for the Evans Scholars Foundation, and Day – sponsored by Lexus – donated back the car he won for additional scholarship money.

A challenging test of golf worthy of the old Western Open – this is No. 114 dating back to 1899 – or the penultimate playoff battle of the season? Maybe not.

Count Leishman in favor, as someone who followed up Thursday’s 62 with a 7-under 64 should be.

“I think it’s a good course in the respect if you’re hitting really good golf shots and making putts you can go really low, but if you’re off a little bit and playing from the rough, spraying it a little bit, there’s numbers to be had,” Leishman said.

“I think it punishes bad shots and if you’re hitting it good there’s a lot of opportunities to make birdies and eagles.”

Leishman added eight birdies to his original 10. Day scored five birdies, but two eagles – one on the par-5 14th to go with the ace – really catapulted him. Leishman led at daybreak, trailed Day by three strokes when the fellow Australian finished his 6-under 65. Leishman, whose tee time was about three hours later, then raced back by to move up by three himself. Saturday at 12:50 p.m., they’ll play together in the final group.

“Hopefully we can both play well and make a lot of birdies and drag each other along,” Leishman said.

Day’s in form after a time of less-than-scintillating golf. He, for one, saw it coming.

“It has been a while since I’ve been in this position,” Day admitted. “I’m actually heading in the right direction.”

Getting back to his form of 2015, when he moved into the No. 1 ranking with wins in the PGA and BMW, is another thing.

“I don’t even know if I’ll ever get back there,” Day said. “It’s just slowly building. If I can feel like the wins come easy like it was back then, that’s the main goal. Make it feel like ... you’re not really thinking about it.”

Little has come easy for Fowler, who will play with Patrick Cantlay (10-under 132 after a  6-under 65) in the next-to-last group. He still chases a major title, but he tied for fourth at Conway two years ago. Now, after a six-birdie run Thursday and a 64 added to an opening 65, and dominating the back nine, where he’s 11-under, he’s positioned himself smartly.

“It could have been a really low one,” Fowler said. “I didn’t make anything on the front nine.”

Around Conway Farms

Defending champion Dustin Johnson stumbled to a 1-over 72 and earned a 7:52 a.m. tee time. ... Louis Oosthuizen goes off as a single at 7:30 a.m. ... Feature pairings: Jason Dufner and Rory McIlroy (8:55 a.m.), Ian Poulter and Bryson DeChambeau (9:40 a.m.), Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey (10:40 a.m.), and Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth (11:30 a.m.). ... The sneaky good round of the day was Francesco Molinari’s 6-under 65 for 9-under 133, earning him a 12:30 p.m. pairing with Stewart Cink. ... Charles Howell III had the day’s high round, a 5-over 76. Of the 138 rounds so far, only 25 are over par. Nobody in the last 14 twosomes on Saturday’s tee sheet has recorded a round higher than par 71. ... Jason Day’s ace aside, Mickelson might have authored the shot of the day, a crisp wedge off an asphalt cart path on the ninth hole to set up a par 4 after hooking his tee shot some 30 yards off line and against a tent. Line-of-sight relief was in the middle of the path, and after placing his ball there, he decided to play it in Mickelsonian fashion, hitting the green and two-putting from 22 feet. ... Adding in Thursday’s estimated crowd of about 20,000, some 42,000 have attended the two tournament days, with larger galleries expected on the weekend.

– Tim Cronin

Down under back on top in BMW

Writing from Lake Forest, Illinois

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Marc Leishman had been all over the map in the first two stages of the PGA Tour’s playoffs, missing the cut in New Jersey and finishing third in Boston, after leading in the latter tournament.

So far at Conway Farms Golf Club, Leishman is trying to chart a new path to the top. He fired a 9-under-par 62 on Thursday and leads by two strokes after one round of the BMW Championship.

That’s sensational, but not unprecedented. It just so happens that two years ago, fellow Australian Jason Day opened with a 10-under 61 and went on to romp to victory at Conway.

Guess who is on Leishman’s heels entering Friday’s frolic? Exactly. Day himself, with a 7-under 64 keyed by four birdies in the final six holes. That’s a bit opposite of Leishman, who was 9-under through 15 holes and parred in.

Either way, each round worked. On a day when the majority of the 70-player field was under par and only four players were 3-over or worse on the par-71 test, the field averaged 68.855. Leishman was almost seven shots better, Day, and fellow 64 shooters Charley Hoffman and Jamie Lovemark nearly five shots better. They chewed the place up like a Vegemite sandwich.

So much, once again, for the tougher Conway Farms. Maybe it was the 20-minute fog delay in the morning, but this Tom Fazio layout rolls over like a puppy wanting its tummy rubbed when the pros show up.

Leishman, for his part, was thinking of the course record Jim Furyk established four years ago: 59.

“It entered my mind for a little bit,” Leishman admitted. “I think anyone who starts going low would get that, but we’re here to do a job and I guess that’s when I concentrate on, trying to play each hole as good as I possibly can, not the end result.”

Leishman poured in 10 birdies in his 15-hole binge, including a 21-footer on the ninth hole to cap an outward 5-under 30, and a 19-footer on the par-3 11th. Aside from a bogey on the par-3 sixth, his round was spotless.

“I’m rolling the ball real well, making all the putts you should and then a couple of longer ones a round,” said Leishman, seeking his second win of the year following victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Day, with pal Luke Reardon having replaced longtime caddie Colin Swatton on his bag, all but floated around the course. Maybe it was the new putter in his bag, not the new bag toter.

“Changing to the Ardmore has definitely helped for alignment purposes,” Day said. “I felt like I was a lot more comfortable.”

He should have been, with six birdies and an eagle – that on the par-5 eighth, where he hit his second shot to 3 feet 4 inches, a gimme in a friendly game. Sinking a 21-footer on the 10th hole didn’t hurt either.

Hoffman recorded his 64 despite a pair of bogeys, while Lovemark eagled the par-5 18th to get to 7-under. But the hottest streak of the day belonged to Rickie Fowler, whose 6-under 65 was built on six straight birdies from the 12th though the 17th holes, the last a 64-yard chip-in after his tee shot on the par-3 came up a few feet short of the putting surface. He missed a 14-foot birdie putt in his bid for a seventh straight birdie, which would have tied Hubert Green’s record from the 1985 Western Open, but he’s in good shape, tied for fifth with Keegan Bradley, Tony Finau, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and one Jordan Spieth.

The latter lad went out in 4-under 31 and seemed poised for more of the same on the inward half, but made only two more birdies in his bogey-free circuit of Conway. Spieth, Lovemark, Finau and Phil Mickelson, among those tied for 10th at 5-under 66, were the only bogey-free players among the leaders.

“I felt like I really stole a few shots out of this golf course,” Spieth said.

Mickelson, off his usual high standard much of the year, rallied to finish tied for sixth in Boston, and picked it up from there in his bid to climb up from 36th into the top 30 in the standings to make next week’s Tour Championship.

“I think going bogey-free shows that I’m much more in tune with each shot,” Mickelson said. “I only hit one or two tee shots I wasn’t happy with, and from there was able to recover.”

Mickelson only hit eight fairways, but found 14 greens in regulation and saved par on the other four holes. His approaches were on target. His two longest putts, both birdies, were from 13 and 11 feet on the 12th and 14th holes, respectively.

Finau (39th) and Lovemark (58th) are also scrapping for a top-30 standings placing. At this pace, they’ll squeeze in, but 54 holes remain.

Around Conway Farms

Danny Lee opened with a birdie and parred the second hole, but after his second shot on the third hole, he was on the turf, a bad back acting up so painfully that he was forced to withdraw. He was in the day’s last twosome with Anirban Lahiri. ... Defending champion Dustin Johnson shot even-par 71 and is tied for 49th. ... The field scoring average of 68.855 is the third-lowest in Western Open / BMW Championship history, and second-lowest of the nine rounds played at Conway Farms, behind only the 67.928-average second round two years ago, played under lift, clean and place conditions. ... Jason Day powered the day’s longest drive, a 367-yard blast on the par-5 eighth hole. It set up his tight approach and eagle putt. 

– Tim Cronin

Schumacher roars from behind to win Illinois PGA

Writing from Medinah, Illinois

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Adam Schumacher had a goal driving into Medinah Country Club on Wednesday morning.

Make the top 10 in the 96th Illinois PGA Championship and advance to next year’s National Professional Championship, the PGA’s club pro fiesta.

Schumacher did much better than that. He won the title, firing a 2-under-par 69 on Medinah’s windblown No. 1 Course to come from six strokes back and pass three players, including overnight leader Jim Billiter, to capture the Jim Kemper Cup, pocketing $11,700.

“People were saying that everyone was struggling, so I just kept grinding, getting up and down for pars when I missed the green,” Schumacher said. “And it kept paying off.”

The 26-year-old assistant at Indian Hill Club totaled 4-under 209 across the three rounds, and had a little more game than just saving par. He birdied the first and third holes to climb back into the fight while Billiter was stumbling to bogeys on the second and third, the beginning of a treacherous 6-over 42 outward nine.

Billiter would end up with an 9-over 80 for 1-over 214, tying for fifth and finishing five strokes in arrears of Schumacher, and yet was still in contention after birdies on the 13th and 14th holes, the first a self-described “miracle.”

Schumacher cooled off a bit, bogeying the seventh and 10th holes, but a binge of three birdies in five holes on the 11th, 12th and 15th helped break a tie with Dakun Chang and carried him to the title.

““I hit one on the water on 10 and knew I had to get a couple back,” Schumacher said. “On 11, I hit driver off the tee and had 86 yards to the back pin, and hit it to 10 feet. The next hole, I hit driver to 120 yards and I hit it to five feet. That got me feeling a little better.”

While he was dropping those putts, Billiter was reeling, and so was Chang, who started the day at 6-under and two strokes behind Billiter. Chang birdied the par-4 third but doubled the par-3 fifth and added a bogey on the par-3 seventh. He turned in 4-under, but Schumacher soon made up the stroke difference, and when Chang triple-bogeyed the devilish 13th, a 295-yard lure for those trying to make eagle, he was out of the chase.

Walker was still in it despite a double-bogey 7 on the ninth, and birdied the 13th to move to 1-under, where he stayed to finish second with a 73 for 1-under 212.

Billiter, quite a bit faster than Walker, tried to stay out of his way as the holes ran out.

“Brett was playing great, so you don’t want to rush him,” Billiter said. “You’re always slower when you walk. I’m an inpatient guy, so I was rushing a little bit. I didn’t want to get ahead of him, so out of respect for him I just played when it was my turn.”

Chang and Doug Bauman, the 60-year-old veteran from Biltmore, tied for third at even par 213. Bauman scored 2-over 73, including a birdie on the 13th and a tremendous par featuring a second shot through a tree on the par-4 16th.

“I knew after about seven holes that we were close, and Adam was playing real well so I knew I had to catch him,” Bauman said. “Hooray for the old guys. I’ve still got a couple years.”

Schumacher‘s final birdie, on the par-3 15th, ended its 20-foot run tumbled in on the last turn. He hit his tee shot into the water on the par-5 17th, but surrendered only one stroke, so when he parred the 18th, he had a three-stroke lead. Even if Walker had aced the par-3 18th, Schumacher would have won by a stroke. Walker parred.

“I had no idea until I signed the card that I was on top,” Schumacher said.

It’s tough to beat the view from there.

Around Medinah

On a windy day and with difficult pin placements, the final round scoring average of 77.13 for the 62 players making the cut was higher than the first round average of 76.77, when all 133 players were on the course. Only three players broke 70, with Glen View Club’s Chris Green scoring 3-under 68 and Schumacher and Flossmoor’s Simon Allen carding 69s. ... Matt Slowinski (70) was the only other player under the par of 71. ... The purse totaled $73,975. ... Defending champion Mike Small shot 3-over 74 and tied for sixth at 2-over 215. He and 10 others advance to the PNC. Along with Schumacher, Walker, Bauman, Chang and Billiter, Rich Dukelow, Kyle Bauer, Matt Slowinski, Brian Carroll and Simon Allen advanced to the national tourney.

– Tim Cronin

Redman downs Ghim to win U.S. Amateur

Sunday, August 20, 2017

The level of golf was astoundingly high, and kept getting better.

Until, for Doug Ghim of Arlington Heights, the 37th hole of the 117th United States Amateur championship match.

The first extra hole after he and Doc Redman of Raleigh, North Carolina, found themselves tied after two trips around Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Then it unraveled for Ghim, and that allowed Redman to win the title.

“It’s awesome,” Redman said. “All the hard work paid off, obviously.”

The playoff hole was Riviera’s famed 10th, a 315-yard par-4 that tempts players to go for the green. Redman, with the honor after coming from two holes down on the final two holes with a stunning eagle-birdie punch to tie the match, hammered a hybrid just short of the green. Ghim pull-hooked his tee shot well to the left, behind a few trees and with no good way to plop a second shot on the green.

His attempt ran over and fell into the dreaded right-side bunker. From there, he found the back left bunker. From there, he ended up on the green, about 25 feet from the hole, with his fourth shot.

Redman, meanwhile, had chipped to about 10 feet. He never had to putt. When Ghim rolled his bogey attempt by, he conceded, ending on a sour note a match that at times stretched credulity given the amazing collection of shots and putts both Ghim and Redman offered the gallery.

Redman’s comeback, for instance. On the par-5 17th, the 35th hole of the match, needing to win the hole and the next or see Ghim walk off with the Havemeyer Trophy, Redman ran down a curling right-to-left downhill putt of about 45 feet for an eagle to win the hole.

On Riviera’s fabled 18th, Redman drilled his approach to about 10 feet and sank that for a birdie 3 after Ghim ran a long putt from the back of the green close. And it was off to the decisive hole.

“When it did go in, it was like, ‘Wow, okay.’ ” Ghim said of Redman’s eagle from the general direction of Malibu. “That's quite a blow. I reminded myself that I was still 1-up with one to go. You know, my dad kept reminding me on the next hole that you are still winning. He might've just made the putt of his life, but you are still winning this and you have to make him go get it from you.
“I mean, I didn't hit a particularly great iron shot coming into 18, but I thought I did just that with the chip. I chipped it close enough. I felt confident enough – I had the same putt this morning for birdie.
“So I felt like I did everything that I could to force him to make incredible shots. He stepped up and did it, and kudos to him. I'm very happy for him.”
Ghim gave Redman equal measures of solid golf as well. He won the 31st and 34th holes to go 2 up in a match that was square or 1-up most of the way. (Ghim had won the first hole with a bogey, fell behind when Redman birdied the 13th, and trailed by two holes for only two holes, when Redman birdied the 20th. But Ghim won the 22nd with a par 3, and squared the match with a birdie on the 29th. Twenty-six of the first 33 holes were halved.

“It felt like every time we won a hole it was so significant because we weren't giving each other anything – nothing was easy,” Ghim said. “Every hole that we won was super hard earned. It felt weird to even have a putt to win the hole. You're like, I don't know when the next time I'm going to actually have an opportunity like this. Felt like do or die every time you had a chance.

“It's just a testament to how good we played. Both of us were really smart about how we played and definitely let ourselves with areas we could get up and down and force the other guy to execute. For most the day we both stepped up and executed. Yeah, I think that's why you saw the match the way it was.”
Ghim scored 3-under 67 in the morning and 2-under 68 in the afternoon. Redman also had a morning 67 – all these scores come with the usual match-play concessions – and a 1-under 69 for the afternoon 18, but the 3-3 finish propelled him to the 37th hole, and thus another 3, to Ghim’s double-bogey 6.

Steve Elkington, who won the 1995 PGA Championship on the George Thomas layout, called it an “incredible finish. (N)obody finishes 3, 3 at Riv to force a playoff.”

There was little surprise when both players were named to the U.S. Walker Cup team for the match at Los Angeles Country Club next month.

Ghim was the first Illinoisan to reach the final since John Dawson, who was runner-up in 1947. The last Illinois resident to win was Chick Evans in 1920. The last Illinois native to win was Robert A. Gardner, who captured his second title in 1915.

It surely didn’t hurt the Clemson sophomore that 15 days earlier, he’d battled Norman Xiong for 22 holes in the championship match of the Western Amateur, only to see Xiong win it when his tee shot and approach on the fourth extra hole were wanting.

In that battle, Redman lipped out potentially winning putts on the 18th and 20th holes, and Xiong did so on the 19th.

This time, Redman sank the big putts on the final two holes of regulation, and needed only to chip to 10 feet. The next thing in his hands wasn’t a putter. It was the Havemeyer Trophy.

– Tim Cronin

Look for a complete report on the U.S. Amateur in the September issue of Illinois Golfer.

Flavin wins Illinois Open, completes the double

Writing from Glenview, Illinois

Wednesday, August 9, 2017 

Patrick Flavin didn’t win a penny at The Glen Club on Wednesday.

He won a place in history.

Flavin added the Illinois Open title to last month’s Illinois Amateur triumph at Calumet Country Club, becoming the second player to score the double in a calendar year, following David Ogrin’s achievement in 1980.

“A little more exciting (day) than I was trying to have,” Flavin said. “But it was a blast, and so rewarding to get the win at the end.

“To win both of them is crazy.”

Flavin’s 2-over-par 74 for 13-under 202 earned him a one-stroke victory over fellow amateurs Nick Hardy and Matt Murlick and low professional Brandon Holtz, all of whom landed at 12-under 203.

A Highwood resident entering his senior year at Miami of Ohio, Flavin led by six at sunrise, held that margin through three holes, but saw the lead evaporate thereafter. When Holtz rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 15th hole, they were tied at 13-under.

But for a thinned low punch hook on the par-3 17th that floated into the hay on the left, a position from which Holtz was fortunate to make bogey, the football gear salesman from Bloomington would have been in a playoff, or perhaps won the title outright. His 10-foot birdie putt to tie Flavin on the par-5 18th just missed.

As it was, Holtz’s exploits earned him the $13,886 first prize. (It had been announced as $15,250, but was revised downward several hours after play concluded after the value of amateur prizes were factored in.)

Flavin drew on the experience gained in winning the Illinois Amateur to keep his wits about him when Holtz opened the back nine with three straight birdies to cut the lead to two strokes.

“I was so nervous,” Flavin said. “I got these chills down my spine at the state am, and today, I knew it was going to happen, and I was ready for it. To walk off that last green with pretty much everybody I know out there, that was so cool.”

By the back nine, eight of his high school buddies – a.k.a. Flavin’s Fanatics – were following him around, along with his family, plus girlfriend Emily, his caddie on Monday. His brother Conor was on the bag the last two days.

He also had a confident strategy.

“I knew with that six-shot cushion (at the start) if I could make a bunch of pars, they were going to run out of holes,” Flavin said. “I did that.”

But not easily. A double-bogey on the par-3 fourth and a bogey on the sixth – his first of the week – saw Flavin skid to 13-under. His 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 eighth was key, he thought, in keeping calm.

“It was dead-center, perfect speed,” Flavin said. “I knew when I made that, ‘I’ve got this, I can just play my game.’ Every putt was huge down the stretch, and I hit a lot of good ones.”

Flavin also made a brilliant par save on the par-3 11th from the left bunker, which was populated by ducks, to prevent a two-shot swing in the middle of Holtz’ birdie binge, but after both bogeyed the 13th, Flavin had a two-stroke lead on Holtz, defending champion Carlos Sainz Jr., and 2014 winner Brad Hopfinger. What had been expected to be a parade was suddenly a drag race.

Holtz made another push with birdies on the 14th and 15th, a 15-footer on the latter that tied him with Flavin. Both parred the 16th, and it was at this juncture that Hardy was making birdies on three of his last four holes to climb to 12-under 203 via a 4-under 68. Ahead of him, Murlick was sneaking in with a 5-under 67 for 203 as well.

But Flavin’s focus was on Holtz.

“On 17 tee, I walked by the scoreboard and saw it was just us two at the top, and that was nice to know,” Flavin said.

Flavin rolled his 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th just behind the hole, but Holtz’ bogey there gave Flavin the ability to play the par-5 18th as a three-shot hole. His 35-footer for birdie just missed.

“I thought it was in,” Flavin said.

Holtz thought his putt at the last, a 10-footer for birdie and a tie, was in as well.

“I tried to put a little pressure on him, but he played solid, making putts all over the place,” Holtz said of Flavin. “If you keep digging, you never know.”

Holtz goes back to his day job selling football gear to youth teams on Thursday. His competitors mostly go back to college.

Murlick fashioned his 67 with a holed-out bunker shot for birdie on the first hole, a holed-out fairway shot for eagle on the par-4 second, and three more birdies, offset only by a bogey at the third, a comeback that nearly shoved him into a playoff.

“I made good birdie putts on 14 and 15 that gave me some last-minute hope,” Murlick said. “I needed a couple more birdies.”

He went for the pond-guarded 18th in two from 190 yards, but ended up left of the green, and couldn’t made an up-and-down birdie.

“This was a great tournament for me,” said Murlick, heading into his sophomore year at Marquette. “Probably my best performance so far.”

Hardy recovered from a bogey on the par-5 14th with his birdie blast at the end to climb back into the scrap, parring only the 17th. He heads to the U.S. Amateur at the end of the week, hoping for a big finish to boost his Walker Cup hopes.

“I had a lot of good looks (at birdie),” Hardy said. “Looking back, I should have birdied 13, and 14, I lost two shots with a bogey. That’s a three-shot swing right there.

“I’m proud of the way I played this week, I just needed one more round. I’ve been knocking on the door for a win ever since I won (NCAA) regionals. I’m hoping U.S. Am is it.”

Sainz ended up in solo fifth in his title defense with a 3-under 69 for 11-under 204, with Hopfinger sixth via a 67 for 205. Eric Meierdierks (73) and teen Tommy Kuhl (67) tied for seventh at 8-under 207.

Around the Open

Amateur Greg Bauman had the round of the day, an 8-under 64 that vaulted him into a tie for ninth with Joo-Young Lee at 7-under 208. ... Seven of the top 12 finishers were amateurs. ... The field averaged 72.73 strokes on Wednesday. ... Thirty of the 51 players making the cut finished under par.

– Tim Cronin