The Sykes-Picot golf tour

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

In a time well past, George Santayana noted, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

With that, welcome to the second visit of the LIV Golf operation to the Chicago area, specifically Rich Harvest Farms. Mr. Santayana’s warning is brought forth in this circumstance not because Rich Harvest, Jerry Rich’s immaculately kept back yard, is again the stage for this three-day festival of golf and music, but thanks to the overarching agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV owner Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Any well-informed reader – we count all of you in that category – recalls the 1962 motion picture “Lawrence of Arabia.” Among the most beautifully photographed epics in cinema history, it tells, albeit Hollywood-enhanced, the tale of Thomas Edward Lawrence, a Brit who, while in the Royal Army, became infatuated with the Arab cause of self-rule over the sand swept lands south of the Ottoman Empire, of what remains today we know as Turkey.

While Lawrence was going about his business of helping the Arabs blow up bridges, attack Ottoman outposts and create other forms of mayhem, the British and French, each of whom were still of a colonial bent and were more interested in the control of lands far beyond their own, conspired to carve up the territory, drawing lines in the sand the Arabs claimed for themselves.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement, named for the diplomats who wielded the pens on the map, was drawn up in the early months of 1916, while they were also fighting the Germans in the Great War. At this distance, one would think dealing with the Kaiser’s forces would have been quite enough trouble, but no.

The carving up of the deserts on the map remained a secret until November 1917, when the news came from Moscow, fallout from the Russian Revolution. The Manchester Guardian then reported the details. When the news got back to Lawrence out in the desert, he was said to be crestfallen. For all the TNT expended and all the rousing of the natives against the infidel Ottomans, he was sold out.

Fast-forward, as they do in the movies, to the present day and Rich Harvest, where Cameron Smith seeks to both defend the title he won here last year and overhaul Talor Gooch to take the lead in the LIV money race. That, and how well Brooks Koepka is prepared for next week’s Ryder Cup, is the concern of the moment, but the looming story is what, if anything, will happen to the LIV operation once the agreement between the PIF and the PGA Tour is finalized.

Tim Monahan, the PGA Tour’s commissioner, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor with the ear of Mohammad bin Salman, the Saudi Arabian ruler and PIF chairman who isn’t above ordering the murder of journalists and others who displease his excellency, are the negotiators this time around. Monahan no doubt would think he was both Sykes and Picot should he stop to consider it. Al-Rumayyan knows his own identity. He’s the one holding all the cards.

It was PIF’s financing of LIV, which hired Greg Norman as the front man, that brought about the signing of many PGA Tour stars beginning with Phil Mickelson, and brought upheaval to the American-based circuit, as well as the European Tour. The LIV inroads proved impossible to ignore, so the PGA Tour raised purses for a series of “elevated” tournaments mimicking the LIV windfall, minus the signing bonuses. That was supposed to stem the tide of departures. It barely did, and it chewed into the Tour's rainy-day fund, so in secret, the Tour began to negotiate with PIF.

Little came of the clandestine chatter until Monahan and Al-Rumayyan huddled in Venice, Italy, in early May. That meeting advanced the idea of a partnership, and a subsequent one in San Francisco sealed the preliminary agreement, which canceled the legal action on each side – that in itself was a financial relief for the PGA Tour – and provided for talks aiming toward a final settlement that would see the Saudis throw their billions at the combined operation of the PGA Tour, European (a.k.a. DP World) Tour and the LIV, but with the PGA Tour determining the latter’s fate. The PGA Tour’s players were blindsided, but recovered sufficiently to force the expansion of the Tour’s policy board to include Tiger Woods, making it a player-majority for the first time since its formation in 1969.

Woods, a critic of LIV, has also been a critic of Norman for leading the charge.

Imagine, now, that you are Norman, whose initial attempt to start a big-name big-money tour in the 1990s was cut down by Deane Beman, the twice-removed predecessor of Monahan. Brought in by the Saudis for his expertise, if you will, the Australian about to be cut down again. His role as LIV commissioner is said to be vanishing as soon as the final deal is inked. (Recently, a British tabloid reported the LIV operation will comprise a portion of the fall season, but that report has not been confirmed on or off the record by anyone else, so for the moment, believe in it as much as you believe in the Easter Bunny.)

Norman, whose confidence meter is always pinned in the manner of Lawrence, now has in Woods a formidable opponent. Woods’ playing days are largely done, but he’s still the face of the Tour, respected by players and, scandals and injuries aside, remains a media favorite. Norman? Whereas Lawrence was in the white thobe, casting a dramatic silhouette against the desert, Norman is the guy wearing the black hat, standing over there in the rough, just out of the spotlight he helped create and now sees dimming.

This imbroglio, presuming the Saudi coffers of blood money are loosened for 2024 and beyond, will end with the Tour running men’s professional golf – or so the Tourists believe – the well-oiled sheiks funding it in exchange for a photo opportunity in the false belief it will improve their image, and Norman, so often the failed one at a championship’s conclusion, once again out of the trophy shot. There may end up being no winners beyond the bloated wallets of the players. Messrs. Skyes and Picot would understand.

Too bad David Lean is no longer with us. It would be a hell of a movie.

– Tim Cronin

Viktor is the victor

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Viktor Hovland knocked down everything but the Olympia Fields clock tower on Sunday. His 9-under par 61 on the club’s famed North Course accomplished the following:

1. It vaulted him from a tie for fifth at daybreak to first place, bringing him the title in the 120th playing of the third-oldest championship in world professional golf. His total of 17-under-par 263 earned him a two-stroke victory over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick. Rory McIlroy was fourth at 12-under 268.

2. It was a course record, relegating the 62s of Max Homa and Sam Burns on Friday and Saturday to second place in Olympia’s history book.

3. His closing 7-under 28 – eight 3s and a solitary 4 – matched the nine-hole record for the Western Open / BMW Championship.

4. It jumped him into second in the PGA Tour’s points race, just behind Scottie Scheffler, who along with Fitzpatrick led Hovland by four strokes at the turn and saw himself passed like he was on a plow horse and Hovland was in an Indy car.

5. It earned Hovland pocket money of $3.6 million.

Not a bad way for a fellow born in Norway to spend four hours in a 91-degree cauldron with a 116-degree heat index as a sweltering gallery of about 30,000 watched.

The first of those achievements is the one that will be engraved on the J.K. Wadley Trophy and in the history books. The second and third make the mind reel. Early-week rains aside, Olympia Fields still was a test. Hovland aced it.

He made everything but an ace, or a deuce, oddly enough, on Sunday. But 13 3s overall will do. For the week, he made 22 birdies, an eagle and seven bogeys. And only one 2, a birdie on the par-3 13th on Friday.

Sunday’s numbers were a story themselves.

The front nine: 443 433 534 – 33

The back nine: 333 334 333 – 28 for 61 and 263.

“To win at a place like this and amongst the best players in the world, making seven birdies the last nine holes, it’s pretty cool,” Hovland said. “I hit a lot of fairways and hit a lot of greens, and my putter just caught fire the last couple days.

“Here we are.”

Hovland, with brilliant play on the back nine, chased Scheffler and Fitzpatrick for most of the round before sinking an 8-foot, 9-inch birdie putt on the par-4 17th set up by a 157-yard 9-iron to match Scheffler at 16-under. By this point, even with birdies on the 15th and 16th, Fitzpatrick, thanks to an ill-timed bogey on the 14th, where he failed to get up-and-down from green side rough, was at 15-under. He needed to go birdie-birdie on the last two holes, and could not.

Hovland needed to do the same, and did. On the 18th, he hammered a 157-yard pitching wedge to 6 feet, 7 inches and dropped it like a cold-blooded executioner. Then came this thought:

“I felt like I could win it outright,” Hovland said. “Until then, I had no idea what was going on. I was just going to try to play well and keep making birdies.”

Scheffler, playing two groups behind Hovland, bogeyed the 17th by three-putting from 22 feet after a blistering drive of 323 yards. The old saw “drive for show, putt for dough” comes to mind.

“Obviously kind of took me out of it,” Scheffler said. “I felt I hit my line (on the left-to-right putt) and I look up and it just stayed on the right edge the whole time.

“It’s definitely frustrating.”

He also duffed a chip on the par-5 15th, though recovered for a par.

“It was just a little bump-and-run,” Scheffler said. “The second bounce was the one that really got me. I thought I was going to one-hop it onto the green but it hit pop annua and kind of stopped.

“Viktor went out and just really beat me today.”

And everyone else, including Fitzpatrick, who like Scheffler will have to console himself with $1.76 million.

“Can’t do anything about 61,” Fitzpatrick said, then grinned and said that when he grabbed him by the shouders, “I called him a little shit.”

McIlroy, playing alongside Hovland, was impressed, though less profanely.

“I was marking his card (in the scoring room) and I’m like, ‘Oh, you only made one 4 on the back nine, the rest 3s.’ So it adds up to a nice little 28 for him,” McIlroy said. “It was great to see. I sort of realized around 14, 15 something pretty special was happening.

“He just keeps his foot on the pedal.”

As champions do.

The bubble bursts for a few

In the end, not even an opening pair of 66s could save Chris Kirk from falling out of the top 30 in the PGA Tour’s points derby. He fell from 29th to 32nd, as Matt Fitzpatrick, whose tie for second in the tournament jumped him to 10th in the standings, climbed into the select 30 who play next week at East Lake.

Sahith Theegala, 31st at the start of the week, finished there thanks to bogeying the 18th hole. He was 30th until then, and that 5 moved Justin Spieth back into next week’s money race.

Tyrrell Hatton, who tied for 34th at 1-over 281 thanks to a bogey at the last, thought he was dead with that 5. He barely got his second shot out of a fairway bunker, threw his club and watched it nearly conk him in the head. But he ended up 29th in the points race and so lives to play another day.

Around Olympia Fields

Hovland trivia: His 61 was the lowest round by a PGA Tour winner this year and the lowest final round in the PGA Tour’s postseason since it began in 2007. It was his second victory of the season, following the Memorial at Muirfield Village, and his fifth on the American tour. He believes it’s his lowest score, in competition or not. “I’ve shot 61 a couple times,” he said. “Never 59 or even a 60, I think, in even a practice round. I guess we’ve still got some more work to do.” He considered his approach from the left rough on the par-4 14th, a low 8-iron from 162 yards to 19 inches, his best shot of the round. “It was just one of those days, and that was maybe the perfect shot that encapsulated the whole round.” … Hovland and McIlroy could be a tremendous Ryder Cup pairing. They had a best-ball 58 on Sunday. … Sunday’s scoring average of 68.694 strokes lowered the average for the week to 69.634 on the par-70 layout. The 18th hole was the toughest each round, while the par-5 first was the easiest for the week. 

– Tim Cronin

WGA will look “long and hard” at BMW in Chicago in 2028

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Sunday, August 20, 2023

The next four playings of the BMW Championship, a.k.a. the Western Open in dramatic lore, are scheduled to be played outside the Chicago area, the home of the Western Golf Association.

That will raise as-yet untold millions for the caddies-to-college Evans Scholars Foundation, help the WGA broaden their caddie programs to more universities, and likely held BMW sell more cars.

But it does nothing for the Chicago golf fan that has loyally supported the WGA, through the Western Open and other ways, for decades, and especially since 1962, when the then-vagabond Western Open came to Chicago to stay. Or so it seemed.

Since 2008, when it visited Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country, Mo., just outside St. Louis, the BMW has been played in the Chicago area nine times and elsewhere seven times. The upcoming run of Castle Pines in 2024, Caves Valley in 2025, Bellerive in 2026 and Liberty National in 2027 will run the ratio to nine here and 11 elsewhere. The every-other-year pledge to play in Chicagoland has vanished.

So what of 2028? What about a return to Olympia Fields, a hit with both the players and the spectators?

“It would make sense to look long and hard at Chicago in ’28,” said John Kaczkowski, the WGA’s president and CEO, Sunday at the lunch hour. “This has been great so far, fantastic. Great crowds. I haven’t heard one negative comment from players.”

Olympia members would likely welcome a return visit in five years. At least one Olympia employee thinks it’s a done deal, which is not the case.

“We haven’t had formal discussions with these guys, but I think our intent is to,” Kaczkowski said. “And we’ll have discussions with Medinah, but they’ve got to be a willing participant, Olympia, Medinah, Conway (Farms).”

Those are the three private clubs hosting the BMW since it last played at Cog Hill in 2011.

“They’ve shown they can host this tournament.”

Olympia Fields has been paid a flat site fee this year, with the WGA reaping the rewards of the ticket sales and many luxury suites. For instance, the largest-in-golf three-story structure behind the 17th tee and 18th green holds about 1,800 people, and probably returned about $1 million to the WGA after construction expenses.

Conway Farms hosted three times from 2013 to 2017, and Medinah, its No. 3 course currently behind rebuilt in advance of the 2026 Presidents Cup, hosted throngs in 2019. Cog Hill, of course, hosted the Western / BMW 20 times in 21 years from 1991 to 2011.

“With the Presidents Cup at Medinah in 2026, it just kind of made sense for us to not be in the marketplace prior to that, but I would say it’s coming back shortly thereafter,” Kaczkowski said.

But a former president of BMW North America soured on the south suburbs in general and Cog Hill in particular, as did some players after the course was remodeled by Rees Jones. Medinah probably wouldn’t want to host a tournament two years after the Presidents Cup. Conway Farms might be the best possibility outside of Olympia Fields.

“From our perspective, rotating the BMW Championship in and out of Chicago has worked tremendously well,” Kaczkowski said, recalling that the average net income for a Western or BMW was averaged $2 million in its final years there. But the excursion to Bellerive in 2008, while Cog Hill was being renovated, opened eyes. It raised over $3 million, which translated into more scholarships.

“Financially, we raise a lot more money for the Evans Scholars Foundation when we’re out of town. We build a network of supporters and potential supporters by going to places like Wilmington (Del., last year’s BMW site) and Caves Valley in Baltimore. Plus it gives a lot of visibility to the Evans Scholars Foundation.

“For those reasons, it’s worked out great. From the Chicago golf fans’ perspective, it hasn’t maybe worked out that well.”

Kaczkowski noted that the WGA’s Korn Ferry Tournament isn’t on a par with the BMW Championship, but added the prime time to add a tournament on the PGA Tour schedule in Chicago, from mid-June through mid-September, has no dates available.

“Unless you want an opposite field event versus a major, and I don’t think the fans of Chicago would respond to that,” Kaczkowski said.

• Max Homa was understandably livid after a fan barked “pull it” as he was putting on the 17th green Saturday, just after the guy had cheered fellow competitor Chris Kirk for missing his putt on the same green.

“Probably drunk, I hope for his case,” Homa said late Saturday. “Or else he’s just the biggest loser there is, but he was cheering and yelling at Chris for missing his putt short.”

Homa said the spectator and his pal evidently had betted on the outcome of the putts via one of the online betting outlets on their phone.

“He kept yelling that … one of them had $3 for me to make mine,” Homa said. “I love that people can gamble on golf, but that is the one thing I’m worried about. I don’t know what he had to lose.”

• Through three rounds, the North Course has held up despite the two inches of rain (1.71 inches Monday and .29 inches Thursday morning) prior to the first shot struck in anger. No water has been put on the course since, and the rough, at least inside the ropes, has grown to over five inches.

The three-round scoring average of 69.588 compares with the dry-condition average of 72.314 through three rounds in 2020, when the rough was similarly high, and there were no spectators to mat down the rough outside the ropes. For that matter, there were no ropes. 

– Tim Cronin

The best climb Olympia's leader board

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Saturday, August 19, 2023

After the second 62 of the week – this one by Sam Burns – after slides down the leader board by Chris Kirk and Rickie Fowler, after a barrage of birdies by the leaders, there’s a conclusion to be drawn after three rounds of the BMW Championship.

Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course brings out the best from the best.

Here are the leaders going into Sunday’s final round, where the winner will be showered with $3.6 million from the $20 million purse:

Sharing first, at 11-under 199, Matt Fitzpatrick, the Northwestern product who won the U.S. Open at The Country Club last year, and Scottie Scheffler, who won the Masters last year and is the top-ranked player in the world at the moment.

Solo third, at 10-under 200, Brian Harman, who won the British Open at Royal Liverpool last month.

Any of that trio will fit in nicely with the list of champions of the first 119 playings of the Western Open, which has been known as the BMW Championship since 2007 and, following a 46-year run of exclusive play in Chicago, has bounced around the country more often than not. You know the usual suspects: Nicklaus, Palmer, Woods, Hogan, Hagen, Snead and Nelson, both Byron and Larry. That crowd.

The 32,000 fans who poured into Olympia on Saturday were treated to fireworks from the  current trio of swells and many others. Burns’ bogey-free 62, constructed of an octet of birdies in a 14-mph south-southwest wind, tied Max Homa’s record of Friday and set the early tone, which later players tried to emulate. The next-best round was Scheffler’s 64, including an inward 4-under 31, which vaulted him into a tie for the lead.

“When you get a wind this heavy and it starts swirling, there’s a lot of holes where it can change your shot, close to 20 yards,” Scheffler said. “No. 6 comes to mind. Rickie (Fowler) and I both hit 8-irons there – I may hit mine a touch further than he hits his – and his ball flew almost to the back of the green and my ball flew pin high. There’s a big difference in the gusts.”

Fitzpatrick might have owned the lead it by himself but for a clueless marshal who nearly stepped on his ball in the five-inch rough on the 18th hole as Fitzpatrick stood there. If looks could kill, Fitzpatrick would be in the Olympia Fields pokey. The grass around the ball was ruffled, as was Fitzpatrick’s demeanor. He ended up with a bogey.

“(He) definitely brushed it because you could see the grass was completely moved,” Fitzpatrick said. “It was definitely further down than when I got there. It just came out heavy. If it sat up a little bit higher, it comes out a little better on the green – a little less stressful bogey than what I had.”

Fitzpatrick’s tremendous pitch back to the third green from near the fourth tee after a flyer out of the rough was the shot of the day, and allowed him to save par. It was a 42-yard pitch to 11 feet.

“I was just trying to get it up by the green, to be honest,” Fitzpatrick said. “It wasn’t a great place to be.”

Only a bogey on the ninth hole prevented Harman, the 2014 John Deere Classic champion, from reaching 11-under as well. He scattered four birdies across his scorecard for a 3-under 67.

“I was fortunate to get out of there with 3-under,” Harman said after hitting five fairways. “I’ve got to drive it a little bit better if I’m going to have a chance tomorrow.”

If the theory than anyone within five strokes of the leader has a chance, a dozen people could lift the J.K. Wadley Trophy come 5 p.m. Sunday. Max Homa, whose day was ruined with a triple-bogey 7 on the seventh hole, struggled to a 71 but is a 9-under 201 and two back. Victor Hovland and fan favorite Rory McIlroy are at 8-under 202. Burns’ 62 set him at 203 with Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele and Denny McCarthy, the latter on the Tour Championship qualifying bubble at nightfall. Corey Conners and Sungjae Im are at 6-under 204.

But more likely, it’ll be one of the top half-dozen players who will triumph. Not since 2000, when Robert Allenby, tied for seventh entering the final round, came through – in a playoff over Nick Price – has someone that far back climbed over the leaders to win.

Around Olympia Fields

Scheffler and Fitzpatrick are in the last pairing at 12:50 p.m., with Harman and Homa starting at 12:39 p.m. The 12:28 p.m. duo of Hovland and McIlroy is another attractive pair. Taylor Moore starts the parade at 8:20 a.m. as a single and may be finished by 11 a.m. … Fitzpatrick’s younger brother Alex is second in the Handa World Invitational on the DP World (European) Tour, but six back of the leader. … The ancillary contest each year at this tournament is who edges into the top 30 in the season standings and thus advances to East Lake for the Tour Championship, where the gross national product of Borneo awaits the winner. Right now, Denny McCarthy is 30th, and tied for seventh in the BMW. If he stays there, he’s in. If not, No. 31 Jordan Spieth or someone farther back can pass him with a good final round. Spieth is tied for 30th in the BMW, seven strokes behind McCarthy. There are more permutations to who occupies the final places than there are stars in the night sky. … Zach Johnson is also watching closely, as this week and next gives him the final evidence for his six Ryder Cup captain’s selections. … The scoring average of 69.714 on Saturday brought the three-round average of 69.587. Four birdies on the 18th holes brought the week’s total there to eight, but it’s still the hardest hole, .306 strokes over par. … Byeong Hun An’s 377-yard drive on the 17th Saturday is the longest of the week. … A well-placed source said Friday’s gallery was about 26,000 and Thursday’s a few thousand below that. Call it 22,000. Adding in Saturday’s 32,000, the three-day total is 80,000, with a day to go. Good crowds were also on hand Tuesday and Wednesday for the practice and pro-am day.

– Tim Cronin

62! Homa sets course record at Olympia Fields

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Friday, August 18, 2023

Max Homa and course records on classic American layouts seem to go together.

In 2013, then a student at California, Homa scored a record 61 on Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course during the Pacific 12 Championship. That earned him a passel of “atta boys” from his teammates.

Friday, now a seasoned professional for just short of a decade, Homa took on Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course in the second round of the BMW Championship – and won.

Speckling 10 birdies over his card like a spray-painter, and surviving two bogeys, Homa scored 8-under-par 62 to break the mark of 63 established by Vijay Singh in the second round of the 2003 U.S. Open and subsequently matched by Rickie Fowler and Thomas Detry in the 2007 and 2015 Fighting Illini Invitationals, respectively.

Homa, who hit 10 fairways and 16 greens in regulation to get to 10-under 130 and a two-stroke lead, knew what he was doing as he did it, which makes it that much more impressive.

“The (video) board said Chris Kirk is challenging the course record of 63 – I just randomly saw that, and then I had to think about it,” Homa said.

Kirk settled for 4-under 66 and is second to Homa at 8-under 132 after 36 holes. Matt Fitzpatrick and Brian Harman are tied for third at 7-under 133,

Homa, out in 3-under 32, birdied six of the holes on the inward nine. He stood 10-under after a 6-foot birdie on the par-5 15th, but bogeyed the par-3 16th after missing the green and failing to save par. But he found the 17th green even after missing the fairway and drained a 21-footer for a bounce-back birdie to a 62 a possibility again. A routine par on 18, if two-putting from 51 feet can be considered routine, made it reality.

“I felt I was able to attack all day,” Homa said. “Obviously the greens are still really soft, so being in the fairway as often as I was, I was able to be aggressive when I wanted to. If I didn’t, I could just play to the middle of the green.

“It was a major bonus to make as many putts as I did, but it was all really good. Here, when you’re in the fairway, it becomes significantly easier, more so than other golf courses.”

That’s a tribute to, among others, course architect Willie Park Jr., who designed the course a century ago, to those who have since tweaked it while retaining the original layout, and to superintendent Sam MacKenzie and his crew, who have followed the Tour’s plan of five-inch rough to the letter.

“I do think that it asks a lot,” Homa said of the North Course, noting that hitting fairways are a must. “The greens are really tricky. You have some odd putts, you need to lag putt well, and you’re going to have some awkward little ones. The greens kind of remind me a little bit like Augusta where you can have some putts on some decent slopes.

“It’s pretty thorough throughout the golf course, what it asks of you.”

It was also a tribute to Homa for staying in the moment.

“After 14 or 15, I was just thinking to myself, ‘Ive birdied most of the holes on the back nine.’ That was quite a nice feeling. Sometimes you’re just zoning, but I knew I was making a lot.

“I heard the standard bearer say something about how he’s getting tired because he had to change the numbers on our thing so much because Pat (Patrick Cantlay) was making a lot too. It was just a crazy day.”

Homa was three strokes behind overnight leaders Rory McIlory and Brian Harman at daybreak and now is three ahead of Harman and five ahead of McIlroy, who shot 68 and 70 respectively. But Kirk is closest of all after his second straight four-under 66.

Kirk said he wouldn’t mind another pair of 66s on the weekend, which is understandable, as it would put him at 16-under and probably in the winner’s circle. But even he recognized that Friday’s 66 left a lot of pizza in the box. He had nine made putts of two feet or less. Drop a few more from farther out and the course record of 63 would have been in danger three hours before Homa wiped it out.

For Kirk, Friday’s problem was the green speeds on the drying-out North course were quicker than Thursday’s, when the round was played immediately after a deluge, and he couldn’t quite adjust.

“It’s not the easiest thing in the world,” Kirk said. “Some days it just feels very natural. You don’t even have to think about how hard you’re hitting your putts – uphill, downhill – you just kind of dial it in.

“Today, I don’t think I three-putted any, but it just was not quite there. With green that have a lot of slope on them like these do, matching that live and speed is tough.”

Kirk changed from an Odyssey No. 5 to a Versa No. 7 putter going into the week, but the odyssey to perfection continues.

“Just a little something different to look at,” Kirk said.

Fitzpatrick’s 3-under 67 was marred by a bogey at the last when he had to lay up out of the heavy rough. Harman had matching 34s en route to his 68.

If not for Homa, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele would have had the rounds of the day, 5-under 65s. Rose’s was the more intriguing, opening with four straight birdies and then a 1-under roller-coaster after that, closing with six 3s in his last seven holes, and nine 3s in all.

Cantlay, the two-time defending champion, is at 4-under 136 in his quest to match Ralph Guldahl as the only three-peat winner of the Western Open, retitled the BMW in 2007. Guldahl managed the feat in 1936-37-38. That was back when a 62 was the stuff of miniature golf.

Around Olympia Fields

Unlike Thursday’s round, which was played under lift, clean and place regulations, the ball was played down on Friday. … Attendance improved and the general parking area at Lincoln Mall sold out on Friday. There were probably about 35,000 people on the grounds. … Homa’s 130 is his best start on the American tour. He’d opened with 132 three times before, most recently at Riviera this year, where he finished second. … His 62 was the 16th score of 62 or better in Western / BMW history, a table topped by Jim Furyk’s 59 at Conway Farms in 2013. … Hideki Matsuyama withdrew before the round, citing a bad back. He shot 71 on Thursday. … The field averaged 69.327 strokes. The 18th hole was the most difficult for the second day, averaging 4.367 strokes and yielding only three birdies (Harris English, Justin Rose and Taylor Moore). Si Woo Kim made the only birdie on 18 Thursday, and double-bogeyed it Friday.

– Tim Cronin