« Marino, Sabbatini remain the leaders | Main | Jemsek chases the five-ring circus »
Thursday
Sep102009

Sabbatini, Marino move to the front

Writing from Lemont, Ill.
Thursday, September 10, 2009 – a.k.a. Arnold Palmer's 80th birthday

Memo to Greg Norman: Rory Sabbatini can play.

Sabbatini, left off the International squad for the President's Cup by Norman, this year's captain, sent a message on Thursday, firing a 5-under-par 66 to share the first round lead in the 106th Western Open, a.k.a. the BMW Championship, on Cog Hill Golf & Country Club's refurbished Dubsdread course.

The South African had struggled until recently, but shares the lead with American Steve Marino, who defied gravity on one hole by driving the ball 348 yards. They're a stroke ahead of Bo Van Pelt and Australian Marc Leishman, and two ahead of a worthy group at 3-under 68 that includes Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington, Geoff Ogilvy and defending champion Camilo Villegas.

Marino's bomb, which helped create a birdie 3 on the par-4 eighth hole, wasn't nearly as loud as the one Sabbatini tossed in Norman's direction. The Great White Shark picked Adam Scott, who has been in a year-long slump, and 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa, who won last week in Japan for the third time this season.

"If I'd been playing well, I'd have something to complain about," Sabbatini said. "We all know any player is as good as their last performance. On any given stage, Adam is definitely one of the top five players in the world. He does have a wealth of experience."

But, while Sabbatini, 11th in the President's Cup standings, and thus just out of the automatic selections, said he had no trouble with the decision made, he had plenty of trouble with the way it wasn't communicated to him. Norman never made a courtesy call to him.

"Not a single conversation, single phone call, period, for anybody," Sabbatini said. "You could say I was a little disappointed."

Sabbatini's round was so-so until the seventh hole, the dogleg right that now features a pond on the inside corner. He hammered a drive over the water, had 82 yards to the cup, dropped a sand wedge three feet from it, and made the putt for birdie. It was the first of four in nine holes and five in the final 12 holes.

"Obviously, I drove it very well, and that's key," Sabbatini said. "They've made it a lot more of a chess game around the greens. You have to put it in the right quadrant on the green."

Marino's adventure was similar. Even through seven holes, he used the big drive on the eighth hole to trigger an outburst of four birdies in five holes, then capped his round with a birdie at the last.

But a 348 yard drive?

"I have no idea what happened," said Marino, 40th on the PGA Tour in driving distance. "I was trying to clear the bunker (on the left side of the fairway), and it was way up there, probably only 10 to 15 yards short of the green."

According to the Tour's ShotLink system, Marino had 48 yards to the pin. A wedge to 10 feet and a putt later, the birdie binge began.

Meanwhile, Woods was humming along with a decent round, hitting 11 fairways and 12 greens, saving par from bunkers twice, and probably shooting as high a score as he could, all things considered.

What Woods didn't have was good fortune. On his last hole, the par-5 ninth, his pitch shot from a divot hole tracked to the pin, and hit the flagstick. It stopped 12 feet away, and he two-putted for par from there.

"I'm lucky it hit the flag," Woods said.

Luck is a relative thing. Consider Villegas, parked a 3-under with Woods and Co.

"I hit a couple really bad shots, but I hit a bunch of good ones," Villegas said. "I think it was a good day."

Speaking of luck …

"There's no doubt I got lucky today," Harrington said after his 69, achieved despite hitting only six fairways and 13 greens. "I wouldn't want to play like that for the next three days. I'd settle for scoring like that.

"You don't always get away with it."

The 18,500 fans on hand – a far better gallery than for the first round in 2007, when the championship was last played here, which bodes well for the next three days – know of what Harrington speaks.

– Tim Cronin

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>