Tuesday
Sep082009
Dubsdread: Devilish or docile?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 11:24AM
Writing from Lemont, Ill.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
So how different is devilish Dubsdread after $5.2 million in renovations?
"If it firms up, it's going to be a beast," Heath Slocum said after playing a practice round Tuesday on the jewel of Cog Hill Golf & Country Club.
That's different. In the recent past, before Rees Jones and his bulldozers played through, Dubs was sometimes a pushover for the pros, if the course was wet and the greens were holding.
Slocum's beastly notion may end up being the consensus opinion once the full field for the 106th Western Open convenes for the weekend's festivities. With the Deutsche Bank Championship ending in Norton, Mass., on Monday, few players were on hand early on Tuesday morning to give Dubsdread, revamped by architect Jones in the style of the late Dick Wilson and Joe Lee, an early whirl.
Even Tiger Woods, a notoriously early riser, skipped a morning practice round and mulled playing nine holes in the late afternoon. While Woods mulled, Steve Stricker took to the links. What he and Woods think will be revealed when they speak after their Wednesday duties in the Chick Evans Memorial Pro-Am.
Early reports found players in trouble where there had previously been easy escapes. Take Padraig Harrington, for instance. The three-time major champion found the left fairway bunker off the first tee, and needed three swipes to extricate himself from the pit.
Slocum called Dubs "kind of a new golf course. They've put in plenty of bunkers that you have to work. You're going to have to be accurate (off the tee). You get in some of these bunkers, it's going to be difficult to get the ball close and on the green in some instances.
"I'm just looking at it as a new golf course," Slocum said. "There are a few holes that visually are much the same. If you've played here in the past and had success in the past, a lot of targets are really similar."
Two years ago, Woods tore Dubsdread to shreds across 72 holes. His total of 22-under-par 262, based on rounds of 67-67-65-63 on the par-71 layout, broke the Western Open scoring record by five strokes – and runner-up Aaron Baddeley's 264 broke the old mark, established by Scott Hoch in 2001, by three. Even Stricker, who came in third, posted 266, which would have won any Western, under the BMW Championship moniker or not, by at least one stroke.
Twenty-two under par seems out of reach this week.
"I'd never put anything past anybody out here to shoot a good number," said Slocum, who won the Westchester Classic / Barclays at funky Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J. a fortnight ago. "If you play the back tees on all the par 3s and par 4s, I don't think we're reaching the number. If they move the tees around, and I think there's some chance of rain, you can still shoot some good scores out here."
The forecast is improved compared to Monday, but the course was wetter than the recent weather on Tuesday. Apparently, the PGA Tour didn't want the fairways running as fast as they might, so the sprinklers were on in the evening.
That could mean players hitting longer irons into more difficult greens, which usually means higher scores.
Hunter Mahan hopes things aren't too different.
"It's going to be longer and the greens are going to be raised up," Mahan said. "You just have to figure out the tendencies of it and hopefully you figure it out by Thursday."
Another year, another Cup
Mahan and U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover were selected for the U.S. President's Cup team by captain Fred Couples on Tuesday, while Greg Norman, captain of the everywhere-else-but-Europe squad, tabbed 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa and Adam Scott, who has dropped from third to 53rd in the world rankings in the last 12 months.
"Everybody goes through slumps for different reasons," said Norman, who has experience in that regard. "He's got the playing skills, and the team camaraderie, what he can bring to the locker room. He was really a logical choice."
The President's Cup is three weeks from now at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco.
Around Dubsdread
Worries that Phil Mickelson would withdraw subsided when he requested a late tee-time for Wednesday's Chick Evans Memorial Pro-Am. Mickelson flew home to San Diego from Boston after completing play in the Deutsche Bank Championship, and is slated to fly into Chicago on Wednesday morning. Mickelson's wife Amy continues her recovery from breast cancer; Mickelson, 12th in the point standings, mulled not playing in the third of four playoff tournaments. … While forecasts still call for thunderstorms on Saturday and a chance of rain on Sunday, the PGA Tour's forecaster says the forecast has "done a 180" since Monday, and now is much more optimistic that the championship won't be affected. Last year's Western didn't start until Friday, the leftovers of a hurricane inundating Bellerive with over three inches of rain after the Wednesday pro-am.
– Tim Cronin
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
So how different is devilish Dubsdread after $5.2 million in renovations?
"If it firms up, it's going to be a beast," Heath Slocum said after playing a practice round Tuesday on the jewel of Cog Hill Golf & Country Club.
That's different. In the recent past, before Rees Jones and his bulldozers played through, Dubs was sometimes a pushover for the pros, if the course was wet and the greens were holding.
Slocum's beastly notion may end up being the consensus opinion once the full field for the 106th Western Open convenes for the weekend's festivities. With the Deutsche Bank Championship ending in Norton, Mass., on Monday, few players were on hand early on Tuesday morning to give Dubsdread, revamped by architect Jones in the style of the late Dick Wilson and Joe Lee, an early whirl.
Even Tiger Woods, a notoriously early riser, skipped a morning practice round and mulled playing nine holes in the late afternoon. While Woods mulled, Steve Stricker took to the links. What he and Woods think will be revealed when they speak after their Wednesday duties in the Chick Evans Memorial Pro-Am.
Early reports found players in trouble where there had previously been easy escapes. Take Padraig Harrington, for instance. The three-time major champion found the left fairway bunker off the first tee, and needed three swipes to extricate himself from the pit.
Slocum called Dubs "kind of a new golf course. They've put in plenty of bunkers that you have to work. You're going to have to be accurate (off the tee). You get in some of these bunkers, it's going to be difficult to get the ball close and on the green in some instances.
"I'm just looking at it as a new golf course," Slocum said. "There are a few holes that visually are much the same. If you've played here in the past and had success in the past, a lot of targets are really similar."
Two years ago, Woods tore Dubsdread to shreds across 72 holes. His total of 22-under-par 262, based on rounds of 67-67-65-63 on the par-71 layout, broke the Western Open scoring record by five strokes – and runner-up Aaron Baddeley's 264 broke the old mark, established by Scott Hoch in 2001, by three. Even Stricker, who came in third, posted 266, which would have won any Western, under the BMW Championship moniker or not, by at least one stroke.
Twenty-two under par seems out of reach this week.
"I'd never put anything past anybody out here to shoot a good number," said Slocum, who won the Westchester Classic / Barclays at funky Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J. a fortnight ago. "If you play the back tees on all the par 3s and par 4s, I don't think we're reaching the number. If they move the tees around, and I think there's some chance of rain, you can still shoot some good scores out here."
The forecast is improved compared to Monday, but the course was wetter than the recent weather on Tuesday. Apparently, the PGA Tour didn't want the fairways running as fast as they might, so the sprinklers were on in the evening.
That could mean players hitting longer irons into more difficult greens, which usually means higher scores.
Hunter Mahan hopes things aren't too different.
"It's going to be longer and the greens are going to be raised up," Mahan said. "You just have to figure out the tendencies of it and hopefully you figure it out by Thursday."
Another year, another Cup
Mahan and U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover were selected for the U.S. President's Cup team by captain Fred Couples on Tuesday, while Greg Norman, captain of the everywhere-else-but-Europe squad, tabbed 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa and Adam Scott, who has dropped from third to 53rd in the world rankings in the last 12 months.
"Everybody goes through slumps for different reasons," said Norman, who has experience in that regard. "He's got the playing skills, and the team camaraderie, what he can bring to the locker room. He was really a logical choice."
The President's Cup is three weeks from now at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco.
Around Dubsdread
Worries that Phil Mickelson would withdraw subsided when he requested a late tee-time for Wednesday's Chick Evans Memorial Pro-Am. Mickelson flew home to San Diego from Boston after completing play in the Deutsche Bank Championship, and is slated to fly into Chicago on Wednesday morning. Mickelson's wife Amy continues her recovery from breast cancer; Mickelson, 12th in the point standings, mulled not playing in the third of four playoff tournaments. … While forecasts still call for thunderstorms on Saturday and a chance of rain on Sunday, the PGA Tour's forecaster says the forecast has "done a 180" since Monday, and now is much more optimistic that the championship won't be affected. Last year's Western didn't start until Friday, the leftovers of a hurricane inundating Bellerive with over three inches of rain after the Wednesday pro-am.
– Tim Cronin
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