Thursday
Sep152011
Fowler in hunt bodes well for galleries
Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 12:36PM
Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Hey, Rickie! You, with the oversized hat on your noggin! How’d you like Dubsdread on Thursday?
“Actually, I’m liking it more and more,” Rickie Fowler said after his 2-under-par 69, which placed him six strokes behind first round leader Justin Rose. “Last year it was tough to like it. (I was) not playing well, and the condition of the course wasn’t great. This year it’s in great shape, and it’s a fun course to play.
“You’ve definitely got to be on top of your game, you’ve got to drive the ball well and have good distance control. I feel like it’s going to fit my game real well.”
Fowler, probably the best player on the PGA Tour yet to win a tournament, would be a perfect winner if this is Cog Hill’s final Western Open, BMW Championship, or whatever the old tournament might be called decades hence. He’s on the verge of becoming the new face of golf, especially with the old face – can Tiger Woods be called old at 35? – essentially in limbo.
Having Fowler in the chase might also goose the galleries, especially on the weekend. He’s personable, telegenic, and attracts the female of the species.
Teed off
One of the many arguments Phil Mickelson made against Dubsdread on Wednesday came to pass on Thursday, though it has everything to do with how the course is set up, and little to do with the architecture.
The four par 3s played at 214, 187, 183 and 228 yards, with the middle two holes, the sixth and 12th, playing into the stiff north wind. The difference was 45 yards, a much wider range than how the quartet of holes were set up for last year’s first round (217, 216, 228, 204, a 24-yard swing).
The PGA Tour, in the person of Jon Brendle, who has worked the tournament for years, sets the tee and cup placements. Mickelson might want to ask him, rather than course renovator Rees Jones, why the distances are sometimes similar, especially when there are multiple tees on every hole.
The second can play as short as 141 yards. The sixth can play as short as 117, and has a 137-yard tee that would be perfect for a hole cut just in front of the yawning bunker on the front left.
The 12th hole, downhill with a jungle behind it, can be as long as 228 yards, and as short as 151. And the 14th, where architect Rees Jones eliminated the left half of the green but kept the six bunkers, played about as long as it can Thursday. But if the original tee from 1964 is used, as short as 108, and then uphill rather than downhill.
Last year’s second round had a 52-yard difference between the shortest (172-yard second) and longest (224-yard 14th) par 3. It was a 29-yard swing in the third round, and 43 yards in the final round.
Overall, the course played to 7,369 yards on Thursday, 94 yards shorter than it did in last year’s opening round.
Around Dubsdread
Justin Rose’s 63 was the 16th such score in Western Open history, and the ninth at Cog Hill. Nick Price (2000) and Tiger Woods (2003) had previously scored 63 in the first round. Of the two 62s in the record book, Jim Furyk’s record-setter came at Bellerive Country Club in 2008, and Tiger Woods matched it in the third tournament round on the renovated Dubsdread in 2009. ... Brendan Steele’s double-bogey 7 on the par-5 11th was the high score on any hole. ... The gallery was around 14,000, which wasn’t great by traditional standards, but with a cool morning and the Western played a week later than last year, might be as good as could be expected for a Thursday. With the tee times condensed into one late-morning flight, everyone who did arrive arrived early and hung around, or so it seemed. ... The course average of 71.771 was a hair higher than last year’s 71,629 for the first round. As usual, the par-5 15th was the easiest, at 4.514, which gave television a look at eagle attempts and more than a few birdies. The 4.329 average on the fifth hole, a par-4 these days, made that hole the toughest against par. ... Friday’s tee times again run from 10:20 a.m. to 12:21 p.m.
– Tim Cronin
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Hey, Rickie! You, with the oversized hat on your noggin! How’d you like Dubsdread on Thursday?
“Actually, I’m liking it more and more,” Rickie Fowler said after his 2-under-par 69, which placed him six strokes behind first round leader Justin Rose. “Last year it was tough to like it. (I was) not playing well, and the condition of the course wasn’t great. This year it’s in great shape, and it’s a fun course to play.
“You’ve definitely got to be on top of your game, you’ve got to drive the ball well and have good distance control. I feel like it’s going to fit my game real well.”
Fowler, probably the best player on the PGA Tour yet to win a tournament, would be a perfect winner if this is Cog Hill’s final Western Open, BMW Championship, or whatever the old tournament might be called decades hence. He’s on the verge of becoming the new face of golf, especially with the old face – can Tiger Woods be called old at 35? – essentially in limbo.
Having Fowler in the chase might also goose the galleries, especially on the weekend. He’s personable, telegenic, and attracts the female of the species.
Teed off
One of the many arguments Phil Mickelson made against Dubsdread on Wednesday came to pass on Thursday, though it has everything to do with how the course is set up, and little to do with the architecture.
The four par 3s played at 214, 187, 183 and 228 yards, with the middle two holes, the sixth and 12th, playing into the stiff north wind. The difference was 45 yards, a much wider range than how the quartet of holes were set up for last year’s first round (217, 216, 228, 204, a 24-yard swing).
The PGA Tour, in the person of Jon Brendle, who has worked the tournament for years, sets the tee and cup placements. Mickelson might want to ask him, rather than course renovator Rees Jones, why the distances are sometimes similar, especially when there are multiple tees on every hole.
The second can play as short as 141 yards. The sixth can play as short as 117, and has a 137-yard tee that would be perfect for a hole cut just in front of the yawning bunker on the front left.
The 12th hole, downhill with a jungle behind it, can be as long as 228 yards, and as short as 151. And the 14th, where architect Rees Jones eliminated the left half of the green but kept the six bunkers, played about as long as it can Thursday. But if the original tee from 1964 is used, as short as 108, and then uphill rather than downhill.
Last year’s second round had a 52-yard difference between the shortest (172-yard second) and longest (224-yard 14th) par 3. It was a 29-yard swing in the third round, and 43 yards in the final round.
Overall, the course played to 7,369 yards on Thursday, 94 yards shorter than it did in last year’s opening round.
Around Dubsdread
Justin Rose’s 63 was the 16th such score in Western Open history, and the ninth at Cog Hill. Nick Price (2000) and Tiger Woods (2003) had previously scored 63 in the first round. Of the two 62s in the record book, Jim Furyk’s record-setter came at Bellerive Country Club in 2008, and Tiger Woods matched it in the third tournament round on the renovated Dubsdread in 2009. ... Brendan Steele’s double-bogey 7 on the par-5 11th was the high score on any hole. ... The gallery was around 14,000, which wasn’t great by traditional standards, but with a cool morning and the Western played a week later than last year, might be as good as could be expected for a Thursday. With the tee times condensed into one late-morning flight, everyone who did arrive arrived early and hung around, or so it seemed. ... The course average of 71.771 was a hair higher than last year’s 71,629 for the first round. As usual, the par-5 15th was the easiest, at 4.514, which gave television a look at eagle attempts and more than a few birdies. The 4.329 average on the fifth hole, a par-4 these days, made that hole the toughest against par. ... Friday’s tee times again run from 10:20 a.m. to 12:21 p.m.
– Tim Cronin
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