Stricker withdraws after 70, citing neck pain

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Friday, September 16, 2011

A fan or two might want their money back if they come to Cog Hill on Saturday hoping to see Steve Stricker, only to discover he withdrew after Friday’s 1-under-par 70.

Stricker, who said Wednesday of the Jemsek family, “They need to get their money back, I guess,” regarding Rees Jones’ 2008 renovation of the 1964 Dick Wilson-Joe Lee design, exited after the second round and sent word through his agent he wouldn’t be back for the weekend because of neck pain.

“After consulting with his doctor he had decided to rest at home for a few days in hopes of regaining full strength for the Tour Championship,” Jon Heaton said.

He shot 5-over 76 in the first round, but was 3-under for the second round through 16 holes. Bogeys on the 17th and 18th might have soured the outlook of the 1996 Western Open winner. In that affair, when wife Nikki was also his caddie, he was plodding along near the lead until she read him the riot act walking from the 14th tee to the green. He played the next 18 holes in 61 strokes and won the Western by eight.

By withdrawing, Stricker gets no points from this week to carry forward to the Tour Championship. The good news for him is, bow-hunting season opens tomorrow in Wisconsin.

Among the others who criticized Jones’ renovation, Phil Mickelson added a 2-over 73 to his opening 72 and is at 3-over 145 through 36 holes. An extremely reliable observer who was at the eighth tee on Thursday said Mickelson was booed by a handful of spectators when he took to the tee. Mickelson ignored them.

Bill Haas understands what Jones had in mind with his renovation of Dubsdread. After his 5-under 66, Haas said, “You have to put it in the fairway. They definitely narrow up the more agressive you get on some holes. If you’re not in the fairway, you can’t attack the green.”

Mickelson, for instance, has hit 10 of 28 fairways in two rounds, while co-leaders Mark Wilson and Justin Rose have hit 23 and 25 fairways, respectively.

Oh, baby

Webb Simpson, sitting third through 36 holes, has no trouble with Saturday’s early tee times.

“With a 7-month old baby I’m used to being up in the morning,” he quipped after his round of 3-under-par 68. “He sleeps 7 to 7, so he gets his 12 hours.”

How cold is it?

So cold – 59 degrees, with a nagging overcast, for the high for the second day running – that this is shaping up as the coldest Western Open, by any name, since the 1940 Western, played at River Oaks Country Club in Houston in the chill of February. The warmest day at that Western was a second-round high of 58 (as opposed to a 50-degree day for the first round, the coldest ever for the Western). These two days tie for the 10th coldest for the championship.

That’s one reason the crowds are down. Only about 20,000 were on hand Friday. Add in the estimated 14,000 for Thursday – the Western Golf Association doesn’t release totals – and the total of 34,000 is less than many single weekend days when Chicago’s biggest golf show was played in July.

Around Dubsdread

Defending champion Dustin Johnson isn’t defending well. He’s at 6-over 148 through 36 holes, well back in the pack. ... Saturday’s tee times start at 7:25 a.m. The fun of that is seeing whether or not Sergio Garcia, Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day, marquee players not accustomed to such an early start, have the sand rubbed out of their eyes at that hour. ... Friday’s turnaround group was Luke Donald, Brandt Snedeker and Day. Collectively 10-over on Thursday (and with Snedeker at even par), the trio posted rounds of 66, 66 and 65 on Friday, 16-under-par, for a 26-stroke swing. ... Bill Haas understands what Rees Jones had in mind with his renovation of Dubsdread. After his 5-under 66, Haas said, “You have to put it in the fairway. They definitely narrow up the more agressive you get on some holes. If you’re not in the fairway, you can’t attack the green.” Phil Mickelson, for instance, has hit 10 of 28 fairways in two rounds, while co-leaders Mark Wilson and Justin Rose have hit 23 and 25 fairways, respectively. ... In an effort to get people to hang around after Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. conclusion of play, three big-screen video boards will show college football (probably NBC’s Michigan State-Notre Dame telecast) and food and drinks will be priced two-for-one.

– Tim Cronin

A perfect day for scoring at Cog Hill

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Friday, September 16, 2011
a.k.a Rees Jones’ 70th birthday

Early returns from the second round of the 108th Western Open – the fifth edition played as the BMW Championship – show little movement on the leader board, with the exception of Spencer Levin. He’s 3-under on the day through four holes on Cog Hill's Dubsdread course, and has climbed to 1-under for the championship.

That places him seven strokes in arrears of overnight leader Justin Rose, who tees off momentarily (11:37 a.m. CT). There’s no cut, but those pesky playoff point permutations may began to percolate in players’ heads by the end of the day. The weather is docile: 55 degrees with a light east-southeast wind. The course and championship record of 62 may be in jeopardy.

We’ll update as warranted and have a full report at day’s end.
– Tim Cronin

An English Rose blooms on Dubsdread

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Thursday, September 15, 2011

Consider Justin Rose one guy who likes Dubsdread with all its bumps and rolls and humps and hollows.

Funny how positive one’s opinion can be after an 8-under-par 63, isn’t it?

Rose slapped that number on the Cog Hill scoreboard during Thursday’s opening round of the 108th Western Open, a.k.a. the BMW Championship. He did so by making 10 threes, six of them on Dubsdread’s front nine, hitting every fairway and 16 of 18 greens in regulation in the process.

“There’s no faking it out there,” Rose said. “You’ve got to go out and play good golf. You can’t really get away with too much on this golf course.”

Phil Mickelson, course renovator Rees Jones’ arch enemy, discovered that. He was 4-over after five holes thanks to a double-bogey on the par-3 second and bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes, but rallied to finish at 1-over 72. His adventure included a bogey at the last that commenced with a tee shot into the maintenance center, and would have been worse but for an approach that finished three feet from the cup.

Luke Donald and Steve Stricker, elite players with local ties who weren’t complimentary of Jones’ renovation, also didn’t fare well. Donald, the world’s top-ranked player, stumbled out of the gate, with bogeys on three of his first five holes en route to a 4-over 75, while Stricker, the Western’s winner in 1996, faded in the stretch and settled for 5-over 76.

Meanwhile, Rose played the course the way Dick Wilson, Joe Lee and Jones intended, and reaped the benefits. Likewise, Webb Simpson, the PGA Tour’s standings leader and winner twice in the last three tournaments, and another guy who swoons over Dubsdread, is second, two strokes behind Rose with Mark Wilson after a bogey-free 6-under-65. Wilson, a transplanted Wisconsinite who lives in Elmhurst and practices at Cog Hill, sank a 40-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole, his last of the day, to join Simpson.

“A third of the courses (on the PGA Tour) are like this,” Simpson said before the first shot was struck in anger. “If you play well and hit proper shots you’re going to get rewarded. If you don’t play well it’ll eat you up because it is long, it is tough and we’ll get cooler weather and maybe some wind.”

Simpson is Skillingesque in that regard. It was cool on Thursday, 59 degrees, and the wind was out of the north, an unaccustomed direction for the pros, at 14 mph when it wasn’t gusting to 21 mph. There hadn’t been a north wind in the Western in 10 years, but Simpson played Dubsdread as if it was designed for a north wind.

“You’ve got to think your way around the golf course, and think your way into the greens,” Simpson said after concluding play. “These greens are so undulating, balls can feed to the pin, but if you short-side yourself, hole, this is one of the most penalizing courses we play.”

Wilson had heard the complaints that the fairway bunkering was too severe, and didn’t argue that point, but noted this: “If guys are having a hard time with the bunkering, they’re supposed to be a hazard and they’re supposed to be difficult to get up and down. I think that’s what Rees was trying to do with the bunkering, and he accomplished that.”

Englishman Rose’s round, which he called his best of the year, was a stroke after the championship and course record, and was marred only by a bogey on the par-4 13th. It came at a perfect time, for Rose, 34th in the point standings, is currently on the outside looking in when it comes to next week’s Tour Championship.

“I’ve the mindset I’ve got nothing to lose this week,” Rose said. “I’ve got everything to gain this week. Guys who are 26th to 29th who have played well all year, they might be pretty tense this week. They feel they deserve to be in Atlanta. For me, I still feel I can make it a great year.”

K.J. Choi stands alone in fourth at 4-under 67, followed by this three-man gaggle at 68: John Senden and a pair of Western Open winners, Jim Furyk (2005) and Camilo Villegas (2008). In all, 24 players broke par and another dozen matched it, though the day’s average, 71.771, was almost a stroke above par.

Still, it’s just one day, both for the leaders – Dustin Johnson was four in arrears of Matt Kuchar after one round last year, and came on to win – and the trailers. That includes Johnson after a 5-over 76 that featured an eagle on the par-5 15th, and nine 5s on his card. Friday, expected to dawn cold and windy again, could be completely different. Or not. This is golf, after all.

– Tim Cronin

Fowler in hunt bodes well for galleries

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

They're off and running at Cog Hill

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Thursday, September 15, 2011

The sun is out, the wind is up, albeit slightly, and birdies are available for the players in the early going at the 108th Western Open – titled the BMW Championship for the fifth time – at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont.

Criticism of the course by the players aside, nobody has gotten booed yet, though Phil Mickelson, the most ardent critic of Rees Jones’ renovation of the 1964 Dick Wilson-Joe Lee design, doesn’t tee off until 11:48 a.m. So it’s early.

Chris Kirk, Justin Rose, and Zach Johnson are the early leaders at 2-under-par.

There’s a decent crowd for a cool September morning, and people are still streaming in. For what it’s worth, the BMW car-owner’s lot is almost full.

– Tim Cronin