Remembering Reid Hanley

Writing from Chicago
Thursday, October 14, 2010

I don't know anybody who ever had a bad word to say about Reid Hanley. Had one ever been uttered, I would have questioned that person's judgment. He was a great competitor on the golf course, worked hard to scoop those of us who also covered golf in Chicago, and a friend to all. He'd beat you like a pinata on the course or on a story, and it was impossible to get mad at him.

Like any good Cubs fan, he was an incurable optimist. Even last month at Cog Hill, carrying a portable oxygen tank around, he sounded so optimistic about his upcoming treatment, he made his ailment seem no worse than a case of the sniffles.

That's what all of us who knew him have now. Reid died at about 2 a.m. Thursday of complications from the lung cancer he was fighting. He had just been transferred from the University of Chicago Hospitals to a hospice facility in Park Ridge. The trip proved to be too much for him. He was only 64.

When interviewing a player, Reid would invariably end it by saying, "Play hard." Reid played hard on the course, lived life the right way off the course, and had a legion of admirers. I don't want to imagine the golf scene in Chicago without him. His cheerful nature is irreplacable.

I remember him being angry only once. Reid loved pizza. I love pizza. After the second round of the 1991 Western Open – the first one held at Cog Hill – we were both hungry for pizza. We ordered one from a place in Lemont, and it was delivered to the press tent at Cog Hill. Reid and I were chowing down while writing, when out of nowhere comes this big paw sliding under a big slice. The paw belonged to Jay Mariotti, then of the Sun-Times. He grabbed the slice, then looked at us and said, "Oh, is this yours?" Reid said, "Well, we paid for it." He could have brained Mariotti.

Reid requested no wake or funeral, but there will be a private memorial in his native Iowa at a later date. Meanwhile, next time you play golf or have pizza, think of Reid Hanley, who loved life, made no enemies, and had none – unless pizza was involved.

Cheers, old pal. You don't know how much we all loved you.

– Tim Cronin

Steady Johnson dusts Western field, claims title

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Sunday, September 12, 2010

There was no swing meltdown for Dustin Johnson this time. No calamity involving the rules, either.

There was just solid golf, the caliber of golf that champions produce under pressure.

Johnson did that Sunday on Cog Hill Golf & Country Club’s testing Dubsdread course, his 2-under-par 69 just enough to capture the 107th Western Open – played for the fourth time under the moniker of the BMW Championship – by a solitary stroke over England’s Paul Casey.

In so doing, Johnson accomplished a lot.

First, he answered the critics who had said he’d do something to ruin another chance at victory, either in how he played, as at the U.S. Open, or via something even more bizarre than the grounded club in the bunkers, as at the PGA Championship.

Not so. He produced 12 pars and two birdies, including one at the penultimate hole, in his last 14 holes.

Second, he made recent swing tweaks authored by Butch Harmon pay off under pressure. That big drive over the trees on the par 4 17th hole, followed by a 95-yard wedge with a 54-degree lob wedge? That’s new, especially the wedge.

“I talked to Butch after, and he said, ‘That’s what we’ve been working on. Everything was in sync, the arms and body were working together,’ ” Johnson, a big hitter even when he was little, relayed.

Third, he proved something to himself. It’s not as if the 26-year-old South Carolina native hasn’t won. There was a win at Turning Stone two years ago, and back-to-back wins in the old Crosby Clambake the last two winters. But the big one has been getting away from him. Aside from the final-group experiences at the National Open and PGA, he was in the last twosome at The Barclays, which started this PGA Tour playoff shooting match, a fortnight back. He shot a respectable 72, but the field lapped him and he tied for ninth.

This time, he stuck with it, tying 54-hole leader Ryan Moore with a birdie on the first hole, then playing steady while Casey fired three birdies across six holes to lead by three strokes, then fell back with three bogeys in succession.

“To finally get it done, especially after the things I’ve gone through this summer, to finally get it done on Sunday, it can’t feel any better,” Johnson said. “I played really good golf today. I didn’t make as many birdies as I would have liked to, but I made just enough.

“I felt I really stayed in the moment. I did a really good job of being patient.”

As he had at Whistling Straits, only to be tripped up, and left out of the playoff, by the bunker that he didn’t know was a bunker on the 72nd hole.

But remember the Open at Pebble Beach, where Johnson led by three on the first tee and was off NBC’s radar only a few holes later? Remember the haste with which Johnson played the chili dip lob shot, and then the next one, and the tee shot on the following hole that was pulled farther left than Che Guevera?

So did he.

“Pebble taught me a lot,” Johnson said. “I kind of maybe got a little fast. Everything starts moving fast in a situation like that. So I really learned to be patient and not rush things. I didn’t rush any shot today.

“I took my time, took practice swings. A few times, I felt myself trying to rush a little bit, but I would stop, put my club back in the back and come back and go through my routine. Just take things slow.”

Not slow as in slow play, but prudently. That led to solid shot followed by solid shot, especially on the last six holes, when he hit every green in regulation, and four of the five available fairways. He was aggressive when the cup placement allowed it – as on the 17th, where that 95-yard wedge was stuck 2 1/2 feet from the hole – and prudent when he had to be.

And prudence didn’t mean he didn’t bash the ball. Johnson was first this week in driving distance, counting all par-4 and par-5 holes. Of the 14 driving holes, Johnson hammered drives of over 300 yards on nine of them, and a 299-yarder on the into-the-wind eighth.

And drive for show, putt for dough? Johnson did the latter as well. He had 27 putts in the final round, fewer than any other contender, and 110 for the week, which tied for ninth in the field of 70.

“I think I’m getting a lot more consistent with my ball-striking day-in and day-out, and my short game is pretty good,” Johnson said. “This week is the first week I’ve really felt like my putter has come back.

“Even though I didn’t make a lot of putts today, I made the short ones, and all my putts were on line.”

Two birdie putts were from short range, 5 feet on the par 4 eighth after a saucy wedge over the guarding bunker, and the aforementioned bird from half that distance on the 17th. But he sank a 26-footer for a bird on the par-4 first, tying Moore. Having only one three-putt green all week, the par-5 11th in the second round, also helped.

With all that, Johnson could never afford to let up. Moore, who parred the first 10 holes, fought back after a double-bogey on the par-5 11th, set up by a wayward drive to the right hitting a spectator in the shoulder and bouncing out of bounds. He birdied the par-3 14th from 5 feet to get within a stroke of Johnson, but by that time, Casey had reared up and taken over the lead.

That wasn’t the biggest surprise in the world. Casey entered the Western No. 8 in the world rankings, and with something to prove after European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie had passed him over.

That decision looked odd at the time, and appears even more foolish now. Casey went through the front nine in 3-under 32, grabbing the lead with a 19-foot birdie on the eighth hole. Birds on the 11th and 12th holes moved him to 11-under and a three-stroke lead over Moore and Johnston. If Montgomerie was watching on the telly across the pond, he had to be thinking about throwing the remote at the screen.

Then Casey displayed his occasional ability to self-immolate, posting bogeys on the next three holes, including the par-5 15th, when he pulled his drive hard left into the Greg Norman Commemorative Forest and had to play hard to come away with a 6. That dropped him into a tie with Johnson, which Johnson broke with his birdie on the 17th.

“I tried to make some birdies and fell short,” Casey admitted. “I didn’t see (Johnson’s) shot into 17, but congratulations to him.”

It was 4:45 p.m. when Johnson’s putt dropped. Johnson was able to survive the next 24 minutes, two-putting from 40 feet at the last to grab the championship, the J.K. Wadley Trophy, and the oversized – in every way – check for $1.35 million.

“It doesn’t get any better than that, especially for the confidence,” Johnson said. “I mean, I always have confidence. After a few unfortunate situations I’ve had, it definitely feels good, gives me a lot of confidence going into (the Tour Championship) and the rest of the year.”

And that confidence means stepping up and hitting big drives and precision approaches on the 17th and 18th holes, with Casey’s 8-under total of 276 posted and no room to spare.

“You’ve got to sack up and hit a good shot,” Johnson said.

Or four. As a champion does.

– Tim Cronin

Moore not merrier, but not peeved, either

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Sunday, September 12, 2010

Ryan Moore managed not to be disappointed by not winning the Western Open on Sunday.

The consolation prize – a place in the 30-man Tour Championship – was balm for the wound of not holding on to the lead he had as Sunday dawned. He didn’t lock it down until scrambling for bogey on the final hole. After an afternoon where he was as high as 19th in the standings and as low as 33rd, he needed no worse than a 5, and a 5 he managed.

“I had no idea,” Moore said. “I knew I wanted to get that up-and-down, that’s all I knew. I know there are people out there calculating it, but I tried not to worry about it. I was trying to give myself a putt for par.”

That was no bargain after airmailing his approach shot into the gallery behind the green. From there, he chipped to the left fringe, and two-putted from there for the bogey. Next stop, East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

“At the beginning of the year, you want to be there,” Moore said. “I played well enough at the right time of year to get into it, so I’m excited to go.”

Moore scored 1-over 73 for a total of 6-under 278, finishing three strokes behind winner Dustin Johnson, in a tie for third with K.J. Choi, Kevin Na and Matt Kuchar.

The crazy numbers game

If the FedEx Cup format is sometimes confusing, the final day of the Western, which brings the unkind cut to the low 30 in the standings, is even more confusing.

Things change with every hole. Take Ryan Moore. He was in at the start of the day, then out, then in, then out, then in, and then needed to make par on the 18th hole to lock himself in.

Until Matt Kuchar bogeyed the 18th right in front of him, that is. Then Moore needed only the bogey described above.

“It always kills you to bogey the last hole,” Moore said.

Little did he know that but for Kuchar’s bogey, it would have been a real killer. Sounds like someone is owed dinner at an Atlanta steakhouse in a couple of weeks.

The final standings saw Ian Poulter out and Wheaton native Kevin Streelman in, the former dramatically, the latter carefully.

Poulter would have made it – knocking out No. 30 Bo Van Pelt – if he’d played better than 4-over golf on the back nine. He bogeyed the 14th and 17 holes, and birdied the 15th, but the real killer was his triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 11th, matching the highest score on any hole this week. A sliced drive out of bounds started the chain of errors, and four shots to negotiate the last 131 yards ended it – and, realistically, his chance to advance.

Streelman, conversely, was Mr. Cool. He made one birdie, on the par-4 seventh, and parred the other 17 holes to smooth his way into 29th place.

“I wasn’t watching (the leaderboard),” Streelman said before catching a plane for Phoenix, where he now lives. “I pretty much knew what I had to do. I had to play a clean round, no bogeys, which I was able to do, but I was hoping to make more birdies.”

He had a 3-footer for par on the 18th, and made it. Even without looking at the big board, “I knew it was important,” he said. “Good thing I buried it.”

The pairing du jour

Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods played golf on Sunday.

No big deal there, really.

Together.

Big deal there. Really.

It was only the 25th time they’ve been paired together, and their 10:56 a.m. conjoining coaxed the largest gallery of the week, perhaps 32,500, to Dubsdread. Many of them were around the first hole when their game – which some of the crowd treated like a heavyweight fight – began.

“Go get ‘em, Phil” and “Go Tiger” shouts were heard when they walked onto the range, the putting green, and the first tee. And, for that matter, for the first 200 yards of their walk down the first fairway. It was the most demonstrative gallery ever heard at Cog Hill, though never veered toward the untoward.

Instead, fans rooted for their favorite, with a slight aural edge to Mickelson.

Philly Mick also had the edge on the scorecard, scoring 4-under 67, his best final round ever on Dubsdread, to beat Woods by three strokes and, oh by the way, finish at 4-under-par 280, tied for eighth with Steve Stricker and Charlie Wi.

“He certainly brings out the best in me and, and I enjoy being paired with him,” Mickelson said of his rival. “I wish the PGA Tour would do it more often, on Thursday and Friday.”

Mickelson’s head-to-head win gives him a 6-1-1 record against Woods in their last eight meetings, and knots the lifetime record at 11-11-4.

Mickelson heads to the Tour Championship. Woods does not, the first time since he began his professional career in the late summer of 1996 that he’s not eligible to play in a PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament. (He played his first tournaments on sponsor invitations, soon won, and has been eligible to play in everything since.)

“That’s just the way it is,” Woods said. “I didn’t play in the beginning of the year and didn’t play well in the middle of the year. I’m starting to play well now. I’m headed in the right direction.”

He’s also headed home for two weeks. That wasn’t the idea. Woods improved from 51st to 42nd in the PGA Tour standings, and needed to get into the 30th to play at East Lake.

“I was looking forward to only getting a one-week break, but now I’ve got two,” Woods said. “It’ll be good because I can practice at home with Sean (Foley) in peace and away from everybody, put some work in, and also work on my short game and my putting.”

Woods’ next assignment is the Ryder Cup, where he could be paired with anybody but Mickelson, with whom he had an ill-fated alternate shot pairing at Oakland Hills in 2004.

Around Dubsdread

Dustin Johnson won the Western in his second attempt. He tied for 30th last year, backpedaling after an opening 69. ... His winning score of 275 is the highest winning score in the Western since Tiger Woods’ 275, then 13-under-par, in 1997, the first of his five victories. The 9-under score in relation to par is the highest since Billy Mayfair won the 1995 Western with a total of 279 strokes. Par was changed from 72 to 71 on Dubsdread in 2004. ... Only 20 players broke par, with three more at even par 71. ... The final round average was 72.300, while the cumulative average of 71.850 was the highest since 2004. ... Next year’s Western is slated for Cog Hill, but the date hasn’t been set. It may move a week later in the calendar, to the second full week of September, which would move it from the first weekend of the NFL and away from the Labor Day holiday, but likely bring it head-to-head with another attention-getting sports event, the first race of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship. ... Sunday’s gallery brought the four-day total to an estimated 85,500, the lowest in the Cog Hill era, and the smallest for a Western since the Western Golf Association announced 80,700 spectators for the 1979 championship, held July 3-6 at Butler National Golf Club.
– Tim Cronin

Casey aims for the fences – and Monty

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Sunday, September 12, 2010

Paul Casey is trying to make a statement, with one man’s ears the target.

The message: “Hello, Monty, remember me, the eighth-ranked player in the world?”

Snubbed by Colin Montgomerie for the European Ryder Cup team, Casey took the lead in the 107th Western Open – a.k.a. the BMW Championship – with birdies in the sixth and eighth holes in the final round.

He stood 9-under with nine holes to play, with Ryan Moore and Dustin Johnson are 8-under through nine holes.

Moore’s made nothing but pars, while Johnson bogeyed the par-4 fifth but recovered with a birdie on the par-4 eighth.

Phil Mickelson has a four-stroke lead on Tiger Woods with two holes remaining. Mickelson, No. 2 on the planet, was six strokes ahead of No. 1 Woods after 11 holes. They were tied at the beginning of their man-to-man match.

The scrap to make the top 30 in PGA Tour points, and thus the Tour Championship, is the sub-plot of the day. Rickie Fowler was ranked 30th after finishing with a bogey, but may not stay there, based on what contenders Nick Watney – who double-bogeyed the 18th – and others do.

A full report, including who made it to the Tour Championship, and who didn’t, at the end of the round.

– Tim Cronin

Johnson ties Moore at the top

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Sunday, September 12, 2010

The battle for the championship of the 107th Western Open, which may or may not get the winner the keys to a BMW, is on, and Dustin Johnson has tied Ryan Moore for the lead at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club.

Johnson’s birdie on the first hole, a 25-foot putt after an approach from 167 yards, moved him to 8-under-par, matching Moore. As of 1:15 p.m., Matt Kuchar and Paul Casey stand 7-under, while Charlie Wi and Ian Poulter are 6-under.

Of those farther back in the field, only Adam Scott has made a significant move, going out in 3-under 32 to stand 4-under with eight holes to play.

The marquee pairing of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson drew the expected cast of thousands, but only Mickelson is playing well. He went out in 2-under 33. Woods opened with 2-over 37 and is light years from gaining the spot in the Tour Championship he came to Cog Hill to grab.

Next update when the leaders make the turn. A full report following the presentation of the J.K. Wadley Trophy.

– Tim Cronin