McIlroy, Harman pace BMW

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Thursday, August 17, 2023

There are 65s and then there are 65s. The first round of the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club provided textbook reasons on how different one can be from another.

Brian Harman’s 5-under-par 65 on Thursday included a pair of chip-ins, seven fairways hit, and 26 putts. A bit of excitement, a lot of routine, especially for a current British Open champion.

Rory McIlroy’s 65 included one chip-in, three fairways hit, a hit-and-hope 7-iron out of heavy rough and through trees on the par-4 17th that set up the chip-in, and sundry other adventures.

Together, Harman and McIlroy share the lead at Olympia Fields through 18 holes. They managed their scores on a day when an hour-long downpour delayed play for two hours and prompted the institution of lift, clean and place in fairways. That helped Harman more than McIlroy, who visited the four-inch-plus rough with the regularity of a 20-handicapper and still played bogey-free golf.

“With the course being so soft, it’s almost an advantage to be playing out of the rough going into some of these greens because you know the ball is not going to spin,” McIlroy rationalized after hitting only three fairways. “I’m not saying I was trying to aim for the rough. I was just being super aggressive because I knew in the back of my mind I wasn’t really being penalized for it.

“I rode my luck a little bit. Going into the next three days, I’d love to hit more fairways,” McIlroy said. “The golf course is certainly not playing the way it played in 2020.”

Then, dry conditions and firm turf made for a 72-hole score of 4-under-par 276 for winner Jon Rahm and and playoff loser Dustin Johnson, while McIlroy tied for 12th at 3-over 283. Hideki Matsuyama led after one round at 3-under 67 in 2020. This year’s winner will likely be 12-under or lower.

The heart of McIlroy’s round was a mid-round string of five straight 3s, with birdies on the seventh, ninth and 10th holes, with putts of about 13, 14 and 10 feet, respectively. Those were the three longest made putts of his round. Otherwise, it was a scramble-fest. As on the 17th.

“The window (from the left rough with trees fronting him and the need to fade the shot) was okay. There were a couple branches above the window I was looking at. If it hits those, it’s just going to drop down near that left front bunker.”

Where, he figured, there was a decent chance to save par. So he rolled the dice.

“It’s only Thursday,” McIlroy said. “I’ll take it on and see what happens.”

The ball landed in the left rough, 40 feet from the hole, and from there he chipped in, a bonus birdie for his 65.

Harman, whose 2014 victory in the John Deere Classic makes him eligible for the Illinois Slam – sweeping the Deere and BMW / Western Open in a career – ran down a 42-footer for a deuce on the par-3 16th, but aside from sinking a 15-footer for birdie on the seventh hole, had a ho-hum day on the greens. He couldn’t get 2020 out of his head.

“Last time we were here, the greens were really, really fast,” Harman said. “It’s been a little bot of an adjustment trying to get a feel for them.”

That duo is a stroke ahead of Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sahith Theegala (whose 167-yard hole-out for eagle was the shot of the day), Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler and Chris Kirk, whose 4-under 66s looked quite good on a day when conditions and the ability to put the ball in one’s hand might have expected the course record of 63 to be equaled, if not surpassed. But Olympia’s North Course, as it did in 2020, stood tall. The course average of 69.720 showed as much.

“I think it’s a great layout, a great design,” said Fitzpatrick, who was 6-under across nine holes mid-round. “It’s a tough golf course. The rough is up (so) if you miss the fairway, there’s a premium on that. If the weather stays like this, windy, dry, hot I think it’ll probably get back to where it was in 2020. Hopefully it gets that way.”

Fowler threatened until plunking his tee shot in Butterfield Creek on the par-4 17th. That led to a bogey and tossing away a stretch of excellence that featured three back-nine birdies and brought him a brief share of the lead. Then he nearly sank a 58-footer for birdie at the last, but settled for par and 66.

Jon Rahm, the winner here in 2020, got to 3-under under a bogey at 17 dropped him to 2-under. He parred 18 and signed for a 68.

Around Olympia Fields

The Western Golf Association no longer announces attendance, but from the moment the spectator gates opened at 10 a.m. – three hours later than planned thanks to the storm – there was a steady stream of fans eager to see the first BMW played in the Chicago area since 2019 at Medinah Country Club. Including those in the luxury suites, the gallery was likely upwards of 30,000. … With the bad weather gone for the rest of the week, round 2 will start on time at 8:26 a.m. … High men for the day were Seamus Power and Kurt Kitayama with 6-over 76s. … Don’t expect anything from wire-service reports in Chicago-area papers. The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Southtown and Daily Herald are not represented, though the Herald has a space reserved in the media center. They’re taking the fine coverage of Associated Press reporter Doug Ferguson. There was a time when the Tribune would have a half-dozen reporters and photographers on hand and the Sun-Times and Southtown were close behind. To quote Scarlett O’Hara, the scratch player from Tara Country Club, that day is gone with the wind.

– Tim Cronin