Thursday
Sep092010
Kuchar posts sick 64, leads morning wave
Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 7:52AM
Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Beware the ill athlete.
That’s something of a canard, though it applied when Michael Jordan had the flu.
Thursday, it applied to Matt Kuchar. The always-smiling winner of the 1997 U.S. Amateur on Cog Hill Golf & Country Club’s Dubsdread course was fighting a sore throat in temperatures that didn’t get out of the 60s while he played.
Kuchar didn’t get out of the 60s either. He fired a 7-under-par 64 and holds the lead in the 107th Western Open – the persnickety carmaker would prefer you to know it as the BMW Championship – with the morning groups finished.
The keys to Kuchar’s round were an eagle 3 at the par-5 15th, which led him to a 5-under 31 on the back nine, his opening nine, and a birdie at the par-5 ninth, his last hole, following a bogey on the par-4 eighth, his only miscue of the day. Kuchar sank a 17-footer for the birdie on the ninth, but as impressive was his 246 yard approach shot to 10 feet on the 15th to set up the eagle.
“I was driving it well; I was actually doing everything well,” Kuchar said. “It felt very good.”
Better than his throat, because that was about all he said.
Kuchar has a one-stroke lead on Ryan Moore, whose 6-under 65 was as flashy as the red-striped tie he wore during his round. Moore, who birdied seven of the last eight holes to play the back nine in 6-under 29, set a record for the back nine of any Western, to say nothing of Dubsdread.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting to do that,” Moore said, explaining that holing out for birdie from a greenside bunker on the par-5 11th brought him back to even par. Moore had meandered between level par and 1-over on the front nine.
Then he went crazy, holing everything he looked at on the greens.
“I had no idea,” Moore said. “I wasn’t paying attention at all. I was playing with Marc Leishman, and we were just chatting along.”
Moore decided to wear the cravat, which he bought earlier this week, because the weather was cool. As was he.
As the afternoon wave got going, those behind Kuchar and Moore included Retief Goosen at 4-under 67, and a quartet of players in at 3-under 68: Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Dustin Johnson and Brian Gay. Justin Leonard was 3-under through three holes on the back nine.
With only a handful of difficult pin placements, and the tees set at 7,463 yards, the course was playing easy. At 1:49 p.m., it was averaging 71.131 strokes, just a hair over par. That included the 9-over 80 of Andre Romero and the double-bogey posted by Tiger Woods on his first hole of the afternoon.
Updates as warranted, with a complete report following the round.
– Tim Cronin
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Beware the ill athlete.
That’s something of a canard, though it applied when Michael Jordan had the flu.
Thursday, it applied to Matt Kuchar. The always-smiling winner of the 1997 U.S. Amateur on Cog Hill Golf & Country Club’s Dubsdread course was fighting a sore throat in temperatures that didn’t get out of the 60s while he played.
Kuchar didn’t get out of the 60s either. He fired a 7-under-par 64 and holds the lead in the 107th Western Open – the persnickety carmaker would prefer you to know it as the BMW Championship – with the morning groups finished.
The keys to Kuchar’s round were an eagle 3 at the par-5 15th, which led him to a 5-under 31 on the back nine, his opening nine, and a birdie at the par-5 ninth, his last hole, following a bogey on the par-4 eighth, his only miscue of the day. Kuchar sank a 17-footer for the birdie on the ninth, but as impressive was his 246 yard approach shot to 10 feet on the 15th to set up the eagle.
“I was driving it well; I was actually doing everything well,” Kuchar said. “It felt very good.”
Better than his throat, because that was about all he said.
Kuchar has a one-stroke lead on Ryan Moore, whose 6-under 65 was as flashy as the red-striped tie he wore during his round. Moore, who birdied seven of the last eight holes to play the back nine in 6-under 29, set a record for the back nine of any Western, to say nothing of Dubsdread.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting to do that,” Moore said, explaining that holing out for birdie from a greenside bunker on the par-5 11th brought him back to even par. Moore had meandered between level par and 1-over on the front nine.
Then he went crazy, holing everything he looked at on the greens.
“I had no idea,” Moore said. “I wasn’t paying attention at all. I was playing with Marc Leishman, and we were just chatting along.”
Moore decided to wear the cravat, which he bought earlier this week, because the weather was cool. As was he.
As the afternoon wave got going, those behind Kuchar and Moore included Retief Goosen at 4-under 67, and a quartet of players in at 3-under 68: Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Dustin Johnson and Brian Gay. Justin Leonard was 3-under through three holes on the back nine.
With only a handful of difficult pin placements, and the tees set at 7,463 yards, the course was playing easy. At 1:49 p.m., it was averaging 71.131 strokes, just a hair over par. That included the 9-over 80 of Andre Romero and the double-bogey posted by Tiger Woods on his first hole of the afternoon.
Updates as warranted, with a complete report following the round.
– Tim Cronin
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