Wi, Kuchar pacesetters at halfway point

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Friday, September 10, 2010

At the top of the field after two rounds at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club: Charlie Wi and Matt Kuchar, at 6-under par 136 on Dubsdread, the highest score at the halfway point of a Western Open since 2004.

In the middle of the pack with 36 holes left in the 107th Western / BMW Championship: Tiger Woods, whose 1-over 72 on Friday was a stroke better than Thursday’s effort, but hardly what Woods, needing a high finish to advance to the Tour Championship, was hoping for. He’s in 40th place, and that’s not close to cutting it.

At the bottom of the barrel: Dubsdread’s reputation following several days of player complaints about the greens, pockmarked with more indentations than a gallon of Clearasil could remove.

Kuchar, who opened with a 7-under 65, spun his wheels to a 1-over-par 72 on the second day he battled poor health. Things were going in the wrong direction until he visited a restroom. Then he birdied four of the next five holes on the back nine, starting with a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th, to come in in 2-under 34.

“It’s probably the worst feeling I’ve had out here,” Kuchar said. “I felt terrible all day. I am very excited to get home and get in bed. I made a few putts, made a few birdies, and tried to give as much self-talk as I could to myself. Hang in there, grind it out, kind of meander up to the ball and see if I could flip a switch for about four seconds and go back to being a zombie out there.”

Looking more pale than the white canvas BMW wraps around everything not moving at the 18th green, Kuchar explained the doctor he saw wasn’t sure if his ailment was viral or bacterial. He was given antibiotics, took them, and if it’s bacterial, the medicine will work. If not, Kuchar will just keep plugging.

In contrast, Wi was feeling perky before, during and after his 2-under 69. His six birdies more than offset a bogey and an unseemly triple-bogey 7 on the par 4 16th, a trip into the Twilight Zone that began with a pulled 3-wood into the swamp and concluded with a three-putt green from 12 feet.

“That’s just being impatient and a little bit anxious,” Wi said.

And that was in contrast to his mantra for the week. He’s written on his pin sheet each day, “It’s a marathon, play one hole at a time.”

It worked.

“When I walked off the 16th green, I told myself 17 is a new challenge. I was really proud of myself to make a birdie there.”

Unlike Kuchar, who entered the week first in the PGA Tour’s playoff standings, and a lock to play the Tour Championship at East Lake in a fortnight, Wi came in on the outside looking in. He’s listed at 37th, and the top 30 advance. A high finish will get him to Atlanta, but there are two rounds to go.

“I’ve been in tournaments where you play 72 holes and there’s no cut, and I’ve found myself being really impatient and looking ahead too far,” Wi said. “This week, I know I’m close to the top 30, and for me to play well, I knew I had to stay in the present and play one hole at a time.”

So far, so present.

Meanwhile, sneaking in with the round of the day, his 6-under-par 65 three strokes better than anyone else: Marc Leishman, who finished tied for second at Cog Hill last year, albeit seven strokes in arrears of Woods. Entering the third round, he’s a stroke back of Wi and Kuchar, and the only guy with something approaching momentum.

“I’ve got some good memories here,” said Leishman, who had compliments, rather than complaints, about the greens (see details in the Round 2 notebook). “You stand on a few greens and you remember what happened last year, and of course the way I played it on Sunday (scoring 69). It’s just cool to have that probably for the first time since I’ve been a pro.”

He faulted to third on the strength of seven birdies, and needs to keep playing that way to advance to East Lake. He came in 57th in the standings, and feels much as he did last year, where the tie for second advanced him to the Tour Championship. Now, he’d like to close the deal and leave Cog Hill with a trophy, as well as a punched ticket.

The Wi-Kuchar duo’s standing at 6 under is unusual in one respect. It’s the first time in over a year in regular PGA Tour events, that the second round score in relation to par was higher than the first round score. Usually in regular Tour events, including at Cog Hill, the leader is twice as much under par after 36 holes, compared to 18. Not including major championships, it last happened at The Memorial last year.

The critics will immediately say that it wasn’t because Dubsdread was tough, but rather because of the bumpy greens. In fact, the course was allowed to bare its teeth in spots, even though it was set up to play only 7,310 of its maximum 7,616 yards. With an easterly wind getting above the posted 14 mph in some areas of the course, there was ample opportunity for trouble, and some of the 70 players found it, starting with Wi. The victims included Michael Sim, who carved out an triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 15th, and Vijay Singh, who made a 7 there thanks to a tee shot that ended up in Cog Hill’s version of Borneo.

The howling about the greens continued, with the major exception of Leishman. Owner Frank Jemsek noted earlier today that the presence of a SubAir system wouldn’t have prevented the softness from occurring after a long, hot, wet summer, because it works on the substructures, not the putting surface itself. What it did was prevent flooding. What the heat did was prevent proper growth of the bentgrass, in its second full year after the remodeling by Rees Jones.

“I wish they were saying good things about the golf course, but it’s hard to fight the facts,” Jemsek said.

(For more from Jemsek and player comments, see an earlier story from Friday below.)

Finally, there’s Woods, the leader of the world rankings, and alter-ego Phil Mickelson, seemingly the perennial No. 2. Neither played brilliantly, Woods’ 72 barely surpassed by Mickelson’s even-par 71. But their outlooks on the weekend are different, for Mickelson is 14th in the point standings and Woods is 51st. El Tigre needs to make up seven strokes to finish somewhere in the neighborhood of fifth place, which is projected as necessary for him to make it to the Tour Championship.

“I made nothing today,” Woods said. “I hit the ball a hell of a lot better than my score indicates. I had a lot of putts inside 15 feet, and I think I made one on the last hole. Every birdie putt I had, I didn’t make.”

He made three, but he also made a double-bogey for the second time in as many rounds. Thursday’s 73 brought to an end his streak of 11 straight rounds in the 60s on Dubsdread. While there’s no cut with the 70-man field, by Sunday night, his streak of playing in the Tour Championship may be ended as well.

Last year, he scored a course-record 62 on Saturday, and won on Sunday, annexing his fifth Western Open.

“I’m just trying to post good numbers, hit good shots, place the ball accordingly on the correct side of the fairways, correct side of the greens,” Woods said. “Go from there.”

He’s 60th in fairways hit, 39th in hitting greens in regulation, and 26th in putting. That’s not the road to another 62 – or to Atlanta.

– Tim Cronin

Leishman: Dubsdread's greens are fine

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Friday, September 10, 2010

Marc Leishman came to the defense of Cog Hill’s puckered greens late on Friday evening.

“There’s a few patchy spots, but it’s not as though you’re putting on a road or anything,” Leishman said after a sparkling 6-under-par 65 moved him to solo third, a stroke behind Matt Kuchar and Charlie Wi. “They’re good greens. If you were to put these in front of a club golfer, they’d be like, these are good greens.”

Then, noting the widespread criticism from others in the field, Leishman sounded like Jack Nicklaus, who said many players eliminate themselves mentally before they tee off in majors.

“When I hear other players making comments like that, it sort of feels like you’ve got less players to beat because the guys are already complaining. They’ve already let it beat them, I think,” Leishman said. “Every week we putt on perfect greens, and when they’re not quite perfect, it’s not the end of the world.”

And, he noted, “Where the Tour is putting the pins, they’re not bad. They’re fine. You fix a few pitch marks here, and they’re fine. If you hit a good putt, it’s still going to go in. It’s not going to bounce.”

That was in great argument to the majority.

Casey at the wicket

Paul Casey, ranked eighth in the world but snubbed for a spot by European Ryder Cup team captain Colin Montgomerie last week, said after his 2-under 69 moved him into a tie for fourth with Ian Poulter that he’s gotten favorable comments from fans since Monty’s maneuver.

“I’ve heard a lot, actually, but the really funny one is, I got a guy in Boston. I made a long putt on the sixth for birdie, and he goes, ‘If that’s the way you putt, I’m glad they didn’t pick you.’ ”

Casey, who plays primarily on the PGA Tour, thinks his situation – unable to play enough in Europe to qualify there and just behind other qualifiers in the world rankings – will become more common.

“I think with guys like (British Open champion Martin) Kaymer, (U.S. Open champion Graeme) McDowell and possibly others joining in the near future, what are we going to do?” Casey said. “I understand the European Tour wants to protect the European Tour, but we also want to get the best team possible.

“I don’t know what the solution is. It might be something where they something where they switch off the five off the world rankings and four off the money. It will come up. Maybe the timing (of the selection) will come up as well.”

Casey found out he wasn’t picked during last week’s playoff tournament at TPC Boston. He was playing with Padraig Harrington, who found out he made it.

If Casey wins the Western, Montgomerie might have nightmares.

Bright and early on Saturday

The third-round tee times run from 7:25 to 9:15 a.m., off the first and 10th tees, in threesomes, to accomodate tournament telecaster NBC’s need to switch to Notre Dame for the telecast of the Fighting Irish’s game with Michigan at 2:30 p.m.

Leaders Wi and Kuchar will join Leishman on the first tee at 9:15 a.m., just behind the all-English trio of Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Luke Donald.

Woods and Mickelson will tee off on opposite sides of the course, 10 minutes apart. Woods opens on the 10th tee at 7:35 a.m. with Ryan Palmer and Brian Davis, while Mickelson starts on the first tee at 7:45 a.m. with Bill Haas and Zach Johnson.

With a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms in the forecast, it may take all day to finish anyway.

Sunday’s tee times will be the standard weekend twosomes, with everyone starting on the first hole.

Around Dubsdread

With both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing in the morning, there weren’t 20,000 people at Cog Hill on Friday. Woods had about 500 people following him early in his round, and while his gallery improved, it wasn’t the type of 10-deep mob that used to cause human traffic jams when the tournament was played around the Fourth of July weekend. The two day estimate: 38,000. Saturday’s early tee times, plus a forecast of rain, probably won’t help. ... The line of the day came from Robert Allenby after a back-nine 4-under 32 allowed him to salvage a 1-under 70 and stand at even par 142 through two rounds: “I pulled my finger out of my ass and played some golf.” Allenby, 27th in the point standings, is tied for 23rd in the championship at the midpoint. ... Andres Romero, high man Thursday with a 9-over 80, rebounded with a 1-under 70 on Friday. ... Now dead last: Ben Crane, thanks to rounds of 76-77 for 11-over 153. ... The course averaged 72.257 strokes in round two, and is at 71.943 through 36 holes. Last year’s second round average was 71.029 strokes.

– Tim Cronin

Jemsek on greens: "It's hard to fight the facts"

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Friday, September 10, 2010

Usually, players on the PGA Tour toss bouquets at golf courses.

This week, they’re tossing brickbats big enough to leave a ball mark.

The greens on Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course are not in great shape, and owner Frank Jemsek admits it.

“I wish they were saying good things about the golf course, but it’s hard to fight the facts,” Jemsek said Friday afternoon. “The greens are really badly ball-marked. We’ve had a lot of golf in wet weather.”

Jemsek closes Dubsdread 10 days before the start of the tournament. This year, that wasn’t far enough in advance. Jemsek, deflecting criticism of course superintendent Ken Lapp, said that would be the case whether or not the SubAir green conditioning system, installed during the 2008 renovation of the course, had been installed.

“The greens would still be mushy whether there was SubAir or not,” Jemsek said. “They might have been flooded without that.”

But still ball-marked, he said.

“Even though we have SubAir, the profiles (cross-sections of the course) are still wet,” Jemsek said. He later added, “We need a better job of working on the customers to fix ball marks,” and said he may dedicate a staffer to following the final groups of the day and making sure ball marks had been fixed.

The criticism has been as severe as some of the pockmarks. Paul Casey wondered late Thursday if shotputs had been lobbed into them. Stewart Cink said Friday of their condition, “On a 1 to 10 scale, it’s a minus-3.”

They’re not nearly as bad as the greens at East Lake Golf Club three years ago, when the pro-am and some practice rounds of the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup’s wrapup tournament, had to be cancelled after severe heat and a drought in Atlanta. But the A1/A4 bentgrass surfaces, cut to 0.13 inches for the week and said to be running an 11.2 on a Stimpmeter, also also aren’t as good as they were last year, when they were in their first season of play.

The reputation of the greens could be difficult to overcome, at least in the short term. The problem for Jemsek is, the Western Open / BMW Championship isn’t scheduled at Cog Hill past 2011. In 2012, when the Ryder Cup is slated for Medinah Country Club’s No. 3 course, the Western will be played at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., a posh suburb north of Indianapolis. The Western Golf Association, BMW and the PGA Tour have a deal through 2014, but that doesn’t mean the Western is guaranteed to Cog Hill.

“I still think we have a chance of getting it after (2012),” Jemsek said. “We want to work out a deal with the Western Golf Association.”

The chatter might also hinder Cog Hill’s chance at a future U.S. Open, a dream that goes back decades.

Even severe critic Phil Mickelson, who tried a lob shot from the upper tier of the 15th green to the lower tier on Thursday, had empathy for what Jemsek is going through following the $5.2 million renovation, though he referenced Frank’s late father, golf legend Joe Jemsek, in doing so.

“There’s been some interesting things said in the locker room, and I think the owner here, Joe Jemsek, is such a great guy, and he’s done so much for golf,” Mickelson said. “I think we were all hoping that this would really turn out well and that we could bring a U.S. Open here.

“I just feel bad for him.”

Frank Jemsek, who does everything during the championship from welcoming fans to his four-course complex to thanking marshals for volunteering, hoped things would go better, but found perspective as well.

“You are disappointed, but one of my kids could be sick,” Jemsek said.

He has no plans to ask Jones to soften the greens, which are also criticized by some players for being too severe, but will look into additional aids for conditioning the course.

“We’ll probably add some additional fans, like on No. 13, where the hill blocks the wind,” Jemsek said. “On No. 15, we cut a hole in the trees that looks into our former parking lot (at Mount Assisi High School). You hope you learn some things.”

At it turns out, the success Dubsdread has in draining quickly worked against it. Jemsek said rounds were played on the course by players coming from courses that were closed the day after big rains. At $150 per player, he couldn’t afford to shut down.

“I want it to be the same way for the PGA Tour and for the guy buying a green fee,” Jemsek said.

At the moment, it is.

On the course

At 3:45 p.m. CT, Charlie Wi’s 36-hole total of 6-under-par 136, helped by a morning round of 2-under 69, was holding up as the lead. Matt Kuchar is a stroke back at 5-under with five holes to play, while Ian Poulter and Paul Casey stand at 4-under 138, having completed play. Tiger Woods scored 1-over 72 and is at 3-over 145, well off the pace. Phil Mickleson is at 1-over 143 after his even par 143.

– Tim Cronin

Dubsdread – and gallery room – is there for the taking

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Friday, September 10, 2010
a.k.a. Arnold Palmer’s 81st brithday

There’s room for everyone at Cog Hill, but not everyone is taking advantage. Friday morning’s half of the field for the 107th Western Open – it’s the BMW Championship on the marquee – was greeted by a cool breeze from the southeast, many moved-up tees, and not a whole lot of people.

The gallery that follows Tiger Woods is always a good barometer of interest. About 500 people, enough to make the crowd about two-deep around the 11th green, was following the world’s top-ranked and most infamous player around the premises. More people were coming in, of course, as the morning went on, but the early indication was that this year’s second-round crowd wouldn’t match the estimated 25,000 that turned out on Friday last year.

If that’s the case, it wouldn’t bode well for the long-term status of the championship in Chicago. While logic says the home town of the Western Golf Association is the place to play the Western, BMW originally wanted to alternate Chicago and other midwestern cities each year. The WGA went along because it had to, then struck gold at Bellerive Country Club near St. Louis in 2008, where $3.3 million was raised for the Evans Scholars Foundation.

Last year’s proceeds at Cog Hill, $2.4 million, was well above the $1.6 million cleared in 2007, the first year the Western was played after Labor Day, and this year’s corporate sales may help improve on 2009’s take, which will send more caddies to college.

But the date kills in comparison to the old Fourth of July weekend date. That didn’t matter in golf-starved St. Louis, which hadn’t had the Tour come through since the 1992 PGA Championship (the 2001 WGC Amex tournament was cancelled because of the Al-Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11), but Chicago’s used to big-time golf and having it in the heart of summer. How to clear that hurdle – to say nothing of fighting off the competition, which this weekend includes the Notre Dame-Michigan game and the Bears’ opener – still hasn’t been solved.

While gentlemen in suits ponder those problems, the morning groups were making small headway against the course. K.J. Chio, playing with Woods, went out a 3-under 33 on the back, the best start of the challengers, while Charlie Wi, at 6-under for the championship and 2-under for the day after 10 holes, is within a stroke of overnight leader Matt Kuchar, who plays this afternoon.

Ian Poulter, whose 5-under 66 was Thursday’s best afternoon round, was still 5-under with three holes left in his circuit of Dubsdread.

With tees moved up on the second, fifth, sixth, 12th and 13th holes, the course was playing at 7,310 yards.

As usual, updates as warranted, and a full report at the end of the day's play. The PGA Tour's full-service website has live scoring, plus a live video feed, concentrating on the 15th hole.

– Tim Cronin

Kuchar's 64 leads while Moore ties one on

Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Thursday, September 9, 2010

The leader at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club after one round? Matt Kuchar, a fine fellow who couldn’t speak to his 7-under-par 64 – because he had a sore throat.

The man chasing him in the 107th Western Open? Ryan Moore, the iconoclast from the Pacific Northwest who, dressed in a sweater and tie – a look in vogue on the links decades before BMW carjacked the tournament name – birdied seven of Dubsdread’s last eight holes for a back-nine record 29 to total 6-under 65.

The rest of the field? They’ll play catch-up, or try to, beginning at 8 a.m. Friday, when the second round commences.

That portion of the championship may be contested under equally docile conditions. With virtually no wind all day and only a few pernicious pin placements, fully 26 of the 70-player field broke Dubsdread’s par of 71. The real surprise was that, aside from Ian Poulter’s 5-under 66 and the 67s posted by Charlie Wi and Retief Goosen, nobody else broke 68, which might have been the real par for the day.

The reason? Bumpy, slow greens, pockmarked with ball marks that haven’t completely healed over a long, hot, wet summer. Apparently, no amount of tender loving care by course superintendent Ken Lapp, who has a Sub-Air green conditioning system at his command, could counteract the inability of time to heal many a small wound.

As a result, the greens had to be slowed down, more than a few putts that players thought were on line eventually were off line, and birdies failed to appear.

This is not to say that the condition of Dubsdread’s greens duplicated the waffle boards that played the part of many of Medinah No. 3’s greens during the 1999 PGA Championship, or the even more baffling surfaces filled with spike marks that made putting during the 1995 PGA at Riviera a lottery. In fact, many of the greens were next to perfect, at least before the traffic of the day. But others were less than perfect putting surfaces, which the picky pros prefer.

Consider the words of Phil Mickelson, whose 1-over 72 leaves him in an 11-way deadlock for 34th. He skipped Wednesday’s pro-am – with the permission of the Western Golf Association and the Tour – and played at Butler National Golf Club in Oak Brook.

“That’s in great shape,” Mickelson cooed. “The greens there were just pristine, and I had a nice relaxing day and was able to get my game sharp.”

And Dubsdread?

“It’s interesting,” Mickelson said.

That’s Tour talk for “I wouldn’t be here unless we were playing for $7.5 million.”

Mickelson’s never finished better than 26th on Dubsdread, so perhaps his comments should be taken with a snifter of salt. But Tiger Woods was of the same mind, saying after Wednesday’s pro-am round, “the greens are a bit spotty out there.”

He took 29 putts on Thursday, and those that was too many en route to a sloppy 2-over 73. He’s wallowing in 45th, along with a cast of characters including Jim Furyk, Geoff Ogilvy and Y.E. Yang.

“I had a hard time getting the speed,” Woods said. “I had a hard time hitting the putts hard enough, I really did. I putt a lot on memory, obviously, and it’s hard to make myself hit the putts this hard when I know how they used to putt.”

Kuchar and Moore had no truck with the conditions of the greens. Then again, Moore was in the day’s first group and Kuchar was on the sixth pair off the 10th tee in the morning. They had the best of the conditions, and will play Friday afternoon, as the field is flipped for the second day.

“I was driving it well; I was actually doing everything well,” Kuchar said, barely. “It felt very good.”

Then he left to tend to his sore throat, which brought on laryngitis. His game was fine, and included an eagle 3 at the par-5 15th, which helped him to 5-under 31 on the back nine, and six birdies. It was the best he’s played at Cog Hill since winning the U.S. Amateur on the pre-Rees Jones version of the course at about this time a baker’s dozen years ago.

Moore’s sartorial style failed to overshadow his considerable game, but for the first 10 holes, more than a few in the gallery of about 18,000 were probably saying, “Who’s that guy wearing the tie?”

The answer came beginning on the par-5 11th, when he followed a poor drive, so-so second and an unsatisfying approach by holing out for birdie.

“I just got a little positive momentum going from there,” said Moore, who burst upon the scene in 2004 by winning every amateur title in sight, including the Western Amateur, U.S. Amateur and NCAA Championship.

A little? How about a career back nine? Moore birdied the 12th, then commenced a string of birdies on the 14th that was halted only when he ran out of holes. It may continue on Friday afternoon. The collection of perfection brought Moore in with a 65, with the back-nine 29 a Western Open and Dubsdread record.

What, exactly, was going on?

“I had no idea,” Moore said. “I wasn’t paying attention at all, to be honest. I played with Marc Leishman today, a great guy. We were just having fun, chatting it up walking down the fairways.”

Chatty Moore’s bombed drive on the 15th, a 321-yarder, left him a 203-yard 5-iron. That put him on the edge of the green and two putts from 24 feet for an easy birdie. He rammed a 157-yard 8-iron to 6 feet on the 16th, a 145-yard 9-iron to 9 feet on the 17th, and a 182-yard 7 iron to 11 feet at the last. Birdie, birdie, birdie.

“They weren’t gimme putts, but they were just very straightforward,” Moore said. “Some days you get putts that are easy to read from 10 feet, and some days you get 5-footers that have three breaks in them somehow.

“It’s weird.”

As was, by modern standards, his outfit. Sweater and tie? Not even Payne Stewart went that far, but Moore does on occasion, and Thursday, with a high of 67 degrees, was such an occasion.

“I bought it a couple days ago,” he said of the red-on-red tie. “I liked it to start the day. I was just walking around a store and thought, you know, I might wear some ties this week. It just sounded good.

“Everybody in the crowd absolutely loves it. Everywhere I go, anywhere I’ve worn it, they love it. It’s funny, (but) that was certainly not the purpose at all. I love this look. I love that golf kind of used to have that look, and I like to wear it when I can, when weather permits.”

Whatever works. When a 66 is next to your name, a loincloth would work.

– Tim Cronin