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The Eve of Battle – Anticipation High at Baltusrol as Players Begin Season’s Last Major

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SPRINGFIELD, NJ – The approach of sunset was as grand as a Norman Rockwell painting. Rugged Baltusrol Mountain, also called First Mountain, stood sentinel over the stately golf course with its rambling Tudor architecture clubhouse as it has for over a century, while the sun dipped down low between the clouds and hillside, spreading a reddish flame across the sky from horizon to horizon. All the trees were aglow, burning embers illuminating the slopes of the mountain.

As the daylight faded from orange and russet to velvety purple and sable, the mountain took on a more ominous look. The players and staff had gone, the mowers had returned to the maintenance shed, and all was dark and silent. The black shadows thrown by the moonlight were full of silent menace. A thick fog seemingly born from Baskerville Moor rose up, shrouding the course in an eerie witch light.

It was as though the course had a sentience and vitality all its own, slumbering restlessly, ready to wake in an instant. On such a night, it’s not hard to believe that the ghost of old Baltus Roll, murdered in the dark of night by thieves, roams the grounds.

Baltusrol will need all the ghosts and ghouls it can muster this week, though. Scoring records have been shattered with alarming frequency of late in major championships, and nine of the last 16 PGA Championships have been won by double-digit scores under par.

First there was Rory McIlroy in 2011 at Congressional, where he rewrote the record books in green ink: lowest 36, 54, and 72 hole aggregates, widest margin of victory, and lowest score-to-par.

He needed a second caddie to carry the records back to Northern Ireland.

Next there was Jason Dufner’s 63 in the second round at Oak Hill. He had two chances at a 62, but missed two ten footers. Still, he outlasted Jim Furyk for his first major championship.

Then last year there was Jason Day laying formerly unconquerable Whistling straits low by a record score of 20-under. He ruthlessly pounded the mudshark out of Pete Dye’s Terror-by-the-Sea.

“That’s just staggering. Whistling Straits is not an easy golf course. There’s a lot of penalties out there, and between 1,000 bunkers and five inch rough, it’s pick your poison if you miss a fairway,” said golf expert Bruce Moulton. “It just underscores the yawning chasm between these pros and every one else. They are not playing the same game we are.”

Incidentally, 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme Mcdowell agreed, laconically noting that Baltusrol is “very fair for a major, but an amateur has no chance.”

Finally, we not only has two 63 in the same week at Troon, Henrik Stenson also reached 20-under to tie Jason Day’s performance at the Straits Course.

“The bar’s been raised ever since Tiger Woods came around,” admitted Day. “When I first came out in 2006, I remember some of the cut lines were +1 and +2. Now most of the cut lines are under par. It just goes to show how stiff the competition has gotten over the years…and on top of it, the guys are just younger, stronger, fitter, faster, and they are just long out there.”

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As such, this is arguably the most wide open major in several years; coming in there is no clear favorite. Instead, any one of a dozen names could top a Fantasy Pool List, and one of three or even four dozen players has a reasonable chance to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy come Sunday night.

Long hitters do seem to have an advantage on the Lower Course, anomalies such as Ed Furgol and Lee Janzen aside. Arnold Palmer said many times that it was Jack Nicklaus’s prodigious length that most demoralized his opponents; his drives were his thunder, and his magical putting stroke was lightning. Additionally, back in 2005 Phil Mickelson was one of the longest hitters on tour. His length was one of the pillars of his victory, the other being his wedge, which rescued him time and again from the long rough the PGA grew that year in an effort to have the tournament be “a U.S. Open in August.”

With that in mind, Stenson is a good pick this week. When guys get hot on the PGA Tour, they tend to get streaky. Padraig Harrington won both the Open Championship and PGA in 2008, the year Tiger Woods sat out those two majors with an injury.

He did it on two absurdly hard courses too: Carnoustie and Oakland Hills. Talk about Scylla and Charybdis…

Stenson specifically mentioned his long irons and hybrids, licking his chops to gain an advantage at holes like 1 and 7, the par-5s disguised for this week as par-4s, and the actual par-4s at 3, 6, and 10. All of which exceed 470 yards. Then of course, there’s the closing back-to-back par-5s. Nicklaus birdied both to finally shake free of plucky Isao Aoki, and Phil birdied the 72nd for a one-shot victory as well.

“We may well see an eagle at 18 win this tournament. Wouldn’t that be something?” golf architect Rees Jones asked rhetorically, and he’s right. And to do that, you’d need a long hitter.

Dustin Johnson fits the profile. He almost did exactly that at Chambers Bay last year before that ghastly 3-putt cost him a shot in the playoff. Still, what does not kill you makes you stronger, and his win at Oakmont pummeled the monkey on his back to death with a driver. He’s feeling good about his chances here also.

“I feel like I wear out my 8- and 9-iron on the par-4s. On the par-3s….I hit a lot of 5-irons,” he said, pointing out that the improvement in his irons and his wedges vaulted him into the winner’s circle at Oakmont. Regarding the course conditions, he too thought the Lower Course was ripe for the picking.

“It’s too soft. Everybody is going to reach 18.”

Worse still, Baltusrol, already comparatively short for a major, was declawed by heat and rain earlier in the week. Meteorologists predict rain for at least two of the tournament days. And that let’s everybody into the party.

“Any one of 30, 40, even 50 guys could win this thing,” said Aaron Baddeley.

It also means players can play lawn darts with short irons, so much so that veteran golf writer and broadcaster Fred Altvater unequivocally stated he thought we’d see a 62 this week.

He could be right.

At the crack of dawn a single gleam of gold begins to peek its way between two strata of clouds. Soon, vermillion streaks paint wine-dark hue along tufts. The players have retuned, the bees buzz the hive. The silver glint of the Wanamaker awaits them as they approach the first tee. The board is set, the pieces are moving. And they will play golf for the title this week. No walking on eggshells, no tacking around the course, no trying to win by making the fewest mistakes. Birdies win at Baltusrol. That also likely means we better get ready to rewrite the history books.

It happens all the time around here.

NEWS, NOTES, AND QUOTES

The PGA is letting kids in free with a paying adult. When 6-year old golf fan Zac Shulman heard he was going to see his favorite player, Jordan Spieth, he started marching around in a circle flailing his arms Indian War Dance style and yelling:

“KIDS FREE! KIDS FREE! KIDS FREE!”

Mom looked at Dad and said “Do us both a favor and stay all day long…”

“KIDS FREE! KIDS FREE! KIDS FREE!”

“…Bring him home exhausted so he goes right to bed.”

KIDS FREE! KIDS FREE! KIDS FREE!

Well played, PGA of America! Well played!

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