JOHNS CREEK, GA – Wave that flag, wave it wide and high! Americans covered the leaderboard on day one of the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club with an avalanche of stars and stripes, including a record-tying performance PGA Tour uber-nice guy Steve Stricker.
The affable Stricker, Wisconsin’s favorite son but loved by all the golf world scorched the Highlands Course with a blazing bogey-free, 7-under 63, the 25th in the history of major golf championship competition to take a two-shot lead over fellow Wisconsin Badger Jerry Kelly. 2003 PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel was third with a 4-under 66.
Starting on the back, Stricker birdied the first three holes of the day, 10-11-12, without even breaking stride. “I started Driver and sand wedge to 15 feet at ten, 3-wood an 9-iron to five feet at 11, and 12 was Driver-rescue club into the right bunker and made the four foot putt,” he explained.
Then Stricker made an even bigger move, he birdied the two hardest holes on the course, the long watery par-3 15th and par-18th, holes that played to stroke averages of 3.7 and 4.8 respectively.
“I stole three or four shots from the field there,” he admitted candidly. That’s a tough stretch there. That set up the whole round.”
Indeed it did. Tiger Woods, who plummeted to a 7-over 77 after opening with three birdies in his first five holes, called 15-18, “the toughest finishing stretch of any major championship” in which he’d competed. After carding three double-bogeys in one round for only the second time in his professional career, he stands tied for 129th on the leaderboard.
The finishing stretch decimated more scorecards than just Tiger’s. Jason Day, Australia’s young rising star who is in the mix seemingly every week and a favorite coming into this week was 3-under coming to the 15th tee, yet finished 1-over.
“It’s certainly tough. I don’t know, just 15 certainly is a tough hole and then obviously 16, 17 and 18 are very tough, as well. I’m just a little heated right now, but I can’t do anything about it. It’s in the past, so I’ve just got to look forward to tomorrow,” he began, shaking his head in disbelief. “I was playing really, really nicely, and then just the last four holes got me, so hopefully I can just have a better round tomorrow.”
Stricker, on the other hand, was the one who looked Tiger-esque. He hit nine of 14 fairways, 13 of 18 greens, but needed only 26 putts. He was even three of three in sand saves.
Still, although Atlanta bears the name of a famous Greek mythological figure known for winning races with overwhelming speed, in Atlanta, Georgia, the race may not go to the swift but the sturdy. Stricker is not the greatest front runner, despite being the only PGA Tour player to win multiple times in the last three years.
“He blew a huge lead at Colonial and at the John Deere this year, and there were too many times when he was in the mix to win and didn’t,” said one commentator who asked for anonymity. “He needs to be a better closer. Fans bite their nails every time because he hits scary-bad shots all over the park late on Sunday.”
“He’s as nerve-wracking as Mickelson!” fumed golf fan Susan Awalip, who came all the way from Wisconsin to root for Stricker. “But he’s a great role model for the kids because he’s super-nice. Just please, Steve, don’t give me a coronary come Sunday.”
Should Stricker make fans reach for the antacids and beta-blockers, plenty of Yanks are right behind. Despite having lost the last six majors, nine of the top 13 players on the leaderboard are from the United States. Texas’ Scott Verplank posted a 3-under 67, 1997 PGA Championship winner Davis Love III stands at 2-under (along with fellow Americans Bill Haas and Brandt Jobe) while 2009 British Open Champion Stew Cink is at 1-under, along with five other Americans.
The first international flags on the leaderboard appear at 2-under, tied for 5th, and include Denmark’s Anders Hansen, England’s Simon Dyson, South Africa’s Brandon De Jonge, Italy’s Matteo Manassero, and Australia’s John Senden. World numbers one and two, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood (who seemingly do everything except win majors) stand at level par and 1-over respectively.
Some pros were outspoken about the difficulty of the finishing stretch, particularly the normally positive Phil Mickelson, ordinarily never one to give an inflammatory quote.
“If you look at the four par-3s here, it’s a perfect example of how modern architecture is killing the game, because those holes are unplayable for the members. You have water in front of you and a bunker behind and the player has no avenue to run a shot up,” he noted laconically. “It’s a good reason why the number of rounds on this golf course are down among the members and it’s a great example of how modern architecture is killing the participation of the sport because the average guy just can’t play it.
As an aside, that’s the difference between Pete Dye, a strategic architect whose difficult test at Sawgrass still draws so much praise since players can – except for 17 – steer away from the trouble, and Rees Jones, whose flavorless, penal architecture style underwhelms everyone except New Yorkers and Medinah members who like bragging about how much their courses make people’s heads ache. But I digress…
A club pro (who also requested anonymity) had pointed words about the course design after carding a round that didn’t begin with a “7.”
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. 15 is minimum 260 yards, all carry over water. You have no chance to hold the green unless you’re a Tour pro with a really high ball flight, it’s just stupid, just put a double on your card,” he fumed. “And 18 is what? A par 4.9? Thanks for a miserable day. This tournament will come down to who makes the fewest bogeys on those holes, and that’s not golf,” he finished acidly, before storming off.
Or as world-renowned writer John Huggan put it, “can you hit the ball between goal posts” is not golf.
So although the popular Stricker is in the lead, he is 44 years of age and, as Dan Jenkins would say, is at the point where winning a major is slim and none. Few men win majors at 44 and up – only seven, in fact. Yet eight of the top 12 on the leaderboard are in their 40s. If it weren’t for Manassero, 18, the average age of the 12 would be in 40s.
Additionally, only one person who shot a 63 to open the PGA Championship lost, Michael Bradley in 1995 at Riviera, when Steve Elkington won in a playoff. And as we all know, Thursday is just “getting to know you.” The race with this Atlanta (as opposed to the ancient Greek counterpart) will not go to the swift, but to the sturdy and the unflappable, especially with the “Gator Pit” that lurks starting at 15 tee.
Nevertheless, it’s the American boys that are on top for the moment, with Cheeseheads leading the way. In a way, they are a year late – what a celebration there would have been at Whistling Straits had Stricker and Kelly jumped out to the lead. But hey: better late than never.
NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES
The PGA Championship leads the majors in 63s with 11. There have only been two 63s at the Masters, four at the U.S. Open, and eight at the British Open. Two reasons include the PGA of America’s penchant for reasonably fair course set-ups and tournament venues more akin to what U.S. PGA Tour pros see on a week-to-week basis.
MAKE MINE A DOUBLE
The only other time Tiger had three double in one round (other than perhaps at the Blue Martini bar in Orlando or something) was in 2007 during the final round at Bay Hill.
SCOOPS AND SCUTTLEBUTS
Sources I personally rate as “extremely reliable” opine that Bethpage may become a PGA of America venue and get a PGA Championship, perhaps as early as 2020, and a Ryder Cup. That explains the Oakland Hills 2016 U.S. Amateur and the 2020 U.S. Open bid. “The math works, doesn’t it?” said a second extremely reliable source. Expect further word later today, and remember that Cybergolf said it first. Hat tip to my source coming soon…
ROARING (RORYING) IN PAIN
The post round MRI showed Rory McIlroy with a strained tendon in his arm. He is taped up and headed out on the course as we go to press. Ten years from now, he might have broken his arm. “You gotta play hurt?” Well also “You Gotta be Careful!”
CAN YOU BEAT TIGER??!!
Look at this Tiger shirt pic!!!! Someone will be getting a nasty-gram from Orlando or Ponte Vedra if they ever get find out who made them…
WHY GOLF FANS HATE GOLF ON TV VOLUME XXL
How could live television not show Stricker’s putt for 62???!!! And Tiger wasn’t even on the course so they can’t use that as an excuse??!!
YOU DO THE MATH
Comparisons to 2001: Here are some interesting comparisons from the first round of the 2011 PGA Championship versus the 2001 PGA Championship, also played at the Atlanta Athletic Club …
22 — Rounds under par in the first round in 2011
55 — Rounds under par in the first round in 2001
35 — Rounds at par or better in the first round in 2011
69 — Rounds at par or better in the first round in 2001
73.11 — Scoring average in the first round in 2011
71.28 — Scoring average in the first round in 2001
