The indelible image Rory brings to winning these major championships in a rout is a huge smile, something fans find incredibly endearing and fun to root for.  His eight-shot victory in the PGA Championship at Kiawah this weekend makes him a “multiple major winner”, number one in the world golf ranking, and a shoe-in to dominate all golf discussion from now through the Ryder Cup.

Jim Nance said at the end of the broadcast that when Rory won the U.S. Open by 8 furlongs at Congressional last summer it brought a smile to the game.  Well if that was a smile then this time it is a Cheshire grin.  He was 11-under over the last 36 holes and completely dominated the best field of the year on a course that was borderline psychotic.  And this was the second time he orchestrated this scenario in a major in the last 14 months.

The fact is that he is just 23 years old and joins a very short list of Jack, Seve, and Tiger who have won two majors at such an early age.  He shares with these guys the rare ability, in the heat of a major championship, to hyper focus his attention, block out the distractions that are derailing the competition, and let the gift of his talents produce play that separates him from the field.

What ingratiates him to the viewing public is the unfettered joy he brings to the arena. In contrast to the other guy who wears the red shirt on Sunday and seems to want to strangle a rattlesnake in the process, Rory has a sublime sense of calm as he is disarming the golf course and the field of competitors in pursuit.  He has a respectful demeanor to his adversaries and an outward appreciation for the adulation of the fans who acknowledge his accomplishments.

In the post game interviews he shows equal measure of confidence in his ability and humility for what it all really means.  When his accomplishments are compared to Jack or Tiger his response is that he is flattered by such comparisons but he feels he has a long way to go before justifying such associations.

He is also cognizant of the fact that his accomplishments make him a role model to thousands of kids around the world who look up to him as the new wunderkind.   Instead of seeing this as a burden he says he sees it as an honor and something he keeps in mind as he comports himself every day pursuing his craft.

Anyone who saw his performance this weekend can only be in awe of his ability to compose his talents with such grace under pressure.  It is just possible that time and accumulated accomplishments will put him in the category of the greats who have ever played the game.  For now we will have to accept that this very bright star is illuminating the golf horizon, there for all of us to gaze on in wonder and thoroughly enjoy.

August, 2012

As is always the case when a professional golf event is being contested on a Pete Dye course, it is as much as much a matter of the players versus Dye as the players against the field.  You can fill in the blank yourself because the possibilities are endless as to what will come off of their lips as they head to the courtesy cars each day at this year’s PGA Championship at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.

The PGA at Whistling Straits in 2010, The Players every year at Sawgrass, the Women’s U.S. Open at Blackwolf this year…just to mention a few…..the list goes on and on.  In all cases it is more than simply a test of golf…..it is the challenge to survive and avoid personal humiliation.  In Pete’s view he would have it no other way. His job is to baffle the best players in the game with big challenges, lots of strategic choices, and punitive results if they don’t pass muster.

This should only be their biggest danger of the day (photo: flicker.Adammart)

The Ocean Course may be the sternest test of them all.  When Pete and Alice built this course on the sandy shores of South Carolina it was not enough just to route the holes along the ocean between the sand dunes. They actually raised the center of the property to make sure the interior holes would have full view of the ocean and full exposure to the ocean breezes.  Add to this their ingenious eye for fashioning real risk and reward holes and this event adds up to a demolition derby in Footjoys.

The course was first built to host the infamous “War By The Shore” version of the 1991 Ryder Cup which brought enmity between the sides to new heights.  As you will recall it wreaked it’s share of psychological havoc on a number of highly successful professionals of the day.  They could put a Memorial Wall beside the 17^th green to commemorate all the rounds that been drowned over the years trying to negotiate that tee shot.  Personally, I think it is a hard par from the drop area.

Pete has since been back a number times to tweak the layout in preparation for the 2007 Senior PGA and once again for this championship.  It certainly has not gotten any easier as a result.

The Dye’s are the masters of deception when it comes to hiding their intent on a given hole.  The Ocean Course is full of this. Fairways that are much more generous than they seem from the tee.  Landing areas confined by fall offs to nastiness that you cannot discern from 220 yards away.  Undulating table top greens that feed off to seas of undulation six feet below the putting surface.  Add to this adjacent waste areas the size of small neighborhoods in Newark (and not a whole lot safer I might add), plenty of native grasses on sandy dunes, and a good measure of marshland from which, as the sign says, you are wise not to even consider trying to retrieve your ball.

Pete has gone so far as to introduce a mysterious new grass-Paspalum-in the green complexes that the pros have never played on.  This stuff has a sticky character that will arrest the progress of a rolling ball and make using the bump and run recovery up the side banks of these platform greens a very low percentage shot.  Tiger, among others, has expressed that given the number of times you get short sided on a wind blown approach managing this grass will be a significant factor in keeping your scorecard in tact.

Adam Scott in an interview early in the week gave a blunt assessment when asked his impression of the course, “The front nine is a really nice, playable golf course, and then the back nine is not.”

Typically the PGA set ups lead to a score of about 10 under plus or minus a few blows, but this year it will totally depend on the weather.  The course has been softened considerably by rain almost every day.  Good news is that the greens will be holding.  Bad news is the course, which can be played at 7700 yards, could play very long.  Besides the obvious issues of thunderstorms interrupting play, there are generally strong winds associated with these low pressure systems.  The wind will be the major factor in determining whether these guys can hit the precise shots required to negotiate this house of mirrors.

The post round interviews should be very entertaining indeed.

August, 2012

Like the cyclists in the velodrome at the London Olympics, Keegan Bradley drafted the back nine in the wake of Jim Furyk’s apparent wire-to-wire victory pace passing him on the last leg on the way to a 64 and a stunning come from behind victory in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

Playing in the final group with Jim Furyk who set a torrid pace with birdies on the first three holes on Sunday, Keegan just kept himself within sight of the leader until they turned the back nine.  Starting with two birdies on the back and a scrambling par on 12 Keegan had that look in his eye that he was not going to be shaken off the leader’s pace.

The key moment was probably at the 16th hole. Louis Oosthuizen who was two back at the time pulled the Tiger Woods Houdini flop shot from the spinach behind the green to make an unlikely birdie and get within one of Furyk.  Furyk playing with the confidence that had built his the lead through 69 holes would not be outdone, he make a 25-footer of his own for birdie to maintain his position.  Keegan then made a statement, making a 15-footer on top of Furyk to stay within striking distance one back.

With a one-shot lead, apparently Furyk failed to heed the warning message screened on his side view mirror coming down eighteen. When they both failed to hit the green in regulation it was Keegan who made a miraculous up and down par from a plugged lie in the green side bunker and Furyk who blinked taking two shots from off the green to get on and two more putts on the way to a disappointing double bogie and a two-shot swing.

As we saw with Keegan at last year’s PGA, this young guy has a knack for making big putts.  He was first or second in all three of the putting stats this week averaging just 26 putts a round over the four days.  As to the final 15-foot par putt that forged him into the lead he said, “I didn’t think for a second I was going to miss it….I knew exactly how it was going to break….I just needed to hit it hard enough….and it was dead center”.

Steve Stricker played some outstanding golf himself shooting 64 on Sunday.  Putting like the Stricker of old he birdied four of the last five holes in a final sprint that grabbed a share of second place.

With only the PGA Championship next week between them and the eight automatic Ryder Cup Team assignments, Keegan consolidated his grip on a valued position moving from 9th to 4th on the list.   Both Stricker (moving from 13th to 10th) and Furyk (moving from 15th to 11th) have positioned themselves for a final push next week.  Finishing outside the top 15 this week, Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker, and Dustin Johnson all have serious work to do if they want to avoid begging for a captain’s choice.

The FedEx Cup Playoffs with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow are less than a month away.  Serious jockeying for improved position in that race is going on and Furyk and Stricker both  moved up significantly to get into the top 16.  Keegan made the biggest move of all from 26th to 7th after today’s win.  There will be a whole lot of listening for footsteps behind them as this qualifying race heads down the final stretch.

August, 2012