If this is Firestone, who are those guys?
AKRON, Ohio – They’re throwing a party at Firestone, and nobody showed up.If this is Firestone, who are those guys on the leaderboard?
Palmer’s up there OK, but not the one you’re thinking of, the one who tried to slay the Monster 16th, and made 8, thereby blowing his chance at the PGA Championship. But that was in 1960, for goodness sake. Arnie was the guy. This Palmer is Ryan, nice guy but no relation, golfwise or otherwise.
That was Jack Nicklaus, living atop the leaderboard all those years. But he hasn’t been around. A few other names have drifted by, as in the old World Series of Golf – Nick Price, Curtis Strange, Jose Maria Olazabal, Greg Norman – all on their way to becoming household names. Oh – and then there was Tiger Woods, 7-for-10 in victories, but he didn’t show up this year. Someone by the same name started 74-72, shot 75 Saturday, and he might want to buy dinner for Henrik Stenson and Michael Jonzon for keeping him out of the total cellar of the 80-man field. Clearly an impostor.
So if this really is the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, who are these guys? Well, there’s a Sean O’Hair, tied with Palmer at 9 under. Matt Kuchar, previously best known for his boyish smile at the Masters, in third place.
Oh – and Ernie Els, the veteran just for a sense of stability.
Palmer figures to be at least a degree and a half better. Using the irons he was supposed to use, he shot a nifty 63 Saturday – the day everyone beat up on Firestone – and tied with O’Hair, who shot 64, at 9-under 201. They’re a narrow one up on Kuchar, and two up on Els (64), Justin Leonard (69) and Peter Hanson (68). (That’s Peter Hanson, as in the Swedish Hansons.)
Palmer missed nine cuts in 10 weeks and couldn’t figure out why his iron shots were going where they were going. Then the light. At the recent Canadian Open, the technicians took some measurements.
“We figured they were a degree and a half flat,” Palmer said. That means nothing to a weekend hack. But that’s completely sour to a concert violinist. “We got them all fixed up, and I hit the ball great at Canada, and it carried over to this week, and so far so good,” said Palmer, a comparative newcomer with only one Bridgestone in his past, in 2005.
O’Hair, a grizzled vet by comparison, a tie for 12 was his best in three trips – spent much of his day admiring the work of his playing partner, the Irish whiz-kid, Rory McIlroy. “On No. 1, he nuked it down the middle, and same thing on No. 2, and I was just trying to keep up with him,” O’Hair said. Thus inspired, O’Hair eagled the par-5 No. 2, and rolled from there to a bogey-free 64. McIlroy, on the other hand, merely birdied the second and shot 69 and is five shots behind O’Hair. So who ought to be watching whom?
As the story develops, there ought to be a groundswell of feverish support for Kuchar, who is working himself into an urban legend. He’ll be forever the kid at the Masters in 1998, who smiled and played so well. Well, he’s 32 now, he’s won twice as a pro, and his one brush with the Bridgestone (then the NEC) was in 2002, when it was played at Sahalee, near Seattle. He tied for 38th. This is his first crack at Firestone. Try Firestone on a nine-hole test run. He arrived Tuesday, and decided to hang out with the kids and practice on Wednesday.
“A big storm came in, some lightning, and they blew the horn,” he said. “So I only got the front nine in.”
Still, he managed a one-bogey, five-birdie 66 and sits in third place, a shot ahead of Els, Leonard and Hanson.
Not that this outing is out of reach of the stars. Els, remember, has won twice this year after languishing for a couple years, Phil Mickelson continues to lurk, if much of the time behind trees and such. His escape act fizzled yesterday, and two late bogeys dropped him to a 71 and a tie for 10th. But still just four shots out, well within reach of his left-handed magic.
Still, the board has the flavor of a member-guest, with names such as Overton, Van Pelt, Watney sprinkled in. What it needs is some real flavor. Like a Kenny Perry, a down-home Kentucky boy verging on 50 and the Champions Tour, and longing to get there. He’s only six shots back.
Notes and Quotes from Bridgestone:
Failing Tiger Woods flings parting barb at Mickelson
Did anyone miss the harpoon that a failing Tiger Woods flung at Phil Mickelson? It came in a soft turn of the word as he was leaving Firestone Saturday.
After shooting his worst-ever 75 on Firestone, Woods was asked whether his No. 1 spot in the world rankings was now in danger.
“Well,” said Woods, who has never hidden his disdain for Mickelson, “if Phil plays the way he’s supposed to this weekend, then he’ll be No. 1.”
Neat needle – if Phil plays “the way he’s supposed to …”
PRELIMINARY POST-MORTEM -- Tiger Woods, in 78th place out of 80 going into the final round of the Bridgestone, seems headed for his worst finish ever as a pro. His worst was a tie for 60th in the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open – his pro debut.
Ordidnarily, such stuff by a golfer is pretty much ignored while others are shooting much better, but Woods, obviously, rates continuing attention:
-- With 74-72-75 – 221, 11 over par, he has his highest score in relation to par since turning pro in 1996.
-- His previous worst in a WGC at Firestone, which he won seven times in 10 previous tries, was a tie for fourth.
-- His 75 Saturday was his highest third-round score since the 81 he shot in the 2002 British Open.
-- His accuracy over three rounds has been feeble. He has hit 15 of 42 driving fairways (5-3-7), only 36 percent; and he’s hit 25 of 54 greens in regulation (11-7-7), 46 percent.
JUST GROOVY -- Ryan Palmer, after posting a 7-under 63 for a share of the lead, noted that Firestone’s greens seem softer. (Note that of 80 guys in the field, 35 broke par Saturday. Has the old dragon ever been as quiet?)
In fact, Palmer said, it seemed that greens all over the PGA Tour are softer and holding better this year. Later, he was asked whether someone – the tour, the tournament site people – are softening the greens to compensate for the loss of the square grooves, and thus keep the scoring low. He thought a moment.
“I don’t really know,” Palmer said. “I mean, you look at Colonial [a scoring festival in May], and the Canadian Open. I don’t know if someone’s doing it or if it’s a coincidence.”
LET’S TRY THAT AGAIN -- After rolling in a short mile worth of putts, what would Japan’s Katsumasa Miyamoto give for that 29-footer at the 18th? If it drops, he matches the Firestone South record of 61. But still had a 2-footer left, and he got that and settled for an 8-under 62 and a share of 10th place. The eagle at the par-4 17th took the sting out of it, however.
“Just unbelieveable,” he said, through an interpreter. “Of all the great players that have played here and that haven’t posted that score, it’s just an honor.”
It’s not as though he tore the course up with his irons. It’s the putter that was sizzling. He had 10 one-putt greens – a tap-in after a bunker blast at the par-3 5th, and another at the 16th after nearly holing a birdie chip. He eagled the uphill 17th out of a fairway bunker from 116 yards. Of his seven birdies, the shortest putt was about 4 feet. He had a 30-footer, a couple in the 20-foot range, a few in the 12-15 range.
He once played the PGA Tour. “It’s been 10 years,” he said. “But the food is still good.”
THE QUIET MAN LEAVETH -- Retief Goosen, two-time U.S. Open winner, started the third round leading the tournament by one. But in the flick of a wedge, he was out of it. It was a nightmare triple bogey at the par-4 1st.
“Only a wedge into the green,” Goosen said. “Then I mis-hit the wedge and chipped it over the green, and chipped it and it came back down … And then I actually got on the green, and then two putts.” He shot 73, falling five off the lead, and figured he’s out of the running.
BITS AND PIECES -- Flag-waving, anyone? This is rare enough to mention these days: Eleven of the 15 in the top 10 are Americans, including the co-leaders, Ryan Palmer and Sean O’Hair … the past three Bridgestone winners aren’t doing so well: Stewart Cink is tied for 42nd, Vijay Singh is tied for 60th, and Tiger Woods is 78th (out of 80) … Tops among Bridgestone first-timers is Jason Day, at 208, tied for 24th … Toughest hole of the day, the par-4 9th, at 4.238; the easiest (again), the par-5 2nd, at 4.512 … The course played just a smidgen over par, at 70.088.
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