Friday, August 18, 2006

TGIF at Medinah

Major championships have personalities.
The Masters is outwardly genteel, painted in springtime, but it's really a demon with greens that can make grown men cry. Or four putt.
The U.S. Open is just miserable, a contest to see who can make the fewest bogeys, protecting par like Coca-Cola protects its recipe.
The British Open goes for old world style, buffetted by wind and played on brown golf courses where the ball tends to roll like a runaway marble.
And then there is the PGA, just a good tough tournament where everyone plays.
But this PGA, at least halfway through, has gone soft. Too soft.
"This isn't playing like a major championship, in my opinion and in most opinions," Arron Oberholser said. "It's just like (the) Wachovia (Championship). It looks like Wachovia. If you can keep it in the fairway, you can shoot some scores.
"This week, I dare say, is turning into a putting contest as long as you hit your driver in the fairway."
Well, then.
Of course, 60 players broke par on Thursday, the most sub-par rounds on one day in the history of the PGA Championship, which dates back before Jack Nicklaus.
It may get easier before it gets harder. It's forecast to rain overnight, which would soften already soft greens.
But it's fun to watch the best players in the world making birdies.
And, maybe by Saturday, we'll have figured out what a Henrik Stenson is.

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