Notes and Quotes from the PGA:
Westwood rough on PGA over rough – PGA Championship
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - It must be nice in Britain this time of year. Lee Westwood, a pre-tournament favorite for the PGA Championship, got to thinking about taking a vacation. It would seem he can get a head start.“Standing on the 17th tee, I asked me caddie if he could hear the sea,” Westwood said, in the highest humor he could muster, “as I am sure I could hear my holiday calling.”
Westwood, who challenged in the WGC-Bridgestone last, opened this PGA with a thumping 7-over-par 77. He started at No. 10, and by the 17th tee, he was already 5 over. And already steaming about the rough.
“I didn't do a lot wrong,” he said. “The fairways were narrow, and unfortunately if you miss the semi [rough] by a foot, you are worse off that if you miss by 20 yards.” He questioned whether that's fair.
“I'm not sure you need rough as long as it is, and,” he added, accusing the PGA of tricking up the course, “you certainly don't need to sweep it back towards the tee the night before the tournament when we have played it as it is in the practice rounds. It is five inches long. Why brush it back at us?
“They are sucking the fun out of the major championships when you set it up like that.”
SWEDE ON THE LOOSE - Sweden's Robert Karlsson, co-leader with Jeev Milkha Singh at 68 before the weather delay, is the only player to record top-10 finishes in each of the first three major championships of 2008. His only other career top-10 finish in a major championship came in 1992, when he tied for fifth the British Open.
WEARING (OUT) OF THE GREEN - Three of Oakland Hills' greens had to be watered by hand (syringed) during the first round because of “dryness of and strain on the grass,” said Kerry Haigh, the PGA's managing director of championships. “This is normal practice when greens are show stress because of wind and other factors,” Haigh said. “The watering helps keep them alive.” The syringing cools down the grasses, he said.
HEAVY WEATHER - Play was suspended at 5:33 p.m. because of threatening heavy weather. Huge ominous clouds rolled in, carrying the threat of lightning. (players taken out to spots at 6:56, play to resume. Play resumed at 6:58 p.m.
IT'S THE OTHER SINGH - A guy named Singh was the first in this PGA to post a round under par, but it wasn't the familiar Vijay, former PGA winner. This was India's Jeev Milkha Singh, shooting a 2-under 68. Singh has two runner-up finishes to his credit on the European Tour this year and recorded his best finish in 20 career starts on the PGA Tour with a tie for 25th at the Masters.
LOOKING AHEAD - Sergio Garcia, who won the Players Championship in May, opened the PGA with a 1-under 69, so he has at least a little toe up on joining Hal Sutton as the only players to win the Players and the PGA in the same year. Sutton did it in 1983.
THE EAGLE HAS FLOWN -- The first eagle of the PGA was recorded by Bob Hope Chrysler winner D.J. Trahan at the par-5 No. 2. He went on to shoot 72.
PAR IS SWEET - “I'm just happy to have shot even par today,” Phil Mickelson, the 2005 PGA champion, was saying. Mickelson, who blew the WGC-Bridgestone with three bogeys over the final four holes the week before, seemed on his way to another crash in the PGA's first round. Starting at No. 10, he bogeyed his first two holes, shot 36, but leveled out for a par 70. “In thought it was pretty good to hang in there, and fight and make some birdies,” he said. He's broken par in the first round only once in his last five starts.
BETTER THAN FAIR -- Billy Mayfair (69) has played well recently, posted 14 of 16 rounds under par in his last four tournaments.
The highest first-round score (to par) to lead at the PGA Championship in the past 20 years is 3-under 67. Six players shared the opening-round lead at Baltusrol Golf Club in 2005, while Nick Price and Colin Montgomerie shared the lead after 18 holes at the 1994 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club. The last time a score of 2-under or higher led after 18 holes of the PGA Championship was in 1974, when Hubert Green, Raymond Floyd and John Schlee were tied at Tanglewood Golf Club with rounds of 2-under 68.
VETERAN CAMPAIGNER -- Jay Haas, dominant Champions Tour player, who shot 71, is the only player in the field to have played in the last three majors and the 2004 Ryder Cup, held Oakland Hills. He tied for seventh at the 1979 PGA Championship, shared 15th at the 1985 U.S. Open and was joint 90th at the 1996 U.S. Open. Haas also posted a 1-2-1 record in the U.S. loss at the Ryder Cup. Corey Pavin and Paul Azinger both played in the 1985 and '96 U.S. Open. There are 30 players in the field who competed in the 1996 U.S. Open with Tom Lehman and Davis Love III the high finishers in a tie for second, one stroke behind the champion, Steve Jones.
NOT YOUR OLD OAKLAND HILLS -- Hunter Mahan, who has known success at Oakland Hills, couldn't find the touch Thursday. He struggled to an 81. Mahan is one of four players in the field who won at least two matches at the 2002 U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills.
PICKING UP SPEED? -- Jim Furyk has generally gotten off to slow starts in the PGA Championship. In the last 10 years, only once has he found himself in the top 20 after 18 holes, and that was in 2002, when he was leading. His 71 this time was tied for 11th.
THE EAGLE COMETH -- The first eagle of the 2008 PGA Championship was recorded by D.J. Trahan, this at the par-5 second to move to 2-under for the early lead. But he cooled off and finished with a 2-over 72,
67 ANYONE? -- The highest first-round score (to par) to lead at the PGA Championship in the past 20 years is 3-under 67. Six players shared the opening-round lead at Baltusrol Golf Club in 2005 (3-under 67), while Nick Price and Colin Montgomerie shared the lead after 18 holes at the 1994 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club (3-under 67).
FIRST-ROUND BETTORS - Retief Goosen led the first round at the 2001 U.S. Open, where he shot 4-under 66, and went on from there to win his first major. Goosen is coming off a tie for fourth last week at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. He hasn't had back-to-back top-5 finishes since 2006.
BIG BEN TOLLS -- Three of Ben Curtis' 10 career top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR have come in major championships: British Open - 2008 (a tie for seventh), 2007 (tie for eighth), and in his first, a victory in 2003.
PERRY WITHDRAWS -- Kenny Perry withdrew after the first round of the PGA Championship with an eye injury. He had completed his round of 79.
DARKNESS HALTS PLAY FOR SOME -- When play was suspended on Thursday night due to darkness, 18 players were yet to complete their opening rounds.
Return to Tournament Notebook archives