Notes and Quotes from the PGA:
Goydos comments on Jones' retooling – PGA Championship
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Was this a case of like-father, like-son?It was Robert Trent Jones Sr. who remade Oakland Hills into the famous “monster” of the 1951 U.S. Open. Along comes son, Rees, who retooled the course for this PGA Championship, and who therefore is being - depending on one's outlook - blamed or praised for this latest edition of the monster. The same guy, by the way, who was praised for his retooling of Torrey Pines for the U.S. Open in June.
“It's the setup,” Jones said, explaining the screeching and screaming. In other words, it isn't his fault, though truth be known, he isn't looking crestfallen to be associated with it all.
“The Open has changed, with the graduated rough,” Jones said. “Here, it's 3 or 4 inches deep, and it penalizes the golfer severely.”
It should be noted, he offered, that as the architect, he's responsible for the revisions to the course but not for the setup for the tournament.
“The PGA does the setup,” said Jones, who now has revised 11 courses for majors.
But he can't separate himself from the notion that whatever is out there, he's responsible. Nor was he displeased to learn of what Paul Goydos, soft wit of the PGA Tour, had to say about him. (Goydos, by the way, shot 69 Friday and made the cut easily.
Said Goydos: “If Rees Jones redesigned the game of Scrabble, he'd take out the vowels.”
LONG AND SHORT OF IT - As Vijay Singh was winning at Firestone the week before, he vowed that he was rid of the conventional short putter and was forever wed to the belly putter. “If you ever see me again with a short putter …” he'd said, in one of those statements that trails off rhetorically. Don't look now, but …
Maybe it was a marriage hastily made not in heaven. Singh shot a second 6-over 76 Friday and missed the cut in a PGA for the third straight time after winning it in 2004. A big part of his trouble was putting. He needed 31 putts in the first round, 32 Friday, and the most painful bite came at his final hole, the par-3 No. 9. He hit the green and then five-putted for a 6.
MERCY, MERCY - PGA officials, citing wind conditions and hole locations, moved up the tees on all four of Oakland Hills' tough par-3s, to wit:
-- No. 3 was shortened by just a yard, to 197. (Speaking of mercy.)
-- No. 9, where only two birdies were made in the first round (by 1986 PGA Champion Bob Tway and Aaron Baddeley), was shortened by 10 yards, to 217.
-- No. 13 was shortened by 12 yards, to 179.
-- No. 17 was shortened by 21 yards, to 217.
GOING FOR IT - The par-4 No. 6 was trimmed by 87 yards today, back to 300, to give players a chance to drive the hole. J.B. Holmes, the leader midway through the second round, did drive it and made birdie and shot 68.
BIG SWINGS - Sweden's Robert Karlsson, first-round co-leader with a 68, came back with a 77, but made the cut by three; Australia's Stuart Appleby, 76-70; Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng, playing in his first PGA, 76-70; club pro Eric Dugas, 87-74; Mathew Goggin, 81-75; Andres Romero, 69-78; Mark Brown, 77-69; Billy Mayfair, 69-78.
YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING - Paul Azinger, Ryder Cup captain and former PGA champion, bogeyed the last two holes, but shot 76 and made the cut on the number, 148.
The par-3 17th cost John Daly the cut. He played it in 5-4, shot 74-75 and missed by a shot.
CUTS, KIND AND UNKIND -- The highest 36-hole cut this year came at the British Open, where 9-over 149 made it to the weekend. The second-highest was at the U.S. Open in June, at 7-over 149 made.
IRISH EYES NOT SMILING - Ireland's Padraig Harrington, who won the British Open a month ago, saw his chances fade at becoming the fourth player to win the British and the PGA back-to-back in the same year. Harrington fought for a 4-over 74 Friday and is at 5 over through 36 holes. The other back-to-backers: Tiger Woods 2000, 2006; Nick Price 1994
Walter Hagen 1924.
A CAREER CHANCE - J.B. Holmes was watching the leaderboard. If he could hold on to the lead (he was at 1-under 139), it would be only the second time in his career that he either led or was tied for the lead after 36 holes in a tournament. Holmes was in a five-way tie for the lead earlier this year at the halfway point of the FBR Open, where he eventually went on to win his second career title.
GOOD HUMOR MAN -- “Well,” said Colin Montgomerie, who had opened with a 76, “I think everyone's coming in having stories, and I've got my own story, but - make that your last story, OK?”
There was still some humor in the guy, but then, maybe all you could do was yuk it up after an 84. Monty ran a stretch across the front nine to the back of eight straight holes that he either bogeyed or double-bogeyed. Was he even conscious he was ringing up that kind of load?
“No, no, I wasn't conscious of much, really,” he said, chuckling. “I couldn't have been.”
TIDS AND BITS - Hunter Mahan missed the cut hugely with 81-79 - 160 … England's Lee Westwood, furious at Oakland Hills after an opening 77, came back with a 78.
Return to Tournament Notebook archives