Tough day at office for World Cup golfers
SMASHED tee markers and near-unplayable bunkers turned World Cup Friday into a fight for survival as Australia’s day-one grip on the trophy nearly slipped away.
On Thursday, Ian Poulter said the only real way to prepare for alternate shot play was to get ready for a quick round.
The Englishman could not have been more wrong as wicked weather sent combatants to all parts of Metropoli- tan, and team Australia tumbling from the top of the leaderboard.
Despite the two-ball format, rounds for the 28 groups stretched close to five hours thanks to lost balls and waterfilled sand traps.
And after a blistering opening-round 62, the Aussie pair of Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith now have to do the catching up they thought they had avoided.
Frustration reached boiling point when Smith sent his drive on the ninth so far right, the third fairway loomed as the only way out and he slammed his club in the ground.
The Aussies made par there, but slipped to as many as seven off the lead after an ugly opening nine before rallying late in a second-up 76 that was, unlike the weather, hot and cold.
The home team is four shots behind joint leaders Bel- gium and Korea, who both defied the constant wind and rain to remain in double figures at -10 with just three rounds under par for the day
“It was pretty brutal,” Leishman said.
“I don’t play when it’s like this. If I look out the window and it’s like this, I’m settling in on the couch. I haven’t played in conditions like that for a while – probably a British Open would be the last time.”