NOT SO EASY ALL OF A SUDDEN
Players fight for par on unforgiving course; Matsuyama out front
After it became clear that par would be a great score at Olympia Fields, one of the toughtest tests of the year, leave it to Hideki Matsuyama to make a 65-foot birdie putt on his final hole Thursday to lead after one round at the BMW Championship.
Matsuyama, the Japanese player who has gone three years since his last victory, birdied two of his last three holes for a 3-under 67, one of only three rounds under par on a course that was long, tough, firm and fast — and nothing like the last two weeks.
Tyler Duncan, just outside the top 30 as he tries to earn his first trip to the Tour Championship, made an 8-foot par putt on his last hole for a 68. Mackenzie Hughes, one of only four players who reached 3 under at any point in his round, was another shot behind.
“I’m not sure really what I had going today, but that last putt, the long putt that went in, very happy with that one,” Matsuyama said. “So we’ll remember that one.”
Dustin Johnson, who won the Northern Trust last week at 30-under par, opened with a 71 and felt like it was a good day’s work. He was told that even three straight rounds of 60 would not be enough to reach 30 under at Olympia Fields.
“Yeah, but I would win,” he said. By a landslide, no doubt. Tiger Woods needs to finish around fourth to have any hope of returning to East Lake next week in Atlanta to chase the $15 million bonus for the FedEx Cup winner. He was hovering around even par, a few shots out of the lead. He finished with three straight bogeys for a 73 and was running hotter than the weather.
Woods, a three-time U.S. Open champion, knows all about control, patience and key pars and putts. And then he let a reasonable round get away from him.
“The course was fine,” Woods said. “The course is in perfect shape. Not the way I wanted to finish.”
The average score was 72.8, and only four of the 18 holes played under par. That included both par 5s. This is what the U.S. Open could have used in 2003, instead of rainsoftened conditions. It was hot in the morning, baking out a dry course. The rough is 5 inches in spots. The greens were hard, making it tough to get the ball close and nearly impossible to get shots to stop on the green from out of the rough.
“I think when golf courses become like this and pars are a premium, I think I’m almost more comfortable at times because you don’t feel like you’ll ever get left behind when you’re running off a few pars in a row,” Hughes said. “Like last week, if you got off to a slow start and you were even par through six holes, you felt like you were getting run over.”
Rory McIlroy was among 10 players who finished at 70 and saw it as a success. He hasn’t registered a top 10 since golf returned in June from its coronavirus shutdown.