Tourney begins at haven for record breakers
SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — When Henrik Stenson’s putt gently toppled into the cup on the final hole of the British Open two weeks ago, there was more significance to it than the closing 63 that earned the Swede his first major triumph.
Stenson finished the tournament at Royal Troon a remarkable 20 under par, with Phil Mickelson the only player within 14 shots of him.
His score tied for the lowest in relation to par in the history of majors. The first to get there? Jason Day in taking his first major at the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
Four months before that, Jordan Spieth shot 18 under to capture his first Masters, tying the Augusta National record set by Tiger Woods in 1997.
Do these guys know majors are supposed to be hard?
And now they begin the PGA Championship today at Baltusrol Golf Club, which has been a haven for recordbreakers, even if they pale by today’s standards.
In the 1967 U.S. Open, Jack Nicklaus’ famous 1-iron to the1 8th green helped him shoot 275 and break by one Ben Hogan’s tournament scoring record. Thirteen years later, Nicklaus beat his own mark by scoring 8-under 272 at Baltusrol. Lee Janzen came to New Jersey in 1993 and tied Nicklaus.
Mickelson’s winning score in the 2005 PGA was 4 under, which seems like a laughably easy target now. Heck, Dustin Johnson shot 4 under at brutal Oakmont to win this year’s U.S. Open.
It seems as if there is now a sizable handful of players who can go absurdly low, rather than the one guy who wore red shirts every Sunday. Maybe there are just more like Woods now, in both skill and mentality.
Some are reaching territory Woods never touched.
“Tiger was so good, I think if he needed to get to those numbers, he probably could have,” four-time major winner Rory McIlroy said. “But he did enough. He did what he needed to do.
“Do I feel like I’m playing five or 10 Tigers out there? No. I feel like that would be disrespectful toward Tiger.
“But the fields are deeper and so many guys have chances to win tournaments. I feel like technology has definitely brought fields closer together. Guys are able to hit out there as long as they need to now, and it’s a matter of just doing it when it counts.”
McIlroy has two blowout major victories, winning the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA by eight shots each.