Stenson survives, thrives on Day 1
Tied at the top: Johnson keeps it simple and straight to share lead; Woods, caddies stumble on ‘crash course’
Whenever his career ends, and we trust it won’t be any time soon, The Adventures Of Henrik Stenson is going to make one fantastic book.
Thursday at Chambers Bay, the big, occasionally eccentric Swede (see: strips to underwear, plays shot out of water, Doral, 2009) birdied four of his last five holes to tie Dustin Johnson’s 65 for the early first-round lead of the 115th U.S. Open.
Which is nice for him, but with Stenson, it’s what comes later that is always the interesting part: describing his day’s work, which inevitably morphs into … well, other things.
Thursday, there was the tale of his caddy, Gareth Lord, who dutifully lugged the bag around the difficult terrain despite a heavily-taped wrist after taking a tumble down a slick slope during a practice round the day before, a couple of holes before the caddy of his playing partner, Stephen Gallacher, did the same thing.
“Was there any point that you thought you might have to get a different caddy?” Stenson was asked. “Well, I mean that’s a thought that I’ve had many times with Gareth,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.
“No, of course I was worried. He took the fall and I asked him if he was OK and he said he was OK, but he was a little quiet. And then five minutes later, it just started getting black and blue up the lower part of his arm. So we knew something wasn’t right.
“So it’s definitely dangerous with those slopes and the grass gets shiny and lays down. It gets a bit like ice skating out there. So I’m sure the spectators are going to have to watch themselves, as well.”
Gallacher had to replace his man, Damian Moore, who twisted an ankle and was wearing a walking cast Thursday.
The slopes in general, on hills, fairways and greens, are among the primary defences of Chambers Bay, but they were relatively well-behaved for the opening round, at least.
Five-under-par 65 is good playing in any major, but particularly on an unfamiliar course, baked brown and making its maiden voyage.
The leaders, and the other two dozen or so players who were under par at day’s end, seemed to handle it all right.
Others soiled themselves, none so plainly as Tiger Woods, lost soul, who shot 80 and beat only two players out of 156, one of them his playing competitor Rickie Fowler (81). The Woods-Fowler-Louis Oosthuizen marquee group shot 28-overpar.
But the plethora of good scores Thursday can mean only one thing.
“I think the USGA typically has a formula where they start out and it’s quite playable Thursday and Friday,” said Matt Kuchar, whose 67 tied him with Ben Martin for fourth, a shot back of Patrick Reed and two behind the coleaders. “I think we’ll see it teeter on the edge come Saturday.”
Stenson and Johnson are both long hitters, but the course didn’t seem to especially favour bombers on Day 1.
“You can’t really overpower this golf course,” said Johnson, who had a bogey-free, six-underpar round going until he found grief at the difficult par-3 9th, his final hole.
“It helps to hit it longer, only if you’re hitting it straighter. If you’re not in the fairway, doesn’t matter how far you got, it’s hard to get it close to the hole.”
Phil Mickelson, with another chance to complete his career Grand Slam, had the crowds buzzing early when he made the turn in 32, but three back-nine bogeys reduced his round to a more modest 69.
“I thought it played terrific. There was nothing hokey or crazy with any pin positions or how it played,” Mickelson said. “I think the biggest challenge is that the green speeds are different from green to green. That’s going to wreak havoc on our touch.”
He wasn’t the only one to notice. World No. 1 Rory McIlroy struggled to a 72, and never got the feel of the greens.
“Ball striking wise, I hit some real quality shots out there. I set up a lot of birdie chances,” Stenson said. “I was inside five feet for the first three holes and started off with two birdies and missed the shortest one: from 3½ feet down the hill, almost left it short.
“I had hit a few putts on that putting green before I went out and it was lightning down towards the holes. (But) the putting green all week, the one down here has been burnt. It was like a cricket pitch when we came here on Sunday.”
Asked if he liked the course the first time he saw it, Stenson smiled.
“It’s different. Of its kind, it’s one of the finest,” he said, parroting an oft-quoted piece of faint praise made famous by Gary Player.
The golfers are in vastly better shape than they used to be, but still, the 7½-mile trek around Chambers Bay is no piece of cake.
“It’s a challenging walk. There’s a lot of steep climbing and I’m sure there will be some tired glutes by the end of the week.”
He might not have been referring specifically to Woods’s famous “deactivated glutes” but then again, he might.
Anyway, Woods isn’t going to have to worry about the end of the week. His glutes will be parked on an airplane seat come this afternoon.