2011 U.S. Open: 36-Hole Records and Other Notes

Editor’s note: I’m at Congressional Country Club this week covering the 2011 U.S. Open. Share your U.S. Open thoughts: Comment below or email me at armchairgolfer@gmail.com.

RORY MCILROY’S THURSDAY AND FRIDAY run at Congressional Country Club set or tied a handful of 36-hole U.S. Open records.

McIlroy’s 36-hole total of 131 (rounds of 65 and 66) is the lowest 36-hole score in U.S. Open history.

McIlroy is the first player to reach 13 under at the U.S. Open. He broke the previous record of 12 under par shared by Gil Morgan in 1992 and Tiger Woods in 2000.

McIlroy was the fifth person in U.S. Open history to reach double digits under par. He performed the feat in the fewest number of holes, 26.

McIlroy’s six-stroke cushion ties the largest 36-hole lead in U.S. Open history, which was set by Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000.

McIlroy, 22, is believed to be the youngest 36-hole leader in 97 years. Walter Hagen led the 1914 U.S. Open after the second round at the age of 21.

The Cut

The 36-hole cut was set at 146, a 4-over total on the par-71 championship layout. The low 60 players plus ties (including all within 10 shots of the lead) advance to the final two rounds.

Notable players who missed the cut include two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els, 2007 U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera, 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk, Paul Casey, Stewart Cink, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Hunter Mahan, Adam Scott, Ian Poulter, Nick Watney, Trevor Immelman, David Toms, Francesco Molinari, Aaron Baddeley, Camilo Villegas, K.J. Choi and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Third Round Tee Times for Leaders

2:50 PM Brandt Jobe (-1), Ryan Palmer (-1)

3:00 PM Davis Love III (-1), Heath Slocum (-1)

3:10 PM Robert Rock (-1), Alvaro Quiros (-1)

3:20 PM Kyung-Tae Kim (-1), Matt Kuchar (-2)

3:30 PM Brandt Snedeker (-2), Zach Johnson (-2)

3:40 PM Sergio Garcia (-2), Robert Garrigus (-2)

3:50 PM Y.E. Yang (-5), Rory McIlroy (-11)

−The Armchair Golfer

Related:
Y.E. Yang Is Hanging Around at 137
2011 U.S. Open: Rory McIlroy Beats Up ‘Neighborhood Bully’
2011 U.S. Open: A Rock and a Hard Place
2011 U.S. Open TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

Y.E. Yang Is Hanging Around at 137

Editor’s note: I’m at Congressional Country Club this week covering the 2011 U.S. Open. Share your U.S. Open thoughts: Comment below or email me at armchairgolfer@gmail.com.

WERE IT NOT FOR Rory McIlroy’s record-setting pace at the U.S. Open, Y.E. Yang might just be the talk of the tournament. The South Korean who slayed Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA Championship backed up his opening 68 with a hard-earned 69. Yang has posted a 5-under total of 137 through 36 holes, six shots behind the streaking McIlroy and three shots clear of the rest of the field.

With birdies at the par-3 7th and par-4 9th, Yang went out in 34. I caught up with him at the 11th and watched as he pulled his approach shot on the 494-yard par 4 into the deep stuff left of the green. He was unable to salvage a par, but got the shot back at the 12th with a birdie from short range after an exquisite wedge shot. (Playing partners Ryo Ishikawa and Anthony Kim also birdied the 12th to make it three for three.)

Yang bogeyed again after pulling his tee shot at the par-3 13th. The pulls, it seemed, were a trend—at least on the back nine. After making par at the 14th, Yang yanked his tee shot into the tall rough on the long par-4 15th. He laid up, wedged on, and sank the putt for a scrappy par. He followed with his fourth birdie of the round at the par-5 16th and finished with two pars.

It looked like a round during which Yang didn’t have his best game and yet manufactured a good score, which is exactly what you need to do at the U.S. Open. Take away McIlroy and Yang would have a three-shot lead on six players at 2-under, or 140. Instead, Yang will try to keep McIlroy within sight as they tee off in the final pairing on Saturday afternoon.

Yang said he isn’t concerned about McIlroy at the moment, focusing instead on his own game and how to get around a rugged U.S. Open layout.

“I do have a strategy and that’s just to zone out everything around me and just play my game,” he said.

But he also doesn’t believe that McIlroy has an insurmountable lead. Yang cited last year’s Korean Open where he won after trailing by 10 shots.

“I know it’s sort of a different kind of level of golf tournament,” he said, “but still there are many amazing things that happen in golf.”

There’s a long way to go, 36 holes of pressure-filled U.S. Open golf. If McIlroy keeps playing like he did the first two days, no one will catch him. But if he runs into a rough patch, Yang might have the fortitude and game to rise to the top of the leaderboard. After all, he’s already taken down a Tiger.

−The Armchair Golfer

Related:
2011 U.S. Open: Rory McIlroy Beats Up ‘Neighborhood Bully’
2011 U.S. Open: A Rock and a Hard Place
2011 U.S. Open TV Schedule and Tournament Notes
2011 U.S. Open: A 16-Year-Old Player and Other Notes
2011 U.S. Open: ‘Big Blue’ Ready to Challenge Field of 156

(Photo: Courtesy of Ballantine’s)

2011 U.S. Open: Day 1 Belongs to Rory McIlroy

Editor’s note: I’m at Congressional Country Club this week covering the 2011 U.S. Open. Share your U.S. Open thoughts: Comment below or email me at armchairgolfer@gmail.com.

WHEN Y.E. YANG CAME HOME in 68 strokes earlier in the day, I thought the score might hold up for the first-round lead. But then along came Rory McIlroy who played what he termed “stress-free golf.” (I didn’t know there was such a thing at the U.S. Open.)

The supremely talented Irishman blitzed the difficult Blue Course, carding a 6-under 65 to take a three-stroke lead over Yang and Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, who also posted a 68.

Here’s what McIlroy said in a “flash” interview immediately after his round.

Q. That was spectacular, six birdies, no bogeys. Talk about your experiences in this round.

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it was a good round of golf. I didn’t really put a foot wrong. The only mistake I made was missing the green on 14, and I held a nice sort of 15 footer for par there. Apart from that it was pretty much stress free golf. It was nice. I feel like I’m driving it well. I’m hitting my iron shots good, holing a few putts. So it’s a nice combination.

Q. Is the course set up perfectly for you?

RORY McILROY: When I got here last week on Wednesday, I felt like the golf course set up good for me. It sort of worked out that way.

Q. I don’t know if you ever get comfortable on a U.S. Open golf course, but you looked comfortable, did you feel that way?

RORY McILROY: I did, yeah, I felt very comfortable. I said this in the press conference Tuesday. It doesn’t feel like a typical U.S. Open, for some reason. The golf course is going to get harder and it’s going to get firmer and it’s going to get trickier, but I still feel that it’s very playable and fair. If you don’t hit a fairway, you’ve still got a chance to hit it on the green and give yourself a chance for birdie. I like the way they’ve set up the golf course this year.

Meanwhile, McIlroy’s playing partners in the marquee grouping struggled to post a good number. Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson shot 74 and 75, respectively. With a ball in the water at the challenging par-3 10th (his first hole of the day), Mickelson’s round and 41st birthday got off to a rocky start. Lefty made a double bogey and had to steady himself the rest of the way.

The boys had a huge gallery, as you might imagine. I followed along for a few holes, but it was difficult to get a good look at the action.

In addition to McIlroy, Yang and Schwartzel, six players broke 70 in scoring conditions made easier by overcast skies and relatively cool temperatures. British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Sergio Garcia are among the group of players who are at 3-under par after 69s.

−The Armchair Golfer

Related:
2011 U.S. Open: ‘Big Blue’ Ready to Challenge Field of 156
2011 U.S. Open TV Schedule and Tournament Notes
2011 U.S. Open: A 16-Year-Old Player and Other Notes

Y.E. Yang Takes Early Lead at Congressional

Editor’s note: I’m springing out of my armchair to spend the week at Congressional Country Club covering the 2011 U.S. Open. Share your U.S. Open thoughts: Comment below or email me at armchairgolfer@gmail.com.

THE 10TH IS A FRIGHTENING hole on Congressional’s Blue Course, a 218-yard par 3 that crosses a small lake. Few would choose to start their U.S. Open here, but many have no choice. For Y.E. Yang, the clubhouse leader after a 3-under 68, it was the perfect start. While others have nervously dunked their golf balls in the water (Phil Mickelson, for one), Yang smacked a 5-iron hybrid and watched it fly toward the green.

“It was a very straight, honest hit, and it landed quite well,” Yang said. The 2009 PGA Championship winner sank the putt for a birdie and was off to a round during which he birdied all four par 3s, a first in his career.

Carding five birdies and two bogeys, Yang put together nines of 3-under 33 and even-par 35 for his 68. The softer conditions resulting from overcast skies and cooler-than-normal temperatures helped the cause. It won’t get any easier, he said.

Yang believes his experience as a major winner can help him the rest of the way. “I know the feeling, and I know that it’s a little more of everything in a major than it is in other tournaments, so it’s easier for me to cope with that kind of pressure or expectations. It definitely has some kind of psychological advantage.”

Louis Oosthuizen and Ryan Palmer finished with 2-under 69s. A half-dozen players have completed play at 1-under 70, including defending champion Graeme McDowell, Stewart Cink and Davis Love III.

−The Armchair Golfer

Related:
2011 U.S. Open: ‘Big Blue’ Ready to Challenge Field of 156
2011 U.S. Open TV Schedule and Tournament Notes
2011 U.S. Open: Play the Groupings Name Game
2011 U.S. Open: A 16-Year-Old Player and Other Notes

My Happy Ignorance of Delayed Honda Coverage

ON SUNDAY AT 4 P.M. Eastern Time I tuned in to final-round coverage of the Honda Classic. This is pretty typical for me. I’m a lot like the guy who tunes in to the final quarter of an NBA game. I’m most interested in the back nine on Sunday, especially from 14 or so to the clubhouse. Besides, most weekends I’m just not able to invest long hours in front of the tube (unless it’s the Masters or U.S. Open or British Open or Ryder Cup). If I could devote that much time to golf viewing, then my daughters would already be at college and I’d be pondering my Medicare prescription plan.

I read this morning that some people were miffed about the tape-delayed coverage of the final round. As Mostly Harmless pointed out, this has been the case for most of the last decade at Palm Beach Gardens. The sun sets at around 6:30 p.m. in early March in Florida. Tournament organizers want to make sure the event concludes on Sunday. NBC has other obligations and wants to stick to the normal 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. time slot.

It had no impact on this armchair golfer. I wasn’t online so I didn’t know ahead of time that Rory Sabbatini held off Y.E. Yang to win his sixth PGA Tour title. I try to unplug on Sunday, a digital day of rest.

I was totally ignorant as the gentler, kinder “Sabo” survived the Bear Trap and his orange friend, Yang, to claim a one-stroke victory. I thought I was watching live television when Rory tearfully told Dottie Pepper how much he looked forward to Maui in January. (I, too, would shed crocodile tears if I could go to Hawaii in the dead of winter.)

I watched the Jackfest (Jack Nicklaus in the booth with Johnny Miller and Dan Hicks). That was nothing new. Johnny and Jack are like my golf uncles. I feel like I’ve heard every one of their stories many times. (Which must mean I’m really old.) It’s like a golf family reunion with Uncle Johnny and Uncle Jack.

Those shirts threw me, though. Johnny and Dan were wearing polo shirts adorned with Golf Channel logos. I know about the new partnership between NBC and Golf Channel. And I’ve seen the “Golf Channel on NBC” tagline. But I guess I still don’t get it. Not entirely. I certainly didn’t expect to see Johnny Miller and Dan Hicks wearing blue Golf Channel shirts.

Maybe I need to re-read that Golf Channel press release.

−The Armchair Golfer

‘Lost,’ Starring Tiger Woods

After all, this was more than just Pavarotti missing the high “C.” It was Houdini locking himself out of his own house. It was Michelangelo falling off the scaffold. It was Shakespeare splitting all his infinitives.
−Global Golf Post, on Tiger Woods’s debacle at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

TV’S “LOST” ISN’T OVER. It’s just shifted from a tropical island to a championship golf course, from an adventure-drama-fantasy to a grim reality show, from a cast of many to a cast of one—Tiger Woods.

“Lost,” the one-word headline I saw on this morning’s Global Golf Post, is the perfect adjective for Tiger Woods. “Unable to find one’s way” is one definition. It fits Eldrick at the moment, certainly on the golf course. Tiger can’t find a fairway, a green, or even his masterful putting stroke. First Tiger lost control of himself; now he’s lost control of his golf game. He’s stranded on an island of his own creation with no rescue in sight. It’s stunning. And it isn’t.

“Tiger seems lost with no way out” was the headline of an opinion piece penned by Tim Dahlberg of The Associated Press. “Woods is lost,” wrote CBSsports.com’s Steve Elling. “His game is in tatters. His personal life is even worse. There is no refuge for the guy at the moment.” “Has Tiger Woods lost his mojo for good?” asked FoxNews.com. Former swing coach Butch Harmon also used the “L” word.

“I think people have figured out he’s just a human being,” Hunter Mahan, the player who rallied on Sunday to win the Bridgestone, said in January. Mahan also mentioned that “No one is scared of him [Tiger]” since Mr. Kryptonite, Y.E. Yang, killed off golf’s Superman at the 2009 PGA Championship.

You and I might be shocked by Tiger’s 298 at Firestone, but Tiger wasn’t. “No, it doesn’t surprise me at all actually.”

Only Swede Henrik Stenson spared Tiger the ultimate indignity of finishing dead last in a prestigious WGC event Tiger had won seven of nine times.

Lost. The most damaging four-letter word of all for Tiger Woods.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Q&A: Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee

Editor’s note: The following Q&A was provided to ARMCHAIR GOLF by Mandarin Media the week before the U.S. Open. Thongchai Jaidee finished in a tie for 47th.

Q: You are currently ranked No. 46 in the world, good enough to earn a U.S. Open spot at Pebble Beach. Is that a thrill or just another competitive opportunity?

THONGCHAI JAIDEE: As a professional golfer, I try to perform well in every tournament. But since the U.S. Open is one of the majors, every player tries harder to perform well—because the field is full of talented people.

Q: You have won 12 times on the Asian Tour; you competed in your second Masters this year, you were a quarterfinalist at the World Match Play in 2010, and you are slated for this week’s U.S. Open. What are the similarities between players in the U.S. and Europe, compared with Asian tour pros—and what separates them?

THONGCHAI JAIDEE: Looking at world golf generally, there aren’t many differences between each tour. This shouldn’t surprise anyone because players from the Asia-Pacific region, such as Y.E. Yang and Michael Campbell, have already won majors. Other leading players are performing well on the European Tour. The standard of play today is very high everywhere.

Q: You didn’t play golf until you were 16 years of age, and soon thereafter you entered the Royal Thai Army. Where did you learn the game?

THONGCHAI JAIDEE: The very first course, where I started my golfing life, was Jompol Por Golf Course located in the army camp in my home town. This is not unusual. Many army bases in Thailand include golf courses that are accessible to public play. My old house was right beside the course and my first contact with golf was serving as a caddie there at Jompol Por.

Q: Tell us about your golf foundation. What does it set out to accomplish?

THONGCHAI JAIDEE: The Thongchai Jaidee Foundation officially launched in 2009. My initial thought was that I wanted to support children, hoping to create new generations of Thai golfers. Who knows? We might find another Tiger Woods among those boys or girls. My intention is to give them knowledge of the game, a tool to earn their living perhaps. I’m hoping at the very least to assist in turning them away from drugs.


Thailand as a Golf Destination

Q: Thailand is by far the most popular golf destination for Asians, but North Americans and Europeans may not know much about it. In your view, what recommends golf in Thailand?

THONGCHAI JAIDEE: I recommend golf in Thailand for its year-round golfing, and for the numerous world-class golf courses. There are hundreds. Nevertheless, I believe the hospitality of Thai people is the one thing that will impress visitors most when they visit my country. Thailand offers so many relaxing activities—Thai massage, the world’s finest beaches and so many other tourist attractions—but it is Thai hospitality that makes the strongest impression.

Q: When you play golf in Thailand today, where do you prefer to play? What are your favorite Thai courses and why?

THONGCHAI JAIDEE: When I am home, I still practice at Jompol Por GC, and Narai Hill Golf and Country Club in Lopburi. These two courses are close to my home and make for easy access. But when I have more time, I will practice at Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin, which I can highly recommend for beginners, serious golfers, even professionals. It is one of my favorite courses because it boasts a very challenging layout and championship-standard course conditions. Also, the way the wind blows up there, it prepares me well for the conditions I can expect when playing in Europe.

Q: Lopburi, your hometown, is a rather new area for golf in Thailand. What makes it special and do you recommend golfers visit this area of Thailand?

THONGCHAI JAIDEE: Well, it’s a bit early to consider Lopburi in the same breath as golf destinations like Hua Hin, Phuket, Rayong or Samui. These regions are home to some of the top resort courses in the world. But the courses here in Lopburi do offer a fine challenge to golfers who seek new venues. They are standard courses and well equipped with facilities.

Q: You surely play many pro-am tournaments alongside amateur players. Have many of them played golf in Thailand? What’s their impression of golf in your native country?

THONGCHAI JAIDEE: If I am playing a pro-am in Asia, most of them already know very well that Thailand is a wonderful golf destination. I would include some of those who play with me in European pro-ams, as well. Thailand has been promoted as the ultimate golf destination for golfers seeking championship-standard courses, offered at very reasonable prices. That describes Thai golf very well, in my opinion.

(Brought to you by YourGolfTravel.com.)

(Image courtesy of Mandarin Media)

2010 Honda Classic TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

UPDATE:
Click here for 2011 Honda Classic TV schedule and tournament info

THE 2010 HONDA CLASSIC is being played at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim share the 36-hole lead.

Purse: $5.6 million
Winner’s share: $1.008 million
Defending champion: Y.E. Yang

Inside the field
Inside the course
Tee times
Full tournament news
The live report
What players said
Photo gallery

2010 Honda Classic Leaderboard

TV SCHEDULE

Six hours of weekend TV coverage are on tap for the 2010 Honda Classic.

Sat, 3/6:
NBC 3p - 6p ET

Sun, 3/7:
NBC 3p - 6p ET

PGA Tour radio coverage

−The Armchair Golfer