PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- Lift, clean and place rules led to the lowest first-round scoring average in 12 years at the Buick Challenge Thursday.
Heavy showers Wednesday night, leading to light rain Thursday morning, caused officials to put the rules in effect, which allow players to clean mud off a ball that is in the fairway and set it back down in a good lie. The result was 118 players in the 132-man field turning in cards of par or better.
"With the ball being in our hand, the scoring is out there," said leader Tim Herron, who shot a 9-under 63 in the morning.
The average of 69.508 was almost a stroke lower than last year's average of 70.568, which at that time set a record. Fifteen eagles carded throughout the day also set a record, besting by one the record of 14 set in 1992.
"I felt like I was right at home playing a qualifier back at the University of Oregon," Ben Crane said after shooting a 65 to tie for second. "You know we were always playing lift, clean and place. It was a little cold but when you are playing with lift, clean and place you always have a nice lie and the greens are obviously extremely receptive right now so wherever you hit it is pretty much where it is going to stay so you can be aggressive with it."
The only thing that players may have lacked due to the wet conditions was distance off the tee.
"The course certainly played a lot longer today because we didn't get any roll in the fairways but the greens were very receptive and because we played lift, clean and place with all the water we saw a lot of low scores today," said Phil Mickelson, who shot a 7-under 65. "The fairways played much wider because we didn't have the roll to have it run through into the rough so a lot of guys hit fairways and were able to attack some pins, so we saw a lot of low scores."
In addition to the low scores, 19 players went around the par-72 track without a single bogey.
IN POSITION: Some players are working for more than just a paycheck this week. Coming down to the end of the season, getting into the top 30 to play in next week's Tour Championship or into the top 125 to keep next year's card is high on the minds of many in the field.
Three players close to the top 125 felt the heat today, all shooting a 1-under 71 that was a shot-and-a-half off the day's average. Per-Ulrik Johansson (No. 120), Craig Barlow (No. 123) and Jay Don Blake (No. 128) all shot the mediocre scores, which put them in a tie for 91st and in danger of missing the cut.
Another player at risk, Carlos Franco (No. 119), shot a first-round 66 and is tied for eighth.
CUT MAN: Australian Peter Lonard, a rookie on the PGA Tour, shot a 4-under 68 Thursday and looks able to make the cut again this week. Lonard has not missed a single cut this season, playing the weekend in 22 of 22 events.
The consistency has helped Lonard at the bank. He's earned $1,407,367 so far this season, good for 39th position on the money list.
Lonard's best finish in 2002 is a tie for third at the Genuity Championship, while his worst is a tie for 54th at the WGC-American Express Championship a month ago in Ireland. While nothing in his stats for the year is outstanding, his all-around ranking is 15th on Tour, showing his ability to do everything adequately. A scoring average of 69.89 doesn't hurt either -- that's ninth best on Tour.
Friday, October 18, 2002
Tuesday, October 8, 2002
Inside the Numbers: Sluman no guarantee with first-day lead
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- First he won the Greater Milwaukee Open in July. Then he picked up three top-10 finishes in the seven events he's played since without missing a cut. Now, Jeff Sluman is starting the week at the Disney Golf Classic by shooting a first-round 63.
The 63 is Sluman's best effort since Milwaukee, where he shot the same in the third round. In his last six rounds, Sluman has gone 37-under and averaged 65.66 a go.
Sluman missed the cut last year at Disney, but it was only his second time to do so in an otherwise admirable series of performances in Orlando. With two seventh-place finishes and another pair of top-25 finishes since 1985, Sluman has accumlated $212,786.87 in the land of Mickey Mouse.
The only downfall for Sluman statistically: Out of the last nine times he's held a first-round lead, he's failed to convert a trophy.
GETTING A LIFT: The Palm course, traditionally the easier of the two tracks at Disney, became a little more scoreable Thursday when lift, clean and place rules were in effect. Players could move the ball within one clublength in any area mowed to fairway height or less.
Seven of the 11 players in the top 10 and ties played the Palm course, which averaged 68.736 strokes as compared to the Magnolia course's 69.986.
But no matter how you slice it, neither of the courses at Disney are considered difficult layouts. Of the 143 players in the field, 125 were at par or better.
"The Magnolia is in better shape," said Stuart Appleby. "It looks like it's a little higher, the water table has climbed up, we had a wet summer. The course today was really really wet. But Magnolia generally is a little bit more open."
And players may find mud in the fairways, but the greens are in better shape.
"It's drying up and the greens are perfect," co-leader Bob Burns said. "The greens are firm and fast already. They are in perfect shape."
ROOKIE MAGIC: Unless something dramatic happens Friday, Peter Lonard will make his 22nd cut of the year. The Australian rookie hasn't missed the weekend one time since joining the PGA Tour and despite taking three weeks off, came back in fine form with a first-round 64.
His most recent event, the American Express Championship in Ireland, was in fact his worst with a final-round 74 dropping him to a tie for 54th. Nonetheless, it brought Lonard $30,000 to add to his season total of $1,393,676.88 coming into this week.
Driving straight off the tee isn't one of Lonard's strengths -- he ranks 108th in driving accuracy on Tour -- but his ball found 14 of 14 fairways Thursday. He also averaged 277 yards in length off the tee and took 29 putts.
The 63 is Sluman's best effort since Milwaukee, where he shot the same in the third round. In his last six rounds, Sluman has gone 37-under and averaged 65.66 a go.
Sluman missed the cut last year at Disney, but it was only his second time to do so in an otherwise admirable series of performances in Orlando. With two seventh-place finishes and another pair of top-25 finishes since 1985, Sluman has accumlated $212,786.87 in the land of Mickey Mouse.
The only downfall for Sluman statistically: Out of the last nine times he's held a first-round lead, he's failed to convert a trophy.
GETTING A LIFT: The Palm course, traditionally the easier of the two tracks at Disney, became a little more scoreable Thursday when lift, clean and place rules were in effect. Players could move the ball within one clublength in any area mowed to fairway height or less.
Seven of the 11 players in the top 10 and ties played the Palm course, which averaged 68.736 strokes as compared to the Magnolia course's 69.986.
But no matter how you slice it, neither of the courses at Disney are considered difficult layouts. Of the 143 players in the field, 125 were at par or better.
"The Magnolia is in better shape," said Stuart Appleby. "It looks like it's a little higher, the water table has climbed up, we had a wet summer. The course today was really really wet. But Magnolia generally is a little bit more open."
And players may find mud in the fairways, but the greens are in better shape.
"It's drying up and the greens are perfect," co-leader Bob Burns said. "The greens are firm and fast already. They are in perfect shape."
ROOKIE MAGIC: Unless something dramatic happens Friday, Peter Lonard will make his 22nd cut of the year. The Australian rookie hasn't missed the weekend one time since joining the PGA Tour and despite taking three weeks off, came back in fine form with a first-round 64.
His most recent event, the American Express Championship in Ireland, was in fact his worst with a final-round 74 dropping him to a tie for 54th. Nonetheless, it brought Lonard $30,000 to add to his season total of $1,393,676.88 coming into this week.
Driving straight off the tee isn't one of Lonard's strengths -- he ranks 108th in driving accuracy on Tour -- but his ball found 14 of 14 fairways Thursday. He also averaged 277 yards in length off the tee and took 29 putts.
Friday, October 4, 2002
Inside the Numbers: Duval continues improvement
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- If he had made his eagle putts, David Duval would be just two shots off the lead at the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas after three rounds. Instead he is five back.
Duval, whose form has been improving since the Ryder Cup two weeks ago, carded eight birdies and three bogeys on the TPC at Summerlin course Friday to finish the day with a 5-under 67. He's tied with a large group of players at 200, in eighth place.
Playing the nines in reverse order at the par-72 course, Duval faced eagle putts on the par-5 13th, the short par-4 15th and the par-5 16th. All missed and he walked away with birdies on those holes.
Duval's putting has been a bit irregular this week, as he's turned in rounds with 30, 30 and 31 putts respectively. He's tied for 105th in the field in putting and 104th in putts per green in regulation (1.795 for the week).
More commonly, Duval shows more skill on the greens. He has a 28.80 putting average in 2002, which ranks 67th, and a 1.742 putts per GIR average, 23rd best on the PGA Tour.
BYE-BYE BOOM-BOOM: For Fred Couples, 12 was not a lucky number in Las Vegas. Couples saw his streak of 11 consecutive cuts made at this tournament topple after rounds of 68-75-70.
Couples, who finished tied for second two weeks ago at the Valero Texas Open, has made 13 cuts in 16 events played this year, and has battled a continuing back injury that threatens his career.
"I've had nothing but problems, half of June, all of July, quite a bit in August, besides those two tournaments that I got through," Couples said in Texas. "You know, that's just been part of my kind of happening for a few years. It doesn't keep me from playing good golf. It will keep me from playing golf, and that's the problem."
Couples, who putted reasonably well this week, making 28, 29 and 27 putts each of the first three rounds, struggled to hit fairways in the Vegas desert with a swing dependent on his back.
"My good weeks are based on how my back feels. And if I finished second, which I haven't for a long time, or 42nd, it's something I can draw on and go play the next week. In a lot of these tournaments, I just haven't been able to feel really good two weeks in a row," Couples said.
GETTING THE AXE: With a surprisingly low cut -- especially so to players like defending champion Bob Estes, who shot 62 and looked to be playing on the weekend until the last part of the day -- only 70 players will be continuing on to Saturday.
But the 9-under 206 cutline isn't the lowest here, where going into the low 60s is expected if you want to perform well. In 1999, the cut was made at 11-under and included 71 players. Last year, 74 players made the 6- under cut.
CRAZY CARDS: Lee Janzen had two eagles during his round at the TPC Canyons course. He was 2-under on both the par-4 first hole and par-5 fourth hole en route to a tournament-low 62. ... Jim Furyk continued his bogey-free play, turning in his third card in a row without a mistake. ... John Daly, preoccupied with the health of his ailing mother in Arkansas, had back-to-back 42s on the nines at Southern Highlands for an 84. His card included three birdies, six bogeys, a double, a triple and a quadruple.
Duval, whose form has been improving since the Ryder Cup two weeks ago, carded eight birdies and three bogeys on the TPC at Summerlin course Friday to finish the day with a 5-under 67. He's tied with a large group of players at 200, in eighth place.
Playing the nines in reverse order at the par-72 course, Duval faced eagle putts on the par-5 13th, the short par-4 15th and the par-5 16th. All missed and he walked away with birdies on those holes.
Duval's putting has been a bit irregular this week, as he's turned in rounds with 30, 30 and 31 putts respectively. He's tied for 105th in the field in putting and 104th in putts per green in regulation (1.795 for the week).
More commonly, Duval shows more skill on the greens. He has a 28.80 putting average in 2002, which ranks 67th, and a 1.742 putts per GIR average, 23rd best on the PGA Tour.
BYE-BYE BOOM-BOOM: For Fred Couples, 12 was not a lucky number in Las Vegas. Couples saw his streak of 11 consecutive cuts made at this tournament topple after rounds of 68-75-70.
Couples, who finished tied for second two weeks ago at the Valero Texas Open, has made 13 cuts in 16 events played this year, and has battled a continuing back injury that threatens his career.
"I've had nothing but problems, half of June, all of July, quite a bit in August, besides those two tournaments that I got through," Couples said in Texas. "You know, that's just been part of my kind of happening for a few years. It doesn't keep me from playing good golf. It will keep me from playing golf, and that's the problem."
Couples, who putted reasonably well this week, making 28, 29 and 27 putts each of the first three rounds, struggled to hit fairways in the Vegas desert with a swing dependent on his back.
"My good weeks are based on how my back feels. And if I finished second, which I haven't for a long time, or 42nd, it's something I can draw on and go play the next week. In a lot of these tournaments, I just haven't been able to feel really good two weeks in a row," Couples said.
GETTING THE AXE: With a surprisingly low cut -- especially so to players like defending champion Bob Estes, who shot 62 and looked to be playing on the weekend until the last part of the day -- only 70 players will be continuing on to Saturday.
But the 9-under 206 cutline isn't the lowest here, where going into the low 60s is expected if you want to perform well. In 1999, the cut was made at 11-under and included 71 players. Last year, 74 players made the 6- under cut.
CRAZY CARDS: Lee Janzen had two eagles during his round at the TPC Canyons course. He was 2-under on both the par-4 first hole and par-5 fourth hole en route to a tournament-low 62. ... Jim Furyk continued his bogey-free play, turning in his third card in a row without a mistake. ... John Daly, preoccupied with the health of his ailing mother in Arkansas, had back-to-back 42s on the nines at Southern Highlands for an 84. His card included three birdies, six bogeys, a double, a triple and a quadruple.
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