Mike's Blog- Round 2 PGA Championship

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:29:30

I've played a lot of golf in my career, but I don't think I've ever seen a course as difficult as Oakland Hills was on Friday. The combination of the wind and the course set up brought this monster almost to the point of being ridiculous. In a lot of ways, it's starting to remind me of Shinnecock Hills, where we played the U.S. Open on a course that basically died.

I battled extremely hard out there on Friday and I'm pleased with my score of 75 even though it was long, tough round. I'm not sure if I could have played much better under the conditions. The greens are rock hard, the wind is swirling and the fairways are extremely difficult to stay in. You can hit a good drive and then the ball will run through into the rough. Because of that, a lot of times I played back a club, a three-wood or hybrid, just to try and keep the ball in the fairway.

The greens are also next to impossible. They're really hard and they'll probably need to be syringed before the day is out so they don't lose some of them. The humps and rolls in them are also severe and they make it really tough to get the ball close. I don't think I had a birdie putt closer than about 20 feet.

I didn't help myself with a silly move after the 13^th hole either. After three-putting, I sort of lobbed my putter over to the bag and it hit on the bottom of it where the hard plastic is. That put a dent in the shaft and of course under the Rules of Golf, I had to take it out of play. For the rest of the round, I used my hybrid and I had some good success with it. I didn't have a three putt, which is more than I can say for the putter - I had five three putts with that. (Maybe there's something to this hybrid putting thing!)

I guess the most frustrating thing for many players out here is that even if you're hitting the ball well, you won't always get rewarded. I felt as if I hit the ball quite well Friday but when you see the balls bouncing off the greens and running through to the back rough or landing in the middle of the fairway and ending up in the rough it can be difficult to accept. But you just have to stay patient and realize that everyone is getting the same thing.

In some ways, it's not surprising that a guy like J.B. Holmes is up near the lead. I can see how a long hitter like that might just rip it way down the hole and no matter whether he's in the fairway or rough, he has a short iron into the greens. I mean, if you're going to be in the rough, you might as well be in it way down the hole.

With the way this course is playing, just about anyone who makes the cut has still got a chance. I'm hoping I can re-group for Saturday morning and post a good number - and yes, I will be getting my putter fixed.

As always, thanks for your support.

Mike