Mike Report Day Two at the US Open

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:00:29

"Today was another day of staying patient and trying to squeeze everything I could out of my round. It was one of those days that if it was on any other course, you'd have thought it was a real up-and-down round. But at the U.S. Open, it was a case of taking what the course would give you.

I didn't start to well, at least in terms of the scoreboard, recording two bogeys and a double in my first seven holes. I didn't seem quite as sharp as Thursday, but I had a couple of bad breaks out there, too, especially on the sixth hole. My ball went in and then just out of a fairway bunker with the result being that I had to stand part-way in the sand and part out to hit my second shot. To add to that, even though I had a good lie, the ball was sitting on a rock so when I hit it, it squirted left and into the deep rough beside the green. It was really tough to gouge it out of there and plop it on the green.

I also three-putted the next one, the seventh, which isn't hard to do when you see the green there.
But as I did yesterday, I came right back after those two blips and put a birdie on the board on the eighth.

The 11th hole was a nice one for me. I struck a great seven iron that I thought was going to go into the hole for a one. Instead it settled just six inches away, giving me a birdie on a hole that I had to scramble to make bogey the day before. It truly is a crazy game, isn't it?

My putting in general wasn't quite as sharp as it was on day one, at least early in the round. I had a couple of three putts, such as on 13, when I thought the putt was going uphill and ended up about five feet past. But I also rolled the ball extremely well on other holes, especially as the round went on, such as on the 14th, where I dropped in a 20-footer for a birdie.

On 15, I reached the greenside bunker in two and hit my bunker shot to about 15 feet. The bunkers here are not like the ones we play on Tour. They have little stones and other bits of grit mixed in with the sand and you can't always spin the ball. As soon as I hit that bunker shot, I could tell it was going to be a bit long. Joey Sindelar, whom I was playing with, said he saw some stones come out with my ball. But the good part of it was that I made the putt for birdie and got my round back to even.

The key for me really around here is just to eliminate those few bad holes that I have had. If I can minimize the mistakes and concentrate on giving myself chances, I can be right in the mix. I've really been pleased with the number of birdie chances I've had this week so far, so it's just a question of limiting the other side of the equation.

It was nice to get out early today, putt on some good greens and play before the strongest of the winds. Those winds haven't been too bad so far; I'm expecting they'll get stronger as the weekend progresses. I wouldn't mind that, either. I'd love the course to play harder as I think that benefits my game.

I came to the Open this week not playing all that well and so far, at least, my confidence is coming back thanks to the first two rounds. I'm building as we go along and as I continue to play well. Today probably could have been a round of four or five under, but maybe I'm saving that one for tomorrow. I know I'm still very much in this tournament so I'll just keep looking to the next shot and hoping it comes off as I want it.

As always, thanks for your support.
Mike
"