Singh a song of $10 million

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

Vijay Singh flew under the radar this week.

The leader in the PGA Tour’s playoff point standings finished tied for 44th at even-par 280. That was just good enough to virtually guarantee him the title, to say nothing of the $10 million check sitting in the bowl of the FedEx Cup, no matter how he plays three weeks from now at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Singh has a 10,601-point lead on Camilo Villegas, who jumped from 25th to second by winning the 105th Western Open. The Tour Championship at East Lake offers 12,500 points to the winner, but 30th place is worth 2,000 points. So Singh just has to play and not withdraw or get disqualified to earn the ransom, even if Villegas wins in Atlanta.

“I’m going to practice hard and get ready,” Singh said, looking forward to two weeks off after six straight tournaments.

Bellerive turned out not to be to his liking, and it may have been his outlook that brought about that reality.

“The greens got really slow,” Singh said. “They’re not my favorite greens. Rees Jones’ greens are not my favorite. I don’t think they’re too many players’ favorites, either.

“I thought I hit the ball from tee to green pretty good, but you’ve got to make the putts on these huge greens, and I just didn’t putt like I did the last two weeks. My attitude was really good, and they’re just very slow.”

Singh said winning the first two installments of the playoffs, in New Jersey and Boston, didn’t have an effect on his game this week.

“I was pretty focused this week, tried pretty hard and never gave up,” Singh said. “After you keep grinding for three days, sooner or later it’s going to get to you, and I think at the end it was getting to everybody that wasn’t in contention.”

Dudley did right: Dudley Hart’s second place finish not only netted him $756,000, but jumped him 53 places into 14th in the points. That got him a ticket to East Lake.

“I’m not a mathematician, so I didn’t know exactly, but I was guessing I needed to finish solo fourth or better to make it to the Tour Championship,” Hart said. “I didn’t think about it every shot, but it was in the back of my mind all week.”

Hart started the final round tied for sixth, so the final round of 5-under 65 came at the right time. As did the birdie putts at the last two holes, from distances of 13 and 31 feet.

The birdie on the 18th came with Hart knowing that he absolutely, positively needed it for a shot at the Tour Championship.

“I had an idea where I was, but on the green, I looked over (at the scoreboard) and saw me tied for third,” Hart said. “I told my caddie, ‘Birdie or bogey. Let’s try to give this thing a run.’ It was one of those things where I was going to give it a run and hit the best putt I could, and fortunately it went in.”

The numbers game: The field beat Bellerive for the fourth straight round, averaging 69.529 strokes on a course that measured 7,231 yards in the final round, 155 less than the advertised distance of 7,386. For the week, the field averaged 69.370 strokes, the lowest average ever.

That the course is a par 70 had something to do with that, but not everything, for the 10th hole, 519 yards on Sunday, was a par 4 for the Western but is played as a par 5 by the members (and averaged 4.194 strokes). Credit the quality of the field, plus the weather which made the greens dartboards, for the red numbers.

The low round of the day was a 65, posted five times: Hart, Fredrik Jacobson, Ben Curtis, Bubba Watson and Brian Davis.

For the week, the par-4 18th hole played toughest, at 4.194 strokes, while the par-5 eighth was the easiest, at 4.667 strokes.

The last time the Western was played at Bellerive, at the old site in St. Louis in 1953, the field averaged 76.777 strokes, the second-highest average since 1940.

Around Bellerive: The week’s Caddyshack moment came early on Sunday evening, over two hours after play had concluded. Bellerive members were gathered on the veranda, looking over the scene as some workers began to tear down the tournament trappings. A combo was playing bland dinner music. All that was missing was Rodney Dangerfield throwing the band a handful of C-notes to liven the place up. … Attendance for the three days of the tournament was around 100,000, if estimates of 25,000 on Friday, 35,000 on Saturday, and 40,000 on Sunday are correct. … Next year’s Western, the 106th in a series dating to 1899, will be played at Cog Hill in Lemont, on the revitalized Dubsdread course. The precise weekend is still in flux, pending the PGA Tour’s finalizing the schedule.

– Tim Cronin

Villegas drives away with Western

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

Camilo Villegas captured the 105th Western Open on Sunday at Bellerive Country Club, taking the lead for good when Jim Furyk bogeyed the ninth hole, and secured his advantage without doubt with back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes. For Villegas, it’s his first victory on the PGA Tour, and brings him the winner’s share of $1.26 million from the $7 million purse, along with a handshake from BMW executives.

Villegas scored 2-under-par 68 in the final round for a total of 15-under-par 265.

Dudley Hart finished second at 13-under 267 thanks to a finishing 5-under 65. Anthony Kim was tied with Hart after 71 holes, but airmailed his approach on the 18th hole three rows into the bleachers, and had to settle for a third-place tie with Furyk at 12-under 268.

Villegas also moves to second in the PGA Tour point standings, behind leader Vijay Singh, who never challenged at Bellerive. He finished tied for 43rd.

A full report will follow.

– Tim Cronin

It all begins on …

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

… the back nine on Sunday, or so Dan Jenkins said about The Masters decades ago. It’s also true in the Western Open, where the leader or co-leader has gone on to win 32 times in the last 50 years, or 64 percent of the time.

The last sole leader at the turn not to win was Steve Lowery, who was overhauled by Stephen Ames on the back nine of Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course in 2004. Since then, Jim Furyk, Trevor Immelman and Tiger Woods have led, either solo or as part of a group, and gone on to win.

Furyk’s chasing this time. Camilo Villegas holds the solo lead in the 105th Western Open, a.k.a. the BMW Championship, with nine holes remaining at Bellerive Country Club. Furyk bogeyed the ninth hole to fall to 12-under-par. He’d been the lone leader after Villegas bogeyed the fifth and sixth holes, but was rejoined by Villegas in the lead when the Columbian birdied the par-5 eighth, eliciting a roar from the huge gallery on hand.

The leaders, then, as the back nine beckons:

-13: Camilo Villegas (9)
-12: Jim Furyk (9)
-11: Dudley Hart (10), K.J. Choi (9), Anthony Kim (9)
-10: Stephen Ames (11), D.J. Trahan (10)

Wonder of wonders, the sun came out almost on NBC’s cue.

– Tim Cronin

Villegas takes over

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

Camilo Villegas slept so well holding a share of the lead in the 105th Western Open, he went and took the other half of it from Jim Furyk on Sunday morning.

Villegas, who had five holes remaining after play was suspended by darkness on Saturday evening, birdied the par-4 eighth hole, the 17th of his round, to move to 13 under par. He parred the par-4 ninth to complete a 4-under-par 66, finishing at 13-under 197, a stroke ahead of Furyk.

And it could have been better. He followed his curling 11-foot birdie on the eighth by nearly making a 54-footer for a bird on the ninth. The ball missed the cup by two inches.

As the leaders tee off for the final round of the retitled BMW Championship, they stand this way:

-13: Camilo Villegas
-12: Jim Furyk
-9: Anthony Kim, Tim Clark
-8: K.J. Choi, D.J. Trahan, Aaron Baddeley, Dudley Hart
-7: Stephen Ames

And Vijay Singh, the leader in the PGA Tour’s playoff point standings, opened the final round tied for 48th, at 1-over par 211. However, there’s an outside chance he can clinch the points title, and the $10 million sitting in the bowl of the FedEx Cup, today. That’s not what the mammoth crowd on hand – there may be 40,000 here, including those fans using their tickets from Thursday, to see the final round – is looking for. Singh started on No. 10, well away from the leaders. It should be played under overcast skies after an early morning rain.

Updates as warranted; a complete report after the round.

– Tim Cronin

Bryant, Laird spared disqualification

Saturday, September 6, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

Bart Bryant and Martin Laird avoided disqualification from the Western Open, a.k.a. the BMW Championship, on Saturday, all because of a conversation about a pitch mark.

Laird’s tee shot hit the fringe on the par 3 16th hole, and finished close to the hole. Bryant’s shot stopped in the rough. The pitch mark of Laird’s shot was between Bryant’s ball and the cup, and Laird repaired it, tapping it with his putter.

Before that, they talked about it. That opened a can of golf rule worms.

After discussions with the players and checking with the United States Golf Association, PGA Tour tournament director Slugger White ruled that there was no intent by Laird to improve Bryant’s line of play. However, because Laird and Bryant talked about the pitch mark, however innocently, Bryant was slapped with a two-stroke penalty for violating Rule 13-2, which covers improving the line of play.

The really sticky part: Laird’s side of the story wasn’t heard until after he’d signed his scorecard for an even-par 70. Had he been penalized two strokes after the fact, he’d have been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.

“That was my main concern,” Bryant said. “I would have felt very miserable for him playing in a tournament that there’s not even a cut and then he gets disqualified.

“I didn’t even think about it until the middle of the next hole, and I went, ‘Something just doesn’t feel right.’ ”

Bryant decided not to sign his card until he spoke to a rules official, but didn’t think it would involve Laird.

“That’s what was really hard for me, (that) talking to the rules official is going to affect somebody else when they really hadn’t done anything. It was a struggle.”

Bryant said he could have prevented the entire episode by telling Laird not to fix the pitch mark.

“I just didn’t think about it,” Bryant said.

Bryant is eight strokes off the pace set by Jim Furyk and Camilo Villegas entering the final round, while Laird is 17 strokes in arrears.

Double eagles: That’s not an Albatross, as the double eagle is nicknamed, but two eagles on the same hole by consecutive players in the same group. Believed to be a first in Western Open history, Bubba Watson and Billy Mayfair holed out from the fairway on the par 4 seventh hole within a minute of each other in the third round.

Watson did so first, from 128 yards, and then Mayfair did so from what the PGA Tour’s ShotLink system said was the same distance.

Neither finished their round. With two holes remaining, Mayfair stands 3 under, Watson 2 over.

The numbers game: Bellerive played marginally easier in Round 2 than it did in Round 1, even though players could no longer put the ball in their hands. The average for the par 70 course was 69.250 strokes, under the 69.725 strokes of the first round.

The par-4 fourth hole was the most difficult, at 4.235 strokes, while the par-5 17th was the easiest in relation to par, averaging 4.588 strokes, even though it played at 600 yards in the second round.

The third round is showing more of the same. To this point, the average is 69.156, which, if it holds up, would be the second-lowest average round in Western history. Only last year’s finale at Cog Hill, where the 65-player field averaged 69.138 strokes on a par-71 layout, is lower.

The best player number belongs to Jim Furyk. He hit 26 of 28 fairways on Saturday, including 24 straight.

Around Bellerive: Fans arrived early and stayed late. While only 25,000 season ticket booklets were sold, Thursday’s washed out round prompted WGA officials to permit the use of Thursday tickets either Saturday or Sunday. That brought out approximately 10,000 extra spectators. Even at 7:30 p.m., when the last putts were sunk – play had been called because of darkness at 7:18 p.m., with players allowed to finish the hole they were on – upwards of a thousand people from the complete cast of about 35,000 were still on the course. … Sunday’s television coverage begins on NBC at 1 p.m. and runs until play concludes. The Golf Channel provided five hours of extra coverage of Round 3 on Saturday afternoon, but there’s no plan to air the finish of the round on Sunday morning, when the cable network has live European Tour golf slated.

– Tim Cronin

Furyk not along in lead after 12-under-par day

Saturday, September 6, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

That Jim Furyk hasn’t won a tournament all year can’t be discovered by watching him this week at Bellerive Country Club.

A Chicago favorite thanks to wins in the 2003 United States Open at Olympia Fields and the 2005 Western Open at Cog Hill, Furyk won over a massive gallery of fans on Saturday with a magnificent 36-hole performance in the 105th Western Open.

His morning round of 8-under-par 62 shattered the 61-year-old Western Open single-round scoring record, and dazzled those in the know among the gallery of approximately 35,000 in the second Western dubbed a BMW Championship. The 7-under 28 he scored on his final nine – Bellerive’s front side – wiped out a mark that stood for 53 years.

And Furyk wasn’t done. Whereas many players will cool off after an extremely low round, Furyk kept battling. Starting on the front side in his afternoon round, Furyk opened by holing a 20-foot birdie putt, and went through the nine holes in 3-under 32, the centerpiece to his round of 4-under 66, giving him a total of 12-under 128 for the day and, most important, 12-under 198 heading into Sunday’s final round.

“I liked the idea of turning around and going right back after it,” Furyk said. “The idea is, ‘Hey, you’re playing well. I just hit it at every flag and shot 7-under on a side, and now I get to do it again.’ You want to keep that momentum going.

“Also, you can get impatient and try to force the ball. I just wanted to go out there and play solid, try and keep up front and make the rest of the field chase me.”

That they are doing, and, to this point in the third round, only Camilo Villegas, the leader after 18 and 36 holes, is succeeding. When play was suspended by darkness, Villegas also stood 12 under, with five holes remaining in his second round.

“We knew we weren’t going to finish,” said Villegas, who started Round 3 at 3:50 p.m. “It’s not easy, but you’ve just got to come with a good attitude and stick with it.”

He did, surviving a double bogey in the morning round to post a 4-under 66, and going 3-under through 13 holes in the afternoon and early evening.

Meanwhile, Furyk was insane. Put together his consecutive front nines, and Furyk played 18 holes, in 60 strokes. That’s not a golf score, it’s a typographical error.

“Obviously, he had an unbelievable day,” Villegas said. “But that show you there’s some birdies out there.”

Plus an eagle, which Furyk made early in his second nine in Round 2. That was the trigger for his binge of red numbers. Everything considered, Furyk may want to take Bellerive’s front nine home with him. Through three rounds, he’s 11-under on that side, and only 1-under on the back nine.

His 62-66 day, which included a 91-minute fog break after he played the first of the 36 holes, added up to 128, which leads him back to the record book. That matched Tiger Woods’ last two rounds on Dubsdread last year, and stands two strokes better than the middle two rounds by both Aaron Baddeley and Steve Stricker last year.

What’s more, Furyk’s 54-hole total of 12-under-par 198 matches the totals for the first three rounds of a Western, established by Woods in 2003 and equaled by Stricker and Baddeley last year. It’s three strokes off the 195 Woods stitched together in the final three rounds last year, but, as 11-handicapper Scarlett O’Hara once said, tomorrow is another day.

With all that, it should be expected that Furyk has a big lead on the field, but Villegas is hanging around him like a bad cold. Thanks to the fog delay, he and 22 other players will have to finish the third round Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. After that, the field will be re-paired and the final round will commence at 10 a.m. And, ideally, will finish on Sunday as well.

Furyk has slept on many a third round lead, including when he won the Western in 2005. But this is new territory for Villegas, a 26-year-old Columbian looking for his first victory in a PGA Tour tournament in his 85th start.

“I’m just excited,” Villegas said. “I’m excited to come back tomorrow, play some good golf and see what happens.”

The aforementioned aside, this is not a two-man race. At this juncture, there are nine other players within five strokes of Furyk and Villegas, including Anthony Kim (fourth at 9-under with one hole remaining), D.J. Trahan (at 8-under 202, and whose 7-under 63 in the second round would have tied the Western Open scoring record, except for Furyk finishing in the group ahead of him), 2004 Western Open winner Stephen Ames (at 7-under 203), and one Phil Mickelson (at 7-under with two holes to play).

Additionally, K.J. Choi, whose 6-under 64 for a total of 8-under 202 is the best score of the third round to this point, will tell you not to forget about K.J. Choi. Told the leader is at 13-under, Choi said, “So we hurry up and catch him tomorrow.”

The way things have gone at Bellerive, which is French for “birdie heaven,” it’s certainly possible, and will be one stroke less arduous than Choi believes.

– Tim Cronin

Furyk’s 62 leads record-setting round

Saturday, September 6, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

The first hint there were birdies to be had at Bellerive Country Club in the second round of the 105th Western Open came early, even before fog caused a 91-minute delay. Angel Cabrera birdied his first two holes.

Another hint came three minutes past 10 a.m., when Sergio Garcia made an ace on the 203-yard third hole.

Then came the onslaught, not including the third round ace by Bart Bryant. By the end of the round at midafternoon Saturday, the Western’s two oldest scoring records had fallen. Jim Furyk scored 8-under-par 62, including a 7-under 28 on his inward nine, breaking a pair of marks that had stood for over 50 years.

The culmination of Furyk’s record round was a curling 13-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole, the last of his second round. When that, his fifth straight birdie to end the round, dropped, he not only gained a share of the lead with Camilo Villegas for the moment, but knocked Cary Middlecoff and George Payton out of the record perches they had occupied for more than a generation.

Villegas, playing in a group finishing 90 minutes after Furyk, birdied his last hole for a second-round 66 and a total of 9-under 131, a stroke ahead of Furyk on paper and in reality. That was a big recovery from the double-bogey 6 he made on the ninth hole, when he four-putted from 60 feet.

“It wasn’t pretty there,” Villegas said. “Four-putts always make you feel a little shaky. They rattle your day, rattle your head. Fortunately, it rattled mine in a good way.”

By the time Villegas, who birdied the next two holes, had finished, Furyk, who had birdied the first hole of his third round to advance to 9 under, was once again at 8 under.

“Through 10 (holes), I probably didn’t see a 62 coming, and then you hole out a wedge and a whole bunch of putts go in,” Furyk said between rounds. “I just kept knocking it down the middle of the fairway and hitting it to about 10 feet, and giving myself a chance.”

The birdies in his closing streak came from about five feet on the par-4 fifth hole, seven feet on the par-3 sixth, 16 feet on the par-4 seventh, eight feet on the par-5 eighth, and 13 feet on the par-4 ninth, after an approach from 165 yards on the uphill test.

Furyk, who won the Western in 2005, two years after he captured the United States Open at Olympia Fields, had opened with an even-par 70, and wasn’t pleased with his putting.

“I didn’t get the ball in the hole real well shooting even par, but it turned around quickly,” Furyk said. “It seemed like they came in bunches. You just had to stay patient.”

His round was both consistent and spectacular. Furyk hit 13 of 14 fairways – his missed the 12th, his third hole of the morning round, where his only bogey came about – and made seven birdies in all, along with the eagle.

Middlecoff, the golfing dentist from Memphis, was the first player to shoot 29 for nine holes in a Western, doing so on the front side of the final round at Portland Golf Club in 1955. Now he and the quartet who had matched him are relegated to second place.

Payton was the first player to score 63 in the Western, accomplishing the feat in the second round of the 1947 Western at Salt Lake Country Club, 61 years ago. Two days later, Ben Hogan matched him in the second round, and another 12 rounds of 63, the last two by Tiger Woods, had been posted since.

Furyk’s sterling 62, which included an eagle 2 from 113 yards out on the second hole, now leads the pack.

Amazingly, three players in the next three groups finishing on the ninth had opportunities to do go low as well. Furyk holed out at 1:19 p.m., doing so to a good round of applause, but without the majority of the gallery around the ninth realizing history had been made. The big electronic scoreboard installed by the PGA Tour was turned off, because it was in direct line of most of the players when they were putting.

Then came Furyk’s challengers. D.J. Trahan, in the following group, settled for par on the ninth hole, and a 63, at 1:32 p.m. Aaron Baddeley was next, and parred the last for a 64, at 1:46 p.m. Finally came Boo Weekley, who was 7 under on his first 12 holes. He faltered with two bogeys in the final four holes and settled for a ho-hum 65, which was also accomplished by John Mallinger, who was playing with Baddeley. Tommy Armour III also had a 64.

It must have been a tough day to be Jonathan Byrd. He played with Baddeley and Mallinger, scored 68, and had to feel he had been lapped by the field.

The third round began for many players before the second round ended for the final groups, which allowed Furyk to take the outright lead when he dropped a 20-footer on the first hole. Villegas, a stroke behind, then birdied the 18th after Furyk bogeyed the fourth hole in the third round to jump ahead again.

The third 65 of Round 2 belonged to Phil Mickelson, who, clad in a bright yellow shirt, was about the only thing to be seen in when the fog was at its thickest. That allowed the lefthander to climb to 8-under 132 for the first 36 holes.

Then there was Garcia’s ace, created via a 5-iron from 203 yards on the par 3 third. Neither he nor Bryant, who used a 5-iron on the 171-yard 13th hole early in his second round, will receive a BMW from the sponsor of the now-titled BMW Championship. (Had the aces come on the 16th hole, BMW would have funded an additional Evans Scholarship for each ace.)

Chad Campbell withdrew before the round began for the best of reasons. Wife Amy, due with their first child, began contractions at their home in Dallas. Campbell’s absence leaves the field at 68 players. He had scored 3-over 73 in the first round.

– Tim Cronin

Here comes Boo!

Saturday, September 6, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

Boo Weekley, the antithesis of a country club member, is charging up the leader board at Bellerive Country Club. Weekley is 7 under par on the day through his first 12 holes, including four birdies en route to an opening nine of 4-under 31 on Bellerive’s back side, and birdies on his first three holes on the front side.

The course record at Bellerive is 5-under-par 65, set by Jeff Maggert in the 1992 PGA Championship, and matched in Friday’s first round by Camilo Villegas. The Western Open, and thus BMW Championship, record is 63, set by George Payton at Salt Lake Country Club in 1947, and matched 13 times since, most recently by Tiger Woods in last year’s final round on Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course.

After parring the par-4 fourth hole, Weekley stood tied for second with Andres Romero at 6 under for the championship, a stroke behind Villegas, who regained the lead at 7 under with a birdie on the eighth hole. That’s how things stood at 12:39 p.m.

Incidentally, add Weekley and Briny Baird to those who scored 4-under 31 on the back side. The best score to this point on the front side is 3-under 32, by Angel Cabrera and Bart Bryant.

There was one withdrawal before the round: Chad Campbell left the building, leaving 68 players in the field.

– Tim Cronin

Garcia is aces at Bellerive

Saturday, September 6, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

The sun has come out at Bellerive Country Club, and so have the stars. Since play in the 105th Western Open, a.k.a the BMW Championship, resumed at 9 a.m., Sergio Garcia’s aced the 203-yard third hole – club as yet unavailable – and Briny Baird and Jim Furyk have eagled par 4s from the fairway.

At 11:48 a.m., Andres Romero of Argentina was the leader by two strokes, at 7 under par, and 3-under for the day through six holes. A five-way tie for second included Garcia, overnight leader Camilo Villegas, and 1996 Western Open winner Steve Stricker.

The hottest players on the course over nine holes were Tommy Armour III and D.J. Trahan. Each played the back nine, their first nine, in 4-under 31.

The best news of all: The sun is out.

Further updates as warranted and after the end of the second round; a full report after the conclusion of play today.

– Tim Cronin

A foggy day in Bellerive town

Saturday, September 6, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

Just when it looked as the 105th Western Open was running like clockwork, fog rolled into the grounds of Bellerive Country Club and brought play to a screeching halt.

The action started at 7 a.m. Saturday, and stopped at 7:29 a.m., just as the fourth groups of the day were about to tee off on the first and 10th holes in the second round. It’s the first of two to be played on the day the retitled BMW Championship’s schedule, pushed back a day by the deluge from the remnants of Hurricane Gustav, finally catches up to the original plan.

Play resumed at 9 a.m., but the 91-minute delay means it’s unlikely every group will be able to play 36 holes. Sunset is 7:23 p.m., and it would be difficult to continue play much past 7:30 p.m.

The cloud ceiling fell in quickly. At 7 a.m., the 10th fairway was clearly visible from the tee. By 7:10 a.m., when Ben Curtis’ group started, it was difficult to see his tee shot land. By 7:20 a.m., Jim Furyk couldn’t see his tee ball past 150 yards. By 7:30 a.m., Ben Crane teed off, and then the word came that play would be suspended. Playing partners Kevin Streelman and D.J. Trahan teed off on the off-chance they would be able to see the green from the fairway, got to their balls, and found that the fog was settling in so thickly, the green disappeared.

Once play resumed, Crane bogeyed the par-4 hole, but Streelman and Trahan birdied both the 10th and the 11th. Camilo Villegas the leader at 5-under 65 through the first round, won’t tee off until 10:20 a.m. His Round 3 tee time of 2:20 p.m. will be pushed back an undetermined amount of time, probably past 3:30 p.m.

Updates when events warrant and after the conclusion of the second round; a complete report after the day’s play.

– Tim Cronin