Johnson showed us yesterday how, despite being a links course, length pays off. He made a total of seven birdies and a single bogey for a score of 64. In his post round interview, he commented on how his game was solid during his round, especially with the driver, and praised the way Chambers Bay was set up. His score yesterday tied his lowest score in a major. Stenson was a little more aggressive with his round, managing seven birdies and two bogeys. Both are playing solid golf at the moment.
With the absence of wind and rain, you may think that Chambers Bay would play slightly easier (in fact, the morning rounds played slightly better than the afternoon rounds). However, it's sloping fairways, high risk/reward holes, and especially its tricky greens, did not make that the case. Around the greens, we saw a variety of shots from players trying to get close to the flag, everything from de-lofted hybrids to flop shots, some paying off more than others. The greens, which appeared patchy and discolored, did receive some criticism from players such as Rory McIlroy, Colin Montgomerie, and more vocally Sergio Garcia. But as Phil Mickelson said, the course as a whole was a good challenge. You definitely had to think hard about the risks and rewards of every shot you hit. That being said though, it was "easy" relative to other US Open venues. Yesterday's rounds were the lowest since the 2003 US Open at Olympia Fields
Things just seem to be getting worse and worse for Tiger Woods, who's been having a few "firsts" recently; and not the good ones. The three-time US Open champion carded a 10-over 80, which was his worst score in a US Open round to date. Woods managed only one birdie and most of his scores were bogeys with a triple on #14. From an outsider perspective, he seems to lack confidence, summed up by his topped 2nd shot on #18, which ended up in a deep fairway bunker known as "Chambers Basement". He also hit only six fairways and nine greens.
In other news, Gary Woodland appeared to be suffering from severe dehydration and needed to go to the hospital yesterday, where it was determined he had a virus. He sits at 4-over T98 and hopes to play in today's round.
To round off the post, here's how are picks are doing:
1) Phil Mickelson: T14 at 1-under
2) Rickie Fowler: 155 at 11-over
3) Justin Rose: T52 at 2-over
Phil was part of that lower morning wave of players and was leading the tournament at one point before making a couple of bogeys here and there. In his interview, Phil said Chambers Bay played difficult, but what he expected and that the biggest challenge (for him at least) was the differences in putting green speeds from hole to hole. A good round today could mean great things for Mickelson going into the weekend. On the other hand, they say you can't win a major on a Thursday, but you can definitely lose it, and that looks like the case for Rickie Fowler. He's currently in second last place and struggled yesterday especially on the back nine where he was 8-over. This was a very unexpected round for Rickie, who usually plays solid links golf. To finish off, Justin Rose had a good round which just so happened to contain a few more bogeys than birdies. He was in good spirits though and is definitely still in the mix.
Chambers Bay looks like it'll play a bit different today. It's forecasted to be overcast and slightly windy today; the amount of wind today could wreak havoc on scores. Stay tuned for our recap of today's action, tomorrow morning.
-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews
Dustin Johnson leads along with Henrik Stenson at the 114th US Open
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