2016 PGA Round Two This And That: Lively Friday At Baltusrol

There was a bit of something for everyone Friday at Baltusrol: great golf from Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb (the 30th 63 in a major, writes Brian Wacker), a rules issue with Jordan Spieth that generated much discussion, an epic course setup gaffe, and no shortage of volatile play from other top names.

Adam Schupak on the leaders Walker and Streb.

Best of all, we have what appears to be the makings of a grand finish with most of the game's best in the battle, assuming the Sunday weather will cooperate.

Henrik Stenson is on fire, as he has been at other times in his career, Brian Wacker notes.

After a 65 in the worst conditions Friday, Patrick Reed has positioned himself nicely in a major, for a change, reports Joel Beall.

Alan Shipnuck goes a step further and says this is a potential breakthrough weekend for Reed.

Ryan Herrington talks exclusively with Colt Knost about the wrong hole location and shares the PGA of America's explanation.

“I called an official over and said, ‘What’s going on here?’” Knost detailed after his round. “And he said, ‘We messed up.’"

According to a release from the PGA of America, the Rules Committee realized the error after the players hit their second shots. Shortly after, officials handed out revised hole-location sheets to the group, and to all subsequent groups.

Knost took to Twitter after the round.

Dave Kindred on Jordan Spieth having a chance to salvage the season, especially with this being his last start of significance unless you consider the playoffs important.

Kevin Casey at Golfweek.com with all of the particulars on Spieth's ruling and possible violation that was determined not to be a violation.

Golfweek's Jeff Babineau says there was no rules issue. Nothing to see here, so move along. I think that was a little strong given what appeared to be a violation, but Babineau's explanation also does make sense given where we are with rulings.

Once his ball was back on the path free of the casual water, Spieth took his stance, addressed the ball as if he were to play it, and got the thumbs up to play on from Gregory – ahem, the expert rules official.

That’s all Spieth needed, though surely Mitch from Montauk and Sal from Summit soon were lighting up the phone lines once they saw one of Spieth’s spiffy Under Armour golf shoes hovering over a puddle.

Spieth assessed his situation, facing 190 yards with some trees in front to negotiate, then elected to play in a slightly different direction than he originally planned – something he totally was within the rules to do. In fact, playing in a different direction is allowed under Rules of Golf Decision 20-2c/0.8.

The 7th hole turned things around for Jason Day, writes Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com.

Justin Tasch of the New York Daily News on Phil Mickelson’s triple bogey start plus other notes from a weird day that saw pre tournament favorite Dustin Johnson heading home early.

“I think in the history of the PGA Championship, that’s the worst start of any player’s round,” Mickelson said. “I don’t even know what to say. It was just a pure mental block.”

Alex Myers with the evidence of Phil's rough start, which was salvaged by several birdies and a made cut for the Baltusrol defending champion.

Rory McIlroy missed the cut and now, because he backed out of the Olympics has a lot of time off to rethink his putting issues, reports James Corrigan.

Once again it was McIlroy’s putter to blame, although, bizarrely, it was the same implement which appeared to have dug him out of the hole on the 17th. There were three missed five footers and for the second day running – and, yes, for the umpteenth time this season -  it was the shortest club in the bag which was letting down all the others.

Brently Romine with the Ryder Cup ramifications of the current leaderboard.

Round one ratings on TNT were down 30% from last year.

Note to those missing the cut: Zika virus has come to Florida. Hope those guys skipping the Olympics over the virus are not spending much time in Florida for a while!

Comments

[Hawkeye]

Sure, Rory's putting poorly, but that's nothing compared to his wedge play. You teaching pros out there, what's your take on his takeaway, which to me seems more outside than ever? You have to make a correction/compensation somewhere before or at the turn to get the downswing on line, and while he obviously manages to do it with his driver, he doesn't seem to succeed very well with his wedges. Many were bad over-the-top pulls. In any case, it's not just the flat stick that's causing him to miss the cut despite driving it on a string.

[BrianS]

Crazy stat posted by someone showing Rory led the entire field in Strokes gained off the tee, and was number 150 something on the green. But what he did on 18 was really unbelievable - to 3 chip from there ? par makes cut and he makes 6 from 30 feet off he green in 2? Poor effort on that one.

[chico]

Hawkeye-I agree there is a big re-route in his swing. To me though he makes so many mental errors and putts so poorly that those are the two most urgent aspects to sort out now. He needs help but he is notorious for not accepting any. Rumour also has it that he has stopped enjoying golf and is struggling for motivation. That would be such a shame to waste a prodigeous talent. Nicklaus and Woods made fewer mental errors in their entire careers than Rory has in this years majors.

[Ray R]

TNT ratings down 30% because the commercial to content ratio seemed to be 50-50. Quite a shock after limited commercials on the US Open. I shut it off after 10 minutes.

[Easingwold]

Chico, I said to my mate the other day, Rory doesn't seem to be enjoying himself on tour these days. What you said about rumours doesn't surprise me at all. What a shame.

[Take technology out of the game]

I think that rory's poor putting is actually having an effect on his wedge play. He is trying so unusually hard to hit the ball close to the hole that the stress of doing so has made that part of his play poor as well.

Head case.

[fyg]

And some seemed to think he was going to approach or even match the Nicklaus/Woods majors total.

Wasn't ever going to happen. Way too big a mountain.

A much more realistic goal for Rory would be the non-American with the most majors. Player has that at 9.

But that won't happen either.

[Pops]

His inconsistent play is a real head-scratcher. Seems when he became "Tiger Jr." instead of Rory, things started south. The weights, ads, "branding", etc., all seemed to take away the natural fun and freedom he seemed to have earlier in his career. He's clearly not having fun and is increasingly painful to watch.

[Press Agent]

Many of us who enjoy golf know that we can spend hours upon hours crushing balls, especially when we're hitting it well. However, putting the hours in working on short game, putting and scoring shots is a little more like work. Because of the general lack of interest that Rory is showing, that was mentioned earlier by others, plus his personality overall he doesn't have it in him to do what is necessary. Again, Nike handed him the keys to the kingdom too early and probably miscalculated in what he would bring them in return. I can't imagine anyone buys anything from Nike based on Rors - golfers and non-golfers alike. The work out routine he does is admirable, and he seems to genuinely enjoy it, but doing your workouts every day doesn't ensure that you are going to be able to play at the highest level against the best in the world.
On top of all of this, he responds to any kind of criticism very poorly, gets very defensive and doesn't have the proper makeup to deal with the pressures that come with being number one, or one of the top 5 in the world. I'm sure he has already calculated that he has enough money to walk away from all this - and it's crossed his mind. Time will tell.
When I watch Michelle Wie hobbling around like some kind of hurt puppy dog, seemingly begging for sympathy, and Rors missing cuts and making poor showings, I wonder if Nike is ever going to re-evaluate their approach and put more emphasis on performance in the remuneration schemes.

[John Ball Jr.]

I think it's time for a new caddy too. I don't see JP offering much besides carrying the bag and handing Rory a water bottle.

[digsouth]

On Feharty RMc said he doesn't enjoy playing for fun anymore, or something to that effect.

He may still be the 250 pounder sitting on the couch of his front porch in his underwear, as I have predicted for 4 years now. I hope I'm wrong- I said he'd be 33 when this happens.

[BrianS]

Different topic, but I don't recall hearing Mike Weir in the booth in the past - I think he has done a really nice job as analyst, talks the right amount and seems very knowledgable and articulate. The last piece is willingness to come down on the players, but as the guy doing the early action, there isn't much chance for that. But seems very promising.

[Johnnnycz]

Hawkeye: It did look more outside for sure. Pulls with the short clubs can especially happen if he doesn't reroute/flatten on the way down. Hard to say the cause without doing a Spock mind meld but his pumped up upper arms and chest don't help. Rather the opposite. When you change your body, your swing will change without you even really noticing.

I'm speaking as a guy who has been fat, almost skinny, then pleasantly chubby, back to normal, and then some. Each time I had to make what felt like big adjustments in order to get the club in a little better position. Feels like I had to go a mile but in reality it was a few inches.


But what Chico said, he's definitely not enjoying the game. Body language and his petulant behavior speaks volumes. Being in Nike's pocket is also not helping matters.

[Peter Norrie]

JP might be an excellent caddie but he probably has orders from Rory - Show up, keep up and shut up!

[Jimbo]

Johnnycz,
Curious if you could explain why being in NIKE's pocket doesn't help things? Responsibilities? Commitments? Faulty equipment? Elaborate if you can.
Jimbo

[munihack]

My theory is that when he won his 4th major he probably thought he would own golf for the next decade like Tiger did. Then along comes Spieth and RM injures himself playing soccer and Day emerges and he not only sees real rivals he loses his top ranking.
RM reminds me a little of Couples - oodles of natural talent but really doesn't like to put in the drudgery around the green and probably found out no. 1 has more scrutiny than he realized. He is so talented I can see him winning 2 more majors without becoming a grinder but even that is in question if the game is no fun. Nike is to golf what SI covers are to sports- a reward and a jinks. As for his takeaway- I use a Martin Hall drill he posted on utube with a tennis ball behind the golf ball because I tend to take the club too inside. It cured me in 10 minutes. I wrote Martin and thanked him. I hope RM gets back in the game; golf is more fun to watch when he is on form.

[PA PLAYA]

Good post munihack.

I see Rory's putting woes as a symptom more so than the root cause of his frustrations. One thing you cannot say about Day, Spieth, or DJ is that they're not hungry. They're out there grinding away, regardless of whether they're shooting 65 or 75. Maybe at some point that will change for them, but when it does - they probably won't expect to be in contention every week they tee it up.

I'm still waiting for Rory to sell-out completely to see how great he can be. I don't look back on how remarkable he played in 2014 and think that was an anomaly, I think he has that level within him on a much more consistent basis than he's shown.

I don't pretend to know his work ethic... I don't think he's lazy. But sometimes he seems consumed with indifference. His frustration now seems to be providing some means of motivation, but whether it's motivation to win to get the writers off his back or because he truly wants to be in the same conversation with those guys mentioned above - it's hard to tell some days.

He said he doesn't play golf for fun anymore. That might be a good place to start.

[Johnnnycz]

Jimbo: A bit of everything you mentioned. Nike is mostly about marketing and grabbing market share in whatever sport and recreational activity is hot at the moment. They don't care what it is, but rather only that they get their logo in front of as many eyeballs as possible. See what happened when they bought Bauer back when Hockey grew it's US customer base. Poor Gretzky was decked out in swooshes, but it was obvious he was still skating on CCM Tacks w/ a black paint job and swooshes on em. More recently their move into (and quick retreat) from snowboarding.

They move in fast and hard, yank the top stars from established equipment/clothing brands by throwing huge $$ at athletes and their agents. Slap a swoosh on an "new and improved" yet cheaper quality outsourced product while marketing it as cutting edge. Then they throw out huge marketing campaigns and promotional material with lots of bright and shiny colors but little substance.

Factor in the huge $$ they pay their top endorsers along with the inevitable commitments doing promotions plus advertisements and it's not hard to see that athletes start to feel more like pawns that are put upon a pedestal.

Do they make decent golf stuff? Yes IMO. Their socks and shorts are great! Is it top notch relative to Nike's considerable financial and technological wherewithal? Heck no. Are there better performing brands? You bet!!!

[3foot1]

There's nobody more fun to watch than Rory when he's on his game. Phil's magic tricks are entertaining, but his decisions are exasperating. Now, though, watching Rory is exasperating. His backswing on short putts is so long and his attitude so casual that bad things happen, and when he's losing strokes on the green he becomes oddly indifferent with his irons. Too bad he's not often as motivated as he was during the Irish Open. Those long approaches on 16 and 18 were majestic, and he struck them with the confidence that no one has shown since Tiger. Oh, well. Here's hoping...

[Jimbo]

Thanks Johnnnycz. Great post. Confirmed some thoughts, introduced new ones, I.e. Bauer/Gretz. Much appreciated.