10th Hole Scatter Chart Autopsy, Northern Trust Second Round

What stands out as the 311-yard hole played to a 4.138 scoring average?

Probably how many more guys are trying the lay-up up compared to last year. And based on the scores, that's not helping them score any better. The 10th is currently the 8th toughest hole at Riviera for the 2013 Northern Trust Open.

Click on the image to enlarge:

Phil Mickelson's otherwise excellent 67 was marred by a double bogey on 10. He talked about it after the round:

Q.  Didn't see your second shot on 10.

PHIL MICKELSON:  I hit a drive way left and hit it in some of the trees there; I hit somebody; kind of fatted it into the chipping area.  And the chipping area is so tight, I couldn't get a wedge underneath it, bladed across the green in the bunker.  Hit a bunker shot to six feet and missed it.

Q.  You know you couldn't get a wedge underneath it?

PHIL MICKELSON:  It was a really precise shot.  I mean, as tight as these areas around the green that are shaved, it's tough to get a wedge underneath it, I really didn't have a chance.  I could have putted it 25 feet to the side.  Looking back, it would have saved me a shot but that's not really how I like to play.

Comments

[NRH]

Just caught the re-air on GC. Hard not to laugh at these guys making poor decisions again and again. What stands out, besides the cart path? Only one ball on green, albeit the edge. More bogeys than birdies out of front bunker, The birdie from the bottom of the graph in the fairway must have been a hell of an approach. The bogey from the front of the green straight up the gut had to have been Westwood or Mahan.

[Squeaky]

Squeaky junior and I were out at the Riv today and it was gorgeous. We were standing by Phil when he "fatted" that wedge. The next one looked like a plain old skull to me.

What makes that hole so hard is that, if you lay up to 80 yards or so, you still have to hit a very precise wedge to a landing area about the size of a king sized bed to have a short birdie putt. Sure, you can leave your second short and have an easy 2 putt from 30 feet, but as Phil says, these guys aren't wired to play like that.

[drr345]

I wonder whether the guys would struggle with 6 at LA North like they are here. They keep saying that there's been sloped added to the green, I wonder when that happened. I've played Riviera twice, the first being six years ago and I seem to remember the green have a fair amount of pitch to it. Oh, if only they could restore #11 at Bel Air, that would be quite a trio of cool, short par fours.

[tlavin]

Bring back the balata ball!

[Kris Spence]

Only pars and birdies from the short left bunker, interesting!!! Perhaps play from there goes into ultra conservative mode while just short or over it the player maintains an aggressive approach bringing all sorts of possibilities into play. Looks like fun to me!!

[FWIW]

Seems like more red dots are in the layup zone than the go-for-it zone. And similar black dots in both areas. That would tell me the layup is the better play, right?

[KLG]

A wound ball covered in a balata substitute would solve many problems, including the 10th at Riviera. And based on simple physics it probably wouldn't take the bashing that Bubba, DJ et al. would give it and perform properly. But it is a safe bet that Wally took the sledgehammers to that manufacturing capacity as soon as it was clear that domestication of the Pinnacle was going to work out so well for him.

[The Bigdad]

KLG,
The Pinnacle problem started with the RAM 3D the first surlyn cover, then the Titleist DT really caught on, Spalding and the Topflite was a benison to the average chop who were forever carving up the Club Specials. Any remember the last time you played with an old codger who had a "putting ball"? Against the rules but bifurcation existed even 40 years ago with the old guys using the rules that made sense to them. "Winter Rules" all year because the turf was so spare at Bobby Jones Muny track 'Merion" in Sarasota as that nine holes, (known as the "dump") was constructed on the old landfill and still years later tin cans were popping up though the fairways. But I digress, Wally gave us the Pinnacle because we demanded it. Our fault, not his for giving us what we had to have.
The Bigdad