2013 Northern Trust Open Final Round Comment Thread

Somewhere between Hawaii Five-O plugs, shots of nearby college campuses and private golf courses that host the CBS team, and anything else they can think of not associated with golf, my sources confirm that CBS will have several segments showing more than three shots during the Northern Trust Open final round.

Then again, the way Bill Haas is playing he may be tough to catch. But if he falters, there is an interesting cast ready and willing.

Golf Channel broadcasts from 10 am PT to 11:30, CBS picks up some time after noon following Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Tiger And Obama Hit The Links

Golf World's Tim Rosaforte is holed up in the Floridian clubhouse Tweeting updates.

Here is a story from The Hill reporting on the round that also includes Jim Crane, Houston Astros owner.

Couples To WGHOF Critic: “I can understand Raymond's point.”

Alex Miceli caught up with Fred Couples and asked him about Ray Floyd's criticism of lowered standards for Hall of Fame entry. As you can imagine, Couples took it in stride and also made a case for two-time major winners Andy North and John Daly.

More interesting to me was Nick Faldo validating Floyd's criticism.

“I know you're voted to get in, but you've got to cross the line of two majors, 20 wins and you're 40 years old, so there's a few factual things about it, then you can be considered,” Hall-of-Famer Nick Faldo said in agreeing with Floyd's comments. “In theory if you've done your two majors and 20 wins, you don't need a committee.”

Shot Of The Day From Riviera: Luke Donald

Northern Trust Open third round leader Bill Haas' workmanlike 64 was spectacular under the firm conditions and tough hole locations. But other than a pitch-in on the short 10th, his round yielded few must-see shots.

Except there was Luke Donald on 13.

Television didn't convey just how hard this shot is to draw around the tree and then get to sit quietly once it nears the green, nor was CBS able to get in a replay of the shot in between its laundry list of promos.

Donald posted a 70, leaving him at -8 and four back of leader Haas.

"Wie: A phenomenal talent stifled"

Provocative story and firsthand reporting from Peter Stone on the prodigy that was Michelle Wie and her ever-present parents.

Regarding her putting:

Through the years, Wie has been tormented by her putting. She’s tried half a dozen or so different putting styles and grips, she’s tried the belly putter. Now she is using a quite bizarre stance that sees her bending over with her back almost parallel to the ground. If Laura Davies should try it, she’d probably topple to the ground.

It was reported at a recent tournament in Dubai Michelle was seen on the putting green with mum holding her head down, her father adjusting and positioning the line of her putter addressing the ball, and just to complete the exercise the caddie was voicing his opinion of the stroke.

Audible: Golf Channel Showing Women's Aus Open Live

I'm sure after a few phone calls to Ponte Vedra, Golf Channel makes the call to show 15-year-old Lydia Ko's bid to win the Australian Open live. The adjusted ET air schedule:

9:30PM – 2:00AM            Final Round ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open (Live)
 
2:00AM – 5:00AM            Round 3 Northern Trust Open (Replay)
 
5:00AM – 7:00AM            Round 2 ACE Group Classic (Replay)

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.

Couples On Riviera's 10th: "It's not as fun because it's more of a struggle."

As the Northern Trust Open first round neared a conclusion before play was called at 5:43, Riviera's 10th was playing to a 4.056 average and for the first time several players suggested that maybe the short par-4 beloved by so many wasn't as fun as it used to be.

Several players referred to "changes" but the only difference this year is the Stimpmeter reading of 12 and increased firmness from a lack of rain. The last major changes to the green caem in 2009 when the surrounding bunker lips were lowered.

Fred Couples after an opening 68:

Q.  Since you've been here, how have you played 10 in the past?  Do you feel like it's been one of your better holes here at Riviera?

FRED COUPLES:  Yeah, I said that yesterday.  I used to tell my caddie being a little cocky that when we teed off, just put the 3 on the card, because I birdied it so many times, and now I think if you look at the last four years I've played, I barely make pars on it.  I bogeyed it last year twice.  They might need to re‑evaluate that green here in the near future.

It's really slopey, and the front of the green goes up and the back goes like that and the balls are rolling over.  It's all fun and hunky‑dory when you try to drive the green but when you get around the green and you're playing 35 feet left of the flag because there's nowhere to go, it kind of defeats the purpose.

And...

Q.  Is it fun?

FRED COUPLES:  It's not as fun because it's more of a struggle.  There's nowhere to drive it.  If you're good enough to drive it in that grass and pop it up in the air and have it trickle on the front of the green, you're really a good player.

But if you drive it on the green, it rolls down across and they have shaved it and it just rolls to where there's nowhere to go, except when the pin is in the very front.  But the other three days, you're chipping 40 feet from the hole.

Lee Westwood, making his first Riviera appearance in six years, opened with 68 and said after the round:

They have changed it since I played it, six or seven years ago.  There's like a run‑off area down the left if you hit driver, so it runs too far and then you've got to come around the bunker to a back right flag.

So it's really difficult to play it now, and there's no fringe around the green, around the bunkers.  So anything, it's a very severe green, it's very quick and anything that spins off goes in the trap.  It's significantly harder than the last time I played it.  I probably still haven't quite figured out how you play it but I think most of the people will be in the same position to be honest.

Phil Mickelson, birdied the hole en route to an opening 71:

Q.  Would 10 be any better, if they worked with it more, could it be a better hole than it already is?

PHIL MICKELSON:  Well, I think it was ten years ago, but over time, greens are going to shrink, kikuyu is going to keep in.  As we have got firmer greens, it's become a hole that you used to try to make a three on and you're pretty happy today to make a four.

I got lucky today in the sense that I hit a perfect chip shot and made a great putt but this hole is going to play over par.  It's very difficult to make threes there right now.

Q.  On 11, you turned and watched Westwood play his shot; is that one hole you can sit and watch out of curiosity how guys play and what they do?
   
PHIL MICKELSON:  Yeah, I always enjoy watching him chip around the greens, too, though.

It is fascinating how, as the green has sped up and the hole becomes more difficult, how much it seems to be in the heads of the world's best. I'm not sure it's quite as extreme as some are describing simply because so few actually lay-up off the tee in the proper area.

Either way, Doug Ferguson filed a fun summary of the early morning antics Thursday worth a look. Most notably, Humana Challenge winner Brian Gay opened with a triple bogey 7.

He's among the shorter hitters in golf, and chose to lay up to the left. He had 58 yards left and a decent angle to the diagonal green. The safe shot would have been a pitch that landed on the front of the green and rolled up to about 20 feet. Gay realized the middle part of the green sloped hard to the left, so he took on a small gap just to the left of the front bunker.

It was a smaller margin of error, and he made an error. The shot was too far to the right and went into the sand. He compounded that by aiming at the flag, and his bunker shot went through the green into the back bunker. His next shot hit the 8-inch lip of the bunker and rolled back to the sand. He hit the next onto the green about 7 feet away, and the missed his putt. Triple bogey.

His caddie, Kip Henley, walked over to the 11th tee and said, "What the hell just happened?"

He added a few minutes later, "This has got to be one of the top five holes on tour. Maybe the best. And I'm saying that after my man made triple."

Mark Lamport Stokes reports on the first round, where Matt Kuchar's 64 led the way.

A few images from the opening day, including Jonas Blixt's hot pink shoes, Adam Scott's range bag-turned-putter cover and the tallest professional basketball player in the world making an appearance.