OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Kevin Kisner hit a 350-yard 3-wood on the 17th hole in Friday’s second round of the BMW Championship, which, to be kind, is rather unusual for the player who lacks power and relies on grit and a solid putter.
“I still made bogey, though,” said Kisner, who wedged his second shot just over the green, chipped down the slope to 6 feet and missed the par putt.
That’s what Olympia Fields is dialing up this week for the 69 players remaining in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. This second playoff event is playing akin to a U.S. Open, a very difficult U.S. Open, mind you, as thick rough, lightning fairways, firm, sloping greens and heat from above have combined to deliver one of the most difficult exams these players have ever faced.
Exams that have everyone on edge.
BMW Championship: Leaderboard | Photos
“You’ve got to hit really quality golf shots and get lucky,” Kisner said. “That’s basically the tune to it. You’ve got to try to hit your number and then hope it does what you’re praying it does when it hits the ground.
“I think even par wins the golf tournament.”
Well, 1 under is leading the BMW Championship after 36 holes.
And only two players are at that red number – Rory McIlroy, who switched putters to his delight, and Patrick Cantlay, who chipped in twice to his delight. McIlroy added a 1-under-par 69 to his first round 70 while Cantlay came home with a 68 – tied for the lowest score on the day – to go with his 71 in the opening round.
“The golf course is really, really good, but it’s very, very difficult,” Cantlay said. “It’s about as stiff of a test as you would want. You have to play from the fairway, and you have to play from below the hole, frankly. The greens have so much slope on them that you really need to be putting uphill, and so if you’re in the rough, it gets exponentially harder to do that.”
You want hard? The last time 1 under led after 36 holes on the PGA Tour was in the 2014 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Doral (Patrick Reed went on to win with a score of 4 under).
You want harder? The last non-major won with an over-par score was the 1981 AT&T Byron Nelson by Bruce Lietzke at 1 over at Preston Trail in Texas. The last major won by an over-par score was the 2018 U.S. Open as Brooks Koepka won at Shinnicock Hills at 1 over.
At Olympia Fields, only eight players broke 70 in the second round – five more than broke 70 in the first round. Hideki Matsuyama is the only player to reach 4 under during the tournament.
Matsuyama and world No. 1 and FedEx Cup champion Dustin Johnson, who won last week with a score of 30 under in the Northern Trust, are at even par; Matsuyama shot 73, Johnson 69.
Five players are at 1 over – Adam Scott (69), Brendon Todd (68), Louis Oosthuizen (69), Tony Finau (71) and Billy Horschel (71). Three players are at 2 over – Kisner (70), Bubba Watson (70) and Mackenzie Hughes (73).
Tiger Woods (73-75) is nine shots back.
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“We’re not used to it on the PGA Tour, but I love these courses,” Horschel said. “What makes this course even tougher, though, is when you add this 15- to 20-mile-per-hour wind and you get these firm greens, when you’re coming in downwind it’s tough to stop the ball near the hole.
“I’ve always been a fan of 8- to 12-under par being a winning score of a tournament, and then with 1 under leading, some people might say, well, it’s not fair. It’s very fair, you’ve just got to execute the golf shots perfectly every time.”
McIlroy has been in a funk since the PGA Tour returned after a 13-week break due to COVID-19. After beginning his season with top-5 finishes in seven consecutive tournaments, including a victory in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, he has posted zero top-10s in his last seven starts.
Last week at the Northern Trust, who talked openly and honestly about lacking motivation and focus and basically going through the motions.
Not a problem this week.
“I think the test is what’s helped me focus and concentrate because if you lose focus out there for one second it can really cost you around here,” McIlroy said. “One of the big keys this week is just not making big numbers. I’ve been making big numbers for the last few weeks, so if you hit it out of position, get it back in position, make sure that your worst score is a bogey and move on.
“Honestly bogeys aren’t that bad out here.”
And his driver – his No. 1 weapon – has been pretty good.
“I’ve driven the ball much better over the last couple of days, so that’s a huge key to my game. If I can drive the ball well, everything seems a bit easier from there,” McIlroy said. “And I felt a bit better with the putter. I put my old putter back in the bag. I felt a little more comfortable over the sort of inside 10-feet range, so that felt better. But overall everything was pretty good.”
Cantlay said the same of his present form. And he said patience is the 15th club in the bag that players have to rely on.
“You’ve got to realize that you’re going to make mistakes,” Cantlay said. “You’re going to make some bogeys just because of how hard the golf course is, and always having a forward mindset as opposed to thinking about what’s happened or what the mistakes you’ve made is really important.
“It’s just very, very difficult.”
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