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 Something's in the air Wind makes second round a chore at Pinehurst
Posted: Monday July 26, 1999 03:36 PM
PINEHURST, N.C. (CNN/SI) -- If golf was meant to be fun, someone forgot to tell the designers of Pinehurst No. 2. The wind was swirling and the balls skipping through the green or rolling endlessly into swales and hollows that have become Donald Ross dungeons. This is no average event. This major championship is causing major headaches. Phil Mickelson clenched his teeth. The normally stoic David Duval thought about slamming his wedge into the suddenly hard ground. Payne Stewart chomped furiously on his gum. And those were the leaders after the second round of the U.S. Open. The only time Pinehurst No. 2 allowed anyone to smile Friday was when the last putt fell into the cup. And even then, the smiles didn't last long. The real horror is what lies ahead. It's only going to get firmer, faster and more unforgiving. The pressure is only going to get greater. Par will never look better. "Par is ultimately the person you want to compare yourself to," said Mickelson, concerned more with a number than a leaderboard packed with some of the biggest names in golf. Of only seven players who remain under par, four of them -- including Tiger Woods -- have won major championships. That experience will come in handy for the weekend. The swirling winds that sucked the joy out of Pinehurst No. 2 turned the U.S. Open into the championship it always is -- a fight to survive. Duval, the No. 1 player in the world, survived a meltdown in the bunkers by making a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 17 that gave him an even-par 70 and left him tied with Stewart and Mickelson at 137. "You can only hope to be close to the lead come the weekend," Duval said. "And I'm going to be there." Mickelson found out earlier Friday that his wife probably won't have their first child for another few weeks. Good thing, because Pinehurst required undivided attention to keep par in the picture. "In a major, it's very easy to get overly excited," Mickelson said after his 70. "It's very important to try to calm down. I'm on myself to try to stay on an even keel." Stewart had a 1-under 69 -- the best score of the day -- to put himself in position once again in the U.S. Open. This is the third time in the past four years that Stewart has had at least a share of the lead after 36 holes. "The score was a good one," said Stewart, the only player to beat par two days in a row. "The way I got it was not what I envisioned, but it's what I came up with, and that's what you have to do." How tough was the second round? Woods had a 1-over 71 and actually agreed that he played well. He was two strokes back at 139, despite missing two good birdie chances in the last three holes. Woods may be only 23, but he's old enough to know what the U.S. Open requires. "I'm very pleased just to be under par -- very pleased," Woods said. "I know how difficult it is out there, and everyone else does, as well. But you have to hang in there." That was no small task. Only three players broke par -- Stewart, Maggert and John Huston at 69. The course played about 2 1/2 strokes higher than the first round, and the scoring average was 5 1/2 strokes over par. "The goal is to make pars as you stand on each tee box," Mickelson said. "And to do that takes a lot of patience." Hal Sutton, Vijay Singh and Billy Mayfair were the only other players in the clubhouse under par, all at 139. Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal didn't wait for Pinehurst to beat him up. He slammed his fist into the wall of his hotel room Thursday night after opening with a 75, broke a bone in his right hand and had to withdraw. Now, it's time to really knuckle down. The sloped edges of Donald Ross' domed greens already were turning yellow Friday, sending balls rolling endlessly into the hollows. Just imagine what's in store for the weekend, when sunshine really starts to bake the course. "Kind of scary when you think about it," Corey Pavin said. Two of the past four U.S. Opens were won with a score of even par. More conditions like Friday's could lead to the first time over par has won the Open since Andy North did it at Cherry Hills in 1978. Still in the equation is Davis Love III, despite a 73 that put him six strokes back at 143. Justin Leonard and Colin Montgomerie were at 144, while Tom Lehman and defending champion Lee Janzen barely got in at 147. Among those who missed the cut were Fred Couples, Mark O'Meara, two-time Open champion Ernie Els and Greg Norman, who hit only two greens on Friday in his round of 78. "If it stays breezy like this, I doubt you're going to see an under-par winner," Norman said before cleaning out his locker. For a brief moment, Duval played as though he would prove Norman incorrect when he became the only player to get to 5 under with a birdie on No. 5, the toughest hole at Pinehurst. But after 23 holes without a bogey, Duval made a double on the par-3 sixth when he blasted out of the bunker, past the flag and down the back of the green. Two more birdies brought him to 5 under again, but another bunker on the par-3 ninth started his slow recession back to the pack. Mickelson made bogey from the bunker on No. 6, but birdies on Nos. 10 and 12 gave him the lead at 4 under. He made a wild bogey on No. 16, a 489-yard par-4, and Duval caught him with a birdie on the next hole. Stewart also was at 4 under until bogeys caught up with him. He played smart, U.S. Open-type golf down the stretch, however, making important par-saving putts on the 14th, 16th and 18th holes for his 69. Stewart also was the 36-hole leader in 1996, when he had a 76-73 on the weekend, and last year, when he led all three rounds but blew a four-stroke lead on Sunday. "There is some unfinished business," he said. Woods could have gone either way in the stiff breezes that dried up the course even before the sun had a chance. He made a bogey on the par-5 fourth when his second shot hit a pine tree and caught a buried lie in the bunker, then another bogey with a three-putt on No. 6. But he never lost his cool, and made up for the mistakes with a 30-foot birdie on No. 9 and a beautifully played 3-wood putt to within inches for birdie on the par-5 10th. Woods, who won the Masters with a record 18-under 270, has a different plan of attack for Pinehurst. "A lot of fairways and a lot of greens," he said. "And just trying to make pars."
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