Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker might have a few more choice words about Cog Hill after their lackluster opening rounds Thursday at the BMW Championship. Prior to kick-off, the PGA Tour vets were outspoken in their disdain for the Rees Jones’ redesign of the Dubsdread Course — bad-mouthing that may have gotten into the heads of two golfers who hinted they would rather tee it up on a dirt patch than on the par-71, 7,386-yard track in Lemont, Ill.
Mickelson and Stricker didn’t go quite that far when they dissed the 2008 makeover by Robert Trent Jr.‘s brother, but talking smack about a course they were about to tackle certainly did nothing for their games.
“It’s too bad what happened here,” Stricker told reporters Wednesday. “The players on a whole don’t really care for the redo.” We’re guessing Stricker did not much care for his first-round 5-over that put him 13 strokes off the pace set by Justin Rose’s sizzling 8-under 63.
Mickelson, for his part, did not mince words in ripping the course on which he posted a starting 72 that included a double-bogey on the second hole, four straight birdies, and a pretty good bogey on 18 after he hit his first drive out of bounds.
“I know we all wish that [the redesign] had turned out differently. But there was a lot of other guys to choose from that probably could do the job, and maybe if they just start over, it could turn into something really special,” Mickelson said on the eve of the third of four FedEx Cup events. “I’d love to see…guys that really know what they’re doing come in and create something special here.”
Of course, golfers don’t have to love certain layouts to play well on them, but it couldn’t hurt. Webb Simpson, coming off his second tour win of the season at Boston’s Deutsche Bank Championship two weeks ago, was a case in point.
How did the FedEx Cup leader, who finished his opening round just two shots back of Rose, feel about Cog Hill? “I love this golf course,” Simpson declared on Tuesday.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
Related posts:
- Queen of the hill
- An Educational Experience at Bay Hill With the USGA
- Bay Hill Journal: An Evening With The King and His Friends
- David Schuster of Turner Hill, MA Wins on the Minor League Tour
