August 13 — Thick fog has delayed play at Whistling Straits for a second straight day, leading to speculation the 2010 PGA Championship may need to finish on Monday.
Monday finish. The PGA Tour’s Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston (Norton, Mass.) is the only event with an official Monday finish since it takes place over Labor Day weekend. Acts of nature, like the pea soup that hangs over Lake Michigan in Kohler, Wisc., can push play past Sunday.
None of the 78 players who teed off Thursday afternoon was able to finish play after Thursday’s delay of three hours and 10 minutes. With play suspended at 8:54 p.m. ET because of darkness, those players were to continue their rounds at 8 a.m. Friday. Because of Friday’s delay, however, the scheduled 9:30 a.m. start for the third round will move back as well, leading to concerns about a Monday finish.
Leaders in the clubhouse. Of those players who did finish Thursday, Bubba Watson and Francesco Molinari were in the clubhouse at 4-under. Matt Kuchar, Ernie Els, and Nick Watney were also at 4-under but still on the course.
In a major championship with a slew of story lines, golf watchers had their eyes on No. 1 and No. 2, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Hard work pays off — so far. Woods, who finished one player from the bottom at last week’s Bridgestone Invitational, seemed to have found some answers to his faltering game — at least for one day. The struggling golf ace, who has been working with his caddie and swing guru Sean Foley for the last week, started out fast with three birdies in his first four holes. He stumbled a bit down the stretch, but a birdie at 18 gave him a 1-under 71 for the round and a tie for 24th — quite a bit better than 78th, where he finished last week.
Better control. “I thought I hit the ball pretty good,” Woods told TNT after his round. “It felt like I had control of the ball most of the day, especially with my trajectory which was nice. I haven’t had that in a while so it felt good to have that.”
Phil Mickelson, who revealed he’s been struggling with psoriatic arthritis since June, had an up-and-down half a round. He found trouble wherever he could, but his vaunted short game saved him multiple times, as he was also at 1-under through 11 holes.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out at the Boston Golf Examiner and National Golf Examiner websites. You may reach Kay at mlek@comcast.net)
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