CADILLAC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Holmes tames Blue Monster with impressive 10-under 62
DORAL, Florida – Firing a 62 on the US PGA Tour is nothing new, or even unusual.
There already have been 13 rounds of 62 in the wraparound 2015 season, after 21 such scores were posted in 2014.
But what J.B. Holmes did on Thursday at the WGC-Cadillac Championship was remarkable. He dominated an elite field and the incredibly difficult Trump National Doral to the tune of a 10-under 62, four shots better than anyone else in the field.
“That's always a good measure of a round - how many shots did you beat the rest of the field by,” Jim Furyk said.
“If you shoot 62 and there's like three 63s and a 64, it's still a hell of a round. But when you separate yourself from the field – and a really strong field – by four, it's a great round of golf. “
In 2014, Doral's Blue Monster had a scoring average of 73.852, with a pair of 66s from Tiger Woods and Jonas Blixt the lowest rounds of the tournament.
So not only was Holmes four shots better than Ryan Moore on Thursday, but he also set a new benchmark on the course that was made longer and more difficult by course designer Gil Hanse before the 2014 event.
“I didn't see 8 under out there," Jimmy Walker said. “To see two guys up there kind of distancing themselves, that can happen, but I just didn't see it. You get a hard golf course, somebody's on, really on, you can't stop somebody when they're on. You just can't.”
Holmes was definitely "on," posting a bogey-free round that included an eagle and eight birdies.
Of the nine holes that Holmes parred, eight were on putts of 2 feet or less. Only a 21-foot bomb on the par-3 ninth stood out as an anomaly.
“A bunch of people have been saying, 'What course was I playing?' " Holmes said. “Had a lot of fun and didn't have too many stressful putts. If I didn't make it, it was in there pretty close, so I didn't have a whole bunch of 4‑ or 5‑footers.”
Moore, who was playing with a tweak to his swing and a new putter, also rattled off eight birdies, but a double bogey at the par-4 18th put a late damper on his round.
“I was obviously giving myself good, reasonable birdie chances,” Moore said. “Controlled my ball really nicely today, probably for about 13, 14 holes. Honestly, 15 or 16 for that matter. Hit a couple bad shots coming in, but I controlled the ball nice, but I was putting great.”
Holmes' 62 is one shot off the Blue Monster record set by Stephen Ames in 2000, but that tournament was not in the WGC rotation and was simply a regular Tour stop (Doral-Ryder Open). The scoring average in 2000 was 70.563; Thursday's average was 73.400.
“A four‑shot lead is great the first day,” Furyk said. “Even J.B. realises it's the first day. We'd all like to be in that position, trust me, but there's a lot of golf to be played."
+Scotland's Stephen Gallacher had a nightmare round of 84 - 22 shots more than J B Holmes.
FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
par 72
T65
Marcel Siem
78
T65
Anirban Lahiri*
75
T65
Thomas Aiken*
66
T70
Joost Luiten
79
T70
Jason Dufner*
71
72
Thongchai Jaidee
80
73
Stephen Gallacher
84
J.B. Holmes acknowledges the crowd after making
birdie on the seventh hole during the first round of the WGC-Cadillac
Championship. Holmes had eight birdies and an eagle on Thursday.
(
Getty Images
)
DORAL, Florida – Firing a 62 on the US PGA Tour is nothing new, or even unusual.
There already have been 13 rounds of 62 in the wraparound 2015 season, after 21 such scores were posted in 2014.
But what J.B. Holmes did on Thursday at the WGC-Cadillac Championship was remarkable. He dominated an elite field and the incredibly difficult Trump National Doral to the tune of a 10-under 62, four shots better than anyone else in the field.
“That's always a good measure of a round - how many shots did you beat the rest of the field by,” Jim Furyk said.
“If you shoot 62 and there's like three 63s and a 64, it's still a hell of a round. But when you separate yourself from the field – and a really strong field – by four, it's a great round of golf. “
In 2014, Doral's Blue Monster had a scoring average of 73.852, with a pair of 66s from Tiger Woods and Jonas Blixt the lowest rounds of the tournament.
So not only was Holmes four shots better than Ryan Moore on Thursday, but he also set a new benchmark on the course that was made longer and more difficult by course designer Gil Hanse before the 2014 event.
“I didn't see 8 under out there," Jimmy Walker said. “To see two guys up there kind of distancing themselves, that can happen, but I just didn't see it. You get a hard golf course, somebody's on, really on, you can't stop somebody when they're on. You just can't.”
Holmes was definitely "on," posting a bogey-free round that included an eagle and eight birdies.
Of the nine holes that Holmes parred, eight were on putts of 2 feet or less. Only a 21-foot bomb on the par-3 ninth stood out as an anomaly.
“A bunch of people have been saying, 'What course was I playing?' " Holmes said. “Had a lot of fun and didn't have too many stressful putts. If I didn't make it, it was in there pretty close, so I didn't have a whole bunch of 4‑ or 5‑footers.”
Moore, who was playing with a tweak to his swing and a new putter, also rattled off eight birdies, but a double bogey at the par-4 18th put a late damper on his round.
“I was obviously giving myself good, reasonable birdie chances,” Moore said. “Controlled my ball really nicely today, probably for about 13, 14 holes. Honestly, 15 or 16 for that matter. Hit a couple bad shots coming in, but I controlled the ball nice, but I was putting great.”
Holmes' 62 is one shot off the Blue Monster record set by Stephen Ames in 2000, but that tournament was not in the WGC rotation and was simply a regular Tour stop (Doral-Ryder Open). The scoring average in 2000 was 70.563; Thursday's average was 73.400.
“A four‑shot lead is great the first day,” Furyk said. “Even J.B. realises it's the first day. We'd all like to be in that position, trust me, but there's a lot of golf to be played."
- 1. The field average was 73.402
- 2. Maintaining its ferocious reputation, the par-4 18th was toughest, at a 4.603 field average. Only three birdies were made – by Alexander Levy, Charley Hoffman and Ross Fisher.
- 3. Phil Mickelson failed to make a birdie in his 2-over 74, a round that included two penalty drops on par 5s, one at the 12th, one at the eighth.
- 4. World No. 1 Rory McIlroy shot 73 and is now 6 over for five rounds on the redesigned Blue Monster.
- 5. There were more bogeys, double-bogeys, and “others” (281) than birdies and eagles (245).
- 6. Brandt Snedeker, Bill Haas, Webb Simpson and Ian Poulter had 74s. Jordan Spieth and Hunter Mahan had 75s. Chris Kirk, Zach Johnson and Jason Day 76s.
- 7. Patrick Reed raced to 4 under on Day 1 last year, only to play the next 54 holes in level par to hang on.
- 8. Graeme McDowell was 1 under when he pulled his tee shot left into a bunker at his 18th hole, the par-3 ninth, then blasted his second shot into the water. He made double-bogey to shoot 73.
- 9. Ian Poulter’s water woes travelled with him from the Honda Classic. He drove it wide right at the par-4 third and got wet, though he recovered for a bogey.
- 10. At one point on his outward nine, Hideki Matsuyama made five consecutive bogeys. He wound up shooting 76.
+Scotland's Stephen Gallacher had a nightmare round of 84 - 22 shots more than J B Holmes.
FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
par 72
T65
Marcel Siem
78
T65
Anirban Lahiri*
75
T65
Thomas Aiken*
66
T70
Joost Luiten
79
T70
Jason Dufner*
71
72
Thongchai Jaidee
80
73
Stephen Gallacher
84
Labels: PRO GOLF
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Thursday, March 05, 2015
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