Little Mike tames Bethpage

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/06/2009 (6264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Pretty soon, they’re going to have to rethink this whole "bomber’s course" theory.

Granted, the Bethpage Black that terrorized the world’s best pros in the 2002 U.S. Open had bigger, sharper teeth than this toned-down, waterlogged beast that faced them Friday in near-perfect scoring conditions. But let it be known that on the 19th day of June 2009, Mr. Michael Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont. — all 5-9 and (maybe) 155 pounds of him — brought the animal to its knees in the first round of the ’09 Open with a competitive course record-tying round of 64.

It was, while it lasted, good for a two-stroke lead over Sweden’s Peter Hanson, three over British Open blasts from the past David Duval and Todd Hamilton — and moreover, it was good for the soul that a "medium-length hitter" as Weir laughingly refers to himself, left a lot of golf’s big bangers distantly in his wake.

Owing to Thursday’s near-washout, the leaders were back on the course within an hour Friday afternoon (after completing Round 1), and unable to finish their second rounds — how that ends, we’ll have to wait to find out — but when play was called at 8:24 p.m. ET, Weir was still in touch at 4-under, two back of leader Lucas Glover.

And however today goes, history will show the plucky little Canuck led after 18 holes.

Weir, who won the 2003 Masters in notably wet, cool conditions when borderline welterweights like him were supposed to be non-competitive, keeps proving there are lots of ways to get the little white ball in the hole that don’t involve hitting 320-yard drives.

Tiger Woods, who went 4 over par on the Black Course’s four closing holes Friday, would have killed for the 2-under Weir — who started on the back nine — posted on that same stretch. The world No. 1 is already 10 shots in arrears.

And when the 39-year-old Canadian made his only big error of the round, double-bogeying the sixth hole, he came back with birdies at the eighth and ninth — rolling in a 20-footer at the last — to restore the two-stroke cushion.

His 64 was two shots better than the lowest round recorded here in an Open, Nick Faldo’s 66 in 2002. It also bettered by one his low round in a major, a third-round 65 in the 2006 PGA at Medinah.

"I wasn’t even thinking score, I was just in one of those days where I had a great feel, and I just wanted to kind of let it ride. I was in a good place," said Weir, who drove the ball well but was impeccable with his irons, and holed more than his share of putts.

"It doesn’t mean a whole lot. It’s a great feeling, but it’s such a long week."

 

"Even when I made that double out there, I told myself something like this is going to happen through the course of the week, it’s probably going to happen again — you’ve just got to be able to bounce back from it."

The similarities between these conditions and the ones at Augusta six years ago are encouraging, he said.

"In 2003, we were rained out Thursday and it played really long, and a lot of people were saying how the longer hitters would have a big advantage, but all us medium-length hitters" — a little smile there — "feel we can compete, and if we hit some longer irons and rescue clubs into the greens, the greens are soft enough to hold those. If it was firm conditions and we were hitting those clubs in, it would be more of a disadvantage than it was today."

It was clear that the course was softened by Thursday’s rain, and by the placement of the tee boxes.

"They moved quite a few tees up — and not just five, 10 yards but 30 and 40 and 50 yards up," said Woods, the pre-race favourite whose opening 74 put him immediately in catch-up mode. "So it was a little bit different than we thought it would be."

To a man, the players were in awe of the job the maintenance crew had done, draining and preparing the course after Thursday’s deluge had left it looking more like a water park than a golf course.

"It’s incredible what the staff did to get this place playable. I mean, I’m wearing white shoes and they’re hardly dirty. It’s amazing, from the pictures I saw yesterday," said Weir.

"Our side of the draw really got an advantage, but that’s how it works out sometimes. It’s unusual to turn right around and go back out, but again, similar to 2003. That’s exactly what I had to do — finish the round, get a little break, and go back out. It’s a good break, we have perfect conditions, and when you’re playing well, you just want to keep playing."

The same conditions, even the same grouping, didn’t work out as well for Calgary’s Stephen Ames, who shot 3-over-par 38 going out and struggled home with a 74 in his first round, but he fired a 4-under-par 31 to start his second round and was right back in it.

B.C. amateur Nick Taylor posted a first-round 73, then went on a tear, shooting 33 on the front nine of his second round, birdieing the 10th and 11th, holing out from the bunker at 14 just as the horn sounded, and vaulting all the way to a tie for sixth at nightfall. The 21-year-old from Abbotsford also was unable to complete his round, but might be among the lucky part of the draw that gets finished before rain is forecast to return around midday.

As much as three centimetres of rain, and thunderstorms, still threaten to curtail play today, and the forecast beyond that is not good, either. A Monday, or even Tuesday, finish is closer to likely than possible.

 

— Canwest News Service