Links Life Golf is at The PLAYERS this year and the strategy for the day was to arrive mid-morning and pick up the hottest marquee group and then, in the afternoon, try to follow the Tiger, Phil and Rickie grouping.
The morning went to plan, as I caught DJ, Bubba and Brooks Koepka on the 2nd green just as DJ made his sixth birdie of the round. If you told me that would be his last of the day I wouldn’t have believed you up that’s the way it played out. DJ was tied for the lead at 6-under with plenty of golf left to play.
This trio, which teed off on #10 at 8:05, was one of the two power groups from the morning wave with Rory, Jordan and Justin the other huge draw. Those last three FedEx Cup winners didn’t have their best games on display, as only Rory finished under par. So, I made the right choice.
Conditions for going low were as fine as a player could ask for with no wind to speak of and mild temperatures.
On #3, with the pin tucked back left only four yards from the edge of the green with a five foot drop-off to a bunker, the smart play was to the green center, which both DJ and Bubba executed easily on the 177 yard par 3. Koepka took on the pin but was wayward left. No pain, no penalty, though as he saved par with a four footer after a spinning sand shot. DJ converted a routine two putt but Bubba three jacked it and dropped a stroke to 2-under par.
Number four plays 384 yards with a slight dogleg right and a pond fronting an angled green. These bombers all had wedges into the green but Bubba was the only one to hit it tight, to 3’1”, and he picked up the stoke he lost on #3 with his birdie putt, back to 3-under.
The fairway moves left to right off the tee, with high mounding down the left and a huge bunker on the right with water right of that. It presents an odd angle for the driver which had zero effect on Bubba who blasted it 320 down the center. Brooks was in the short grass back of Bubba but DJ’s cut didn’t cut and he hit the mounds, bounced onto the cart path and settled in deep rough just short of a water hazard. No sweat, he punched it to fifteen feet left of the pin but then lipped out his birdie bid. Pars all around.
At 393 yards, number six is a short, straight away par 4, where all three players hit iron off the tee. Brooks pushed his tee ball into pine straw on the right but made a fine low punch that found fairway and scooted up the false green front to 20’ past the center cut pin. From the fairway Bubba ended up 18’ past the flag while DJ came up just short of the green. No birdies on this one as all three players two putted for par.
The seventh hole is surprisingly, the #1 handicap hole on the course (#18 is #2), with water down the left and a large tree overhanging the fairway on the right. Oh, and water and sand ring the green. 451 yards demands driver and all the bombers let loose, DJ and Bubba sitting in the short grass but Brooks was deep right, in pine straw and a tree lined jail. Or so I thought. He played to the front left of the green and made routine par just like his buddy DJ. Bubba rolled in from fifteen feet for his second birdie in his back side and went to 4 under par.
237 yards to a back left pin is what the par three 8th hole demands. All three players hit irons to the green but none threatened the hole. Two putts all around.
The ninth hole plays 583 yards with water testing the drive on the right but players can let loose off the tee. Bubba fell short right, in the wide fairway, but out of position for a go at the green, so he laid up. As did Koepka, who pulled his drive left into the pine straw, again, and he laid up to the hundred yard marker. DJ went for the green but came short right in the collection of grassy moguls. A poor pitch left him with 54’ for birdie, which he nearly got, but he tapped in for par. Bubba and Brooks both lagged and tapped and that was it.
Johnson stood at 6 under, tied for the lead (still tied first at day’s end), Watson was at 4-under and Koepka was at 2-under. A great showing for the group overall. The only problem for me was this trio only made two birdies combined over the last seven holes. DJ didn’t miss a green in that stretch (he only missed one the whole round) but he couldn’t buy a putt, even using his newly adopted AimPoint technique. But I’m not complaining. Not yet, at least.
The afternoon plan of tagging along with Phil, Rickie and Tiger was doomed by the collision of of an irresistible force with an immovable object. The irresistible force was the enormous throng of folks who had decided to tag along with Phil, Rickie and Tiger. The immovable object was me with my stubborn principles for live golf spectating: I need to have a decent view of the action and I need to get some shade. The irresistible force prevailed and I cooled off the in the media center for a while then spent my afternoon whine on #17 green. There I was nicely settled in a stadium seat in the one public access viewing stand in the area, in the shade, with a great view of all the action on #17 and #16 green, as well, with a bar near to hand.
A great way to spend the day at The PLAYERS.
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