Thought this might be fun. Getting you inside the ropes here at the Championship. Tommy Armour III, Bernhard Langer and Brian Davis walk to the tenth tee at 7:23 a.m. There is a great putting green right next to the backside teeing area — something I wish more Tour courses would do.
They announce 48-year-old Amour and he stripes one down the middle on one of the hardest driving holes on the course.
There is a quiet confidence this year. A guy that still loves to practice and work to get better. Not always found in guys his age. His brother Sandy, one of the better golf instructors, is back on the bag. I think they both like this a lot.
Armour misses 12-footer for birdie and we head to the par-5 11th.
For a 20-year vet, Tommy still hits it pretty far and is the longest driver in the group. A 3-footer for birdie and he moves to 1-under.
The 12th is a short par-4. A wonderful hole where you better hit the ball in the right section of the green. Three-wood down the pipe, but his wedge flies right over the flag to the fringe in the back. The dreaded three-putt and he moves back to even.
You’d better have the speed down pat here, at the TPC, and your iron play. TPC Sawgrass is not a big driving "problem" course… i.e. Fred Funk. It’s about irons and short game.
Speaking of irons, we move to the par-3 13th — a hole I consider one of the toughest on the course. For some reason it is hard to get the wind right. You think it’s cross and it’s actually dead into you. The pin is in a tough spot: middle left at the bottom of a slope and over a bunker and water.
Tommy pulls a five iron to the 185 hole, hits it good but misjudges the wind. Boom. Into the front bunker and plugged. Four strokes later he is tapping in for a smooth six and moves to 3-over.
That’s the TPC. Play the par-3s at even par and you can score.
14, 15, and 16 he plays really well, leaving himself birdie putts on each hole. He misses them all. He seems to be over-reading the lines.
You never see change of expressions from TA. He just chomps on the gum and every once in a while sticks a cigarette in his mouth.
On to the 17th. Some call it great. Some call it silly. But everyone calls it exciting. The island green, one of the most recognizable holes in all of golf. Designed by the great Pete Dye, or should I say Hall of Fame, Pete Dye. Does anyone like to play a Dye course? I think you have to be totally masochistic to see it in the positive. Of them all, it is Dye and his designs that always give me the most trouble.
Armour tees it up. Straight down wind today, to a green that is getting harder and harder. The pin is in the second easiest spot - back center. But no pin is easy on this hole. Last year, 93 balls in the water, 50 on Thursday. Yesterday, the caddies got to take a shot for charity. The tour players were asked to each donate whatever they felt appropriate. Just about 50 percent of the guys put it in the brink. The winner, Brian Bateman’s caddy, at a smooth 1-foot-5-inch best ever.
Armour hits a wedge to inside three feet. Will probably be the best shot of the day. Back to 2-over. A great birdie.
A perfect drive on 18 on one of the hardest finishing holes on tour, and he is in position for another birdie. But 18, when the pin is back right, "just ‘aint a birdie hole." As much as the greens are bouncing, you have to play to the front. Armour leaves about a 40-foot putt.
Before I forget, Bernhard Langer made a terrific eagle on 16, a hole you must birdie each of the four days to have a chance at winning this event.
Tommy leaves his putt about eight feet short. At least it’s uphill; and he makes it.
Take the six away and he is right there. Unfortunately, no mulligans on the tour. That is one of my ideas for the PGA Tour’s Fall Series. If we are going to play after the cup, let’s remake the Silly Season.
Bring back the international and what do you think of this: A player-caddy Ryder Cup event. The caddies get handicaps and the players have to carry their own bags. And none of this little carry bag stuff. I WANT DALY CARRYING HIS TOUR BAG!
The other event: The Mulligan. Every player gets one mulligan a side, but they put up their own money for the purse.
Ok, back to reality.
As Tommy tees off his back, the No. 1 hole, it is getting really warm. The breeze has died and it is going to get really uncomfortable for the afternoon times.
Armour’s drive is right, into a really horrible lie. These are lies that say, "Did you work out last night?" He blasts it out, taking about three pounds of sod to just short of the green.
Every green at the TPC is elevated with four six-foot slopes. Most are cut very tight, so you have to putt or chip into a slope. Armour putts this one to about four feet.
Armour is one of those guys that you have no idea what he is thinking between shots. His demeanor never changes. For a guy with a "party man’s" rap, Tommy is one of the hardest working and best ball strikers out here. He rams it in for par.
No. 2 is a 532-yard par-5. Again, down the middle.
Getting off to a bad start is tough out here. Not a lot of birdies sitting around, but the good part is there are plenty of holes left. You’d rather not have a six on Sunday.
He makes the 48-year-old play: an iron to the number he wants. A lost art in this power era called golf. Punches it to seven feet.
Quick note on Langer: He is playing much faster. Always one of the slower guys on tour, I guess the old guys on the Champions Tour taught him to speed up and he has. Plus he is still hitting his three wood like a 20-year-old making this 532 into the wind in two and making a birdie. Now, Armour for his third birdie of the day. Again, an over-read and he makes par.
No. 3 plays about 175 with a pretty strong right-to-left cross wind. As with the other par-3s on this course, there is a major slope right through the center.
Tommy hits a six, taking a chance with the back of the green. It leaks a little right and leaves him a very long birdie, or shall I say lag putt, that must carry for a long time on the slope. This was perhaps the hardest putt on the green. In order to carry the slope and not end up on the front, Armour had to power the putt. He left it 11 feet past the hole. His third 3-putt of the day. Those are the ones that kill you out there.
Speaking of 3-putts, I just checked the leaderboard. Sergio is 4-under par. How cool if he could win. Scott, Kim and Garcia are all stepping up.
No. 4 is only 384 but one of the best holes at the TPC. Water and bunkers right, deep rough left.
Most of the pins today have been relatively accessible. At last week’s players-only meeting, inside information said that the players are getting pretty fed up with the layouts. This is the first diabolical one. Four paces from the front, five paces over the water. WOW! Tommy hits a perfect drive and a better second that spins just past the hole and settles about five feet below the cup.
He makes for birdie. Back to 2-over. No. 5, 471 par-4 continues the water and bunker down the right theme. And again, right down the middle. It amazes me how well TA drives it.
In the ongoing saga of slow play on Tour, a rules official lets Tommy’s group know that the threesome in front is on the clock. A group that Armour’s threesome has waited on a number of times during this round.
Tommy’s approach is good. Nine feet below the hole. It does not matter what the temperature is, Armour believes in the black and white only rule.
His routine over a putt is always the same. Behind the ball. Around to the hole with a little plumbob action. Back behind the ball and another plumb. Two practice strokes and a go. This time it goes in for another birdie. A big one putting him at 1-over for the round.
No. 6 is 393. This time the bunkers are left and the wind is straight into us. Trying to keep it down, Armour pulls it just a touch and, unfortunately, lands up in the bunker.
Speaking of driving, a player must be able to draw the ball off the tee. None out of the 14 driving holes set up for a right-to-left-shot. With about 130 left from the bunker, TA hits a great shot to four feet and a chance at three in a row and even par. He jars it.
What a great lesson for any player that gives it up after a triple bogey and plenty to do. All the stuff about playing one shot and one hole. It’s real. It’s also really hard. I know, just ask my son, Doug, and about a third of the Tour players.
No. 7 is 442, par-4. TA catches what the Tour players call "a runner". In this new world of hit it high with no roll, it’s fun to see an old style shot. He ends up about 30 yards past his playing partners. His glove hand always goes to the mouth; he steps over the ball and swings. Not one of his better irons. Don’t think that he is used to being that close on this hole. Leaves himself about 23 feet above the flag to a pin right in the front.
Can he make four in a row? The wind is coming up. It’s expected to blow between 15 and 25 mph today, a good thing for those that played this morning.
It is amazing how much a player’s draw has to do with making the cut. If you catch the rougher afternoon, you can play good golf and still be out on the weekend.
Armour two-putts for par leaving him at even through 16 holes and facing what I consider the most daunting hole on the course. The 237-yard par-3 eighth. A cross wind – down wind hole to a small green with edges sloping away from the center.
Tommy hits a good iron 35 feet past the hole, leaving a speedy downhill birdie putt.
Interesting question here — almost like an NBA team that gets down by 20 at half. They claw their way back to even, but many teams fall back again. They either run out of energy or can’t keep up the hard work. I wonder what happens to most Tour players who start slow, make a few early mistakes and claw their way back to even par? How many can keep going lower?
Garcia and Angel Cabrera are both 5-under. Tommy makes his two-putt and remains even in 26th place. No. 9 is a 583-yard, uphill par-5. His drive is down the middle. His layup is also in the middle, about 65 yards to the flag that is in a switch-back right.
Tommy and his brother Sandy flow like one. It’s way more than a caddy-player relationship. They know each other’s every move.
Tommy’s approach ends up less than two feet from the hole. He finishes the day at 1-under par.
If there were ever a round that should be thrown to every junior wannabe player, it is 48-year-old Tommy Armour III, first round at the 2008 Players Championship. A round that could have very easily been 77-78 became 71 because he refused to throw in the towel.
Thanks for the round, Tommy. I will never forget it. Sure, I could have watched Sergio or one of the other leaders, but I never would have gotten the lesson.
