Number 1 pro golfer in the world, Jason Day, continued his four-stroke lead to the clubhouse today to win the Players Championship wire-to-wire. That means he led all the way from the start of the tournament to the finish. The first round he posted a 63, nine under par 72, which tied the course record. The second round he shot 66 for a tournament record of 129 for the first two rounds. From then on, he pretty much played par golf on slicked up greens the last two rounds.
Tournament officials obviously didn’t like it that the Touring pros were making TPC Sawgrass look like a pitch-and-putt, with 22 players shooting 67 or better the first round. Officials get embarrassed by such things, worrying that the golf fans think the course is too easy. When that happens, officials usually toughen the course for the final two rounds.
That’s obviously what they did. They probably made the pin locations more difficult. The average score was 76 yesterday, which was such a whopping difference from the first two rounds. The last two rounds, officials had the greens maintenance crew roll the greens extra with big heavy metal roller that are filled with water (at least that’s how they used to do it in my day). That compresses the turf so that the greens roll faster and don’t hold irons shots as well. Thus, balls can go bounding over the greens easier. I didn’t see much of the latter, except for shots from the rough. That always happens since even Houdini couldn’t spin the golf ball much from the rough. (Did he play golf?)
Jason Day is proving that he has moved Jordan Spieth well aside right now and deserves the number 1 world ranking. Congratulations Jason, the guy who sure has the best and most powerful golf swing on the PGA Tour right now. And as a model gentleman and a family man, he is another reason why the PGA Tour is good hands these days.
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