The First Look: Rocket Mortgage Classic

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CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – A record heat wave has tee shots at Carnoustie running faster than a caffeinated Usain Bolt. Players are hitting as little as 7-iron off the tee, and even long-irons are crossing the 300-yard barrier. The toughest course in The Open’s rota is providing a different type of test this week. “Car-nastyâ€� became notorious in 1999, when lush rough and narrow fairways made the course near-impossible. The course was damp again in 2007. Even with easier conditions, 7 under par was Padraig Harrington’s winning score. Now players will face a firm and fast Carnoustie on fairways that have been yellowed by a record heat wave in the United Kingdom. Last month was the second-hottest June on record in the United Kingdom. Motherwell, Scotland, recently hit 91.8 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded in Scotland. “I don’t remember the last time we went six weeks without rain,â€� a British farmer recently told the New York Times. “Only a proper week of full-on British rain can save the situation now.â€� That’s not in the forecast this week. Carnoustie has received half its usual rain over the past three months. There have been occasional sprinkles this week, but not enough to alter the conditions. The forecast for the remainder of the week calls for minimal precipitation. That means the 7,402-yard course, the longest in The Open rota, will play significantly shorter. And the rough that tormented players in 1999 now offers little penalty because it is so dry and brittle. With well-watered greens and breezes that may not blow harder than 20 mph, there is some talk about an unprecedented week of scoring at Carnoustie. No one has finished double-digits under par in seven Opens here. “When the wind is blowing, it is the toughest golf course in Britain,â€� said World Golf Hall of Fame member Sir Michael Bonallack. “And when it’s not blowing, it’s probably still the toughest.â€� Some are comparing this week to 2006, when Tiger Woods won at Royal Liverpool. He hit driver just once on a course so parched that balls kicked up dust when they hit the turf. He shot 18 under par to beat Chris DiMarco by two shots. This week, Woods put a new, lower-lofted 2-iron in his bag to send his tee shots scooting down the fairway. There’s one problem, though. “I haven’t been able to use it that many times … because I’m hitting my other irons so far,â€� he said. That includes a 333-yard 3-iron on the 18th hole. That hole used to play as a par-5. Now players who hit driver are left with little more than a pitch shot. Dustin Johnson drove it into the burn fronting the green. The 12-yard-wide hazard crosses the fairway 450 yards from the tee. Along with the bothersome Barry Burn, which plays an outsized role for such a narrow hazard, it will be imperative for players to avoid Carnoustie’s penal pot bunkers. “I haven’t seen one yet that … I could actually hit it on the green out of,â€� Dustin Johnson said. Carnoustie’s bunkers, among the toughest in the British Isles, are comparable to miniature water hazards because both hand out a one-shot penalty. Some of the vertical faces are 6 feet tall. The bunkers are so small that players are often left with awkward stances, and the ball is so close to the face that it’s impossible to do much more than pitch out. Johnny Miller lost the 1975 Open here when he needed two shots to get out of a fairway bunker on the 18th hole. He made bogey to fall one short of the playoff won by Tom Watson. There are, however, a few opportunities for long hitters to blow their tee shots over the traps because the rough is of little concern. On other holes, it is better to lay back short of the bunkers. “There’s 5,000 different ways … to play these holes out here,â€� Reed said. The safe play often leaves a more difficult approach shot, though. “There’s no perfect strategy that eliminates risk,” said Harrington. “It’s very difficult to play short of the bunkers all the time. The beauty of the course is that there are a lot of different ways of playing it, but eventually you’re going to have to grow up and hit the shots.” Players will certainly have plenty of decisions to make. Carnoustie has just three par-3s, leaving players with 15 tee shots on par-3s and par-4s. They may be hitting wood off the tee of the 248-yard 16th, as well. Jack Nicklaus hit driver into that hole in the 1968 Open. Choosing a club isn’t the only challenge. Trajectory will have an outsized effect on the distance shots travel. During Tuesday’s practice round, Reed hit two tee shots with 6-iron on the 16th, which was playing downwind. The “chippedâ€� shot, the one he hit with 70 percent of his strength, rolled 40 yards past the shot he hit with a full swing. “Trajectory means a lot,â€� Woods said. He didn’t foresee a lot of opportunities to hit driver because it is so difficult to control a ball that rolls on Carnoustie’s sloping fairways for 60 or more yards. But U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka said he could hit up to 9 drivers. “Sometimes we can just take all the bunkers out (of play) by hitting driver,â€� he said. “There’s no reason not to take advantage of that, especially with the rough being not so thick.â€�

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GILBERT, Ariz. — Parking was at a premium on a seasonably sunny day at Western Skies Golf Club. Whizzing golf carts, hopeful thwacks on the range, the clickety-clack of spikes and the splash of a fountain contributed to the relaxing vibe. Freshly grilled meat and the unmistakable stench of a cigar penetrated the air. Yet, this was anything but business as usual on a Thursday in mid-March. GOLF IN THESE TIMES California: Ben Everill plays historic Rancho Park just before city courses in Los Angeles are shut down Massachusetts: Jim McCabe sees the start of golf season delayed at Presidents Golf Course If the visual of participants of a small private outing sanitizing their steering wheels didn’t serve as enough of an example of this unprecedented time, seeing pro golfers compete at an event on the Outlaw Tour — a four-year-old developmental circuit based in Arizona that shared the course for three days — was also an oddity. After all, other tours, including of course the PGA TOUR, have canceled tournaments. “We discussed it,” said Western Skies Classic tournament director Jesse Burghart, an Arizona native and composed presence for the competitors. “There are a lot of players who still wanted to play in something. We felt like, if the golf courses were open and we took the necessary precautions, it was still OK to go ahead. Ultimately, it’s the player’s decision to tee it up.” So, 56 players competed in the 54-hole tournament on a modified par 70 tipping at just 6,656 yards. Thirty-three survived the 36-hole cut, of which 18 cashed. On this Thursday, the winner would be crowned. Burghart implemented numerous safeguards to eliminate the threat of transference of the COVID-19 virus and other pathogens. Water in a cooler and tees were not made available. It was agreed that no one would shake hands. Some golfers opted to walk to promote social distancing. (Walking will be required for all tournaments in the foreseeable future.) Canada’s Wil Bateman, a lefty who plays the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica (where he’s won once, in 2015) emerged with victory in a three-way playoff with birdie on the first extra hole. In compliance, only fist bumps were shared thereafter. It was an experience that challenged restraint, which isn’t easy for mostly 20-somethings on the Outlaw Tour, but there was no such governor on scoring at Western Skies. Heavy rain that suspended play in Wednesday’s second round left the short course vulnerable for the finale. In addition to a pair of 60s, a 61 and two 62s (including Bateman’s second of the tournament), Jared du Toit made history with a bogey-free 59. The first-ever sub-60 on the Outlaw Tour featured one eagle and nine birdies. “Honestly, I didn’t think about it too much until late,” du Toit said before losing in the playoff that also included 36-hole leader Carson Roberts. “Brandon [Harkins, who shot 60] and I were going back and forth, like all day. He had the upper hand on me for most of it, and I got hot late. All of a sudden, I thought, ‘This is a par 70 and I’m at nine [under] with a couple to play. I got a good chance.’ “I had a good look on 17. I was mad at the time – it didn’t go in – because I would have loved to have been able to par 18, but I got away with my tee shot. It finished close to the cart path. Had 105 yards in and hit a wedge to 6-7 feet and made it.” For du Toit, a 24-year-old native of Calgary, Alberta, who medaled at the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica’s qualifying tournament in Mexico in January, it wasn’t the first time he’s made headlines. At Glen Abbey Golf Club in the 2016 RBC Canadian Open and competing as an amateur, he sat one stroke off Brandt Snedeker’s 54-hole lead before finishing in a four-way tie for ninth. Du Toit’s memorable achievement piggybacked yet another on the mini-tour. The week prior, two-time LPGA major champion Anna Nordqvist became the first female to compete on the Outlaw Tour. Proving her spot in the Moon Valley Classic in playing from the same tees (7,215 yards) as the guys, she co-led when she opened with a bogey-free, 8-under 64. She’d finish T28. (The same week as the Western Skies, Nordqvist prevailed on the Cactus Tour, also at Moon Valley Country Club.) Harkins, a former PGA TOUR member who finished T4 at Western Skies – he also won the Outlaw Tour’s Papago Winter Classic in early December – currently is 11th in points on the Korn Ferry Tour. He lives locally and hopes to play as much as he can but acknowledged that making plans isn’t easy. It’s a reality to which everyone can relate. “We’re in a holding pattern,” he said. “We really don’t quite know [what’s next]. No one really knows. “I’m really good friends with [PGA TOUR member] Joel Dahmen. We were just talking about it last night at dinner. He’s like, ‘Man, I don’t know what to say.’ He doesn’t know what he’s going to do on TOUR. Likewise for me. I guess, just wait to see what happens these next few weeks.” Harkins arguably was the most notable in the field at Western Skies, but other recognizable surnames peppered the tee sheet. They included Thomas Lehman, Eric Hallberg and Sam Triplett, sons of Tom, Gary and Kirk, respectively, winners of a combined 11 PGA TOUR events and 21 tournaments on the PGA TOUR Champions. Both Tom and Gary were on site supporting their boys. Tom also backed the decision to keep playing. “I think it’s a really safe thing to do,” said the senior Lehman. “Golf kind of has a built-in, social-distancing concept. You don’t get inside the other player’s space. You can play a round of golf with people and you don’t get up close and personal.” “I saw a doctor on television saying, ‘Golf is one of the safest things you can do. I would encourage you to do it because sunshine and heat are things that work in our favor with this virus.’ Exercise always does.” The 1996 PGA TOUR Player of the Year, ’96 Open champion and one-time top-ranked golfer in the world plans to play a lot of golf as the industry muscles through the crisis, but he hasn’t lost focus on what matters most – to keep living. “I think it’s a really good time to accomplish a lot of things you’ve always wanted to accomplish, whether personally or professionally or within the family,” Lehman added. “It’s a great time because we’re kind of forced to slow down. “So, that’s one thing I’m really excited about, actually, is having at least eight weeks to be able to accomplish some of these things I’ve always wanted to do but never really had the chance and the time to do it.” Not that succeeding at one’s profession, while still possible, takes a back seat, however. In between FaceTimes with friends and family en route to his vehicle in the still-packed lot, an enthusiastic Bateman expressed what it means still to have the chance to achieve. While his original plan to return home later in April may be modified, and as we all live in uncertainty, no one ever will be able to take away his title at the Western Skies Classic. “Every day, I wake up and I’m able to come to the golf course and play,” he said. “I just feel like it’s just an opportunity. Seems to me that when I’m out there, with all of this stuff going on, it’s a place to just stay calm.” That’s what any tournament director wants to hear. In fact, if early indications are accurate, the Outlaw Tour will be a destination for a number of familiar faces to stay sharp. “I have some friends that play the PGA TOUR and the Korn Ferry Tour that I’ve gotten to know the last few years,” Burghart said. “They’ve reached out to me, asking if we were going to continue to play. So, we will most likely start to see a few of them enter our next few fields.” Coming Thursday: Helen Ross on the PGA TOUR’s two events in North Carolina.

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