Editor's Note: This exclusive editorial content is made possible through a parternship with the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association. The following dispatch is from Friday, June 13.
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It was a beautiful day for golf, but I don’t know what the spectators thought when they walked in this morning and saw five or 10 of our guys working in a bunker. It was a Herculean effort by our staff and the volunteers to get the golf course in such good shape to start on time. We had to run the backpack blowers later than we would have liked to, but it was that or leaving debris in place and no one wanted that, least of all the players.
It was all hands on deck. We had our mechanics and spray techs out there and people like Brent Miller from Toro pitching in. We had enough people which is a good thing because there was no way of calling in any more help because you can’t get on the golf course without a badge. Ultimately, I was really proud of the effort, and the USGA was proud too and very thankful.
Take away Martin Kaymer and we’ve got a really close race. Maybe a lot of people didn’t see him shooting 65 again, but someone did. Two of our volunteers, Ron Kelly (CGCS from the Country Club of North Carolina) and George Frye (from TransGolf), were talking to Boo Weekley after play the night before. Apparently Boo told them if there was little bit of rain Kaymer would come out and shoot the same score in the morning. And guess what.
There’s no doubt the golf course was softer, but no one is worried about the 10-under score. It’s like Rory at Congressional and Tiger at Pebble Beach. Sometimes someone just gets hot and they’re on fire. There’s nothing you can do about it besides just enjoy watching. You can’t set up the golf course to challenge one person.
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Of course, we were working hard to try and get the second round conditions as close as possible to the first but the rain kind of took that out of our hands. I’ll be honest, that probably makes things that little bit better in terms of getting the golf course ready for the women next week. Our greens are so healthy it should be great for them.
We had one hiccup tonight when one of our guys hit a communications cable, but there was no major damage. I think the amazing thing is that with so many people and so much infrastructure that that’s been the “biggest” incident we’ve had. Maybe the only more amazing thing is the level of detail that the USGA goes into the set-up meetings we have at 2.30 p.m. each day. Bob (Farren, CGCS director of grounds and golf course maintenance) and I meet with Mike Davis (USGA executive director and tournament director) and their folks at their executive center, which is set up near the tennis courts.
They are so thorough. I mean, I knew they would be. We’ve been working them for a while. But, man, those folks dot every single 'I' and cross every single 'T.' It’s all about getting everything out on the table and going through every possible scenario. The meetings last 30 to 45 minutes. There’s nothing left to chance. It’s quite impressive.
The emphasis is on making the golf course challenging, for sure, but if we are going to err,, they want it to be on the side of it being less rather than going over the edge the other way. They don’t want it goofy or silly. I know there was some discussion from some folks about the third hole being so short today, but I thought it was cool seeing the guys going for the green off the tee. It was great excitement for the spectators.
So now we’re at the weekend and I thought we’d have a little more time to get the golf course ready after the cut. But it’s only going to be about 30 minutes more so we’ll be just as busy again in the morning. It might be different if this wasn’t a Donald Ross golf course where everything is so close together. But it is, so we need to be done with the blowers on the 18th hole before they tee off on the first because they are side by side.
I wonder what Boo’s prediction is for Martin Kaymer in the third round.
Trent Bouts assisted in the creation of this article.
