SNOQUALMIE – This is what happens when officials make a relatively easy golf course even easier.
Great players pounce. Scores drop lower than whale drool.
Just 24 hours after first-round leader Massy Kuramoto fired a course-record 9-under-par 63 in the first round of the Boeing Greater Seattle Classic, Scott Simpson did him two strokes better in Saturday’s second round with a 61.
“Who would have thought?” said Simpson, who shot even-par 72 Friday, but needed just 29 strokes on the back nine Saturday en route to his record round. “Certainly not me. It was just one of those days. If I knew what I was doing, I’d do it more often.”
Simpson’s magic, however, was just enough to lead the tournament for about 90 minutes, because Don Pooley’s second-round 65 gave him a one-stroke advantage over Simpson and Kuramoto going into today’s final round.
“I hit the ball good both days and I made a lot of putts both days,” Pooley said. “I made even more putts today than yesterday. I made five or six fairly short birdie putts, inside of 10 feet. Today, I made them from all over the place.”
Scores plummeted Saturday for a number of reasons – reasons other than the perfect weather.
One, some of the greens at the Tournament Players Course at Snoqualmie Ridge this year were hit by a fungus. Despite rehabilitation efforts by the greens crew and PGA experts, the affected greens aren’t as good as they were last year.
Course workers had to water the greens more frequently than they normally would in order to save them. As a result, they were softer and slower, they grab approach shots to a screeching halt and they allow golfers to putt more aggressively than they usually would.
“The greens are just so soft,” said Tom Kite, whose second-round 64 was seven strokes better than he shot Friday and left him tied for fourth at 9-under par for the tournament. “This golf course last year was one of the best conditioned golf courses we played on all year. This year, unfortunately, it’s not. Because of that, they’re having to keep the greens really soft and they’re not able to use a lot of the best pin placements because there’s no grass.”
Two, for reasons the golfers weren’t quite sure of, officials pushed some tees up closer to the holes than they were in Friday’s first round. It was strange, because Friday’s scores certainly were low – 42 of the 78 golfers broke par. In the second round, that number rose to 47.
Kite seemed irked that the course wasn’t more challenging, even though he was one who benefited. Kite hardly is a big hitter, but he made up for that by hitting virtually every putt presented to him. On the day, Kite needed just 21 putts, versus 26 Friday.
“It allows everybody into the tournament,” he said. “The more demanding the golf course, the more you spread the field out. The guys who are struggling with their game are not able to step up to the challenge when you really make the golf course hard – if the greens are firm and fast, if the pin placements are really tough, if the tees are back.”
One who didn’t complain was Pooley, who nailed a 60-foot putt for birdie on the 17th hole. He also had five birdies and an eagle on the front nine alone and hoped aloud that officials would keep the course status quo today.
“Why wouldn’t they want scores like that?” he said. “Isn’t it fun to watch birdies?”
If course conditions again yield low scores, watch for a wild finish today. Nineteen golfers are within six shots of Pooley and have to be considered contenders.
And Pooley knows it.
“You saw the 61 today,” Pooley said. “Somebody does that from five back and they’re right there. I think this tournament’s wide open tomorrow.”
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