The Snowman

I went home last night to watch the first round of the Tour Championship that I taped. The only thing that I really wanted to see was Phil Mickelson imploding on No. 14. It is like NASCAR; you watch to see the crashes (and the fights in the pits after the crashes)! I did not see the first two shots, but Phil drove the ball into the fairway and his second shot from about 125 yards plugged in the bunker next to the green. He blasted out of the bunker and over the green. He skulled the chip across the green and back into the same bunker. He left his 5th shot in the bunker and then quickly hit another sand shot that barely made it out of the bunker and trickled to about 8' from the hole. He two-putted for an 8! While Phil needs to take the blame for his bone-headed play (which he always does!), where was his long-time caddy, "Bones" McKay? Isn't one of the caddy's jobs to keep his player calm and help avoid meltdowns that take his guy out of the tournament?

The other thing that was amazing was the condition of the course! After 11" of rain in the past week and 4" on Monday, the fairways looked fine (no casual water) and the greens were reasonably firm and fast for a Thursday round. East Lake has a subair drainage system under the greens. The only possible problem was the bunkers. In addition to Phil's problems in the bunker on No. 14, Dustin Johnson had to take an unplayable lie in a bunker on No. 16 because the ball plugged under the grass lip of the bunker. He hit his sand shot to kick-in distance and made his bogey and moved on. I don't know whether either problem was due to the weather or just bad luck or both, but in Phil's case he sometimes makes his own bad luck!