Seeing red
Weir leads parade of sub-par rounds
NORTON - Sequestered on the far left side of the practice range yesterday afternoon, Ernie Els and Adam Scott took turns pounding drive after drive into the warm air that enveloped TPC Boston. Els watched Scott hit a few, then Scott studied Els for a couple, and while their focus was on helping one another, suddenly there arrived a reason to break free.
"Great round, Vijay," said Scott and Els looked up with a smile to see his friend strolling onto the range.
"Veeej, great score," said Els. "Let me shake your hand. Again."
Such a small word - again - but it personified so much about the opening round of the
For instance, Mike Weir's blistering 10-under-par 61 that afforded him a three-stroke lead. It not only was his PGA Tour career-low round and tied the course record, but it hoisted him atop the leaderboard, which should sound familiar. The Canadian lefthander was there through two rounds of last year's Deutsche Bank.
For another, Singh's 64 had left him in the lead until Weir's afternoon heroics. Such plunges into the depths of red numbers are familiar territory at TPC Boston for the big Fijian, who also owns a 61 (Round 3 in 2006), and on four other occasions he's gone 66 or better.
For yet another, the bevy of unheralded names who got right into the mix, which has become sort of a Deutsche Bank staple. Whereas in the past we've had the likes of Brent Schwarzrock, Ryan Palmer, Scott Gutschewski, Jeff Brehaut, Nicholas Thompson, and Craig Kanada jumping near the lead, John Merrick, Briny Baird, and Heath Slocum all got home in 64 to tie Singh for second, while Eric Axley joined former British Open champ Ben Curtis at 65, tied for sixth.
And the surprises continued at 66, an 11-player group that featured marquee attractions such as Els, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, and Charles Howell, but also not-so-heralded types like Kevin Streelman, John Mallinger, Jeff Overton, and Charlie Wi.
Finally, there was a repeat of last year's gentle start, a field average of 70.635 last time, even softer this time, at 69.157, the lowest field average in the six years of the Deutsche Bank.
Simple stuff? There was a modest shrug of the shoulders by Furyk after he made one of six eagles at the 528-yard, par-5 18th to record one of 15 bogey-free rounds. "I wouldn't say it was easy," he said, though he echoed a popular sentiment as to why it surely appeared so.
"There was absolutely no breeze, and there's not a lot of rough out there," said Furyk. "Let's just say [the lack of rough] made it a little less difficult to get it up-and-down."
Weir demonstrated that coming down the stretch, because after making his ninth birdie in 15 holes to surge into a two-stroke lead, he dodged a pair of momentum-killers at the par-3 16th and par-4 17th. Both times he missed the green in regulation, both times he deftly recovered and when he birdied the 18th, the lefthander safely was in with the fifth first-round lead of his PGA Tour career.
Let it be noted that he's never won as the 18-hole leader, just as he didn't convert last year's 36-hole lead, but that was then, this is now. "I was kind of struggling [in 2007]. A little different scenario than last year."
Hey, even that sounds familiar because Singh indicated as much.
"This year, I'm playing well," said the age-defying wonder whose 22d victory since turning 40 came a week ago at The Barclays, which is why Els was chuckling at the practice range. After all, the Big Easy seemingly had congratulated the Big Fijian for that win just a few days ago and here he was offering well wishes again.
"Obviously, the swing feels better [than 2007 when he opened with a 74] and I feel really comfortable on the greens right now," said Singh, 47.
He wasn't alone, because on a day when leaderboard operators sent for a reinforcement of red numbers, there were nine eagles and 475 birdies and nearly twice as many players (70) went for a sub-par score at the 18th as par or higher (45). An eye-popping 79 players broke par and in the end there were 63 rounds in the 60s, as opposed to 42 in Round 1 a year ago when players were introduced to a redone TPC Boston. For sure, it's aesthetically far more pleasing to the eye, unquestionably a finer test of all-around skill, but it remains constant with so many other courses - that is, it can't compete when a perfect storm of scoring conditions converge.
Warm? No wind? Light rough? Superb putting surfaces? Lads, tee it up and lick your chops.
"When you get the world's best players with those conditions, you're going to have low scores," said Kim, who was in a long line of marquee names wearing smiles. That's because among the 17 who posted 67s to tie for 19th were Sergio Garcia, Geoff Ogilvy, Angel Cabrera, Chad Campbell, Stewart Cink, Brandt Snedeker, and Carl Pettersson.
So favorable had the day gone that when Phil Mickelson broke through his ever-present throng of fans, his forever smile was present and accounted for, but it didn't match his spirits.
"The scores are low, because you've got to shoot low out here," said the lefthander, who conceded that his 69 didn't qualify as "low," and he had proof: He is tied for 47th.
No, the bucketful of red numbers didn't bother him. After all, "it gets old getting beat up every single week with rough up to your knees and just hacking it out, so it's fun to have a week like this where the scores are low."
So low, in fact, that the lefthander whittled two strokes off par - and still finds himself eight off the lead.
If you're thinking that sounds familiar, it should. A year ago Mickelson opened with a 70 and was seven off the lead.
It's a matter of record that Mickelson sliced that deficit to one after 36 holes and stormed home to win. We'll need to wait a few days to see if that, too, sounds familiar.
Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com. 