Golf-Simpson keeps quiet on thoughts of a possible 62

Golf-Simpson keeps quiet on thoughts of a possible 62

August 9, 2013








By Mark Lamport-Stokes

ROCHESTER, New York, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Golf's superstitions often require players to stay silent so Webb Simpson made sure he did not speak to his caddie about the prospect of shooting the lowest score in a major at the PGA Championship on Friday.

With just three holes left in the rain-hit second round at Oak Hill Country Club, Simpson was seven under for the day and on track to join 23 other players who have fired 63s in golf's elite championships.

However, the 2012 U.S. Open winner stumbled on his 16th hole, the seventh, when he hit a tree with his approach on the way to a bogey five and had to settle for a six-under-par 64, which equalled the course record.

"I was certainly thinking about it, once I birdied six," Simpson said.

"I was thinking about the all-time major record, and I was about 99 percent sure it was 63. It's so hard, because on one hand, you want to go for it. You want go for the record.

"But you can't do that on a golf course this hard and I wasn't doing that at any point today. I was trying to be patient and trying to be conservative."

Simpson did not say a single word to his experienced caddie, Paul Tesori, about a possible 62 as they negotiated their last three holes on a rainy day at Oak Hill.

"I knew he was thinking about it," said Simpson, after posting a four-under tally of 136 to sit three strokes off the early lead held by Masters champion Adam Scott.

"I didn't want to talk about it because I thought it would be the wrong thing to focus on coming in. This game is so funny, when you try to make birdies, it seems like you don't.


"It was there (the thought of a 62). It's like the elephant in the room; I knew he was thinking about it. I haven't even talked to him, but I'm sure he was too."

Simpson, who clinched his maiden major title at last year's U.S. Open, covered his last nine holes in three-under 32 to remain in contention for a first PGA Tour win this season.

GUTSY FIGHTBACK

He was especially pleased to cap a gutsy fightback at Oak Hill, having been struggling at five over after eight holes in Thursday's opening round.

"It was a pretty low moment for me," said Simpson, who has recorded four top-10s in 19 starts, his best finish a playoff loss to Graeme McDowell at the RBC Heritage in April.

"But I kind of had a pep talk with myself on the seventh green, and just told myself, 'One hole at a time.' I tried to get a birdie here, a birdie there, and somehow played the last ten or 11 holes under par.

"I birdied 18 yesterday, which was huge for my confidence and two over felt like 64 yesterday after being five over, so I am extremely happy with my game today."

Simpson sank a series of clutch putts on Friday, including a 35-footer to birdie the par-four fifth, to maintain his surge up the leaderboard.

"All around, it was really solid," said the 28-year-old. "I made some great putts, and made some good par putts to kind of keep the momentum going.

"You know, it's a special feeling to have tied the course record here at Oak Hill."

Twenty-three players have combined to shoot 25 63s in the majors, American Steve Stricker the most recent to do so in the opening round of the 2011 PGA Championship. (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Julian Linden)

Woody Austin penalized 4 strokes for extra club

Woody Austin penalized 4 strokes for extra club
DOUG FERGUSON (AP Golf Writer) August 9, 2013AP - Sports








PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) -- Woody Austin couldn't decide whether he should keep his 3-iron or go with a hybrid for the second round of the PGA Championship. He accidentally went with both, which cost him four shots and likely the chance to play this weekend at Oak Hill.

Austin was assessed a four-stroke penalty Friday when he discovered he had 15 clubs in the bag. His 71 became a 75 and put him at 4-over 144.

''Can't say I was angry because it was more of a shock, so you're like pretty bummed,'' Austin said. ''I think after 20 years, you do one stupid thing of each, and that's the first time I've ever done something like that. Now all I've got to do is figure out how to get DQ'd.''

Rule 4-4 allows for only 14 clubs. The penalty is two shots for each hole the extra club is in the bag with a maximum of four shots. That was a moot point because it was on the tee at the 215-yard third hole that he looked into his bag and realized he still had the hybrid in there.

Austin gave it to his son, who carried it the rest of the front nine.

It was the first time a player had been penalized in a major for 15 clubs in the bag since Ian Woosnam at the 2001 British Open. The difference was Woosnam was tied for the lead going into the final round and make birdie on the opening hole. He had an extra driver in the bag, and because Royal Lytham & St. Annes starts with a par 3, Woosnam didn't discover it until the second hole.

Austin has made his share of blunders during his career.

He is most famous for once getting so angry about missing a putt that he repeatedly banged his putter against his head, a video sensation. At the 2007 Presidents Cup, he tried to play a shot from the bank of a lake and fell backward into the water, earning the nickname, ''Aquaman.''


Austin, who qualified for the PGA Championship only by winning in Mississippi last month, said this might not have happened in better weather.

Oak Hill already is long for him, and two of the par 3s are over 200 yards to elevated greens. He was using both clubs on the range and decided to stick with the 3-iron because he was hitting it better.

In a light rain, caddies had covers over the clubs to keep them dry. He did not blame his caddie, Dave Lawson.

''It's my fault as much as his fault. It's both our jobs,'' Austin said. ''It's just one of those things. If it wasn't raining, we would have caught it. But you've got the rain cover over everything and you're worrying about the towels and whatever, so you don't see it. But if we would have been on the first tee on a normal day, clubs sitting there, you would have seen it. It's such a bulky club, you wouldn't have missed it.''

Fittingly, he noticed it on the very hole - the par-3 third - that caused him to try the hybrid on the practice range.

''I never saw it until I dug in there for the 3-iron on No. 2, and there it was,'' Austin said.

Austin said he was still in shock even after signing for a 75. What bugged him as much as his extra club in the bag was making bogey on the 18th hole, which figured to be one shot too many to make the cut.

''I could have been even par and in the tournament,'' he said. ''But instead I'm down the road. So I'm real disappointed.''

Adam Scott getting it done at the PGA Championship with Steve Williams on the bag

Adam Scott getting it done at the PGA Championship with Steve Williams on the bag

Eric Adelson August 9, 2013Yahoo! Sports









ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Steve Williams moves fast.

On pretty much every hole, he's the first guy down the fairway, hustling 10, 20, sometimes 30 yards ahead of his boss, Adam Scott. This is despite the fact that he's carrying a heavy bag and he's going to turn 50 this year. Friday, during the second round of the PGA Championship, the caddy even picked up Justin Rose's bag and carried that from the 6th green to the 7th hole before anyone else had arrived.

He's a racer, Williams. On his website, he lists and pictures his racing exploits first, even though he's far more famous (and rich) for his place alongside Scott and, previously, Tiger Woods. Golf is a plodding sport, yet here's a guy who seems perpetually ready to run. Asked for an interview after Friday's round, Williams said, "What do you need?" and began hustling away as if late for a flight.

We all know the caddy doesn't swing a club, but it's hard not to notice that Adam Scott is now playing the way Tiger Woods played when Williams was on his bag. Scott is doing this week what Woods always did: sprint out to an early lead and leave the rest of the players looking up at the leaderboard (until Jason Dufner fired a 7-under 63 to take the outright lead). Scott ended his second round with the outright lead at 7-under and afterward said, quite sincerely, that he felt he left some strokes out there. (Scott heads into the weekend two strokes back of Dufner, who is 9-under.) We all know who that sounds like.




Steve Williams and Adam Scott walk up the 4th fairway during Round 2 of the PGA Championship. (Getty ImagesScott's record is markedly better since he hired Williams in 2011. He broke through and won his first major at the Masters this year, but he's also been more consistently in contention. He's a regular at the top of the leaderboard, not just a tourist, and his world ranking has shot up from 17 in 2011 to No. 5.



And there's something else: a new urgency. "I was hungry before the Masters and I might even have a bigger appetite after it," Scott said Friday. "It might be greedy, but I feel like this is my time to get everything I want out of my career, and I'm going to keep pushing until I do. My game is in great shape. I've got to take advantage of it. Otherwise, it's all a waste."

That's an edge that doesn't come across in Scott's chilled-out appearance. It's Williams who's the tempestuous one, famous for taking verbal shots at Woods and Phil Mickelson and (of course) for chucking a photographer's camera into a pond. Friday morning, as the rain pelted the Oak Hill course here and all the other caddies scrambled for their jackets, Williams stood out there in his usual shirt and shorts as if he was on Maui. The man was ready to race.

And so was Scott. He chipped in on the very first hole (starting on the back nine) to move to 6-under, then birdied 13 and 16 to gain two more strokes on the field. He's shot 65 and 68 in a 24-hour span when a lot of the best players in the world won't shoot that low in a single round this weekend.

Most of the credit goes to Scott, of course. He's doing the proverbial heavy lifting even if not the actual heavy lifting. Yet Williams is a force in this, too. It was Williams who read the winning putt at the Masters, insisting the break was more than Scott thought. Scott gave him full credit for the single most important stroke of his life.

And it should be noted that Williams has been on the bag for 14 major wins – 13 with Woods, one with Scott – believed to be the most of any caddie in history.

"He's got a process in how he likes to caddy," Scott said Friday. "He's had a lot of success. I'm sure he's learned some stuff along the way. He's extremely conservative but he relies on me playing from conservative spots and trying to eliminate big numbers."

This is important when playing with a lead in a major. Let the other guys blow up. As Jack Nicklaus himself preached (via his coach, Jack Grout), don't turn a mistake into a disaster. Williams has helped Scott avoid the 7s and 8s that can doom an entire championship. At times in the past, that has happened to Scott.

"It was like I was banging my head against the wall each time I was out there," he said. "Six months can slip away from you and the confidence is gone."

There was peril Friday. Scott was 8-under with three holes to play and then missed a makeable par putt on the seventh. Then he sprayed his tee shot out to the right on the eighth and a little kid picked up the ball. This could have been trouble.

Scott got a drop on some trampled grass and peered out toward the pin. Williams slid over and looked with him. It was 130 to the green. Forget getting any loft here; it would have to be a screamer. The men agreed: 5-iron.

Scott blistered a low ripper that didn't look like it got more than six feet off the ground. The ball skidded along the wet apron to the front, and stopped on the green. Scott allowed a sly grin as he watched his ball roll to about eight feet from the pin.

Williams, by then, had already grabbed the bag and raced ahead. Then he stopped, turned, extended an arm for a fist bump, and then hurried off again.