‘Who’s who’ leaderboard heading into weekend at Colonial
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Rory McIlroy discusses 63 in Round 2 of Charles Schwab
FORT WORTH, Texas – Ten years ago at Colonial, four of the world’s top six players were in the field. So were all the reigning major winners. The weather provided perfect scoring conditions. In other words, very little wind. It was a birdie-fest. Lowest cut in tournament history.
No surprise that the Colonial scoring record was set that week, with Zach Johnson becoming the first player to break 260 for four rounds on this historic course. He shot 64-64 on the weekend to finish at 21 under.
So now it’s 10 years later. Another loaded field, with the world’s top five players. Again, scoring conditions seem ideal. And through 36 holes, a ton of birdies have been made. Another low cut. TOUR pros, playing competitively for the first time in three months, obviously haven’t forgotten how to light up a scorecard.
The man who holds the current scoring record is prepared to lose it to someone else by Sunday night.
“If conditions stay like this, with how the winds are supposed to be, especially in the morning – it wouldn’t surprise me,” said Johnson, a two-time Charles Schwab Challenge winner.
Tournament leader Harold Varner III is more than halfway there, reaching 11 under thanks to his final birdie of the day in Friday’s second round. He’s followed by 2016 champ Jordan Spieth at 10 under. Another shot back is a group headed by world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, making his first start at Colonial. So is Justin Thomas, who is a shot behind McIlroy.
The leaderboard is stacked and heavy with notables. While no fans are allowed on-site, the big names should generate plenty of eyeballs on live streams and network television this weekend. Unless the winds pick up considerably – the forecast calls for a slight increase to 12 mph max for both days – there should continue to be low scoring.
But there will be a slight twist in the direction … and that could make a significant difference, according to Spieth.
On Thursday, the wind came from the east-northeast. On Friday, it was east-southeast. Spieth said that played “into bombers’ hands … a lot of the holes where it’s normally straight into the wind and it’s blowing 10 to 15 in May, it’s blowing 2, 3 miles an hour straight off the left, and you can fly all the bunkers.”
Spieth spent the first two rounds looking back at the threesome behind him – McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka – and kept seeing how close they kept coming to his group.
“Some of these holes, they're just hitting flip wedges into,” Spieth said. “They're just bombing it over everything. With how receptive the greens are, that makes it a bit easier.”
So easy, perhaps, that it took a full day for McIlroy to adjust to a course he’s seeing for the first time. He admitted after his 2-under 68 on Thursday that he had distance control issues with his wedges.
Luckily, the house he’s renting this week has a golf simulator. So he went down to the basement to hit a few balls in hopes of solving the issue. It must have worked – he shot 63 on Friday.
“I just needed to sort of dial them in a little bit,” McIlroy said.
But if you think the big hitters are going to dominate the weekend … well, Colonial doesn’t roll over that easy. It will always be a shot-maker’s course, giving the best ball-strikers a chance. For every bomber like McIlroy, Gary Woodland or Bryson DeChambeau (he of the 195 mph ball speed that “quite honestly, I can’t use it out here”) on the front page of the leaderboard, there’s also guys like Varner (who has been stuffing his mid-irons this week) and Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele.
A slight wind switch could take away the power advantage.
“I think the weekend is going to change a bit,” Spieth said. “I think it's moving more towards the south where it's supposed to be. But I would say if anything I think it's played a stroke or two easier in my opinion just off of the wind direction and the lack of wind that we've had.”
No matter what, it seems like Colonial is headed for a memorable finish, with big names battling it out under the shadow of the Ben Hogan statue that greets visitors heading down the steps to the course. About the only thing this week’s event doesn’t have that 2010 did is fans and stands. Oh, and a couple of frozen margarita machines to counteract the heat.
For golf to return after three months is one thing. For so many recognizable names to be in contention, well …
“Watching from afar, this is a golf course that's always let the best players rise to the top,” McIlroy said. “You have to be in complete control of your game, hit fairways, hit greens, convert some putts.
“Yeah, the leaderboard is a who's-who of golf right now. I'm just happy to be in the mix.”