Major accomplishment : It's a first as Andrade among four leading PGA
By Jim McCabe
Boston Globe Staff
August 19, 2006
MEDINAH, Ill. -- As he stepped onto the practice green, Billy Andrade glanced up as he crossed paths with someone ``young enough to be my son," though in truth it was the youthful-looking 30-year-old Swede, Henrik Stenson. Minutes later, a patron leaned over and implored, ``Hey, Billy, how about doing one for the old guys?"
Wow, talk about a 1-2 punch, as if Andrade needed to be reminded of the landscape in which he toils. He doesn't. The world of professional golf is filled with competitors of all ages and of varying nationalities and styles of play, but while affairs such as yesterday's second round of the 88th PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club are allegedly enveloped in pressure of the highest order, Andrade insists he has a way to deal with it all.
``I'm 42 years old, I've been doing this for 19 years. It's the PGA Championship. Why not have fun with this and enjoy it?" said Andrade, who seemingly smiled throughout raindrops on a murky and humid day that culminated with his 18-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole. It capped off a 3-under-par 69, got Andrade halfway home in 8-under 136, and at the heart of his happiness was this: In his 124th round in these majors, the kid from Bristol, R.I., had finally secured a lead of any sort.
That he shares it with Stenson (68), the unheralded Swede who can thunder it out there like few others; the unflappable Englishman, Luke Donald (68); and the poster boy for all those who believe to choose the buffet over the gym is not a sin, Tim Herron (67), is consistent, of course, for none of them has ever had the lead in a major, either.
None of which really matters, of course, because as that wise, old veteran Andrade pointed out: ``It's a horse race and we all know that you've got to go four days."
Compounding the picture is this reality: The four co-leaders needn't look far for pursuers, for none other than Tiger Woods authored one of the grittiest bogey-free rounds you'll ever see and when he slid home a birdie roll at the 18th to shoot 68, he parked his daunting name one shot behind, sitting 7 under alongside his impressive playing competitor, Geoff Ogilvy (68), and Davis Love (69).
There's another quartet of names two back, at 6-under 138 -- Chris Riley (72), David Toms (67), Fred Funk (69), and Billy Mayfair (69) -- while 21 others are within five of the lead. That list includes defending champ Phil Mickelson, who bogeyed the 16th and 17th, but salvaged a 71 with a birdie at the 18th on a day when his grouping alongside Woods and Ogilvy drew massive galleries. The lefthander was outplayed, but still settled into a seven-way tie for 18th at 4-under 140, just four back.
A very crowded affair, to be sure, but one that has seen record scoring thanks to soft greens. Forget the 7,561 yards -- the longest course in major championship history. When the lads can stop it on the dance floor, the smiles and red numbers are plentiful. Thursday's action featured the most subpar rounds (60) in major championship history, but that mark had very little shelf life, because there were 61 in Round 2, 26 of the 60s variety, which led to a cut that matched the record low to par (even) in this championship.
But before you assess that we have seen the PGA Championship transformed into the Valero Texas Open, players offer a warning.
``Good golf gets rewarded here," said Adam Scott, whose 69 pushed him into that logjam at 4 under, ``and bad golf gets punished."
The ``bad golf" at Medinah being split into two categories: missing the turning and twisting fairways at this dogleg haven, and being in thick greenside rough that is going to get even tougher now that a day of rain has wet it down.
``Plus," said Andrade, ``they've still got two days left, still got a lot of tucked pins."
Let them tuck away. At least that seems to be what Andrade is saying, because for a guy who only a few days ago was the seventh alternate into this event, he knows who he is and where he is, so he'll make no excuses for having so much fun thus far.
``You know, it's not like guys like me get in this position every single major," said Andrade. ``There are only four majors and if you have an opportunity to play well and you're playing well in one of them, it means a little more."
Not that he doesn't know what a championship-winning feel is like. It was 25 years ago that he won the Junior PGA Championship and five years later he celebrated as a member of Wake Forest's NCAA title team. There have been four PGA Tour wins, but none since 2000, and obviously none of the major variety. All of which means what?
``Why not me?" said Andrade. ``Why not throw one of these on the list?"
``I know Tiger and Phil aren't worried about me," said Andrade, smiling, so he understands that his good play of two days -- 22 of 28 fairways, 26 of 36 greens -- must continue. So, too, must the great escapes, like the Houdini-like 14th where Andrade made an all-world par.
He drove it in the fairway, but it's like all of them here at Medinah, twisting, and his second shot caught an overhanging branch and landed in the rough. Thinking he could pound a wedge around the corner and onto the green, Andrade hit a shot that caught another of the 12,457,358 branches that outline this vaunted layout and it kicked dead left, his ball sitting on hard pan among several trees. From 88 yards, Andrade lofted his 56-degree sand wedge up and over and smiled -- again -- as he watched it come to rest 15 feet from the pin.
``Hell of a putt," said Andrade. ``It was big."
When he bogeyed the par-3 17th, he was 7 under and one shot back, but a fairway-splitting drive at the 18th set up that 18-foot birdie roll and Andrade had something he had never had before: a lead in a major championship, albeit shared.
Of course, he also had something not so unfamiliar to him. A smile. |
