Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

Sports

Weather turns WGC into a gust-win situation

DORAL , Fla. — In the case of the carnage you might have witnessed or heard took place at what turned into a queasy roller-coaster ride Friday at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral, here is the moral of the story: Two wrongs don’t make one right.

Shame on the PGA Tour officials who screwed up with the course setup in relation to the severity of the wind conditions — 15 to 20 miles per hour sustained with gusts of more than 30.

And shame on the players who, for the most part, staggered off the course bitching and moaning about it.

If you’re a weekend hacker (or the USGA) who revels in seeing the world’s best players struggle like you do, the day was a delight.

If you’re a golf purist who prefers seeing the best players prevail with the best shots being rewarded, the day was a sloppy mess that failed to identify the best players, because too much was left to chance.

Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Matt Kuchar and Hunter Mahan, who are tied for the lead at 1-under par, are the only players in the 68-man field under par entering Saturday’s third round. Only three players — Jamie Donaldson (70), Graeme McDowell (71) and Chris Kirk (71) — broke par in the second round.

In all, there were 113 balls hit in the water in the second round alone, and the scoring average was 76 after it was 73.8 in the first round.

When Jim Furyk finished his second round and went into the scoring room, he said there were several players in there ripping the course setup.

“I enjoyed the show, hearing the comments from the other five guys in that room,” Furyk said. “I just sat back and smiled.’’

“They’re going to hear it … oh, they’re going to hear it,’’ Ryan Moore said of the PGA Tour officials.

What Moore, and a number of other players, don’t seem to understand is the PGA Tour doesn’t care.

“Horrendous — that’s my word for it; the course setup was horrendous,’’ Webb Simpson said after rounds of 80-78. “Even in 10-mile-per-hour wind, it was still a bad setup. With a setup like this you’re not seeing a true golfing performance. Too many good shots end up being bad.’’

One of those Simpson referred to was a greenside bunker shot he hit on the eighth hole that ended up rolling off the green and into the water. There was a lot of that Friday. Too much. Phil Mickelson hit the green on Nos. 3 and 4 and ended up in the water, causing double bogeys.

“My reason for complaining is not to bellyache to you guys [media], it’s because we don’t want this to happen again,’’ Simpson said.

More than one player — including Simpson — wished there were a cut at this tournament so Friday would have been the end of their misery. There is, however, no cut at this event.

Furyk, 11-over par and 12 shots off the lead, joked, “As bad as I’m playing, they’re letting me play the weekend and keep paying me.’’

To their credit, some players were more diplomatic than others. Most of them, though, were the ones who did not shoot themselves out of contention.

“You can’t really call it unfair when everyone gets a chance to play it,’’ said McDowell, at even-par.

“Is the golf course fair? For the most part,’’ Tiger Woods (5-over) said. “I think some of the guys will be probably pretty upset about some of the pins. If they were in better spots, I think they would have been fine.’’

Bill Haas (5-over) called it “a shame that we’re seeing the new course for the first time and getting such extreme conditions.’’

“I don’t know if you can say it was over the top, because how often does it blow 30 [mph] all day long?” Haas said. “I liked the course before today. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I was really digging the course.’’

Kirk’s words captured the day best when he said: “It was a little bit of a crapshoot with how it was playing out there.’’

A crapshoot is not how the PGA Tour or any other governing body of golf should want an event decided.

As for the players complaining, they should — to borrow an often-used phrase from the Europeans — simply get on with it and play. Whomever does that best will emerge the winner on Sunday.