DORAL, Fla. — Donald Trump has always wanted to host a U.S. Open on one of his golf courses and — lo and behold — a U.S. Open has broken out on Trump National Doral in this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship.
Based on the abundance of high scores posted by some of the world’s best players on his newly-redesigned Blue Monster championship course, this tournament has — through two rounds — looked a lot more like a U.S. Open than a regular PGA Tour event.
“There’s a lot of water, the greens are slick and firm,” Matt Kuchar said. “The Blue Monster certainly showed its teeth.’’
Saturday’s third round will begin with only four of the 68 players in the field under par, with Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Hunter Mahan and Kuchar all tied for the lead at 1-under.
Only three players — Jamie Donaldson (70), Graeme McDowell (71) and Chris Kirk (71) posted second-round scores under par.
There are 17 players within four shots of the lead and 25 — including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson (both 5-over) — within six shots.
With winds gusting to more than 30 miles per hour, the scoring average bloated to 76 in the second round compared to 73.8 in the first.
Everywhere you looked during Friday’s completion of Thursday’s weather-shortened opening round and the second round, world-class players were being slapped around by the combination of the severity of the new course and blustery winds. In all, there were 113 balls hit in the water in the second round alone.
“I don’t think I’ve played in conditions this difficult in the U.S.,’’ McDowell said. “It’s an Open Championship day. It’s a real Friday afternoon at St. Andrews in 2010, you know, before they called it [because of wind]. It was hard out there, really, really hard, and part of me feels ecstatic to be off the golf course right now.’’
The players who handled the treacherous conditions best — even embraced them — are the ones who enter the weekend with a chance to win.
“I like these conditions,’’ Johnson said. “I like it playing hard. Being 1-under par and tied for the lead says something about the conditions and the golf course. Trump did a great job and the redesign made it tougher.’’
Johnson, who is not known as one the most erudite players on the PGA Tour, might just be oblivious enough to not care about the conditions. The fact he’s one of the longest hitters in the game and is playing a course that favors length does not hurt either.
“I don’t think it was a bad setup,’’ Johnson said, contradicting what most of the players said all day. “I thought they did a good job with the setup as far as the conditions. I’ve played in a lot stronger winds than this.’’
Converse to Johnson’s assessment, Mahan said he “felt stressed all day, because I knew every shot had penalty written all over it, staring at bogey or worse [even] at a well-struck shot.’’
“There wasn’t an easy shot out there,’’ added Mahan, who shot 74 in the second round. “Every shot was daunting and challenging.
McIlroy, only one shot off the lead at even-par, seems to have shaken off his blown lead in the final round of last week’s Honda Classic, keeping himself in contention again this week. He has been in the mix to win in every tournament he has played this season.
“It was a day where you obviously couldn’t win the golf tournament, but you could let it get away from you,’’ McIlroy said. “It was all about surviving, trying to make as many pars as you could.’’
Said Mahan: “You just have to avoid big numbers and if you can make pars, pars are good. Then you can make it to the weekend and give yourself a chance.’’
If those words from McIlroy and Mahan did not describe a U.S. Open setting, none do. They were words to make The Donald smile.