Cool, overcast afternoon -- very different from the 90 degree weather forecast for the weekend. The scuttlebutt in the media room is that the winning score could be well under par. Course seems to playing firm, drives are getting plenty of roll, greens are holding. I followed Els and a young South African, Christo Greyling, for a good bit of their practice round on the front nine, where the birdies will be made. The first hole is a birdie hole, and No. 5 through No. 9 is the easiest stretch on the course, by far. Els and Greyling weren't grinding but one or both of them had reasonable birdie putts on all of the above holes. Will be v. interesting to see how scoring goes on the first few days and how this affects hole locations on Sat and Sunday.
Back nine is a different story, and as Els pointed out in his interview, the start on the back nine is a monster. The players will go to the new 10th hole, a tough par 3, and then the 11th, a brute of a par 4 with water down the right side and the fairway moved over to bring the water more into play. Half the field starts on 10 on both Thursday and Friday, and some rounds could turn sour in a hurry.
To me the rough looked plenty thick, but in his interview Mickelson seemed to discount it. Said he was probably not going to use the 2 iron as planned, but would go with the driver and take his chances with the rough. He used the f-word again -- fair -- when he talked about the graduated rough.
Last note: Congressional is not an easy place to watch golf. There is a lot of mounding along the fairways (thanks, Rees) and the ropes are set up outside the mounds, so that for long stretch the views are blocked.
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