The young Australian Jason Day had definite ideas about East Lake after his first round at the Tour Championship.
“I didn’t realize that this is a really hard golf course,” he said after shooting a 1-under-par 69, one of just nine in the elite 30-man field to break par Thursday.
“You’ve got to hit just about every green out here to score well, or if you don’t, then do what Paul Casey did and just keep getting up-and-down.
“He putted unbelievable today.”
Casey, still smarting from being left off the European Ryder Cup team by Colin Montgomerie, shot 66 to be in a three-way tie for the lead.
It was the sixth straight round in the 60s from the Englishman, and don’t think he’s not sending a message to Monty.
Even if he himself won’t say it.
“I can’t stop what you print,” he said with a knowing smile when asked whether the snub motivated him.
Casey is leading the race for the $10 million FedEx Cup, which would undoubtedly help sooth the pain of not being at Celtic Manor next week.
“There is still a very long way to go,” Casey said. “I don’t think it’ll get to double digits (under par) winning this thing; maybe 8 under.”
Hunter Mahan raced out to 3 under par early on a hot, humid Georgia afternoon, but gave two shots back and doesn’t see anyone going very low.
“If you get to double digits, I can’t think you’re going to lose, but I wouldn’t be surprised if 5 under wins,” he said.
“It’s hard to hit it within 20 feet sometimes where they put the pins. You’ve got to be super patient out there.”
Patience has never been one of Phil Mickelson’s virtues.
Mickelson turned in a typically roller coaster round.
He had two eagles, a hole-out from the fairway on the par-4 12th, and then made an 11-footer on the par-5 15th after nailing a 3-wood from 275 yards, uphill and into the wind.
But Mickelson followed both eagles with bogeys, prompting one wag in the media center to christen him the king of the fall-back, rather than the bounce-back stat used to rank players’ performances after they make bogeys.
“It’s frustrating to follow eagles with bogeys,” he conceded.
The topsy-turvy round still added up to 69, however, and left him firmly in the hunt.
“Could’ve been better, could’ve been worse,” he shrugged.
Mickelson, who’s the defending champion after having outlasted Tiger Woods last year, said he wasn’t upset at his four bogeys.
“It’s not as upsetting making bogeys out here because you know everybody is going to do it,” he said.
“You miss one shot out here and you’re most likely going to make a bogey or fighting for par. This is a course that really rewards good play and really punishes poor play.”
Australian Geoff Ogilvy, who’s had a sub-standard season, echoed those sentiments after shooting 66.
Ogilvy was one of only two players to bogey the 15th, a hole more than half the field birdied. What’s worse is that he was pin high in two.
“I just kind of half-bladed the chip,” he said. “This Bermuda grass can make you look silly really quick.”
“I wasn’t too cheerful walking to the 16th, but it’s only Thursday.”
Ogilvy responded with birdies on the next two holes, including the exacting 17th.
He blamed his indifferent form earlier in the year on being burned out.
“I was a bit over golf,” he said. “I played too much probably last year in the offseason, didn’t have too much of a break (and) we had our third child in February. And anyone who’s had multiple children knows that progressively it’s exponential, the craziness that happens in your house with each one you add to the family.”
Ogilvy’s got another motivation, hoping his beloved St. Kilda Saints can upset the favorite Collingwood Magpies in the Australian Football League Grand Final, the sport’s Super Bowl, on Saturday.
“They’re a bit like the Yankees in that they have a lot of fans that nobody likes and if you’re not for them, you hate them,” he said.
“My team’s a bit like the Chicago Cubs because we’ve won one (championship) in 140 years, which was in 1966.”
Last year the Saints were defeated by another team, the Geelong Cats, and Ogilvy got an hour’s sleep after watching from his Atlanta hotel room until the wee hours of Saturday morning.
In what he called “a not very happy mood,” he came out and shot 63 in the third round at East Lake.
The other player at 4 under was Luke Donald. Jim Furyk was a shot back.
The two men with most of the hype coming into the tournament, Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson, weren’t at their best. Kuchar shot 72 and Johnson 73.
