- Johnson beats his rivals before Irene hits town
- Your Daily Phil at The Barclays Round 3
- The Barclays by numbers
- Kuchar leads as Barclays heads into an 18-hole shootout
- Par 3 over water breaks hearts and minds
- Your Daily Phil at The Barclays: Round 2
- Hurricane Irene cuts The Barclays to 54 holes
- Drivable par 4 steals the show
- Your Daily Phil at The Barclays
- Hurricane Irene threatens to throw The Barclays into chaos
- Mickelson, Donald & Bradley chase $10 million bonus
- Military caddies loop for the stars
- America's Baby Faced Assassin
- Donald banking on world domination
Par 3 over water breaks hearts and minds
The 228-yarder is ranked the 9th toughest hole on the course.
By Paul Mahoney
Sitting around the green at the par three 14th is a fine spot to lay down a blanket and eat lunch. But it was no picnic for the players even thought the average score came in under par at 2.907 strokes. By the time all the leading players had gone through to the 15th tee, it had offered up just 20 birdies. It was not quite a disaster of Hurricane Irene proportions. There were 79 pars eked out over the water that guards the green, eight bogeys and one double bogey. Just one ball got dunked in the pond. Take a bow Ryan Moore. Closest to the pin contest was won by Rory Sabbatini who fired one in there to 1ft 7 inches. His prize is an umbrella with a Hurricane Irene logo – not to be used anytime soon unless he is auditioning for a role in Mary Poppins.
What the players think
Keegan Bradley
You know, after playing Atlanta Athletic Club, none of these par 3s seem tough! There's not a
tee back in the woods is there, 270 yards out? It's a great hole. It's a tough hole. I think that
these par 3s that are over 200 yards always on the PGA Tour are tough because the greens are so
fast and so firm. It's a great hole that you have to hit a good shot off the tee, or else you're
going to make 4 or 5 or worse.
Steve Stricker
Yeah, that's a good one. Hopefully they are going to move the tees up because it's pretty
long going in there with a utility or a long iron! The one thing we have got going for us is that
green is soft. Just to walk off there with a 3 is a job well done.
Nick Watney
Well, I think there's not really much attacking to be done. It's a tough shot. I hit 3-iron.
The green is pretty difficult for that length of hole. So I think for me, I'm just going to try to
make pars and go on from there.
Padraig Harrington
Try and hit the green, 2-putt, leave happy! It's obviously a big hole over water. There's a
bit of wind down there. You know, it's a 5-wood. There's a water hazard in the front. Especially
with a 5-wood and a strong wind, there's out-of-bounds only five yards right of the green. It's not
like you want to get one up in the air there. And then you find the green is a real tough green.
It's got two knolls in the green. Yeah, any time you make three on that hole, you'll be very
happy.
