BERNARD DAILY: WMPO after 1: Fowler leads, Bubba booed--ELS surges in Dubai--KEEGAN hit for carrying 15 clubs--What’s going on at Wentworth?
Good Friday afternoon.
Bolstered by new putting grip, Els surges in Dubai...McIlroy barely makes cut...AP: “Ernie Els surged into contention Friday at the Dubai Desert Classic, while Rory McIlroy struggled just to make the cut….The 46-year-old Els, who has dropped to 205th in the world after struggling with yips over the past year, shot a 5-under 67 to move to within one shot of the lead at the halfway stage of a tournament he has won three times.”
--“Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello, winner here in 2012, shot his second consecutive 67 to grab a one-stroke lead heading into the weekend...Els, who was tied with compatriot Trevor Fisher Jr. and England's Danny Willett at 9-under, made several crucial par putts to keep a bogey-free round...Defending champion McIlroy shot a 72 to finish at 4-under 140 after two rounds, six shots off the lead. He had three birdies in his last three holes...''I struggled in the wind a little bit and didn't get off to the best of starts again,'' McIlroy said. ''Being 2-over through four on this golf course when you have a couple of good birdie chances wasn't great.''’
LEGENDARY EURO TOUR CADDIE dies...EuropeanTour.com: “The European Tour family of caddies, players, media and officials were united in grief at this week’s Dubai Desert Classic, with the sad news of the passing of one of golf’s great bag men – the incomparable Dave Renwick...Dave lost a long battle with cancer on Wednesday night in his native Scotland, but leaves a professional legacy that not many, if any, caddies can match, having won five Major Championships with three different golfers.”
FOWLER fired 1st-round 66 at WMPO to tie for lead...John Nicholson, AP: “He brought as much substance as style, shooting a 6-under 65 to tie Shane Lowry and Hideki Matsuyama for the first-round lead...After an hour frost delay at the chilly Stadium Course, Fowler played the first six holes in 5 under.”
--''I made some good putts to start the round,'' Fowler said. ''Just kind of got everything going. Made a couple of bad swings. Cost me a little bit, but other than that, nice way to get off to a good start.''
Wacker: Hot putter key for Fowler...PGATour.com: Thursday, Fowler opened with a 65 that included three birdies and an eagle in his first five holes. He cooled slightly but for much of the day made everything with the putter, sinking 156 feet, 11 inches of putts on his way to just 24 total putts, including a dozen one-putts.
--“Just didn't make anything last week,” he said. “That was the hardest thing was getting any rhythm or momentum going when you can't make anything...“So that was tough to see the ball not go in the hole. And then you get back out here and actually hit some good putts that were going in, that was nice.”...Fowler’s best shot of the day, though, wasn’t a putt. It was a 7-iron from 171 yards over the lip of a fairway bunker to 12 feet. He made that putt for birdie, too, to end the round.”
GEOFF SHACKELFORD…”Ron Sirak talks to new USGA President Diana Murphy about taking over the reins from Tom O'Toole. She is the second female president of the USGA and doesn't want you to see her that way. “I want to be the right person for the job, not the right girl,” Murphy, 59, recently told GolfDigest.com. “This is not about me, this is about the USGA and doing what is best for the game of golf.”...From talking with Murphy you get the feeling she wants to be like the perfect USGA rules official or baseball umpire: So good at what she does you don’t even notice she’s there.”
HOW? Keegan Bradley penalized for carrying 14 clubs at WMPO...ESPN: “Even though it took Keegan Bradley just two holes to start making up the 2-stroke penalty he was assessed on his first hole Thursday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, he couldn't stop thinking about it throughout his round.”
--“Bradley was penalized for having 15 clubs in his bag, one more than allowed. He was carrying a 3-iron and a hybrid, whereas he usually only carries one or the other. He rebounded from the penalty to shoot 3-under-par 68 in Round 1…."Pretty ridiculous that we let that happen," Bradley said. "It was sickening at the time. It was really great to come back and play well the rest of the way."’
BUBBA BEING BUBBA: Inexplicable WMPO remarks...Josh Weinfuss, ESPN: “Watson made it clear that he didn't want to be playing in this week's Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale…."I don't like it," Watson said. "I'm not going to PC it. I don't like it at all. I just mentioned why I'm here. I've got three beautiful sponsors that love it here."
SIGN OF THE TIMES? Good take from Richard Williams in the Guardian about what’s going on at Wentworth…”...Now their serenity has been disrupted by Reignwood’s announcement that, next year, their memberships will be annulled and they will be required to pay a rejoining fee of ￡100,000 – apparently in the form of a redeemable debenture – with a doubling of the annual family subscription to ￡16,000.”
--“The new owners’ plan is clear: by reducing the membership to something like a tenth of the present figure of around 3,000, they want to restrict the use of the club to what are nowadays known as ultra high-net-worth individuals – who could be loosely defined as the associates and close relatives of the 62 individuals who, according to a recent Oxfam report, own as much of the world’s wealth as the poorer half of the global population. Although the complaints are understandable, they miss the point.”
--“Golf clubs have always been surrounded by an air of exclusivity and privilege. They are bastions of the sort of snobbery that takes offence at the manners of new money. But the protesters forget that old money was new once and behaved no better. The very existence of somewhere like the Wentworth Estate is predicated on exactly a kind of social cleansing that Reignwood seem to be undertaking now.”