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PGA DIARY: Round 4 - Special day with a special partner
DAY 7: SUNDAY, 21 MAY - Round 4: Special day with a special partner
A couple of stand-out features from round four of the PGA at Oak Hill.
Firstly, there were heaps of fans and we got a real sense of the numbers driving to the course. The New Yorkers really do love their sport and they showed that once again.
Arriving at the course, we definitely got the feeling we were in for a special day.
Dean was really looking forward to playing with Jon Rahm, to test himself, but unfortunately it wasn’t his best day. Jon, ultimately, coming out on top by a shot, shooting 71 to Dean’s 72.
Dean didn’t play that badly - he just got a couple of unfortunate breaks and bad bounces, which really cost him. For example, just missing the fairway slightly and landing just in the rough, instead of missing by a long way and ending up where the crowd was walking, with a trampled-down lie.
So, I don’t think he hit the ball badly – he was once again just slightly off and you can’t be at a major championship. I’ve said it before, the margins are just so small in these big tournaments.
It was a pity, because being in the rough meant that Dean was forced to play away from flags and couldn’t attack them. So, it was damage limitation most of the time.
It was also a pity because you could see the scores getting better, with overnight rain making the course more ‘gettable’.
After two bogeys on the front nine, things did look better when he birdied 13 and 14 to right the ship and get back to even-par for the day, but again the finish wasn’t good. He hit a nice shot into 15, but missed the putt, he missed a short one on 16, also bogeyed 17, and then hit a good shot into 18, but missed that putt when it broke more than he saw.
That kind-of summed things up for Dean. He just wasn’t quite there. His ball striking was good, not great, and his putting was great after the poor day on day one. Now, that’s encouraging, because if your putting is good you can score.
All in all, an enjoyable week, but a frustrating week for Dean.
We were on the putting green when PGA pro Michael Block holed his tee-shot on 15 and the noise and explosion of sound was incredible – a real major championship roar and something special.
Hats off to Brooks Koepka – he really set out his stall to play well in the majors this year and is chasing a Ryder Cup place and hoping to do it by playing well in the four majors. The LIV guys will no doubt be chuffed with his win and I’m sure there’ll be a celebration of sorts in Washington later this week, where the next event is.
It will also be interesting to see what this will do for the relationship between the world of golf and LIV. There might be more calls for LIV players to be included in top tournaments. It’s clear that the guys can play and that their tour is not watered-down golf. The LIV guys can compete with the best of the best and they’ve come out on tops here. It’s also disappointing that guys like Branden Grace were not here. He’s playing some of the best golf in the world at the moment, but couldn’t get in because of his ranking, so hopefully Koepka’s win says LIV golfers have part to play.
There’s no doubt that it will ruffle the tail feathers of a few people in certain positions on the PGA Tour, so it’s going to be interesting to see what the next move is and what direction golf goes.
Hope you enjoyed the week.
DAY 6: SATURDAY, 20 MAY - Round 3: Rain, rain and more rain
An early start and out of the house by 07h00 on Saturday, as Dean was towards the back of the field. Had a good warm-up at the same time as Cam Smith, as he and Dean know each other from LIV Golf and I’m good mates with Cam’s fitness trainer. So, there was quite a vibe to the warm-up and some good energy! By the time we had completed our warm-up and hit the range, the rain had started to come down properly. And that was it – it didn’t stop, with Dean playing the entire 18 holes in driving rain.
DAY 5: FRIDAY, 19 MAY - Round 2: Putting practice pays off
So, a long day on Friday, mainly due to Dean’s very late tee time of 14h37.
We used the ‘free’ morning for a lie-in, late breakfast and a workout, as I looked to get Dean’s body activated, getting him reset and working on his posture muscles, and getting him realigned.
After that, while he spent some time with his family, I also used the opportunity for a workout, before we packed our waterproofs and headed to Oak Hill, expecting rain.
We got there a little early, as Dean wanted to run through some extra putting drills, after that area of his game let him down in round one.
The wind was up and Dean was excited, because he likes playing in tough conditions.
For some strange reason, he just didn’t feel comfortable on the range before the round, so it wasn’t the best warm-up, but Dean decided that he just needed to stick to his processes.
He started on 10 and we had to get the rain suits out, as it rained from the start.
Dean ended up having a “water ball” on his first tee shot and that’s a term used for when water gets trapped between the ball and the driver's face and it takes most of the ‘sting’ out of the shot, reducing the distance it carries. That’s why you’ll see some caddies, when it’s raining, holding an umbrella over the ball until the last minute, before their player hits his shot.
Anyway, Dean’s tee shot still managed to find the fairway, but didn’t go very far, so he had a long iron in and he hit it to about 45 feet, before curling in a long putt to really settle him.
That set the tone for the day and Dean reckons that’s the best putting day he’s had for a long time.
He hit it to three feet on 12 and that was another birdie, meaning at two-under for the day after three, he was off to the races.
Dean ultimately played really well, was in control of his game, and handled the conditions really well.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have the finish he wanted and got a little bit ahead of himself, maybe in anticipation of the tough holes ahead from numbers six to nine. He made a couple of good up-and-downs on five and six, but the latter was for bogey, then he hit a bad shot on seven, rushed a putt on eight, and on nine went through fairway, had a tough lie, and couldn’t get up and down.
To finish with four bogeys was tough, because he played better than that.
Unfortunately, Dean is now at the back of field, in a tie for 48th place, having been lying 10th at one point, so that hurts.
He’s a long way back, but all is not lost. Last year he made the Open Championship cut on the number and eventually finished 11th.
There’s no doubt that the East Course played easier in round two. When the rain came, the wind laid down and the course was definitely more gettable and that’s why you saw good scores in the afternoon. The fairways were holding and if you could stay in them and avoid the wet, juicy rough, you could fire at flags and spin the ball to the hole locations.
Make no mistake, though, this Oak Hill course is still tough.
Looking forward to a good weekend.
DAY 4: THURSDAY, 18 MAY - Round 1: Cold start but fiery finish
So, as expected, a chilly round one at the PGA Championship, with sub-zero temperatures overnight and us waking to the news that the course and practice facilities at Oak Hill were closed due to frost.
As it is, Dean was already scheduled to tee off at the back of the morning field, so his time was pushed out by nearly two hours. That just meant an extra cup of tea at home before heading to the course for warm-up etc.
Dean was in a great space and had an excellent warm-up, hitting the ball nicely and seemingly in a great frame of mind for what we knew would be quite a test.
He got off to an okay start and just got a bit unlucky on two, with his second trickling over the back into a tough position that resulted in a bogey. That kind of set the tone for the day, with things just not going his way and being slightly off. For example, he hit a good putt on four that didn’t drop and he had to settle for par on that par-five.
Basically, the putter was ice cold, with nothing dropping, and Dean didn’t make anything, despite hitting a bunch of good putts. He also hit the ball decently, so to shoot three-over was about the worst score he could have shot. Interestingly, he had 33 putts and these guys out here usually aim for about 28-29 putts around. So, if he did that, he’d be under par.
That’s the difference and an example of the small margins in major championship golf.
Dean was disappointed, but not disheartened, as he knows that he’s playing and putting well.
That being said, Oak Hill’s East Course is no push-over and you need to be on top of your game to score. Sure, five-under (at time of writing) is leading, but you just need to go down the leaderboard to see some big names behind Dean, like world No 1 Jon Rahm, down at six-over.
So, if some putts start to drop for Dean, we’re off to the races!
A sign of his confidence is that Dean didn’t want to do anything, in terms of work, after the round and is happy where his game is at.
So, we headed to a local supermarket, grabbed some lamb chops and steaks, and went back to the house for a good old – even though it was on gas - South African braai.
A good evening with family and team, and a good way to both reflect on a tough day, but also look forward to a better day two at Oak Hill.
DAY 3: WEDNESDAY, 17 MAY - Tough test awaits at Oak Hill
So, it’s no secret that this week the players will face a tough test on Oak Hill’s East Course, along with some chilly weather.
I mean, temperatures were around 2-3 degrees on Wednesday morning, as we enjoyed a bit of a lie-in and delayed heading to the course, thinking that some early morning frost might hold things up a little.
No surprise, then, that we went through a decent warm-up with Dean to get him ready for his practice round. I also wanted to capitalise on the work done the day before with physio Caty Cronin. So, I loaded Dean’s body a bit and made some gains in the sequencing of his golf swing. I use these SuperFlex bands, which help to mimic golf-specific movement patterns and allow me to load Dean’s glutes and the stabilisers in his hips and shoulder area because it really does help to improve his posture in his golf swing and keep him connected.
Plenty of hoodies and beanies on the practice range and I think things only warmed up to about 5-6 degrees by the time we went out!
Dean decided to play the front nine again because it’s got some tough holes and he wanted to play some different shots and firm up his strategy for them, particularly six through to eight. We were joined by former PGA champion Keagan Bradley and Brendan Steele, and they made for good company, happy to chat, share ideas and have a bit of a laugh.
Brendan, like Dean, is a LIV golfer and he and Keegan both have experienced guys on the bag, with Brenda working with Christian Donald, who is Europe Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald’s brother.
Back to the course, and they’ve cut the rough down about an inch and I don’t think they’ll cut it again. But, what they’ve done by cutting that top layer off is it’s left a really thick blade of grass, and because of the sparseness of it, the ball really sinks to the bottom.
So, you really, really do not want to miss fairways this week!
On top of that, that rough is the same wherever you are on a hole, so there’s no value in laying up shorter, because you may as well get as far down as possible, so you’ve got less in your hands, with regards an iron. With that in mind, I think it’s going to suit the ‘bomb-and-gouge’ guys this week, a bit like the approach Bryson DeChambeau used to win the US Open at Winged Foot a couple of years ago.
So, look out for the long hitters this week, in that regard. Someone like a Brooks Koepka, who won a PGA at Bethpage Black a few years ago, using a similar strategy.
A lot of guys have spoken about hitting fairways and greens, but the key, for me, is getting it down there as far as you can, because you are going to miss some fairways. You don’t want to be coming in with six and seven-iron – rather a shorter iron.
Middle of the green at this classic Pete Dye-designed course at Oak Hill is good, particularly on these square greens that have been reconfigured. There’ll be four different pin positions – one in each corner – and we call it ‘spiderweb’ greens, where you hit it to the middle and can then access all four positions. You don’t want to be suckered into chasing flags and running the risk of short-siding yourself.
Another interesting aside this week is the whole ‘LIV Golf versus everyone else’ element and interestingly, it seems to be coming more from the DP World Tour players this week, with the PGA Tour players seemingly a bit more friendly and offering less of a cold shoulder. That’s certainly what it seems like to Dean.
All of that aside, Dean has one objective this week and that is to put himself in a position to give himself a chance on Sunday afternoon. That is the goal and I’ll be doing everything I can to help him achieve that.
Bring on round one!
DAY 2: TUESDAY, 16 MAY
Day two at Oak Hill and we wanted to get a fairly early start, to avoid the rush and get some quality work done.
So, up and out the house around 07h00 and quickly to the course, where we had a bite to eat and Dean just had a quick meeting to get out the way, before we warmed up, hit the range for a bit and promptly made our way to the back nine.
It was quite cold, with the wind really starting to pick up.
Dean was on his own, just with his team, but unfortunately, he got stuck behind some notoriously-slow Canadians, so that made the nine holes much longer than it needed to be.
Dean was eventually joined by one of the American PGA pros to have qualified, Wyatt Worthington II, who turned out to be a lovely guy and good company! I’ll be rooting for him to make the cut this week. There are 20 PGA pros in the field who all earn a spot in the PGA. A fourball was then complete when we were joined by the Aussie David Micheluzzi and Scotsman Bob MacIntyre. That, at least, made the slow nine holes more bearable and didn’t seem as long.
Dean hit some quality shots and his game looks in good shape.
But, the conditions were a bit of a challenge – quite chilly and incredibly windy. As a result, the back nine played extremely long and really tough. Fortunately, it doesn’t sound like the wind will blow as strongly over the weekend.
The Oak Hill back nine is quite tricky, with undulating greens that have big, thick rough on one side of the green, and then big, sloping run-off areas on the other side that feed the ball away from the green. So, you can miss the green slightly and you’ll see your ball feed about 30-40 metres away from the green. So, pinpoint accuracy is key and you have to miss in the right spots.
The conditions meant that we didn’t bother with too much time on the range after the nine holes, which, incidentally, took about three-and-a-half hours. There really is no point when it’s that windy and Dean was quite tired, anyway.
So, after playing, Dean had some time with physio Caty Cronin, who happens to be a South African physio who works with the Aussie Lucas Herbert and has worked a lot with Dean before. She knows his body well, so it’s always good for Dean to get time with her and have a ‘total body flush’, after which Katy and I had lunch and caught up on Dean’s body, sharing thoughts on what needs to be worked on in training.
Dean then did just 20 minutes of putting, with some basic drills, to stay on top of that, and then we headed back to the house.
After some downtime, we came back to Oak Hill and hit the merchandise tent, which is always a part of the journey for me. I like to see what’s available and come away with some ‘peace offerings’ as well, for family I’ve left back home. This year’s PGA has some nice kit, but it’s not cheap – you’re looking at about $30-40 (R600-R800) for a t-shirt.
The day ended with us ordering in food from a local restaurant and getting an early night, before what’s expected to be another cold day of preparation.
DAY 1, MONDAY, 15 MAY
Great to be back at a major championship and looking forward to helping Dean Burmester have a crack at the US PGA Championship.
Monday saw us make our way from Tulsa, Oklahoma – the scene of the latest LIV Golf event – to Rochester, New York, which is where this week’s PGA is taking place. It was a bit of a slow start, as we all had a few celebratory drinks on Sunday night, following the Stingers’ team victory at the LIV event. So, a 05h45 start was a bit aggressive!
Fortunately, Dean decided to charter a plane for the two-hour flight, because there are no direct flights between Tulsa and Rochester and when it’s a major championship, you really do want to get to the venue as soon as possible. Flying commercial would have just made the prep day shorter, as we would have had to fly via Chicago. It was a smart move, because we got into Rochester promptly and meant we could get cracking with our preparation.
Waiting for us at Rochester airport was a beautiful Cadillac Escalade, which is a stunning car and Dean has it for the week.
We quickly headed to the house Dean has hired for the week, which is just 10 minutes from Oak Hill and is pretty big, because we’ve got the whole team here – myself, his coach Grant Veenstra, his agent Ally Mellor, caddie Jason Reynolds, Dean’s wife and two kids, and their au pair.
We got quickly settled in and then made our way to Oak Hill to sort out our accreditation, which gives us access to the relevant ‘zones’, such as the clubhouse etc. After that, a quick bite to eat, a quick warm-up I took Dean through, a few balls on the range, and then we hit the first tee, playing the front nine.
Dean didn’t need much warming up, because he’s coming off an eighth-place finish at the LIV event on Sunday and is playing well.
It was just Dean on his own, with his team, and he got a good look at the front nine. It’s clear that he likes the course and we’re all blown away by just how beautiful it is, with these amazing huge oak trees.
The course is playing long and fast, which is maybe a little surprising this early in the week, and it’s only going to play longer and faster.
A full 18 holes will follow on Tuesday and day one was all about just getting used to the grass and the greens, and generally getting a bit of a feel for the place, along with picking some lines off the tee etc.
Really looking forward to seeing what the back nine has in store, but so far, Oak Hill is pretty impressive. It’s a strong golf course and your ball-striking really has to be on point round here, because the rough is up and you don’t want to miss greens.
After playing the front nine, we headed back to the house, where a delicious spaghetti bolognese and salad awaited us, courtesy of Mrs Burmester, which was most welcome, before an early night.
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