2009 PGA Championship: The Early Wave Catches The Birdies

Hazeltine National was a late riser on Thursday. 

For those players who happened to have morning tee times, the birdies were plentiful.

But by around 1pm, Hazeltine National finally began showing her teeth and by late afternoon, she had teamed-up with Mother Nature to launch an all-out assault on those players still out on the golf course.

90 degree temperatures dried out the poana greens resulting in longer approach shots bouncing over the green as if they had just landed on a springboard.  

As the afternoon wore on, the greens not only became increasingly fast, but subtle bumps became more prevalent, leaving many players standing with baffled looks on their faces as seemingly perfect putts inexplicably bounced off line.  

Players with afternoon tee times held on for dear life, brushed off the beating they were given by Hazeltine National, and are now looking forward to better scoring conditions in the morning.

Now, don’t let Adam Scott’s 82 fool you as the level of difficulty certainly wasn’t that extreme this afternoon.

However, only five out of the top-16 players on the leaderboard played the golf course during the afternoon hours.

But don’t worry folks, this is not a repeat of the US Open debacle at Bethpage where players who got the wrong end of the draw on Thursday were climbing Mt. Everest for the remainder of the week.

Cooler temperature will move in with the setting sun, and a rain shower or two overnight should replenish the course and create considerably softer conditions tomorrow morning.

Those players who received a beat-down from Hazeltine today should be able to take their revenge on the course tomorrow if they are striking the ball well.

The last time Tiger Woods played a competitive round of golf at Hazeltine was during the final round of the 2002 PGA Championship where he finished with four consecutive birdies.

Well, seven years later Woods picked up right where he left off back in 2002.

Woods, who teed off at 8:35am local time, opened with a five-under-par round of 67 and is currently the sole leader after 18-holes.

It has long been said that a golf tournament is not won on Thursday, which is true.  

However, another solid round from Woods tomorrow and he might have the rest of the field locked in a sleeper hold heading into the weekend.

That being said, the forecast for tomorrow afternoon is calling for wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour, which could allow the morning wave to make their move on Woods before he even tees off in tougher, windier conditions.

But, the way Woods has been striking the ball lately, a category 5 hurricane could sweep through Hazeltine tomorrow and he would simply adjust his ball flight appropriately and still walk off the course with a 68.  

Although Saturday is typically known as 'moving day' on the PGA Tour, there should be a decent amount of moving done on the leaderboard tomorrow.

The rest of the field will just be hoping that Tiger Woods doesn't do his moving by taking off up the leaderboard in an F-16 fighter jet while everyone else is forced to try and catch him in their Buicks.