Swirling winds of up to 20mph in a temperature of 62 degrees, would be highly acceptable weather in Ireland for this time of year. But here in north Florida on the Stadium Course, where water threatens on every hole, it became a fearsome factor in the opening round of the $6 million Players' Championship yesterday.
Sub-par scores were the exception, even in this, the most elite field on the tour schedule. In fact the 1983 champion, Hal Sutton, with a 69, was the only player to break 70 while Tiger Woods happily settled for a 71 and defending champion David Duval was forced to accept a 75.
Light was so poor on an overcast day that it became necessary to abandon play at 6.25 p.m., with 21 players still on the course. They will complete their round at 7.45 local time this morning.
Meanwhile, several leading challengers came to grief, including the troubled Sergio Garcia, who shot a miserable 82. And with nerves and skill under severe stress, he was in the company of Phil Mickelson, Shigeki Maruyama, former US Open champion Steve Jones and John Huston, as other notables who failed to break 80.
In the circumstances, Darren Clarke had reason to be pleased with a level-par 72, given that his swing lacked its usual fluency. And not for the first time, we could appreciate the raw truth of designer Pete Dye's assertion, that a sure way of throwing a scare into tournament professionals, is with wind and water.
Indeed the famous "ET" 17th, which on this occasion measured only 132 yards off a front pin-placement, became a theatre of horrors, especially when the wind picked up in mid-morning. John Daly was twice in the water for a six. One visit to the deep by Garcia, plus three putts, added up to the same number.
Even Woods faltered there when his tee-shot found the water en route to a double-bogey five. And he needed a 10-foot putt to avoid worse. By the time 121 players out of the field of 144 had negotiated the hole, as many as 30 per cent of them had made the costly journey from H to O.
Len Mattiace, an expert on this little terror, had to sink a seven-foot putt for bogey. And he wasn't exaggerating when claiming afterwards that the pin, six yards in from the front of the green, was "basically on a hill". Mattiace, among those tied second on 70, will be remembered for the wretched eight he carded there when within sight of victory two years ago.
In this context, Garcia could be said to have suffered by association, given that he played yesterday with the American journeyman. And while Mattiace three-putted for a four, the Spaniard was carding the second of three successive sixes, having been in water for a bogey on the long 16th and then taking four to get down from off the back of the 18th.
Forcing a smile after yet another American disappointment this year, he said: "I tried to keep it going; I did the best I could. But it was very difficult out there. I made four or five bogeys hitting good shots, but overall, I didn't play well. And I had problems on the greens where I missed three three-footers."
When Woods shot an opening 69 last week, Colin Montgomerie claimed the Bay Hill Invitational was as good as over. So the Scot would have been among those greatly relieved by Woods's problems on the 17th. "The wind was all over the place and it depended on which gust you happened to catch," he said, having earlier had a measured drive of 348 yards at the long 11th.
The world number one, who still hasn't broken 70 after 13 rounds here, was understandably pleased to have been three under par playing the hole. "It's always nice to have a little cushion in conditions this severe," he said. "It meant I was still able to return a good round."
Heartening from a European standpoint, was the continued good form of Bernhard Langer with an admirable 70. The German, a runner-up here in 1993 and 1995, shared 18th place at Bay Hill last Sunday, when he had a closing 68 to earn $40,500. Langer birdied the second, fourth and eighth in a bogey-free front nine. Then came his first bogey of the round, at the 10th and he proceeded to cover the remaining holes in level par, offsetting a bogey at the short 17th with a birdie at the long 11th.
All of which was almost entirely predictable. If there is a player on either side of the Atlantic, who tends to thrive in adverse conditions, it is the doughty German, even at 42.
Montgomerie salvaged a potentially disastrous round with a brave recovery on his homeward journey for an acceptable 75. Starting on the 10th, the big Scot was in water for a triple-bogey six at the short 13th and went on to reach the turn in 41. By that stage the red mist had descended in earnest and he was still simmering, despite an inward 34. "The par this afternoon was 77, so I consider I got in unscathed," he said afterwards.
As an early starter, Sutton had none of Montgomerie's problems. While carding no worse than a bogey, he had the considerable lift of an eagle three at the 532-yard second, where he hit a four-wood second shot to eight feet. His mastery of this particular club will be recalled from his play-off victory over Vijay Singh in the Tour Championship at East Lake in 1998, when the four-wood set up a winning birdie at the par-three 18th.
"The course was showing its teeth out there a little bit today," he said with gentle understatement. "You knew you couldn't get through without making some bogeys, so you needed to make birdies wherever you got the chance." Which many notables, including Duval, didn't.
