I think I may have used this headline in one of my first posts on the GCM blog at the U.S. Open, but on a day like today, it bears repeating. There is a heat advisory in effect today, which is issued when heat indices are anticipated in the 105-110 degree range, and the air temperature itself is expected to be in the upper 90s. I spoke with Mike McClellan, the principle at Mobile Weather Team, which provides on-site weather at all USGA and PGA of America events, as well as the European Tour, and he indicated there is a chance of scattered storms this afternoon. But considering Baltusrol has seen just 2/10ths of an inch of rain in the last 10 weeks (stat courtesy of Lower Course superintendent Scott Bosetti), I'm not crossing my fingers.
I had several interesting items I wanted to get posted yesterday, but other events -- most notably the fallen tree branch near the fourth green and its subsequent removal -- always seemed to cut in line. So right now I'm holed up in the media center trying to get those items written and posted on the site before I head down to the maintenance facility later in the day. Got to wait for the hottest part of the day to walk two dusty miles, don't you know.
The extreme conditions here at Baltusrol are beginning to test the mettle of everyone involved in maintenance efforts. As I rode the course yesterday evening with Bosetti, the word he kept using to describe conditions was "crispy." Greens were single cut yesterday afternoon, and crews received explicit instructions not to put a mower on a green until that green had been syringed. I'm told that technique not only gives the stressed out turf a little breather, it also serves as a lubricant for both the mower and the grass, which helps produce a cleaner and more healthy cut.
Green speeds by the end of the day Friday were as fast as they've been all week, hitting the 13 mark on a number of greens. That didn't seem to be a concern to Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America's senior director of tournaments, during a conversation with Bosetti yesterday, but Haigh did want want Bosetti and Baltusrol Director of Grounds Mark Kuhns, CGCS to closely monitor the green at No. 2, which he said was "getting close (to the edge)." Shortly after that conversation, Bosetti took a few putts on that relatively flat green to see for himself. He seemed to have come to the same conclusion as Haigh and told me that as soon as the last putt dropped on Sunday, "I'm going to drench these greens until the water comes running off them."
Aside from the light syringing on greens, the rest of the course got a healthy dose of irrigation last night. There were clear signs of wilt on fairways and in the roughs, and both Bosetti and Kuhns want to keep that to a minimum. They both admit, though, that there is little they can do once play begins in conditions like this to prevent that phenomenon.
Tiger Woods is doing his best to get himself back into red numbers this morning. He is 3-under-par on the day and just stuck an approach to within a couple of feet on No. 15 to give himself another decent birdie attempt. Stay tuned for more to come.
Comments