Ryo Ishikawa was making almost everything he looked at in the first round at Doral. Copyright Icon SMI.
The first round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship unfortunately won’t get much attention because it was spread over two days, and thus finished in between news cycles. That’s too bad, because it was an interesting round with the noteworthy trio of Martin Kaymer, Ryo Ishikawa, and Hunter Mahan pulling ahead and the no-longer-dynamic duo of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson dropping back while playing in each other’s company.
It was a schizophrenic round with soft and calm conditions after a rain delay right around the start of play on Thursday leading to low scores but windy, cool conditions making it a different story on Friday morning. Mahan was 7-under through 11 holes when play was halted by darkness on Thursday, and had not missed a green at that point. He could have been headed for a score in the very low 60s, but on Friday found himself trying just to hold on to what he had. He missed the greens on his first two holes Friday, but admirably kept things together well enough to play the last seven holes in 1-under for a 64 and a one-stroke lead over Ishikawa and two over Kaymer.
It was even more admirable that Ishikawa held it together on Friday after waking up to the news of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in his home country of Japan. With that weighing heavily on his mind, he nonetheless played his last six holes of the first round in 2-under to wrap up his 65. Kaymer played his last eight holes in 1-under for his 66.
Mahan, Ishikawa, and Kaymer all owed their positions at the top of the leaderboard to exceptional putting. It’s a pace they can’t really sustain over four rounds, so we’ll watch if they can maintain their position as the putts inevitably stop falling.
That’s especially true for Ishikawa, the 19-year-old who has dazzled in Japan but has yet to make a big impact in international play other than good showings in the first round or two in a couple of events. It’s way too early to label him a flop, however, as the youngster has a game that impressed Tom Watson when the two were paired at both the U.S. and British Opens last year.
Ishikawa hits the a long way—he hit five tee shots more than 300 yards in the first round, including a 336-yarder—and launches the ball very high with his irons. But his putting turned heads in the first 18 at Doral.
Ishikawa started oddly on the first four holes by sinking birdie putts of 28 and 31 feet but missing birdie tries of 8 and 14 feet. After that, he didn’t miss much as he finished the round holing five putts from outside 10 feet. He took only 23 putts for the round.
Here’s a list of Ishikawa’s first putts on each hole in feet, with boldface indicating that he made them, and an asterisk indicating they were for par (the rest were for birdies; he didn’t have any eagle attempts): 28, 8, 14, 31, 13, *9, 3, 4, *8, *12, 8, *1, *1, *11, 19, 22, 11, 89.
His second putts were all tap-ins, including the hole where he had the 89-footer, which he left about a foot from the hole.
Analyzing his round by comparing to the Tour average for the distance of his putts, he was 5.6 strokes better than average on the greens. In other words, he turned a 70 or 71 (or let’s say a 68 or 69 with a merely good putting performance) into a 65. Going forward, that leaves a question about his ability to sustain that performance as the tournament moves on. Also, at this early stage of his career Ishikawa hasn’t shown an ability to adjust his high-hitting game for the wind by hitting knockdown shots, so he could be vulnerable in the windy conditions that are not uncommon at Doral.
Mahan and Kaymer were nearly as impressive on the greens in the first round, both beating a Tour average putting performance by four strokes. Mahan’s ball-striking was outstanding, as he hit 15 greens, never had a birdie putt outside 37 feet, and hit a couple of approach shots inside 2 feet. But his putting was impeccable, too. He made the 37-footer, holed three putts in the 10- to 15-foot range, and didn’t miss a single putt inside 10 feet. It all added up to a 64.
Kaymer took over the No. 1 spot in the world two weeks ago and is trying to show he belongs there. Mahan is worth watching as he is one of the young Americans trying to elbow his way toward the top, where there is currently a void in U.S. golf.
That void is thanks to the decline of Woods and Mickelson. They drew the bulk of the galleries in the first round, but didn’t give them a whole lot to cheer about, Woods shooting a 70 and Mickelson a 73.
Woods had a frustrating round on the greens, continually leaving himself between 11 and 16 feet from the hole but unable to make the putts. He went only 1-for-9 on putts from that range, including 0-for-7 for birdies. The fact that he didn’t miss anything from less than 10 feet made it an average putting round overall—but you need to putt better than average if you’re going to win a tournament.
Mickelson was sunk by inconsistency and a terrible finish. He birdied two of the first three holes and had four birdies on the round, but had three bogeys and a double bogey. He was 1-under with three holes remaining before making a bogey on the 7th hole (his 16th) and a ruinous double bogey on the par-5 8th, where he hit his tee shot into the water, took a penalty drop, and went for the water-guarded green with his next shot but got that one wet as well. The inconsistency and the gambles sound like typical Phil, but it’s supposed to add up to something better than 1-over par.
Hunter Mahan (64)
10th hole, 551 yards, par 5: 286 yard tee shot to fairway (264), second shot to 27 feet, two putts (second putt from 5 feet), birdie
11th hole, 402 yards, par 4: 253 yard tee shot to intermediate rough (156), approach to 37 feet, one putt, birdie
12th hole, 603 yards, par 5: 292 yard tee shot to fairway (302), second shot to rough (77), approach to 8 feet, one putt, birdie
13th hole, 245 yards, par 3: tee shot to 2 feet, one putt, birdie (note: hole was playing 220 yards)
14th hole, 460 yards, par 4: 293 yard tee shot to fairway (156), approach to 33 feet, two putts, par
15th hole,175 yards, par 3: tee shot to 26 feet, two putts, par
16th hole, 372 yards, par 4: 252 yard tee shot to fairway (107), approach to 15 feet, one putt, birdie
17th hole, 419 yards, par 4: 187 yard tee shot to fairway (143), approach to 11 feet, one putt, birdie
18th hole, 467 yards, par 4: 284 yard tee shot to fairway (198), approach to 18 feet, two putts, par
1st hole, 529 yards, par 5: 276 yard tee shot to bunker (249), second shot to fairway (83), approach to 14 feet, one putt, birdie
2nd hole, 418 yards, par 4: 253 yard tee shot to intermediate rough (157), approach to 26 feet, two putts, par
3rd hole, 438 yards, par 4: 262 yard tee shot to fairway (178), approach to rough (18), chip to 10 feet, one putt, par
4th hole, 236 yards, par 3: tee shot to rough (16), chip to 5 feet, one putt, par
5th hole, 394 yards, par 4: 264 yard tee shot to fairway (124), approach to 4 feet, one putt, par
6th hole, 442 yards, par 4: 320 yard tee shot to fairway (101), approach to 10 feet, two putts, par
7th hole, 454 yards, par 4: 269 yard tee shot to bunker (174), approach to bunker (19), blast to 25 feet, two putts, par
8th hole, 560 yards, par 5: 300 yard tee shot to rough (244), second shot to fairway (120), approach to 4 inches, one putt, birdie
9th hole, 169 yards, par 3: tee shot to 23 feet, two putts, par
Ryo Ishikawa (65)
1st hole, 529 yards, par 5: 284 yard tee shot to fairway (242), second shot to rough (24), chip to 28 feet, one putt, birdie
2nd hole, 418 yards, par 4: 291 yard tee shot to rough (136), approach to 8 feet, two putts, par
3rd hole, 438 yards, par 4: 310 yard tee shot to fairway (126), approach to 14 feet, two putts, par
4th hole, 236 yards, par 3: tee shot to 31 feet, one putt, birdie
5th hole, 394 yards, par 4: 291 yard tee shot to rough (87), approach to 13 feet, one putt, birdie
6th hole, 442 yards, par 4: 274 yard tee shot to bunker (159), approach to intermediate rough (10), third shot to 9 feet, one putt, par
7th hole, 454 yards, par 4: 314 yard tee shot to fairway (134), approach to 3 feet, one putt, birdie
8th hole, 560 yards, par 5: 278 yard tee shot to intermediate rough (259), second shot to fairway (65), approach to 4 feet, one putt, birdie
9th hole, 169 yards, par 3: tee shot to rough (14), chip to 8 feet, one putt, par
10th hole, 551 yards, par 5: 281 yard tee shot to bunker (284), second shot to fairway (146), third shot to intermediate rough (13), chip to 12 feet, two putts, bogey
11th hole, 402 yards, par 4: 302 yard tee shot to fairway (110), approach shot to 8 feet, one putt, birdie
12th hole, 603 yards, par 5: 288 yard tee shot to intermediate rough (307), second shot to intermediate rough (96), third shot to fringe (4), fourth shot to 1 foot, one putt, par
13th hole, 245 yards, par 3: tee shot to fairway short of green (20), chip to 1 foot, one putt, par
14th hole, 460 yards, par 4: 250 yard tee shot to rough (187), second shot to fairway (48), third shot to 11 feet, one putt, par
15th hole, 175 yards, par 3: tee shot to 19 feet, one putt, par
16th hole, 372 yards, par 4: 268 yard tee shot to rough (77), approach to 22 feet, two putts, par
17th hole, 419 yards, par 4: 336 yard tee shot to fairway (89), approach to 11 feet, one putt, birdie
18th hole, 467 yards, par 4: 302 yard tee shot to rough (184), approach to 89 feet, two putts (second putt from 1 foot), par
