Cherry Hills Village, Colo. ? Rory McIlroy felt anything under par was a good score Thursday at Cherry Hills.
McIlroy ran out of par saves late in the opening round at the BMW Championship and had to settle for a 3-under 67, still enough for the world’s No. 1 player to share the lead with Gary Woodland and Jordan Spieth.
Woodland, a former Kansas University golfer, made only one mistake when he three-putted from about 50 feet on the fourth hole. He birdied both the par 5s, missing an 8-foot eagle attempt on No. 11, and was equally pleased with a par on the 18th hole, which features a severely canted fairway toward the lake and an uphill approach. Woodland hit 2-iron off the tee and a 6-iron onto the green.
“Probably the firmest golf course we have ever seen,” Woodland said. “The greens, they’re concrete out there. So if we don’t get any rain, it can be pretty interesting by the weekend.”
Just his luck, rain arrived late in the day and suspended the first round with nine players still on the course. They will return this morning before starting the second round. The field is only 69 players, and there is no cut.
Cherry Hills, one of the shortest courses on the PGA Tour when factoring in the mile-high air, held up just fine.
“It’s tricky. It really is,” McIlroy said. “The altitude, we’ve had a couple of days to adjust to that. It’s fine. But these greens have gotten so much firmer over the last 24 hours. I think that’s what is giving the guys just a little trouble out there.”
U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer and Sergio Garcia were among those at 68, while Justin Rose wasted a fast start and was at 69. Phil Mickelson, who won the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills in 1990, opened with a 70.
“It reminds me of Augusta in the early ’90s, where the course played very short but the greens were the defense,” Mickelson said. “And the greens were very fast, and very firm, and it was very difficult to get the ball close.”
