Does This Sound Like a Familiar Situation?

Even the pros would understand our experience at Harbor Hills!

As reprinted from the Orlando Sentinel on line:

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The champion was gone. Phil Mickelson was nowhere to be found.He had just spent 45 minutes on the practice putting green Thursday afternoon at Augusta National Golf Club, trying to make amends for his performance during Day One of the Masters.

The TV people were looking for him. He had ducked into the clubhouse, and for a while, it didn't look like he'd ever come out.Finally, he did."I tried to slide out," he said with a weak smile. "I couldn't quite make it."His caddie had the Jeep running out front. Mickelson was ready to go, ready to leave his 4-over-par 76 and all those missed putts behind him."I putted terrible," he said. He wasn't alone on this day. The wind was blowing. The sun was shining. The greens were dry, hard and fast, and the scores were evidence of how tough Augusta National played. "Firmness of the greens and the wind," Mickelson said. "It's something we haven't had here the last few years."After the first round of the Masters, Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich share the lead, each with a 3-under-par 69. Seven others broke par Thursday. Then there are the rest, 85 men who didn't have many answers for a course that played as tough as it has in years." Washington Road is softer than the No. 1 green," said Fuzzy Zoeller, referring to one of the streets that borders Augusta National. Zoeller, who won the '79 Masters, finished with a 2-over 74. Of No. 1, he said, "That's the hardest green I think I've ever seen."The consensus was they were definitely harder than they've been in recent years, when wet weather made for softer, slower, friendlier greens. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see short par putts scoot by the hole. Or for an approach shot to stick to the green for a moment before slowly sliding off, as if drawn by a magnet." These greens, you have to have perfect line and distance for the ball to go in," said Rich Beem, tied for fifth with a 1-under 71. "Once you start factoring in some windy conditions, with these big slopes, it gets real interesting real quick."Which makes the performances of the leaders more impressive than their scores might have indicated. Rose had a bogey-free round and putted just 20 times -- the lowest number since Mark O'Meara putted 19 times during the third round in 2003. And Wetterich made two tough birdie putts -- a 12-footer on the par-5 No. 7 and one from 10 feet on the par-4 No. 9. The Masters rookie was playing for the first time since a second-place finish in the World Golf Championships-CA Championship in Doral a couple of weeks ago.Earlier this week, Wetterich sought advice from Masters champions Raymond Floyd and Larry Mize."Awfully helpful," Wetterich said.Eventually, the wind died some, which made the conditions more playable in the afternoon. For a while, it seemed Tiger Woods might take advantage of it. He birdied No. 13 and No. 15, two par 5s, but then bogeyed the final two holes of his round."I threw away a good round of golf," said Woods, who's tied for 15th at 1-over par. Given the circumstances, though, he didn't seem too disappointed."[You're] not going to go low today, that's for sure," he said. Nobody might go low if the greens play as fast as they did through the first 18. But as the daylight faded, some suggested that things could only get easier -- either by natural causes or through some type of Augusta National intervention."Augusta National does a fantastic job of monitoring the conditions out there, and I don't think that they will let [the greens] get too far away from us," Beem said. Mickelson, of course, was more interested in figuring out his own problems than hoping for an easier course. For almost an hour after his round ended, he practiced short putts, four-footers, five-footers, six-footers. Then he headed for that Jeep, ready to get out of here."If I shoot a solid round of 68," Mickelson said, "I should be right back in it."
Andrew Carter can be reached at acarterb@orlandosentinel.com