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 Friday,
Aug 11 Headline News
Schedule of Events
Grönberg Takes Strange
Road To Lead
Capt. Lehman Zeroes In
On Ryder
Cup Team
From The Desk of Buddy Martin
Leaderboard
Friday
Round 2 Pairings
Grönberg Takes
Strange Road To Lead
 By JOHN FINERAN
INTERNATIONAL Daily News
CASTLE ROCK, CO — When he was 10 growing up in Sweden,
the home of world-class soccer and hockey teams, Mathias Grönbergknew
little about the game of golf.
In fact, he had to ask his mother
what the club was that he found in the basement of their home.
Little did Grönberg
know that he had found his future career.
Thursday, the 36-year-old Grönberg
made eight birdies to offset a double-bogey at No. 9 and took the lead at +13
after the first round of the 21st INTERNATIONAL at Castle Pines.
His effort, which
came during ideal playing conditions in the morning, was two points better than
fellow dew-sweepers Stuart Appleby, Stewart Cink and 2001 tourney champion Tom
Pernice Jr. and the afternoon effort of John Senden.
“I asked my mother, ‘What is this?’ and she said, ‘Oh,
it’s for a sport with a ball in it,’” Grönberg said. “I
then asked her if I could try.”
Mrs. Grönberg took her son to a driving
range that very day and he began hitting golf balls.
“I probably didn’t hit more
than 20 or 30 balls when an older gentlemen walked up and asked me if I wanted
to join the golf club,” recalled Grönberg, who did. “If I wouldn’t
have hit the ball well the first 50 balls I hit, I probably wouldn’t be
sitting here.”
Grönberg turned pro in 1990 and has
been chasing his dream ever since. He claimed the first of four European Tour
events in the Alps at the 1995 Swiss Masters, a tournament that also used The
INTERNATIONAL’s modified Stableford scoring format
“I hit the ball
long here, which is kind of a bonus,” said Grönberg,
who averaged 329.1 yards on his drives. “I just like being in high altitudes,
it seems.”
Grönberg tried seven times to earn
a PGA Tour card before succeeding at the 2003 Q-School, which gave him a spot
in the 2004 INTERNATIONAL where he scored +15 points on the weekend on his way
to +23 points and a ninth-place finish worth $135,000.
But after slipping to
$401,140 last year and missing the cut at Castle Pines, Grönberg had to
go back to Q-School. He placed 26th to regain his card. This season, Grönberg
has played 20 events, made the cut in nine of them and earned $598,410. His best
finish is a solo fourth at the Shell Houston Open.
Grönberg
started his round by hitting the green on the par-5, 644-yard first hole in two
and two-putting from 18 feet. He then birdied the par-3, 230-yard fourth, coming
up five inches short of an ace with his 5-iron tee shot.
“Yesterday I found my game on the
driving range and I went out today and I really hit it great the first few holes,” he
said. “But I hit some awful putts.”
Finally, at the par-5 eighth hole,
Grönberg’s
putting stroke came around when he made a 7-footer for birdie. Even though he
made double-bogey on the ninth hole when he hit a 3-wood into the pond off the
tee, the good vibes continued to the back where he made five birdie putts, the
first a 20-footer at No. 12.
“It’s strange how you can stand
over 3-footers and you’re not even hitting the hole, and you can step up
on a 20-footer and think you’re going to make the putt,” concluded
Grönberg, who birdied Nos. 14, 15, 17 and 18.
Both Appleby and Cink used
eagles to jump up the leaderboard in the morning. Appleby’s eagle came
at the 623-yard 14th hole, where he sank a 30-foot bunker shot.
“It’s a very dynamic tournament,” Appleby said. “I think
when Rich Beem won here (in 2002) it looked like he was giving birth on the back
of the 18th green when he saw Steve Lowery coming in.”
Cink eagled the 644-yard first hole, hitting a second shot with a new 21-degree
Nike hybrid 275 yards to 10 feet and making the eagle putt.
“You have to have eagles
here to be in contention at the end of the week,” said Cink,
who is fighting for a U.S. Ryder Cup team berth.” So,
too, is Pernice, who made six birdies, one from a bunker on the par-3
16th hole.
“My game is pretty good
right now,” Pernice said. As
are the games of former champion David Toms and his possible Ryder
Cup teammate Zach Johnson, who are at +9. Former champion Ernie Els
scored +8, Corey Pavin +7 and Sergio Garcia and David Duval +6 each.
Former
two-time champions Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III have work to
do, however, after opening at +1 and –4, respectively.
Capt. Lehman Zeroes
In On Ryder Cup Team
 By JOHN FINERAN
INTERNATIONAL Daily News
CASTLE ROCK, CO — U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman
is looking for a few good men: two, to be exact.
The Monday following
next week’s PGA
Championship at Medinah Country Club in suburban Chicago, Lehman will announce
his two captain’s picks to complete his 12-man team that will take on European
captain Ian Woosnam’s squad at The K Club outside Dublin, Ireland, Sept.
22-24.
Lehman and assistant captain Corey Pavin,
both with three Ryder Cup appearances each, are in this week’s field at
The INTERNATIONAL at Castle Pines and are observing possible U.S. team members.
Fourteen
of the Top 25 players on the current standings are playing this week, and Lehman,
who opened Thursday with a +5 round, had to be happy with the +11 showings of
former INTERNATIONAL champion Tom Pernice Jr., ranked 17th, and No. 20 Stewart
Cink. With 375 points available to the winner this week, Pernice and Cink could
move into the Top 10 with a victory.
Additionally, former INTERNATIONAL champion
David Toms, No. 5 on the points list despite a recent back problem,
opened with +9 as did Zach Johnson, who is ninth. Brett Quigley (No.
21) scored +8 and John Rollins (No. 11) scored +6. J.J. Henry (No.
8) scored +3. The Top 10 players in the standings after next week’s
PGA Championship will make the team automatically.
“I’m looking for the right two guys,” said Lehman,
refusing to tip his hand. “Two guys who can get the ball into
the hole. At the end of the day, I want the guys who will be the
sharpest as the pressure builds, guys who get tuned in.” Lehman
believes Chris DiMarco, currently No. 6 in the standings, is such
a player. DiMarco, who looks secure with his 830.000 points, recently
lost his mother but came back to battle Tiger Woods to the wire in
the British Open, finishing second at Royal Liverpool.
“The more pressure on Chris, the better he seemed to play,” Lehman
said. DiMarco, however, had a –4 round Thursday. Nevertheless,
DiMarco, a hero in last year’s Presidents Cup Matches, probably
is a team member. Tiger Woods (No. 1), Jim Furyk (No. 2), Chad Campbell
(No. 4), Vaughn Taylor (No. 7) and Brett Wetterich (No. 10) are not
playing here this week. Phil Mickelson (No. 2), who struggled to
an opening round score of +1, and Toms should be secure.
Henry, Johnson
and Rollins possibly could qualify as Ryder Cup rookies, but Lehman
won’t be afraid to pick another rookie. “If
you choose someone with a lack of experience, he had better be the
right guy,” Lehman said. “Adding experience is only good
if the player is playing well. Experience doesn’t do you any
good if the player is struggling.
“Match play is all about the challenge,” Lehman concluded. “It’s
about getting on the first tee, looking the other guy in the eye
and saying to yourself, ‘There’s no way he’s going
to beat me.’” Tom Lehman, 3-0 in singles matches,
can speak from experience.
From
The Desk of Buddy Martin
Terrorism changes some travel plans
 Further
proof that golf is a global game: The terrorist threat Thursday
in London had a number of players and officials scrambling to alter
travel plans.
With 42 foreign players in the field, security became a bigger issue than normal
and it was beefed up everywhere, including locally.
Thankfully, some of the players will be staying in America another week and playing
in the PGA next week at Medinah in Chicago, providing them a little more time
to sort out the massive air traffic snarl.
At least one VIP was sidelined from making a trip from Spain to Colorado. Valderrama
owner and founder Jimmy Pitino phoned his friend Jack Vickers to say that he
would have to skip his annual trek to Castle Pines as Vickers’ houseguest.
Greg Norman learned of the foiled London plot from a Castle Pines security man
on the driving range after his round of +5 Thursday.
“I thank God we’ve got a great security system of Homeland Security,” Norman
said, “where one nation talks to the other and is monitoring the situation
very, very closely.
“This is a reflection that our system works, No. 1. And we prevented it,
No. 2. The S.O.B.s are still out there. I don’t know why these people hate
the way they hate.”
The Short Game
CBS
will air the a one-hour special,“Phil
Mickelson: The People's Champion,” Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
MDT … Stewart Cink came to Castle Pines
from a backpacking trip in the Grand Tetons, where his neighbor’s
campsite was visited by a bear – and we don’t mean
Jack Nicklaus … Colorado’s own David Duval (+6)
said he played well, but “should have had made several
more points – a couple of putts lipped out” … One
popular swing-improvement gadget among several pros, including
spokesman Ernie Els, is the Tempo Timer, invented by former Cherry
Hills caddie Jim Flood … Camilo (Spiderman) Villegas says
altitude is one thing, but that the coolness of the morning round
make the course shorter – “it can play 10, 11, 12
percent shorter” … Despite his +1 score, Phil Mickelson
said except for his mis-hit of a three-wood shot at No. 1, “I
hit the ball really well.”
Flashback: The Stableford Stabilizes
According to Associated Press Golf Writer Doug Ferguson,
the first Stableford competition was held at Wallasey Golf Club
in England on May 16, 1932. Meanwhile, the Modified Stableford
used at Castle Pines has weathered the slings and arrows of critics
and found its own niche.
Today’s Quote
“I
think this place will always have pleasant echoes and memories.
I think it is a great spot for anybody that comes here on the
Tour. What people do for us is above and beyond what’s
necessary, and they really treat us great.” – 2001
INTERNATONAL Champion Tom Pernice.
And Good Morning …
… to
Dan Dixon and Liz and Rick Carmen – and all 44 other of you
loyal and dedicated volunteers who have made this event possible
for the past 21 years.
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