Given the elite field and the extremely difficult course conditions, we probably won't see a better round all year than the one posted by J.B. Holmes on Thursday. Now let's see if he can back it up on Friday and avoid all the troubles that wrecked so many others at Doral.
The most loaded field of the year was little match for Doral's Blue Monster course on Thursday at the WGC-Cadillac Championship; except for one man, J.B. Holmes, whose 10-under 62 will probably be the round of the year when it's all over.
While most of the field, which included the entire top 50 of the world rankings for the first time since the 2012 PGA Championship, was brutalized by the conditions and the Gil Hanse redesigned course, Holmes bombed drives off the tee and snuck out with a clean card. He avoided the many water troubles, posted eight birdies and an eagle and bested the average round by an astounding 11.4 shots. The round of the year puts Holmes four shots clear of Ryan Moore, who double-bogeyed his last hole of the day to give the first round leader even more room for the final three days.
Only 1 other time last 5 years has player led by 4+ shots after 1st round on PGA Tour - Phil in 2013 at Phoenix when he shot 60 (won)
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) March 5, 2015
Holmes' competitors, who just got through one of the toughest rounds of their early season, were astounded by the number at the top of the leaderboard.
10 under??
— Keegan Bradley (@Keegan_Bradley) March 5, 2015
The most unbelievable round I've seen. @PGATOURmedia: This is what a tournament-record 62 looks like. @JBHolmesgolf http://ift.tt/1wajPb9
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) March 5, 2015
JB Holmes 10 under, what planet were you on today!!
— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) March 6, 2015
If the wind is up again, it will be hard for anyone to chase down Holmes if he plays anything close to the show he put on in the first round. They'll need the big hitter from Kentucky to start putting some of his balls in the drink, which claimed 85 alone on Thursday.
Holmes will begin his second round in the final group of the day at 1:12 p.m. ET so he'll know what he has in front of him well before he gets on the back nine. Having a later tee time could be a benefit -- it definitely was in the first round because the conditions calmed down as dusk approached. The 18th, for example, was an entirely different hole than the one that repeatedly ate up this world class field earlier in the afternoon. Holmes, playing with Joost Luiten and Thongchai Jaidee, will be the last player to play the hole on Friday evening.
Rory McIlroy was one of those world class players that got blindsided by the course earlier in the afternoon. The world No. 1, who started his year with a second-place finish and a win over in the Middle East, looked shaky for the second straight week in South Florida. He went out with an ugly 40, but then caught a little roll coming into the house to get it back to 1-over for the tournament. He had three birdies and an eagle in a five-hole stretch to make the round a bit more respectable. Fortunately for McIlroy, this limited field event has no cut so he'll be around for 54 more holes and could be right back near the top of the leaderboard if Holmes comes back to the pack.
Rory is back out with Bubba Watson and Henrik Stenson at 12:39 p.m. ET, just 20 minutes before Golf Channel's second round broadcast goes live on Friday. So while this field is loaded from top to bottom with headliners in almost every group, expect the cameras to keep featuring that group with the top three players in the world late on Friday.
Here's the full tee sheet for the second round (all times ET):
Off tee No.1:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 11:00 AM | Bernd Wiesberger | Tommy Fleetwood | |
| 11:11 AM | Danny Willett | Robert Streb | Shane Lowry |
| 11:22 AM | Hiroyuki Fujita | Anirban Lahiri | Webb Simpson |
| 11:33 AM | Greg Chalmers | Marc Warren | Cameron Tringale |
| 11:44 AM | Lee Westwood | Louis Oosthuizen | Jason Dufner |
| 11:55 AM | David Lipsky | Thomas Aiken | Morgan Hoffmann |
| 12:06 PM | Ross Fisher | Gary Woodland | Paul Casey |
| 12:17 PM | Brooks Koepka | Phil Mickelson | Graeme McDowell |
| 12:28 PM | Jimmy Walker | Hideki Matsuyama | Patrick Reed |
| 12:39 PM | Rory McIlroy | Bubba Watson | Henrik Stenson |
| 12:50 PM | Sergio Garcia | Justin Rose | Jordan Spieth |
| 1:01 PM | Brandt Snedeker | Luke Donald | Bill Haas |
| 1:12 PM | Joost Luiten | Thongchai Jaidee | J.B. Holmes |
Off tee No. 10:
| Tee Time | Players | ||
| 11:00 AM | Marcel Siem | Sang-Moon Bae | Charley Hoffman |
| 11:11 AM | Chris Kirk | Jamie Donaldson | Zach Johnson |
| 11:22 AM | Dustin Johnson | Victor Dubuisson | Billy Horschel |
| 11:33 AM | Jason Day | Adam Scott | Jim Furyk |
| 11:44 AM | Martin Kaymer | Rickie Fowler | Matt Kuchar |
| 11:55 AM | Keegan Bradley | Ian Poulter | Charl Schwartzel |
| 12:06 PM | Russell Henley | Alexander Levy | Branden Grace |
| 12:17 PM | Hunter Mahan | Stephen Gallacher | Mikko Ilonen |
| 12:28 PM | Brendon Todd | Gary Stal | Koumei Oda |
| 12:39 PM | Kevin Na | Danie van Tonder | |
| 12:50 PM | John Senden | Ryan Moore | Alexander Noren |
| 1:01 PM | Ryan Palmer | Steven Jeffress | Geoff Ogilvy |
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1NprCYb
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