How cold was it to start Round 1 of the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship on Friday morning?
Take it from Spaniard Miguel Angel Martin, it was frio and iluvioso — cold and rainy — but it didn’t affect the Madrid native as he recorded a 2-under 69 in the first group of the day, playing alongside Jean-Francois Remsey of Paris and American Steve Schneiter.
The threesome started at 8:20 a.m. and finished at 12:45 p.m. as Martin rolled in about a 28-foot putt for birdie on the final hole.
“If the weather stays like this, it’s going to be tough,” said Martin. “It was very cold this morning, even in the middle of the round. It could be worse, it could be raining more.”
It certainly didn’t affect him on 18, however, as he calmly rolled in the putt.
“I enjoyed that so much,” Martin said of the downhiller that broke three feet from right to left. “I’m very happy with that. My goal was 3-under, that’s what I was thinking, but 2-under is good. Numbers 8 and 9 were so cold, with rain and into the breeze, so they played long.”
• PLENTY OF CHATTER: One difference between the PGA Tour and Champions Tour is the friendly banter throughout the rounds and even interaction with the crowd.
“Careful. Careful,” Colin Montgomerie shouted to a standard bearer carrying scores for his group on the second hole as she came dangerously close to stepping on partner Ian Woosnam’s ball in the rough behind the green.
“We know he’s one bloody under,” he added, which drew a loud chuckle from a large gallery on the hole.
Woosnam (who shot 1-under 70) chipped it close and saved par, while Montgomerie (tied for eighth at 4-under 67) rolled in a birdie putt.
• NO RED FOR MAPLE LEAFS: It was a tough day for Canadians, as all four failed to break par on a low-scoring day.
Rod Spittle led the way at 1-over 72, while Victoria’s Jim Rutledge was at 2-over 73. Stephen Ames shot 74 and Tuesday-qualifier Murray Poje of Delta was 11-over 82 and last in the field by five shots.
“Better putting would be excellent, but ball striking was good,” said Rutledge, who three-putted the first hole for bogey. “I only missed one green all day long so I had lots of chances, but never made anything.”
He admitted to being a little nervous on the first tee, being the home-town favourite.
“I was a little shaky, but I just said in the back of my mind that, ‘You’ve played this golf course plenty of times, you’ve been practising here plenty of times so just stand up and hit it like you do every day.’ I hit a good drive, so I was happy.”
• ISLAND TIME: The par-3 10th island green drew some interesting shots.
Doug Garwood hit his tee shot to within two feet for his birdie and Hall of Famer Vijay Singh found water with his first, but then drained his next from the drop zone on a two-hopper for a routine par on the scorecard.
