How Low Can You Go (At the Hope)?

The cut line is going to be crazy at the Hope with scoring being as low as it is.  Pat Perez - who has an affinity for this event - is 20 under par through 36 holes.  He will have Ernie Els' 72 hole scoring record of -33 in his sights over the next two rounds if he can continue the pace.

But he's not the only one that could challenge Els' record.  I would guess that any player around -16 has an outside chance.  That means that it is possible that seven players could eclipse -33 through four rounds if all goes well.

So, is going low a good thing?  If this were a US Open, Mike Davis' head would explode.  It is good to see an event every now and again where the players can destroy the golf course(s) and make it a birdiefest.  Chicks dig the long ball, and birdies and eagles.

I don't know, though, that the Hope people may be especially pleased about Perez and his buddies making the rotation look like a miniature golf course.

Geoff Shackelford has a piece up by Tom Bonk from 2004 about the changes made to the Hope rotation to include Classic Club (now out).  Why did the Hope do it?  Low scoring!

Indian Wells Country Club has ranked as the easiest course on the PGA Tour for the last three years and nine times since they began keeping that statistic in 1983. And at 6,478 yards, it’s also the shortest course on the PGA Tour. Tournament officials might be looking for a replacement course.

“Obviously, there is an issue out here,” said John Foster, a member of the tournament’s five-person board of directors as well as a past president. “But we don’t have a better option.

“As technology evolves, we have to look at the issue. We will have to make some tough decisions.”

Still, as Sal Johnson mentions in his recap about this year's Hope scoring, moving to Classic Club hurt the event.

But one of the things about moving to the Classic Club was the fact that it took the fun out of the Hope for the players. They have always had to endure playing five days on four different courses with amateurs, but the fun of the week was the easy scoring. When the easy scoring aspect was taken away with the high winds at the Classic Club, it became a mass exodus as players like Phil Mickelson said no thanks to the Hope Classic and the Classic Club.

Basically, the trade off for players is endure pro-am golf - slow, boring - for a pitch and putt.  With changes to the rotation this year due to construction and removing Classic Club, the Palmer Private Course at PGA West and Bermuda Dunes came back into the rotation.  Instantly, scoring improved.

Through 36 holes, here are the scoring averages:

68.922 at SilverRock
68.469 at Bermuda Dunes
68.125 at Palmer Private
66.734 at Nicklaus Private

Still, Perez battered the rotation for the first two days.  As Sal mentions, he set some scoring records in the process:

Since 1970 there have been 117 rounds of 59, 60 or 61 shot on the PGA Tour (59, 3 times; 60, 13 times; 61, 101 times). Of the previous 116 times these low scores have been shot, 22 of them have been in the final round. But in looking at the other 94 others, Perez is the first person to shot 59, 60 [or] 61 then come back with a 63.

Perez is the first player in PGA Tour history to reach double-double figures for any 36-hole stretch. Perez' rounds of 61-63 put him at 20 under par. Several players have posted 19-under totals over the years but Perez is the first to reach 20 under.

It should be a great weekend if you love birdies!