Going low in majors at all-time high
Record numbers are changing top players' mentality
Stenson finished the tournament at Royal Troon a remarkable 20 under par, with Phil Mickelson the only player within 14 shots of him.
His score tied for the lowest in relation to par in the history of majors. The first to get there? Jason Day in taking his first major at the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
Four months before that, Jordan Spieth shot 18 under to capture his first Masters, tying the Augusta National record set by Tiger Woods in 1997.
Do these guys know majors are supposed to be hard?
And now they begin the PGA Championship on Thursday at Baltusrol Golf Club, which has been a haven for record breakers, even if they pale by today's standards.
In the 1967 U.S. Open, Jack Nicklaus' famous 1-iron to the 18th green helped him shoot 275 and break by one Ben Hogan's tournament scoring record. Thirteen years later, Nicklaus beat his own mark by scoring 8-under 272 at Baltusrol. Lee Janzen came to New Jersey in 1993 and tied Nicklaus.
Mickelson's winning score in the 2005 PGA was 4 under, which seems like a laughably easy target now. Heck, Dustin Johnson shot 4 under (including his Sunday penalty stroke) at brutal Oakmont to win this year's U.S. Open.
It seems as if there is now a sizable handful of players who can go absurdly low, rather than the one guy who wore red shirts every Sunday. Maybe there are just more like Woods now, in both skill and mentality.
Some are reaching territory Woods never touched.
“Tiger was so good, I think if he needed to get to those numbers, he probably could have,” four-time major winner Rory McIlroy said. “But he did enough. He did what he needed to do.
“Do I feel like I'm playing five or 10 Tigers out there? No. I feel like that would be disrespectful toward Tiger.
“But the fields are deeper and so many guys have chances to win tournaments. I feel like technology has definitely brought fields closer together. Guys are able to hit out there as long as they need to now, and it's a matter of just doing it when it counts.”
McIlroy has two blowout major victories, winning the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA by eight shots each.
The length at which players are driving the ball plays a big role in the scores. Johnson,
“The guys are just younger and stronger and fitter and faster, and they are just long out there,” Day said. “So the competition is really, really tough right now.
“When I first came out in 2006,” he said, “I remember some of the cut lines were plus-1, plus-2, and now most of the cut lines are under par.”
There clearly has been a change in mentality of how much respect is afforded any golf course. For a player to simply go out and ease his way into a major, thinking par is a reasonable score early on, is to possibly get buried.
Day, the world's top-ranked player, has shot these opening scores in the majors this year: 72, Masters (finished tied for 10th); 76, U.S. Open (T8); 73, British Open (T22).
“The bar's been raised ever since Tiger Woods came around,” Day said. “I think everyone expects if you're in the lead or if you're a favorite to win, they expect you to win, and if you don't, then you're in a slump.
“And unfortunately that's not the case. It's very, very difficult to win golf tournaments.”
After Spieth made a record 28 birdies in his 2015 Masters win, he also captured the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. Since then, he has a fourth and two seconds in majors, but the last two he has been far from contention: 37th in this year's U.S. Open and 30th in the British Open.
“Improvements in technology is certainly a part of it,” Spieth said of the low scoring in majors. “Part of it is also seeing those scores shot gives you a belief to everybody else that, hey, I know this is a major — which you expect to play harder than normal — but you know what, guys are shooting 18, 19, 20 under in these tournaments.
“Maybe that's what it takes. Maybe your expectations of that week are set differently, which could eventually inspire better play.”
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