Posted by Jason Sobel
MEDINAH, Ill. -- It's getting late. Almost 9:30 p.m. local time on Friday. Though every golfer has already left the course, one major player is sticking around to make sure the course is exactly how she wants it for the third round. That's right --
she. Mother Nature.
It is raining mashies and niblicks right now, the sound of the downpour hitting the media tent roof like 1,000 reporters banging away at those old-school typewriter thingamajigs.
What does that mean? Two things. One, I sure hope I rolled up the windows in that rental car. And two, long hitters are going to prosper on Saturday.
With so much rain -- honestly, it is a deluge -- Medinah No. 3 is going to play even longer than its record 7,561 yards. The fairways are going to be softer, meaning balls won't scoot and roll once they hit the short stuff. And that's if you hit it straight. Balls in the rough will sit down in the wet grass and be awfully tough to hack out.
So, what does that mean as far as the leaderboard? It's good news for bombers Henrik Stenson, Davis Love III, Geoff Ogilvy and, yes, Tiger Woods. Among those hoping their PGA dreams aren't being washed away include Billy Andrade, Chris Riley and Fred Funk. Poor short hitters can't catch a break these days.
Of course, with soft fairways come soft greens, too. Though pin placements will reportedly be tougher to reach on Saturday, players may be able to aim for the flagsticks and have the ball land hard and stick on the green. It could mean even more birdie opportunities than the first two days -- at least for the long hitters.
