Saturday 9th August 2008
Nightmare start for Romero
Andres Romero was suffering for his double duty as second-round play got under way at the US PGA Championship.
Romero was one of 18 players forced to come back early in the morning to complete their first rounds following an 85-minute rain delay on Thursday evening.
He had left the course on two under par after 16 holes with a share of the lead alongside Robert Karlsson of Sweden and India's Jeev Milkha Singh, who had completed their opening rounds on the first morning.
When Romero returned he bogeyed the par-four 18th, the toughest hole on the course in the first round, to post a 69, one shot behind the leaders in a group of five also containing Spain's Sergio Garcia and the Americans Ken Duke, Billy Mayfair and Sean O'Hair.
The Argentine said he was happy to have got off to such a good start on a tough course featuring unforgiving rough, long par-threes and undulating greens.
"It's very tough but similar to the US Open at Torrey Pines with the rough," Romero said.
"You have to be straight. The last two tournaments I have missed the cut so I hope to have a good week this week and I have started well.
"It's a very good round to be one shot behind the leaders and it's a very good start to the PGA Championship."
Asked if it was difficult returning to the course the next day to complete his opening round, Romero said: "The hard thing was getting up."
He may wish he had stayed in bed after bogeying the par-five 12th, the third hole of his round and then carding a quadruple-bogey eight at the par-four 16th before closing out his front nine with a double-bogey six back at the 18th to disappear from the leaderboard.
Romero was not the only early starter to find the conditions hard going at Oakland Hills once again on a cool Michigan morning with temperatures starting at little over 10 degrees Celsius.
Only eight players were under par for their round four and a half hours into the day's play, most notably Justin Rose.
England's Ryder Cup hopeful, currently occupying the 10th and final automatic qualifying spot on the points lists, had carded three birdies and a bogey in his opening 11 holes following an opening-round 71 while Ben Curtis was making the most headway, three under for the day after 14 holes having started the day at three over.
Ian Poulter, attempting to overtake Rose in the Ryder Cup standings, was level par for his round having opened with a four-over 74 on Thursday.
Eight players were starting their second rounds at level par, including world number two Phil Mickelson, the 2005 PGA champion, 2007 US Open champion Angel Cabrera and Anthony Kim, the young American with two PGA Tour wins to his name this year.
Cabrera recovered from a bogey at his second hole of the day as he began his second round from the 10th tee to move to one under with an eagle three at the 12th, but had slipped back to one over par by his 15th hole.
One of his playing partners, Open champion Padraig Harrington, returned following Thursday night's one-over-par 71 and opened with a birdie.
The Irishman then bogeyed the 11th and 17th to go out in 36 and his back nine was less pretty, a birdie at 10 being undermined by three bogeys in a row at the third, fourth and fifth holes to send him to four over for the tournament after 15 holes.
