Red-Hot Trio, Not Hurricane, Wreak Havoc on TPC Boston - September 2nd

NORTON, Mass. – The concern at the beginning of Friday’s opening round of the 2010 Deutsche Bank Championship was that Hurricane Earl, set to hit the New England area in full force on Friday at around 6 p.m., might destroy the TPC Boston course.

Eleven hours earlier, though, that task was handled instead by the trio of Jason Day, Zach Johnson and Ryan Palmer.

The 7:36 a.m. starting time from the 10th tee will be one remembered for years to come at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Day, Johnson and Palmer – all good friends playing together in the early morning tee time, scored a combined 23-under-par. Day and Johnson held the lead after the morning round firing 8-under-par 63. Palmer was the group’s slouch carding a 7-under 64.

“It was one of those day,” said Johnson. We all got off to a good start, so it just kind of catapulted our day.”

Perhaps it was the opening hole – number 10 – that was the harbinger of things to come. Day put his approach 21 inches from the hole. After Johnson approach on the fringe, Palmer hit his shot within four feet. It may have seemed that Johnson wasn’t ready to play bull’s-eye with the green, but he then stepped up and holed his 19-footer from the fringe. Each walked away from the 10th with a birdie and from there the hits just kept-a-comin’.

“We all birdied the first hole,” said Johnson, “and it fed into the remainder of the day.”

All three players also entered the Deutsche Bank Championship on high notes. Day and Johnson have each made nine consecutive cuts, dating back to wins in Texas at the HP Byron Nelson Championship for Day and the Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial for Johnson. Palmer, after five straight missed cuts, has played on the weekend in his last four starts, including a runner-up finish at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and a T-5 at the Barclays last week.

Friday that trio remained white hot as the admitted friends got together for a nice early-morning round of golf. For Palmer and Johnson, the friendship goes back to the days of playing against one another in the mini-tours. The considerably younger Day came along a few years later, but the three found a connection.

“We’ve gone through the ranks together so we’ve known each other a long time,” said Johnson of Palmer. “Jason is obviously younger but he and his wife Ellie have become good friends with all of us. It’s nice to play with friends.”

The good fortune of the round had two other factors beyond friendship – the starting hole and starting time. Of the top 10 scores in Friday’s morning flight, eight came from golfers beginning on the 10th hole. The back nine seemed to yield more birdies and eagles than the front, so the momentum that golfers gained starting on 10 seemed to pay off.

The early tee time might also prove critical when all is said and done. With Hurricane Earl rolling in later in the afternoon, the afternoon flight experienced stronger winds and considerable rain. When the Johnson-Day-Palmer trio left the course, it was dry. Less than 30 minutes later it was soaked by a quick deluge that was like an undercard for the main storm.

“[The course] was playing pretty short out there today, and I knew that we would get in our first round because we were going to finish pretty early,” said Day. “Obviously we just got in, and I knew we weren’t going to get any better conditions out there.”

“With no wind, it just makes for a fairly easy day,” said Johnson. “Now with the fairways rolling fast and some wind today, the scores would not have been this low.”

The Terrific Trio certainly took advantage of the conditions to post the scores they did. Hardly, though, is there any distance from the field. When the morning flight was over, 18 players were within three shots of the 8-under-par lead.

Now, though, the golf course will be left to the mercy of Hurricane Earl and it will be of interest how the course plays on Saturday. High winds are expected over night that could cause damage to tree and temporary tents.

Regardless of what havoc may greet tournament organizers on Saturday morning, though, it will pale in comparison to the hurting that the Johnson-Day-Palmer trio put on the TPC Boston course Friday morning.