Sin City turned into the Windy City on Friday.
The wind huffed and puffed at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas and delayed the start of the second round of the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open for four hours. The fan was still blowing at 35 miles per hour and gusting to 45 mph but they played on and made the most of the tricky conditions.
“I felt like I shot 62 today to be honest, and I only shot 2-under,” Greyson Sigg.
It was that type of day and it turned Thursday’s birdie-fest into a test of patience and a survival of the fittest. Due to the high winds and out of an abundance of caution, spectators were not permitted on the grounds Friday. It was the first time the Tour took such a precaution since 2021 at Liberty National in New Jersey.
Doug Ghim, who is a native of the Windy City and now makes his home in Sin City, wore a stocking cap in the chilly conditions and was pleased to be in red figures and improve to 8 under. “Usually when you shoot 70 here, you get lapped,” he said.
Here are 5 things to know about the second round, which was suspended due to darkness at 6:02 p.m. local time, with four golfers in the clubhouse tied at 8-under 134 and first-round leader Taylor Pendrith still in front at 10 under with 12 holes remaining in his second round, one stroke better than Rico Hoey, who had played his last four holes in 4-under before play was suspended, including an eagle at the par-5 16th hole. Play is expected to resume at 7:15 a.m. PT.
Kitayama’s bogey-free round
As a Las Vegas resident and former UNLV golfer, Kurt Kitayama has pretty much seen it all at TPC Summerlin. But even he admitted, “Wasn’t really ready for this.”
By this he meant the wildly windy conditions that turned TPC Summerlin into a house of horrors on Friday. But Kitayama pieced together one of the rounds of the day, posting a bogey-free 3-under 68 to improve to 8-under 134 and can kick back and relax at home until his late Saturday tee time.
Asked if he envisioned a bogey-free round before he teed it up, he said, “No, definitely not. I was thinking it was going to play really hard and I had to limit big numbers. But luckily when did I miss I missed in the right spot; was able to just grind it out.”
That included at the seventh hole, his 16th hole of the day, where he holed a 17-footer for par. “That was a big putt,” he said.
Kitayama, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2023, made the weekend for the sixth time in his last seven cuts and is well positioned to improve on just two top-10 finishes this season and perhaps win for the second time and do so in his adopted hometown.
Pendrith’s long wait
After shooting 10-under 61 on Thursday, Taylor Pendrith had to be licking his chops to get back on the course and keep the momentum going. But that was not to be. He didn’t tee off until the early bird special was being served on The Strip.
“Just a lot of sitting around at our hotel this morning and took a small nap, which was new,” he said.
Pendrith managed to play just six holes on Friday and will have a bust ahead of himself on Saturday. It wasn’t a pretty start either. Pendrith bladed a sand wedge out of a bunker and over the green at his first hole and made bogey but bounced back with a birdie one hole later. He’ll be able to sleep tonight and think about an 85-yard approach into No. 7 when play resumes in the morning.
“My last few shots on the range will be trying to feel that 85-yard shot,” he said.
Coody’s 65
If Greyson Sigg thought his 70 felt like 62 then what did Pierceson Coody’s 65 feel like?
The former Texas golfer bounced back from an opening-round 72 to shoot the low round of the day. Coody made nearly 100 feet of putts and gained 3.25 strokes on the field tee to green a day after losing 2.5 in the same category. “If I started the day knowing I would only make two bogeys, I probably would have been pretty happy,” he said.
At No. 126 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings, Coody can use every point he can get and rallying to make a cut after a sluggish start was clutch city.
Bramlett’s nightmare fuel
The video of Joseph Bramlett putting on the first green, his 10th hole of the day, should come with a warning — once you see it, you can’t un-see it.
Bramlett had 10 feet, 5 inches for birdie at the par 4. Five putts later he walked off with a triple- bogey 7. It included 3 consecutive misses from inside 3 feet, which is just nightmare fuel. As Brandel Chamblee noted on Golf Channel, player have been known to go an entire season without missing from inside 3 feet and Bramlett did it three times in a row. Not much more to say other than Bramlett did bounce back with a birdie on the next hole from 11 feet and he sank a 4-foot birdie at the last to shoot 75 but ensure he makes the cut. Watch the video at your own risk.
MC Hammer time
Tom Kim’s reign as two-time champion of the Shriners Children’s Open is in jeopardy as he struggled in the wind to shoot 1-over 72 and a 36-hole total of 1-under 141. The projected cut is 2 under so Kim’s going to need to wind to continue to blow on Saturday morning but his chances aren’t looking good.
It was an off week for the FedEx Cup Fall winners too. Matt McCarty (73), who won last week at the Black Desert Championship, Kevin Yu (71), who won two weeks ago at the Sanderson Farms Championship, and Patton Kizzire (72), who won the first fall event at the Procore Championship, all are on the wrong side of the cut this week. Stephan Jaeger (78), last week’s runner-up, and Keith Mitchell (74), the 54-hole leader two weeks ago, also are projected to miss the cut. Cameron Champ and Joel Dahmen also packed up early and withdrew.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Sin City becomes the Windy City and advantage early-late wave among takeaways at Shriners Children’s Open
