colorado springsWell, everybody predicted Broadmoor East would become a bear of a golf course.
But during Friday’s second round of the U.S. Senior Open, things got even more hairy than usual. An adult black bear wandered onto the course during the noon hour, crossing several fairways on the back nine before heading for the West Course through a drainage pipe. The animal later found another drainage pipe and left The Broadmoor property.
“I never heard of such a thing,” said Fred Funk, who, at 6-under-par 134, takes a two-stroke lead over Eduardo Romero into Saturday’s third round after both shot a 1-under 69 on Friday. Funk was on another area of the course and did not see the bear. But word spread quickly.
The bear crossed the forward tee box on No. 14 soon after one of Funk’s top challengers, Mark McNulty, hit his drive. Tom Watson heard somebody shout “Bear!” while he was in the middle of a backswing. Bernhard Langer stopped his preshot routine and waited until the bear got out of sight. Television analyst Dottie Pepper ran the other way on the 13th fairway.
“It would be pretty scary if (the bear) got a little panicky and some spectator or some of the golfers were too close,” Funk said. “That wouldn’t have been an issue if a caddie had got too close,” he added, attempting to add some levity to what could have become a dangerous situation.
The tournament field figured to have a “Shark” (nickname of Greg Norman) and a “Walrus” (Craig Stadler), but who could have guessed that a black bear would join in?
“You don’t get that every week,” John Cook said.
Teeing off early, Funk got in the clubhouse at 6-under through 36 holes, a score that stood up to the afternoon challengers. Romero, an Argentine who quietly moved up the leaderboard as befitting of his nickname “El Gato” (the cat), sits in second place at 4-under 136.
Tom Kite, Cook and McNulty are four shots back at 138.
Funk recorded four birdies against three bogeys despite playing with a stiff left shoulder.
“That was strange,” Funk said. “On the (practice) range, I felt the best I have in a year and a half, two years. Nothing was hurting, and I was like, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ Then, walking on the second shot on the 10th hole (his first hole) all of a sudden my neck started grabbing and I really couldn’t hit through the ball.”
Funk received an on-course shoulder massage from a tournament physical therapist and mostly kept the ball in play.
“It got looser on the front nine (his second nine), and actually that was pretty good,” he said. “Fortunately, I could turn my neck to the left; I couldn’t turn it to the right. I’ve had it where you can’t swing or you can’t go to the left. But with this, I could look up. I got through it.”
Funk, who hasn’t won since the opening tournament of the 2008 Champions Tour, overcame a shaky start Friday which left him 3-over on the day through his first eight holes. But he made a two-putt birdie at the par-5 ninth, and then rolled in a 20-footer for birdie at the 339-yard No. 2.
He tapped in for another birdie at the 560-yard, par-5 No. 3 after narrowly missing an uphill eagle putt from 12 feet.
But Funk’s best effort might have been a bogey save on the 478-yard, par-4 No. 11, when he two-putted from 60 feet after having to lay up with his second shot after driving into the rough.
“I wasn’t really frustrated (after the bad start) because I felt like I was still playing pretty good and I thought I could make some birdies,” Funk said.
Romero, a big hitter who set up a birdie on the 510-yard 17th with a 390-yard drive, is accustomed to playing at a high elevation in his hometown of Cordoba. And he is well aware that an Argentine, Roberto De Vicenzo,won the inaugural U.S. Senior Open in 1980. De Vicenzo is Romero’s mentor and hero.
“Yes, yes, I know,” Romero said, almost sheepishly. “But it’s two more rounds. I played good today. I’m going to be playing in the last group tomorrow (with Funk). I like that.”
With tougher pin placements, the course seemed to play a couple of shots more difficult Friday.
“The USGA put some on us today that almost defy imagination,” Kite said of the cup locations. “The greens are so treacherous. If you get on the wrong side of one of those ridges, it is really tough to get it down in two putts.
“The difficulty is in getting in the proper section of the green and then trying to negotiate all these severe slopes.”
Greg Norman shot 72 on Friday and wasn’t pleased with the pin placements.
“I’m not going to make a comment on the golf course; the USGA should know better,” Norman said, declining to elaborate.
Said Cook after his 2-over 72: “The course is right on the edge, right on the edge. The pin placements, on a scale of 10, were a 15. It was all I could do to survive.”
When told of Cook’s comments, the USGA’s Jim Hyler, who is in charge of the daily course set-up, said, “At least he didn’t say we were over the edge.”
Among the players who did not make the cut were Sandy Lyle (plus-9), Mark Wiebe (+9), Mark O’Meara (+9), Ben Crenshaw (+11), Curtis Strange (+11), Dave Delich (+12), Craig Stadler (+13), Peter Jacobsen (+14), Allen Doyle (+20), Dale Douglass (+21), Hubert Green (+24) and Audie Dean (+28).
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
