Will Gordon hits a putt on Friday on the 13th green at El Cardonal at Diamante.
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Will Gordon teed off.
Then he teed off again.
Then he teed off again.
Then he teed off again. That one found the fairway.
When his 15th hole at El Cardonal at Diamante was finished on Friday, Gordon had incurred three penalty strokes after three-straight wayward drives, and he carded a septuple-bogey 11 on the 462-yard par-4. Three holes later, he signed for a six-over 78 after the second round of the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship, putting him in a tie for 102nd, a drop of 90 spots from where he sat (tied for 12th) after shooting a 69 during the first round.
It wasn’t immediately clear where Gordon’s tee shots ended up — the Tour’s online leaderboard just noted “from tee box” and “penalty.” On his fourth tee shot, and seventh stroke overall, he found the fairway, then hit strokes eight and nine from the fairway, his 10th on the green, and his 11th found the hole. All of it was part of a bumpy scoring day for the 28-year-old pro — he bookended his 11 with a pair of birdies and had five in all, but he also had two bogeys and a double bogey.
Notably, Gordon was one of 23 players whose second-round score was higher than their first round, as conditions improved, mainly the wind. (In total, the scoring average on Thursday was 72.396, and the scoring average on Friday was 69.623.) The cut was set at players who were two-under or better, and Gordon finished at three-over.
After second-round play, players interviewed noted the conditions change.
Said Austin Eckroat: “Yeah, you almost get used to having the wind as a backboard, but then coming out here today and have nothing when we started is definitely more comfortable.”
Said Maverick McNealy: “Yeah, it was a completely different golf course. We were joking that yesterday I hit a 3-wood off the tee on 18, was between 6- and 7-iron, and today was driver, 3-wood to the front edge. So entirely different course. You’re seeing different bunkers and different landing areas. Even the greens play completely different. Like 15 with the wind off the right yesterday was a tiny target and today felt like you could hit in a 30-yard-wide bowl and it would end up in the same spot.”
Said Carson Young: “Yeah, the weather definitely helps. Less wind out of a slightly different direction made the course a little bit easier. Was able to reach some par-5s or get closer up to them.”
Said Max Greyserman: “Yeah, way less wind. At times, it’s pretty minimal. It was gettable out there, a lot of birdies to be had and if you played well and executed, you could go pretty low. I saw someone shot 61, so not surprising. You’ve just got to make a lot of birdies out here. It’s a fairly easy course if you execute. I’m sure at the same time, hit a bad drive and be out of play or not make putts, but it’s out there.”
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
