Kampen Course real winner in opening round

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Senior Nick Bailes is writing a daily postcard from the NCAA Golf National Championships this week. Following is his second installment:

Chalk one up for Pete Dye and the Kampen course, because today the golf course won. The wind blew fairly hard this morning yet scores were only slightly lower in the afternoon when the wind died down.

The first round average was 78.9 and every hole played over par. Any score around even was great, and anything under par ranks up there with some of the better rounds played this year and the players who shot those rounds will probably tell you that. The greens were quicker today, the rough is still growing, and even though they decided to add a shorter cut of rough just off the fairway, most balls hit off line were sure to find trouble.

Overall, as a team I think we are pretty content with today's performance although every player made at least a double bogey or higher and lost at least a shot or two coming down the finishing holes. This golf course will do that to you though. Combine mental errors with bad swings on a golf course where you almost can't miss a shot and you're in for a "rough" day. Trust me, I found that out the hard way.

Chas (Narramore) did manage to birdie 18 and provided one of the very few cheers heard across the golf course. For a National Championship, which had its fair share of spectators, it was an extremely quiet day as far as applause and cheering goes. Everywhere you looked players were shaking their heads, talking to themselves, and becoming more and more frustrated as the round progressed. On top of all of this, our rounds today took somewhere in the neighborhood of just over six hours, which can only be expected when the golf course is playing so difficult.

(Thursday) we play in the afternoon and will hopefully get calmer winds for the second round. We have all had a taste of how difficult this golf course is truly playing and we expect it to only get tougher. I think everyone is looking forward to the challenge and is ready to continue what is surely to be a marathon finish.