Hanson Hangs In Despite Tee Troubles, Rathdrum Golfer Has Fair Chance Of Making U.S. Open Cut

As it turns out, the peace agreement Tracy Hanson negotiated with her quarrelsome driver last week was extremely fragile.

At least it seemed that way during Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Women’s Open Golf Championship as Hanson found trouble at nearly every turn on Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club’s demanding Witch Hollow course.

The Coeur d’Alene native, who lists Twin Lakes Village near Rathdrum as her home, spent precious little time on the beautifully manicured fairways, thanks to her wayward driver. Still, she managed to scuff it around the 6,365-yard layout in 4-over-par 75, which left her eight shots off the lead but perhaps within an even-par round of making the cut, which comes today.

“So-so,” was the way Hanson described her scrambling effort in which she hit only four fairways while making five bogeys and one birdie. “The course played long and wet out there today. And we could never get into much of a rhythm.”

Hanson and her playing partners, Susan Veasey and Mayumi Hirase, were plagued by intermittent showers that had them changing in and out of rain gear most of the day and an overly meticulous USGA official, who forced two long delays while trying to rule on reasonably straightforward drop situations.

Hanson, despite her erratic driver, was not directly involved in either ruling, but admitted that all of the waiting which produced a round nearly five hours long made it difficult to sustain concentration.

“The first few holes were OK,” she said, “but then we had a couple of rules things go on that I think threw everybody off a little bit. Then we were just trying to play catch-up after that.

“The rules official was trying to be maybe too precise. One of the drops was off a sprinkler head and it was a very easy ruling, but she made it difficult. It’s kind of hard to say, but it shouldn’t have happened. We knew the rules better than she did.”

If the delays, which occurred at the 12th and 13th holes, did upset Hanson, she didn’t let it show on her scorecard. While Veasey was waiting for a ruling back in the fairway on the par-4 13th, Hanson snaked in a 45-foot putt from the fringe for her only birdie of the day. She then parred four of the remaining five holes to finish the back nine in 1-over 36.

Her major problems came on the front side, which she toured in 3-over 39.

After saving pars from the rough with a couple of Houdinilike escapes early in her round, Hanson ran out of magic on the par-5 seventh hole. A bunkered tee shot and fat iron from the sand left her staring at a 210-yard approach. Her fairway wood drifted right of the green and a timid chip left a 20-foot par putt that didn’t drop.

That launched a run of three consecutive bogeys - all resulting from off-target drives into fairway bunkers. Hanson made another bogey out of a green-side bunker on the par-5 11th, but then righted herself with the birdie at 13.

Afterward, she placed the blame directly on her driving, which had showed dramatic improvement last weekend when she tied for 10th at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic.

According to Hanson’s caddy, Ken Struckman, the problem has been trying to find a shaft that will produce the proper trajectory off the tee.

“I’ll bet we’ve gone through a dozen shafts on her driver,” he explained. “We’ve tried about every shaft it will hold, but we just can’t get the right ball flight. When she hits it into even a slight wind, the ball goes straight up in the air.”

When asked about Hanson’s opening round, Struckman said he could understand her disappointment. But he said he was impressed with the way she held things together and posted nothing higher than a bogey despite not having her A game.

“We were able to do some decent damage control today,” Struckman said. “If you’re four over after one (round), you can come back and shoot two, three under and you’re right back in the golf tournament.”

Hanson refused to speculate on what it would take to make today’s cut, but she said she should benefit from drier weather and an early morning start.

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