Tag Ridings smiled when asked about his play in the 2005 The American Express, then the Bon Hope Classic, and said that every two months or so someone asks him to recount that record-setting day.
Ridings’ third round that week at Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage, one of four courses in the desert tournament that year, is still in the record books. Ridings is the only golfer in tour history to have two eagles and a double eagle in a single round, and he did it in just nine holes.
It’s a round Ridings, in contention this week at the Galleri Classic after a 9-under 63 on Saturday, remembers well.
“You know, we played so many courses in that Hope out here, you say, oh, I don’t remember this course or that course, I only played one year,” Ridings said. “I only played Tamarisk one year. It’s had been off the rotation for a little while.”
Playing the back nine at Tamarisk as his opening nine of the day, Ridings started the historic run with a 2-iron from 256 yards on the par-5 12th that found the hole for the rare albatross. Later, Ridings made eagles on the par-4 17th from the fairway and then the par-5 18th.
"Of course, I can remember certainly every hole on that nine,” Ridings said. “And I remember most of the holes on that back just because of the strangeness of the round."
Despite being 7 under on those three holes, Ridings managed only a 6-under 66 on that day.
“I recount the fact that I had a double eagle and two eagles in nine holes, but I also had five three-putts in 10 holes,” Ridings laughed.
Ridings followed the record round with a fourth-round 76 (the event was five days and 90 holes at the time) and missed the cut.
Saturday WDs
Rocco Mediate and Mark Calcavecchia both withdrew from the Galleri Classic on Saturday midway through their second rounds at the PGA Tour Champions event at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.
Mediate played nine holes in 6 over, including seven bogeys and a birdie and then did not continue playing with an unspecified injury. He had shot a 2-over 74 in the opening round.
Calcavecchia played eight holes Saturday before discontinuing, also with an undisclosed injury. He was struggling at 9 over through the day with two double bogeys and five bogeys in eight holes. He had shot a 3-over 75 in Friday's first round.
That leaves 77 players in the field vying for the $330,000 first-place paycheck at the senior tour event.
Windy course
Talk about how strong the winds have been at the Galleri Classic presented by Spotlight 29 Casino this week and older players from the LPGA will just laugh or maybe roll their eyes.
Strong desert winds were practically a hallmark of the LPGA tournament played at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, a tournament known simply as the Dinah in honor of its host for more than two decades, entertainer Dinah Shore. That began from the earliest days of the tournament, which debuted at Mission Hills in 1972.
The tournament was plagued by two issues when it came to wind. First, the tall trees that are now part of the course and provide at least some wind break for golfers, were newly planted in the 1970s. So there was nothing to knock the wind down.
Second, in the 1970s and into the 1980s, there was little development to the west of Mission Hills. So when the wind hit, sand from undeveloped land was ...
