PACIFIC PALISADES – Billy Hurley III certainly put himself out there before ever starting Thursday’s first round of the PGA’s Genesis Open.
The 34-year-old out of the Naval Academy wrote a letter through The Players Tribune website that posted Tuesday – an emotional, cathartic message to his deceased father, who committed suicide in 2015 and had been missing for a long time until his body was found.
In the final few lines to the letter of more than 4,300 words, Hurley wrote: “I miss you, Dad. I love you. And one final thing I need you to know: I forgive you. Your legacy will live forever.”
Hurley then went out and shot a 4-under-par 67, taking an early lead for a few holes, and talked about how it impacted his play.
“Actually I thought I was going to play poorly as a result of that,” he said. “Frankly, it was quite an emotional couple of days for me within that letter, and the response was overwhelming.”
Hurley said The Players Tribune, the online athlete’s website started by Derek Jeter, approached him in October, and he initially declined. After a few drafts, it was finally ready to publish.
“It was an important step in the overall healing,” Hurley said. “I wanted to show the world who he really was and too often in tragic situations and suicide, it becomes just about how they died. I wanted to highlight how good of a dad he really was.”
Hurley said “unfortunately” he does think about his dad when he’s out on the course but “thankfully, I’m pretty good at compartmentalizing. But I think that definitely currents of my life and currents of my golf game are from my dad. That’s what’s always there.
“My dad was a very black-and-white kind of guy, which serves you really well in a lot of arenas but at the end of the day that’s one of the things that led to his death, not being able to deal whatever gray was going on inside his head.”
A STINGER
On the way to shooting a 5-under 66 that put him into an early tie for second, Dustin Johnson dealt with a bee sting while putting on the first hole, which was his 10th hole of the round.
He followed the par putt with birdies on the next two holes.
“It (the sting) didn’t help the golf swing, but I did make two puts,” he said. “The golf course gave me a little love back after I got the bee sting.”
Johnson was not specific about where on his body he was stung.
A FILL OF MICKELSON
Two-time Riviera winner Phil Mickelson somehow converted an eagle-3 on the par-5 17th hole after his second shot bounced off the grandstand and he lofted a high wedge shot from about 30 feet that bounced into the hole.
That moved him from 1-under to 3-under after his first eight holes. Two birdies and two bogeys on his last nine, including a bogey at No. 9, took some of the steam out of his round of 4-under 67.
“As the round wore on, I thought I got a little bit tired and didn’t strike the ball as well as I did earlier,” said the 46-year-old, who shot a 77 in the final round at Pebble Beach last week after a third-round 69 and finished with the highest posted four-round total of 288, 1-over and 20 shots off the lead.
Mickelson jetted out of Santa Monica Airport on Thursday afternoon as per his usual routine in L.A., returned home to Rancho Santa Fe and will await word if the second round will be played Friday before flying back.
“With the way it’s set up, we’re going to have 72 holes, we may have to finish Monday if that’s the case, but I don’t know if it’s critical to finish high (early) but we had great conditions to score well today and it was important to take advantage of that because it will be a little tougher this weekend,” he said.
JACKET REQUIRED
Pat Perez, whose 4-under 67 put him among the group three strokes off the lead, made a variety of long putts for pars and birdies while missing several short ones.
“Miss the short birdie putts, that doesn’t excite me,” he said.
What does instead is talking about representing a new clothing line started by comedian Bill Murray and with a lifestyle website called TheChive.com.
A reporter asked him if he got a jacket from the company and what was in the lining of it.
“I heard Paul Casey telling me you can send them a high-resolution picture and they’ll put that in it,” Perez said.
So what is the picture?
“I think I’m going to get a naked picture of my wife and put in in there,” he said. “Perfect.”
The reporter said he could not follow up with another question after that response.
“It happens with me,” Perez said. “It happens.”
INTO THE WOODS
While there was no sign of Tiger Woods at the course on Thursday, there was a food stop called The Woods near the 10th hole and driving range willing to take the gallery’s money.
It’s described as a “pop-up restaurant” – what other kind would there be on a golf course during a top-flight PGA event? – with all the proceeds benefiting the Tiger Woods Foundation and local charities. The menu is similar to what is served at The Woods Jupiter, a restaurant his company runs – bison burgers, lollipop lamb chops and truffle fries.
Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, appeared at Riviera on Wednesday and said doctors have told Woods to “just stay horizontal” as he works through back spasms. Woods flew to L.A. to see one of his doctors, Steinberg confirmed, but has been relegated to his hotel the whole time he has been here. Steinberg said it was just better to avoid any sort of press conference because there would be “a lot of questions and no answers, frustrating him. But he has given full, maximum effort to get back out here.
“The goal is to get everything to calm down, have it calm down for a while, continue to get treatment and get back to a place where he’s chipping and putting and hitting balls. We’re not talking about an extended break.”
Contact the writer: thoffarth@scng.com
