Most professional golfers don’t admit to thinking about the consequences during the heat of competition.
Darrell Kestner had nothing to hide yesterday.
“It was all I could think about – making the cut and what I had to do to make the cut,” the Deepdale club pro from Long Island said yesterday after carding an even-par 70 for a two-day total of 2-over-par, good enough to play the weekend of the PGA Championship at Baltusrol.
When you’re playing in your 18th major championship and have never made a cut -Kestner’s plight entering this week – it’s probably difficult to think about anything else.
“This,” the low-key Kestner said, “gets the monkey off my back. I’ve played in eight U.S. Opens and 10 PGAs and never thought it would take until I’m 52 years old to make a cut in a major for the first time.”
Kestner joked that he was out here “trying to beat Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh and I can’t even beat my assistant pros” back at the club.
Kestner has made some Champion’s Tour major cuts, including last year’s Senior Open and this year’s Senior PGA.
“He finally made it on the young guys’ tour,” Deepdale assistant Mike Stevenson said by phone yesterday from the club. “Everyone’s really excited here. He’s been hitting it well recently. I walked with him on Tuesday in the practice round and you could tell this was a course he could go around in even par or so.”
Kestner hit 10 of 14 fairways yesterday, critical for success on this course. He also hit 12 of 18 greens.
“I knew if I hit it straight I could play this golf course,” Kestner said.
Kestner’s prowess around the greens cannot be overlooked, either.
Deepdale is known for its wicked, undulating slick greens, which has been a fantastic practice ground for Kestner when entering professional tournaments. He had only 26 putts on Thursday (compared to 35 for Tiger Woods) and just 29 yesterday.
“Vijay Singh came and played and he said, ‘Darrell, no wonder you’re a good putter. If you can putt on these greens you can putt anywhere in the world,’ ” Kestner recalled. “I haven’t even come close to a three-putt here this week.
“Now I’m going to enjoy the weekend and try to make a good check.”