Phil's Press Conference

Sheesh, even Borat might have asked Phil Mickelson about the new penthouse timeshare he purchased overlooking the Old Course. Anyway, some highlights from his gathering with the assembled literary craftsman:

RAND JERRIS: Obviously you had success at Baltusrol last August. Would you compare this Tillinghast course to Baltusrol.

PHIL MICKELSON: Comparing Baltusrol to Winged Foot, they are very similar with bunkering, very similar shot values, the way the holes move, the challenge on the greens, very similar. They're both very difficult golf courses.

He sure knows how to wipe the smiles off the faces of those Winged Foot members.

Q. Does this course skew more to a right to left ball flight on driver holes, and if so, does that enhance your prospects this week?

PHIL MICKELSON: There are a lot of holes where you can move it either way, and right to left shots fit fine on this golf course. Left to right shots fit fine on this golf course. There are two holes where I'll be hitting a draw, the 8th hole and the 17th hole. It doesn't have to be a big draw, it just has to softly turn to the right. But other than those two holes, I'll be fading it off most every tee.

For me what it does is makes it a softer cut, takes out some of the roll and when it hits the fairway it's more inclined to stay.

A couple years ago, the USGA took 25, 30 percent out of the fairways. In '99 the fairways were 32, 34 yards wide. The last couple years they've been 24 yards. I think the widest fairway I saw was 27, 28 paces, but on average 24. So we've lost, what, a quarter of the fairways. So I'm trying to get the ball just to come in a lot softer. I don't want to hit a draw where the balls run.

He's being kind with those 27 and 28 yard figures.

Kind of sad that course setup has come to this: fast and firm would be bad because the fairways are so narrow, the balls would not stay in them.

Q. I'm wondering, there's been a lot of feedback from players about the tiers of rough and that it seems like the punishment now fits the crime a little more appropriately. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on that and whether you think that's a good evolution.

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, for me personally, the larger you hit it off line, I kind of like the way it was trampled down, but that's a personal thing. I actually think this is the way the rough probably should be, and I think it's something the Tour is probably looking at doing in the future because it makes play fair. If you miss the fairway by two yards, you're not penalized nearly as much as if you miss it by ten yards. And in the past, ten yards was a lot better off than barely missing the fairway because you'd get the trampled down effect. The rough would be walked on, you'd get a good lie, whereas two yards off the fairway, no one had been walking there, the rough had grown vertical, and the ball sits to the bottom.

I think this is a much fairer way to approach it, and it should be really good. I think that in the future the Tour may even look to that, at doing that themselves.

Ernie's Press Conference

The lone highlight:

Q. About the golf course, first question is the way the design is, does it somewhat negate the way technology has grown in regards to how far you can hit the ball? And secondly, are the bunkers much better to be in than the rough?

ERNIE ELS: The second part, yes, definitely. If you can get to a bunker, hit it in there.

I mean, the golf course, since '97, has changed a lot. Even with the old equipment in '97 and with the changes they've made, they've made some really big changes here. I mean, I remember holes like No. 14, I was hitting a 3 wood and a 7 iron. This morning it was a driver, 4 iron. The par 5, No. 12, I was almost getting it there in '97, maybe 30, 40 yards short. And now there's just no chance. You're hitting a good drive and a good 4 iron for the layup and then a 9 iron for your third shot. They've made some major changes here.

I'm not sure if they played it like that in the 1920s. We don't know. They probably did. But I'm sure they didn't putt it on 13, 14, on the stimp.

U.S. Open Over/Under, Vol. 2

The first announcer reference to Winged Foot's par-3 10th as the "signature hole"?

The line is 10:28 a.m. Thursday. 

Winged Foot With Tilly: No. 18

(click on image to enlarge)Several views of the famed finishing hole, which was featured in the Tillinghast "Dream 18" that was compiled in this week's Sports Illustrated with the help of Ben Crenshaw, Frank Hannigan, Gil Hanse, Rand Jerris, Daniel Wexler, Rick Wolffe and Phillip Young.

Not only do we get Tilly's take, but an overview of how Jones and Espinosa played it in their 1929 playoff.
(click on image to enlarge)

Two things to look for.

A drive of about 315 will get a player within reach of the fairway drop off that could leave someone with a flip wedge. Doubtful it will happen, but possible.

And the recently restored front left and back left hole locations are really great additions to this green complex, but likely not going to be used this week because they'd be too severe under U.S. Open conditions. You can see them in the photo to the right.
(click to see No. 18 green expansion)

Tiger's U.S. Open Press Conference

Tiger Woods received several spellbinding questions from the packed room of germinalists, including, that' right, a Ben Roethlisberger question.

Thankfully, Brad Klein did get in one golf question:

Q. In terms of course preparation, which holes do you think are likely not to be hitting driver, and what's going to dictate whether hit driver on 6?

TIGER WOODS: Obviously today was dead into the wind, so I can't even come close to getting there dead into the wind. If it's downwind and we get the right pin location, yeah, I'd probably go for it. But there are a lot of holes where I'm hitting 3 wood because of the doglegs. I run out of room hitting a driver and I have to shape it around the corner, which really makes no sense because the fairways get so narrow. So I'll probably hit about four or five 3 woods out there. 6 could be a 4 iron, 3 iron or driver.

U.S. Open Over/Under, Vol. 1

The number of times USGA officials refer to Sandy Tatum's "We're not trying to humiliate the best players" line to defend the setup.

The GS.com line is 3. 

U.S. Open Reads: Late Tuesday Edition

A few more Tuesday stories worth your time, starting with Tod Leonard's feature on Billy Casper.

“Here we are in 2006, talking about something that happened in 1959. If it had never happened,” Casper said with a chuckle, “we wouldn't be talking about it. It's pretty neat.”

Take that Yogi! Leonard also talks to Casper at length about how he laid up on No. 3 en route to his 1959 win.

Vartan Kupelian says Phil Mickelson will be employing the same strategy for No. 3 when it plays from the 243 yardage.

Ed Sherman feels that everyone needs to remember that the US Open and that a Woods-Mickelson showdown is just as like as a Stewart Cink-Ian Poulter slugfest. He, like Alan Shipnuck in the most recent SI, review the history between Woods and Mickelson in entertaing fashion.

James Corrigan in the Independent features 15-year-old, 5 ft. 1 in. amateur qualifier Tadd Fujikawa.

Winged Foot Interactive Map

A very cool interactive map and other Winged Foot insights by Brett Avery is now posted at GolfDigest.com

"We see a major as a brand moment"

Richard Sandomir in the New York Times writes about a new Nike ad remembering Earl Woods that will debut this week:

Nike naturally looks to create interest around Woods, especially around the time of golf's four major tournaments. "We see a major as a brand moment," said Adam Roth, Nike's United States advertising director.

U.S. Open Reads: Tuesday Early Edition

Lorne Rubenstein wonders what fairness really means as he weighs the pro and cons of "tiered rough" and asks, "Why try to turn it into a controlled laboratory setting?"

Mike Aitken looks at poor Monty: "In his pomp, Colin Montgomerie would have taken one look at how the United States Golf Association set up Winged Foot for this week's US Open and rubbed his hands with glee."

Jane McManus of the Journal News analyzes the media's relationship with Tiger Woods and includes these surprising remarks from Johnny Miller, who just gave Peter Kostis hope for getting back in Tiger's good graces:

"Every time I've asked him a question, I can honestly say he's never given me a real answer. Never once. And I've been pretty nice to him. I feel like he's never given me the respect I deserve. "I know that's a strong statement. I've never said that to anybody. But I really believe that he should take the time when somebody in our industry is trying to tell the real story, that he is willing to give the real answer."

Speaking of Woods, Doug Ferguson writes about his Monday practice round.

Leonard Shapiro ponders the high rough and offers this from Phil Mickelson: 

"I'm going to make a bold prediction that someone hits the wrong ball in the rough [during the Open]. A lot of members have been playing, and when they hit in the rough, you can't find it. I've had Bones fore-caddie and he sees where the ball goes and he still can't find it. I think there are not just hundreds, but thousands of balls in the rough you just can't see. This is so thick the grass grows over the ball. You could be standing right over it and still not see it."

And Golf Digest has started a U.S. Open blog, highlighted by a post from Bob Carney on the rough and the pace of the greens. 

Questions For Driver, Fay and Hyler

The USGA's annual Executive Director/President/Championship Committee Chair media session takes place Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. when the scribblers will be fresh from their GWAA meeting convened to argue about the awards contest.

So for those that do stick around, here are a few questions to consider along with (hopefully) reader questions on the comments page of this thread (hopefully, because there were technical issues on Monday...my apologies):

• The 2002 Joint Statement of Principles warned that any "significant" increase in distance from would result in USGA/R&A action. From 2002 to 2005, the same increase in PGA Tour driving distance average has occurred as from 1999 to 2002. Is this cause for action regardless of any further study?
  
  
• Many of the fairways here are less than 25 yards wide, including on holes with significant fairway tilt. Is there a width that you would say is too narrow for championship play, and why is it that the fairways are so much narrower than when the U.S. Open was last played here?
  
  
• Mr. Driver, what is your stance on the Ohio Golf Association's use of a tournament ball in its Champions event this summer?
  
  
• Mr. Hyler, is it permissible for the OGA to use this ball as part of a "condition of competition," while still playing under USGA rules for the competition?
  

• Can you explain what aspects of the job of USGA President require a private jet for travel, and why the records of this travel are kept confidential?
  
  
• As a follow up, why can't the USGA at least provide passenger lists for the trips taken to assure its members that only USGA officers are using this unnecessary privilege?
  
  
• As a follow up to the follow up, how much money has been spent on this jet to date?
  
  
• How has construction of the new Arnold Palmer Center progressed since the groundbreaking ceremony and when do you expect it to open?
  

• If the final top 10 of this U.S. Open featured the top 10 players in the world and was won by the world's #1 ranked player, but the winning score was 20-under par, would this still be considered a successful championship?
  
  
• For Mr. Driver: It's been nearly a year since you were announced as President, are there any specific accomplishments you are most proud of to this point, and what accomplishments are you hoping to achieve?
  

• For the panel, with the usual apologies to Colbert:  Tom Meeks, great course setup man, or the greatest course setup man?

Winged Foot With Tilly: No. 16

(click on image to enlarge)His description here is of the hole as a par-5, and of course this is one of the two three-shotters reduced to a par-4.
(click on image to enlarge)

I had no modern comparison shots with the old image, but this fairway view should be enough. Love the soft, natural fairway lines too! 

Wexler On Winged Foot

New Yorker turned Angeleno Daniel Wexler remembers what he loves about Winged Foot in an L.A. Times "appreciation."

Sandomir on Streaming

Richard Sandomir writes about the trend of online streaming and the USGA's plan to carry action from the 6th at 10th holes at USOpen.com. He also writes:

This will be the sixth year that the United States Golf Association will post streaming video from the Open. It did one hole the first year, and has done two holes ever since. This year, the group decided that Winged Foot's par-4 sixth hole, "the Pulpit," one of the course architect A. W. Tillinghast's masterpieces, was must-see viewing, as was the par-3 10th hole.

Of course No. 10 is definitely the "Pulpit" while No. 6 is actually "El" (as named by Tilly himself).

Furyk On USGA Spin

Jim Furyk, talking to Sam Weinman in The Journal News about why the USGA takes so much criticism for their various course setup debacles:

"I think the issue really isn't their theories or their ideas," said 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk. "It's how they handled it afterward. It's a real hard line. It's 'That's the way we wanted it to be. That's the way it should be.' When even the guys with 20-handicaps are scratching their heads. ... Only later on did they do damage control, but at that point, it was a little late."