When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Well I'm heading out and will post later, but so far a pretty uneventful morning. Phil looks dicey to finish his round, which is a shame. Hopefully no one else will get hurt.
In the meantime, feel free to comment away on rounds or stories you see that would be of interest!
I've switched the left column link to PGATour.com's joint board with PGA.com because the ESPN.com/USGA leaderboard has been working sporadically.
**8:20 PST Wow, the others were even worse. GolfChannel had Ogilvy through 8 holes when he had played 11, and PGA.com had him through 3 at the same point.
Meanwhile USOpen.com seems to be working now.
*** 8:25 - USOpen.com not working again.
At 8:50, the homepage of USOpen.com...
AP's Nancy Armour (uh, any relation to Tommy?) reports on Wednesday evening's ugly thunderstorm.
Nearly a half-inch of rain fell during a Wednesday afternoon thunderstorm that also scattered tree limbs and twigs across fairways. But crews were out as soon as the rain stopped, and officials hope the course won't play significantly different Thursday.
Speed of the greens should be the same, said Tim Moraghan, the U.S. Golf Association's agronomist, but firmness could be affected.
"It's not going to be what we planned for," Moraghan said. "Things were moving along quite well (before the storm). We thought we'd have a true, hard test for players on Thursday. The rain has altered this a little bit.
"We're going to try and do everything we can to get the golf course back to where it was before this little rain."
Lorne Rubenstein loves that Oakmont does not try to hide from its neighbors and notes eloquently that the best places in golf embrace their surroundings.
You feel it as soon as you approach the club along Hulton Road, which winds along a slight slope past modest homes and a few lavish, older homes. But nothing shouts at the visitor who approaches Oakmont, which simply emerges out of the neighborhood, adjacent to the Presbyterian Senior Care home.
And...
This feeling should be a part of the game everywhere. The Old Course in St. Andrews is often called the mother of all courses because of the influence it's had on design. It's not even a club as we think of a club on this side of the pond. It's a course, a public course, although most people know that the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews has its clubhouse there. The R&A is private, the course is public. It's the mother of the notion that golf is a welcoming game, not an exclusionary one.
USOpen.com asks various inkslingers who they like to win the US Open. Plenty of Furyk, Goosen and Tiger picks. Oh and one Martin Laird from John Huggan. Looks like the heat's already gone to someone's head.
E. Michael Johnson takes a fascinating look at what players were using in 1994.
Consider that Ernie Els won that major using a Callaway Big Bertha War Bird driver about half the size of the driver he uses today.
Needless to say, golf equipment was a bit different back then.
At Oakmont that year, Phil Mickelson and Wayne Levi were considered cutting edge with their all-graphite Yonex drivers, as was Hale Irwin for using a set of oversize, cavity-back King Cobra irons. Of course, with 23 players still swinging persimmon drivers, anything remotely out of the ordinary was deemed "out there."
Grant Boone previews the U.S. Open in his own unique TMI-way, but eventually drops this beauty:
Marriage counseling is a lot like a U.S. Open. It has a way of laying you uncomfortably bare but leaving you with a much better idea of who the two of you are and what needs work. Not much fun but ultimately rewarding.
Ron Green Jr. blogs:
Interesting scene on the practice tee Wednesday – Vijay Singh warming up while talking to Chi Chi Rodriguez, who was wearing a black leather jacket despite temperatures in the low 80s.
And just think, he's wearing two hats too!
After hearing Walter Driver urge writers to go check out the tents for the USGA's new presenting sponsors, USOpen.com's David Shefter remembered who might tamper with his paycheck, plugging blogging an item that will surely earn him a big thank you from USGA CMO Barry Hyde, but probably not a Lexus courtesy car:
I also stopped by the U.S. Open Experience presented by American Express. A very nice set-up with displays from future U.S. Open sites replete with memorabilia from the USGA Museum and videos of past events held at those clubs. You can even test your knowledge with an interactive Rules quiz, and check out a my leaderboard handheld PDA device that keeps you up-to-date with scores during the championship. You can even sign up to become a USGA Member.
According to our USGA folks, more than 11,000 people had gone through the tent over the first two practice-round days. You can only expect those numbers to go way up over the next four days.
Right next door is the Lexus tent, where spectators can pose with a replica of the U.S. Open trophy. Hey, if you can't win the U.S. Open, at least make it look you did. Needless to say, there was a healthy line for that exhibit.
And finally, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Jerry Micco needs to remember that Google is his friend, blogging this:
What was really cool was I walked up the fairway of No. 9, the majestic front-side finishing hole here. It's fairly steep uphill for about 100 yards, then gradually inclines to the large square green. It's neat to walk up over the first hill and see the clubhouse, in its classic green and white, come into view. I can imagine what it will be like for players here tomorrow to do that. Author John Feinstein (channeling Mark Twain) called it "A Great Walk Spoiled." That's often correct.
Uh, not in this case.
Candid remarks from Arnold Palmer Wednesday at Oakmont:
I've been talking to some of the guys that have been out there and I've talked to some of the former champions that have been out there on the golf course. And they tell me that this field -- and this is just an observation, that this field is not really ready for Oakmont. I say "the field" and I'm generalizing. I think probably what they were telling me is that they haven't really learned yet how to play Oakmont. And they may do that in the next couple days.And an update on the new museum at Far Hills...for Arnold:
RAND JERRIS: I want to ask you if you could share some thoughts with us about a project that's important to me and I hope important to you as well, which is the Arnold Palmer Center For Golf History which we're building in Far Hills, and it will be open about a year from now.
ARNOLD PALMER: I think some of you know, maybe you don't know that the U.S. Open has started construction on the Arnold Palmer Museum For Golf History and Memorabilia. It will be opening in June of '08?
RAND JERRIS: Yes, sir.
I've been searching for anything fun but apparently the photographers are saving their energy for the expected weekend heat. Therefore, courtesy of GolfChannel.com, because he's easy...
Another excellent edition of Golf Channel's Pre-Game U.S. Open coverage featured the usual gang (Kann, Pepper, Nobilo, Oosterhuis, Lerner) stepping up to the plate with fresh insights into the field and course, with colorful (literally) reports from Marty Hackel and a fun look inside the Pirates' ballpark.
But it was all highlighted by the Steve Sands interview with an obviously perturbed Phil Mickelson.
One comment from Phil was notable for its honesty and accuracy, the other just a sign of these wacky times.
Sands: You nervous at all...about the wrist?
Mickelson: I'm uncertain whether or not it's going to hold up on some of the shots out of the rough. It's been hurt in this rough before. Yesterday, 5, 6 people got hurt that Jim Weathers had to go work on. I think this golf course is a physical hazard to the players. I don't think that that has been very well thought out. So I think every player should be concerned--not just me--when they hit a shot in the rough.
I know I've shared my bias on this as someone who had a wrist injury and as someone who finds it pitiful that rough is harvested like a crop so grown men can compensate for some mysteriously vacant portion of their golfing soul that believes this torture rewards skill, but isn't there something seriously wrong with the game when antics like rough-on-steroids could impact our national championship and potential damage the well-being of a player and his career?
Anyway, here's the part where the modern player mentality of having consistent greens throughout the course is a bit hard for me to relate to. Continuing on after his comments about the rough...
Mickelson: This has forced me to prepare on the greens. Pelz and I have been out here on the greens this weekend, I feel like I have a good concept of how the putts break but also the speeds. You know the speeds have fluctuated tremendously from green to green. And I know they're doing the best, but they do the same thing to each green. They cut it the same height, roll it the same for every green. Well that's just ridiculous because you have greens that are high that are more exposed and get more wind and greens that are low that get a lot more moisture, so the fluctuation in the greens have been up to four and half feet from the fastest to the slowest. And so I think guys are going to struggle and I think that on the greens I may have an advantage knowing what the actual green speed is.
I guess this is where I would say to Phil that you knowing the varying speeds of each green is a cool thing and that attempts to make speeds uniform would be more contrived than what's out there now.
In Jon Show's Sports Business Journal story on the USGA's deals with Lexus and AmEx, he writes:
In addition to Miller¹s activities, Lexus is offering a swing simulator at its vehicle display tent that lets fans take shots on a computer-generated Oakmont course. Any fan hitting a hole-in-one will win a new Lexus LS 600h L. Visitors to the tent can also have their photo taken with a full-sized replica of the U.S. Open trophy that will be posted to www.MyOwnPursuit.com, a site being created by Lexus for the feature.So naturally, the USGA President's press conference had to include a pseudo plug for the new sponsor's pavillion.
If you haven't been there, I would urge each of you to go across the Turnpike and go up to the main entrance and see all of that and the things that are available for the spectators as they come in. They can have their picture taken with a replica of the U.S. Open trophy. I understand there were 6,000 people in line to do that yesterday. So you might want to time your visit at some low point in the crowd, but I'm not sure when that is going to be.Synergy baby. Brand those platforms. Or is that platforming the brand? Or synergized cross-pollination? Eh, anyway...
Q. This is for Walter and/or David. Johnny Miller came in yesterday and said he thought that this was the -- I think he said, "Greatest golf course in the world right now." I'm interested in your reaction to that, and do you agree with that? I know you have other courses in your rotation.
WALTER DRIVER: I was told when I took this job that saying anything negative about any golf course was like insulting someone's spouse, and you better not do that.
So I think this is a great golf course. As to comparing it to other golf courses. I'm not going to go there, but this is one of the great golf courses in the United States without any question.
DAVID FAY: By the way, the first person to make that comment about insulting one's spouse, Charles Blair McDonald. I've got to get that plug in.Yeah, right. Sigh.
Well, we'll let this one slide. He didn't say anything about spouses, but it was the thought that counted.
That's right, the inaccessible Bud Selig stopped in the US Open press center after the USGA press conference and here's what the assembled scribes peppered him with:
You must be so happy with the resurgence of the Milwaukee Brewers. Even though you are no longer their owner, how much of their great play do you believe is attributable to your wonderful leadership over the years?
Have you had much of a negative reaction from fans about taking the 2008 All-Star Game to Yankee Stadium?
As a follow up, have you seen the plans for the new Yankee Stadium? We had Joe Torre in here earlier and he says it's going to be the best in America. Would you agree?
Joe also said the World Series is the one that most players really want to play in and win. What do you think of that assessment?
You must be excited about Barry Bonds and his chase of Hank Aaron's record? Will it be televised?
Okay, enough. You get the point. There's a USGA cover story in Golf World, injuries to two top players induced by course conditions, major questions about square grooves and USGA operations, even more major questions about next year's venue and the scribblers are asking David Fay, Walter Driver and Jim Hyler if they agree with new Lexus pitchman Johnny Miller about the brilliance of Oakmont?
Mighty, might impressive!
Just consider the brainpower necessary to pose such thoughtful, creative and compelling questions!
Q. I know you don't have a target score, but do you ever intentionally try to make a venue more difficult because scoring was very good, for instance, 2003 at Olympia, the last run of Opens have been more difficult; and any reaction to that?
Q. Jim, when you set up a course for the U.S. Open, how much are you endeavoring to test the intangibles, poise, patience, maturity in addition to skill?
Q. You mentioned the renovations, all of the trees that were taken away; one addition from '94 is the new bridge. Just your thoughts on the USGA's impact on that bridge and making it a better golf course for the gallery.
Q. Wonder if anybody up there could respond to the idea of what reaction you're getting from players thus far, and how does the USGA define the difference between rigorous and sadistic? (Laughter)
Hardeeharhar...
Q. This is for Walter and/or David. Johnny Miller came in yesterday and said he thought that this was the -- I think he said, "Greatest golf course in the world right now." I'm interested in your reaction to that, and do you agree with that? I know you have other courses in your rotation.
Q. Maybe my question will follow-up on that. Yesterday we heard players and Johnny Miller talk about, this is the greatest golf course, this is the hardest golf course we've ever seen. My question is, what's the correlation between something has to be the hardest golf course to be the best golf course for your purposes or can it be something less than that?
You're asking the chairman emeritus of the Rees Jones Fan Club this question?
Q. Another thing that Johnny Miller said yesterday was he's hearing more and more players talk about how this is a tournament they love to win but sometimes hate to play and there have been some examples in the past eight years or so of events that did get across the line a little bit in certain places. Do you think this is an important week for you guys with the weather, the course conditions to prove that you can walk that fine line between fair and unfair?
Q. Wonder, did the USGA get involved at all in any decision making on the trees and the tree removal; were you consulted, were you happy with the course in '94 the way it was?
And that helps us how?
Steve Elling on Phil's wrist injury, with an interesting take on the support device he's wearing:
Mickelson received a cortisone shot last week, has been trying muscle massage, rehab therapy and various forms of stimulation to increase blood flow to the affected area, and is traveling with a shaman of sorts, former Green Beret Jim Weathers, whose business card lists him as "motivational speaker, shiatsu master and reflexologist."
The wrist is so iffy that doctors ordered Mickelson not to practice, sign autographs or participate in any "strenuous workouts." (Note to Tiger Woods fans: Insert punchline here).
Facts are, the Open isn't a place you come when you are nursing a hand injury -- it's a place you leave with one. Witness Woods at Shinnecock in 1995, when he hit a ball into the high rough, tweaked a wrist while hacking out of the hay, and had to withdraw.
Mickelson might face another uncomfortable hurdle, as in whether the wrist wrap is copacetic in the eyes of the golf rulebook. USGA rules official John Morrissett said Tuesday that he had not inspected the wrap Lefty is wearing, but said it appeared to be made of an "Ace bandage material with no rigid parts." Players are prohibited from using swing-aids and devices designed to restrict wrist movement.
The bandage covers part of Mickelson's left thumb, the back of his hand and encircles his entire wrist. Clearly, taping the wrist is intended to keep Mickelson from further straining the injury and any swing benefit would not be his directed intent. Mickelson joked there could be a crossover effect.
"I would say this will help me keep it one shot at a time, and this brace will help me alleviate any extra wrist break at the top of the swing that I may have," he said.
Then Mickelson turned to a nearby USGA media official and cracked, "Is it OK if I use this (bandage) now that I said that?"
Let's not dismiss it with a flip of the wrist. Morrissett said the bandage "doesn't appear to inhibit movement in the wrist," though it will likely restrict and support it to some degree. Otherwise, why wear it at all? Mickelson even indicated he would tighten the bandage before hitting shots.
"There's a chance somebody with the USGA will take a look at it," Morrissett said.
Okay rules aficionados, what do you think?
Thankfully no one hurt themselves Tuesday, but the boys sure had plenty to say about the course and setup.
John Huggan shares thoughts on the setup and several player reactions.
Has Oakmont, almost universally feared and revered as the toughest, most brutal and most unforgiving track on the US Open rota, been prepared in a way that will allow the best to prosper? Or has the USGA blindly done what it normally does and eliminated any semblance of strategy and flair in a misguided effort to make America's national championship 'fair,' while at the same time producing a winning score some way north of par?
Sadly, the initial signs are that the latter policy has yet again reared its tedious head.
Monty tabs a local Oakmont looper to suffer for four days with him (well...assuming he doesn't fire him too).
Josh Massoud talks to Adam Scott, who has some interesting thoughts on the setup.
But Scott said the experts had confused greatness for toughness.
"That's not what the game is about. It's got to be fair in every area. I think everyone is so hung up with par; there's an obsession with par. If you put the world's best players on a golf course, they should be able to break par."
Rick Starr looks at the 12 amateurs in the field.
This AP story summarizes Johnny Miller's Tuesday press conference remarks.
Furman Bisher says things have never been better at the USGA under Walter Driver, and cites the Shinnecock Hills U.S. Open under Driver's Championship Committee watch as evidence of how Driver gets an unfair rap.
Driver was chairman of the USGA’s competition committee, which means the responsibility of setting up the course was his. “His arid setup,” as Golf World phrases it, “was an embarrassment,” a term to be questioned.
“Arid” refers to the rain which was forecast, but didn’t fall, and the winds which dried out the greens. Curses to the competition chairman.
Wow, I guess Google hasn't made it to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Rain in the forecast? Oy...
And finally, back on the planet earth, Craig Dolch blogs about the day's interviews and the demise of the scrum.
And finally, the USA Today's Joe Saraceno writes one of those so-over-the-top-it's-funny columns about Tiger's impending fatherhood.
The John and Sherrie Daly matter is getting downright ugly.
In lighter news, Steve Elling looks at Oakmont's 8th and wonders if the USGA's 288-yard setup is within reason.
At 7,230 yards, the course isn't punitively long by modern standards, but the crazy eighth should generate a cacophony of complaints. From the back tee, the 288-yard par 3 is the longest in U.S. Open history -- funny how that general theme is repeated each June in some respect -- and stands an attention-getting round-wrecker.
Moreover, if the USGA set-up sadists put the flagstick on the back of the green, the hole can measure an intimidating 300 yards. Mind you, technology gains or not, the average driving distance on the PGA Tour is 285.1 yards.
In other words, this hole, as they used to say in the mills hereabouts, will separate the steel from the slag. Pittsburgh has morphed into Titanium Town.
And this from Phil Mickelson...
"I love the hole because, in architecture -- and I've been slowly getting into architecture -- the longest par 3 you ever see is about 240 or 250 yards, and the shortest par 4 is about 330," Phil Mickelson said. "There's 80 or 90 yards there, where you don't know what to call them."
Scott Michaux weighs in on the tree removal with this.
Ford says that the greatest irony of it all is the fact that the same course architect who oversaw the conclusion of Oakmont's deforestation project is the same one resembling Johnny Appleseed with mature trees cropping up all over Augusta National Golf Club.
"It's very coincidental that Tom Fazio is our architect who help cut them all down and he's the architect at Augusta National and they're planting trees," Ford said. "It's pretty wild, isn't it?"
It's quite a lark considering that Augusta National played the defining role in Oakmont's shaded canopy era to begin with.
"If it weren't for Augusta, we never would have planted the trees in the first place," said Ford.
Mike Dudurich explores some of the wild and weird occurrences on the wonderful short 17th. He also has this interesting playing strategy from Phil Mickelson, who you may recall, bungled Riviera's 10th earlier this year with a similarly peculiar approach.
It looks like the majority will play aggressively on the 17th. At least that's what the No. 2 player in the world, Phil Mickelson, is thinking.
"You drive it up the left of the 17th fairway and then we'll see how thick that rough is," Mickelson said. "I had a tough time hitting the green with a wedge out of there. But it's still the play, hitting it over there because it takes bogey out of play. If you don't hit a driver, you're risking a five. I'll be trying to hit it in the left rough if the pin's in the back right or in the "Big Mouth" bunker if it's front left."
Rory Sabbatini's philosophy is even more confusing:
"Take out the driver and go for the green," the South African said without hesitation. "The rough front left of the green is the thickest on the golf course. I think you only make things more difficult on yourself if you lay up in the fairway."
Ok! Whatever floats your boat.
Scribblers: food for thought for Wednesday's sitdown with USGA President Walter Driver and Executive Director David Fay. Naturally, it quick read of Chris Millard's Golf World cover story would be wise preparation for the news conference (though my press room sources noted that it was conspicously absent from the toilet reading giveaway table).
David Howell, making his comeback at the U.S. Open after a back injury "hurt his wrist practising and confirmed today that he won't play."
Meanwhile the first high-profile Oakmont casualty is not hitting many balls, according to Gerry Dulac on the Post-Gazette blog:
It's beginning to look as though Phil Mickelson's wrist injury might be more bothersome than indicated. At the very least, it appears it could jeopardize his chance to be a serious contender in the 107th U.S. Open.Mike Dudurich talks to Tommy Roy and the NBC point man likes the look of Oakmont.
The world's No. 2 player, who has withdrawn from the past two PGA Tour events, did not play a practice round yesterday on the first day for spectators at Oakmont Country Club -- the third day in a row he has failed to play because of an injury to his left wrist.
Mickelson hit approximately 30 balls on the practice range and spent nearly 45 minutes on the putting green. But he never hit a full shot on the range -- he hit his driver once -- and never went on the course.
"The final four holes at Winged Foot were long, hard par-4s that nobody could distinguish one from another," Roy said after a production meeting before the start of The Players Championship in May. "At Oakmont, there are some drastically different holes. There are holes that are very recognizable, I think."And for those of you betting that Johnny will sob when NBC does the inevitable 63 feature, think again.
Roy said NBC won't be doing any major coverage about Miller's history at Oakmont, including his record 63 in the final round in 1973.According to Julian Taylor, Sandy Lyle thinks Monty's got a great chance. Hey, if he doesn't hurt his wrist, I might be inclined to agree.
"We've pretty much made the decision that I think Johnny is going to get so much attention by newspapers, TV stations and magazines, the Internet -- you name it -- we're not going to do a big blowout feature on him, because I don't think it's going to be necessary," Roy said.
Everywhere, that is, except at golf's four majors, where demanding, devious, deceitful course setups have never been more en vogue.And this...
"I think the people who set the courses up use that technology debate as their reasoning for making the courses harder," said 2004 British Open champion Todd Hamilton. "Their reasoning is, 'Well, you guys are hitting shorter clubs in, so we can make the greens harder and faster.'"
Even Woods, whose four most recent major victories have all seen numbers under par into the double-digits -- 2006 PGA (18-under); 2006 British (18-under); 2005 British (14-under); and 2005 Masters (12-under) -- acknowledges that red numbers shouldn't be so tough to come by in the four biggies.
Finally, Ron Green Jr. confirms reports that Pinehurst is getting the 2014.
To those scribblers choosing to attend the USGA's annual Wednesday press conference (and please ladies and gents, no emails that you forgot to go like last year!), here are a few questions you might consider for USGA Executive Director David Fay. I'm sure readers will chime in with a few (please, no bowtie jokes).
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
