Expected Kiawah Media Whinging Starts Early As Downpour And General Misery Kick Off Glory's Last Shot!

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With a 75-minute bus ride, 96 degree heat index, thunderstorms in the forecast and the advent of Twitter since the last "what were they thinking" major in 1987, experts have long felt the 2012 Glory's Last Visit To Kiawah PGA Championship could provide some of the finest whinging, moaning and outright media crankiness of the modern era.
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Tiger Ably Describes Rough "Almost Unplayable" In Spots; UK Papers Declare His Shock, Horror And Sadness!

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Last night I read but could not post Bob Harig's story catching up with Tiger Woods following his Sunday practice round at Lytham.

Tiger described what he saw:

Woods noted that the rough is more difficult than he remembered it at Lytham, likely due to the prolific rain the area has seen. "In some places, it is almost unplayable,'' he said.

Nonetheless, Woods was thankful to see the course on a relatively nice day, with the sun shining and the wind blowing.

Yet The Guardian described Woods as "shocked," the Daily Mail says Woods "fears" the hay, the BBC says he is "questioning" the tall stuff, the Mirror says he was less than "polite," while the Telegraph offered the more modest suggestion that Tiger is "keen to avoid" the rough.

Donegan's Final Guardian Game Story

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Soak up the lyrical writing and sharp observations from Lawrence Donegan's final game story and Guardian appearance in Monday's piece from Olympic Club. He's leaving the paper to spend more time with his family. And for the first time in five years since that euphemism typically reserved for "he was fired," it's actually the truth.

Q&A With Dan Jenkins, Vol. 5

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In the first email Q&A with a lowly golf blog since his induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Dan Jenkins answers a few questions before returning to the scene of some of his most painful moments as a sportswriter.

This will be the 212th major Jenkins has attended and the 211th he has covered. His first U.S. Open was as an 11-year-old in 1941; he covered his first fifty-one years ago and Olympic marks his 58th U.S. Open as an inkslinger.

You can read volumes one, two, three and four.


GS: Excited to return to San Francisco?

DJ: Very excited to return to San Francisco. I want to recapture the cheeseburger a precious waiter refused to serve me last time there because I asked for salt. I look forward to continuing the search for Ambrose Bierce among the fern. 

GS: Care to rank the U.S. Open's at Olympic?

DJ: In order of misery, I recall the Opens in this order:  1955 (worst result in the history of sports), 1966 (worst result in the history of Arnold Palmer), 1987 (biggest letdown in light of who was challenging: Watson, Seve, Crenshaw), 1998 (a sleeper all the way, but if Payne had to lose, Janzen was better than Tway.

GS: After all these years, have you ever developed a working theory as to why Olympic doesn't let the superstar win? Is it the course? Nancy Pelosi's fault?

DJ: I guess I'll finally have to buy into Sandy Tatum's defense of Olympic. Even though the course has brutally punished the superstars---let alone me on deadline---it has given us a great list of runnersup in Opens---Hogan, Palmer, Watson, Payne Stewart.

GS: Putting aside your man Hogan's upset loss and the other rally killer winners, where does Olympic rank as a US Open venue for you?

DJ: Think about it. No "Open course" over time has defended par better than Olympic. Scott Simpson's 277, only three-under, is the best. It has yet to be embarrassed, as all of the other usual suspects have on at least one occasion.

This could be it. Part of the suspense.

GS: You pulled off a superb World Golf Hall of Fame speech, how was that experience?

DJ: Getting into the World Golf Hall of Fame was quite special, very flattering. As my co-inductee and friend Peter Alliss said to me by email, "I'm trying very hard not to be carried away by the adulation of the multitudes." As for my acceptance speech, I lost my place twice, made up a couple of things out of thin air, but somehow survived. All through the weekend's many functions, I kept thinking I should be sitting with my press brethren.

GS: How's the journalism book coming?

DJ: There IS a "journalism memoir" slowly coming to an end at the computer where I sit. It's been damn near impossible to keep myself out of it.