"Hannigan's singular intellect was a force of nature in golf"

Before we get too hot and heavy with U.S. Open talk, check out Jerry Tarde's June editor's column and extended remembrance on the late, great Frank Hannigan, former USGA Executive Director.

Tarde writes:

Like his predecessor, Joseph C. Dey Jr., who came to run the United States Golf Association after a brief career as a sportswriter, Hannigan was a golf columnist for the Staten Island Advance before joining the Governing Body as public-information manager in 1961 and eventually rising to become its senior executive director, 1983-'89.

He arrived on the national scene at the same time as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, so it's not an exaggeration to say that his fingerprints and prejudices were visible on every major issue of modern golf. Frank's greatest edge was his literary wit; perhaps only Peter Thomson among contemporaries was both a doer and a writer of his equal. Hannigan managed the game with honesty, integrity and humor—what was popular or expedient never entered the equation.

It's a super column and a must read.

Frank will be on my mind this week as I know he'd be scowling at all of the love for the Pinehurst restoration and the elimination of rough that he so oddly found to be a legitimate hazard. We argued over this many times via email and no doubt one would have arrived on Thursday asking, "what's with you falling all over yourself with this wire grass?" And then there'd be a comment about Lebron's shooting Sunday night. He is missed.