PEBBLE BEACH, CA – For the first time in five years, USGA avoided a rules controversy, a set-up imbroglio, a weather issue, or a turfgrass meltdown. Thank goodness, because the squabbling about the last four years by plarers and press has been more then just strident. It almost appears they are on a mission, with the players demanding a kindler gentler U.S...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – It took someone as big and strong as Brooks Koepka to knock that chip off Koepka’s shoulder, but that’s exactly what Gary Woodland did at Pebble Beach to win the 119th U.S. Open. Woodland won by three strokes over Koepka and by six over Xander Schauffele, 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose, Chez Reavie, and Spain’s John...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – I could have sworn that Marine Layer was the name of a girl I met in Sister Frances’s eighth grade English class, but she’s not. She’s the misty, somber, cold, clammy, grey shroud that blankets northern California just as summer is about to begin, “June gloom” it’s called. Marine Layer descended upon the...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – No matter how many haymakers he threw down the stretch Friday, Gary Woodland will not sleep well tonight. He may lead this 119th U.S. Open by two strokes. But Pebble Beach’s other name – the one they don’t put on merchandise in the prop shop – is Ol’ Double Bogey-by-the-sea, and at any moment a golfer’s...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – For the fourth consecutive day, June gloom hangs oppressively in the sky, so it’s no wonder golfers that prefer U.K. weather are doing so well on the leader board at the 119th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Hopefully, blue skies and golden sunshine will return just in time for you, dear reader, to hit the links yourself, before heading to...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – Louis Oosthuizen found the poem, the song, the fragrance that is Pebble Beach Golf Links so irresistible, he had to stop and take some pictures. “I was out there, probably looked like a tourist taking all the pictures on my phone and forgot I was playing a practice round. But, yeah, that’s what this place does to you,” he...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – With all the pomp and circumstance of the U.S. Open’s long and storied history at Pebble Beach, as well as the course’s glorious 100th anniversary, it’s easy to forget that the PGA Championship also was contested by the shores of Carmel Bay, and that it gave us as zany, wild, and dramatic a major as it has at many of its U.S...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – Two-time defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka was his typical direct and terse self when asked if he’d bothered to learn anything about Willie Anderson, the golfer whose historic “three-peat” feat Koepka trying to equal. “No,” he said. He hadn’t even thought to Google him. You can bet the farm...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – It’s called June Gloom, that cold, grey mist that descends upon Monterey Peninsula that turns the otherwise green and golden Pebble Beach into a scene out of Hound of the Baskervilles. Under this chilly blanket of clouds, it’s easier to understand how our beloved Pebble, perhaps the shortest of America’s informal rotation of...
CARMEL, CA – Take a moment to deeply savor the fragrant breeze off the Pacific Ocean. Close your eyes and listen to the gentle rustle of the waves, its somnambulant trance broken only by the mournful baying of the sea lions as they frolic on the beach. Take one last look at the cherry rays of the dying sunset over the Pacific as your legs dangle off the cliff...
Tournament coverage at GNN and JFDC is heating up. We’ll be at the 119th U.S. Open from sparkling Pebble Beach for the entire week, while also covering the 83rd Anderson Memorial from venerable Winged Foot. In between we’ll have articles on the Senior PGA, our Mt. Snow ski and golf trips, and a new piece on Golf Course Trades on N.J.’s Shackamaxon...
So once more, a big thank you to the National Council of Ski Federations. They are running my Border War series about skiing and golf in New Hampshire vs. Vermont, and I’m really excited with the feedback and new readers. Thanks so much. The latest in the series that they’ve posted is the Smuggler’s Notch piece. You can check out the link here, and...
BETHPAGE, NY – Cinderella got her name because she was always dirty with ashes from cleaning the fireplace. She sure ended up on top though didn’t she? The dirty, messy, unrefined step-sister became the Belle of the Ball. That’s exactly what’s happened to Bethpage Black Golf Course. Bethpage could very well be the little step-sister in A.W...
A journalist asked PGA Championship leader Brooks Koepka a laconic question last night and got a laconic answer. “Is there any doubt whatsoever in your mind that you’re going to win tomorrow?” “No.” It wasn’t a smart question, but boy did Brooks screw up the answer. We already know the outcome of tomorrow’s golf: Koepka is...
BETHPAGE, NY – From the home office in lovely Melville, NY, the pearl of the civilized world, it’s… Top 10 Things to do while waiting for this boring nightmare to be over 10. Sit in Long Island Expressway traffic getting to the course 9. Learn how to spell “Janewattananond” 8. Learn to pronounce “Janewattananond.” (HINT:...