ERIN, WI – With a precision that Bernhard Langer would have envied, Rickie Fowler seized the first round lead of the 117th U.S. Open with a dazzling 7-under 65. It was the lowest score-to-par in the first round of the National Open since Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf fired 8-under 63s at Baltusrol in 1980. Fowler’s card was sparkling clean – seven birdies...
ERIN, WI – The collection of one shot holes at Erin Hills is as strong as we’ve ever seen at any U.S. Open. Both nine and 16 are downright iconic: instant classics. Both holes also prove that length is overrated. The ninth green is completely encircled by bunkers, including several narrow trenches just wide enough to stand, but, in places, to narrow to take...
ERIN, WI – A blood red sunset bathed Erin Hills Golf Course in an eerie witch-light as the sun descended behind an ominous curtain of black clouds. One last feeble flicker of the dying rays extinguished dismally, and then the landscape plunged into darkness, illuminated only by angry streaks of lightning, each strike silhouetting the clubhouse against the...
Gary D’Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the author of the definitive book on Erin Hills joined us on the Jay’s Plays Radio Show to finish up our U.S. Open preview for the Golf News Net. We talked the Erin Hills, broke down the chances for a number of players. We even got Tiger Woods in there too…for the last time this week, that’s...
GNN has just posted my Erin Hills preview for the 2017 U.S. Open.
We are at our desk working an hour earlier than our ETA. The rain has stopped and the players are headed out for practice rounds.
We’ll also post the Gary D’Amato interview we did as the second half of our Jay’s Plays Radio Show preview.
Happy U.S. Open week everybody.
2018: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Southampton, N.Y. 2019: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Carmel, CA 2020: Winged Foot Golf Club (West Course), Mamaroneck, N.Y. 2021: Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course), San Diego, Calif. 2022: The Country Club, Brookline, Mass. 2023: Los Angeles (Calif.) Country Club (North Course) 2024: Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Village of...
It’s U.S. Open preview time. We’ll have our article posted at Golf News Net soon, but in the meantime, here’s part 1 of my Jay’s Plays Radio Show preview. This is one heck of a show people. Our first guest was the one and only Peter Kessler, veteran of thousands of radio and TV shows, including Golf Channel. We talked Tiger and Erin Hills...
ERIN, WI – Dana Fry, who along with Mike Hurdzan and lawyer-turned-writer-turned-golf architect Ron Whitten, designed 11-year old Erin Hills, site of the 117th U.S. Open, recently said in an interview that, “it’s unprecedented for the USGA to host the tournament at a venue this new.” He’s close to being correct. It’s actually only the...
The year was 1971, and even though the Rolling Stones had just generated grillions of dollars with their world-wide hit “Satisfaction,” there was Mick Jagger on a media dais surrounded by a forest of microphones and a phalanx of international journalists explaining that – for tax reasons – the Stones had to flee their beloved England and...
PITTSBURGH, PA – There’s an old, true saying about the fervor and loyalty of Pittsburgh fans – when you play Pittsburgh, you play the whole city. Now you can add a corollary to that rule: when you run Pittsburgh, the whole city runs with you. Over 300,000 spectators cheered on 30,000 runners for the seventh annual Pittsburgh Marathon and Half Marathon races...