We’ll be live from the media tent at Bethpage Black for the 2009 U.S. Open starting Monday, with coverage at Cybergolf.com, GolfObserver.com, and here, (on a 24-hour delay for articles that originally ran at those two sites, and live with random short features and interviews). GolfObserver will shortly be running my hole-by-hole breakdown of the course as well...
Outstanding news.
Hat tip: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Steve Shaffer
Brian Keogh of the Irish Golf Desk has this interview with Padraig Harrington, where the reigning British Open and PGA Champion talks about playing with Woods in 2002 at Bethpage, and how he’s excited. Angel Cabrera may round out the threesome for the first two days. Keogh also got Paddy to give us all an optimistic view of how his practice regimen is helping...
Special thanks to Ben Cowan-Dewar and Ran Morrissett of GolfClubAtlas.com for asking Chris Clouser and I to do this article for GolfClubAtlas.comcomparing and contrasting Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club and fabled Southern Hills. There are interesting tidbits, old maps, and tons of great photos. Enjoy. Chris, it was great working with you! ...
Here’s a quick thumbnail sketch of the set-up at Bethpage Black for the U.S. Open: First Hole – Par-4, 430 yards High on a pulpit overlooking the first fairway, one can see a ribbon of fairway flanked by two sides of rough that are wider on either side than the intended target. The hole is a 90-degree dog-leg, the knee of which is guarded by a stand of...
It’s going to be one of those weeks when the odds are stacked 18-1 against, when the whole round is a hangover that thumps and pounds ceaselessly, and where every golf hole digs mercilessly for the sciatic nerve. Sure U.S. Open competitions director Mike Davis promises change and excitement with flexible tee boxes and more strategic options in tournament set...
The U.S.G.A. has an important message for everyone going to this year’s U.S. Open: have a great time, but be considerate and respectful to the players or be gone. “The New York crowd is always a special crowd, with great energy, and excitement is great, but it’s one thing to be knowledgeable of the game and good golf fans…and I know...
No matter how much hope and change comes to the U.S.G.A. offices in Far Hills, N.J., at the U.S. Open when it comes to a difficult set-up at Bethpage, The Song Remains the Same. Cybergolf.com has more.
Look for additional U.S. Open pieces here, at Cybergolf, and at GolfObserver.com.
There will be plenty to read at Cybergolf this week. I’ll be covering the Travis Invitational, and Jeff Shelley is writing about his trip to Scotland to play St. Andrews. In bad news, one of Chicago’s two terrible courses that we just can’t get rid of, Cog Hill, is now vying to be the next “People’s Open” host. This is what...
Great work from Sal Johnson and Dave Seanor. Click here to go to the Golfobserver.com site for a terrific one-on-one with Mike Davis of the USGA. It has everything you need to know about the set-up and changes.
While I’m getting my own preview piece done, Sal Johnson has a nice write-up of the changes discussed at media day. Scroll down to question 6. Kudos to Mike davis for – as he put it – easing up on the accelerator. From the article: “Several tees have been added, which will enable Davis & Co. to vary the lengths of certain holes...
Guys, something a little light while I finish my masters Preview for Cybergolf and the PGA: some pix from Torrey. I got a letter from an old friend from college asking to see what it’s like in the media tent covering a major. A few bloggers asked me the same thing, so here ya go. It’s actually quite the scene: 450 people make surprisingly...
Since I’m the hometown boy this year for the U.S. Open, the press gang are looking to me for recommendations. So channeling my best Marty Hackel, just with food, not clothes, we’ll review restaurants during down time before the U.S. Open…like Tuesdays…and PGA National Week…and Redstone…and TPC Nawlins, (Geaux Aints!). Today, park...
Noted author and Perry Maxwell biographer Chris Clouser and I will be teaming up to do a “Point! Counterpoint!” piece on seven-time major championship venue Southern Hills and 1953 U.S. Amateur host and SH’s nearby cousin, Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club, which Maxwell did with Alister Mackenzie, (you remember him…we’ll be seeing...
Here Wie go again. Catfight in 3…2…1…This time it’s the voice of the Great American Sportsman (Hominus Sporticus Americanum), Steve Czaban, versus the venerable double first place GWAA award-winning Alan Shipnuck of SI.com… When it comes to the LPGA, I like what Dan Jenkins wrote about it… The LPGA will soon have: (a) A...