Sometimes to find the story you need to read between the stats. This year’s U.S. Open is no exception. Here’s an example. A friend and I went to a hockey game. I was rooting for a cellar team – they were in last place. He was cheering for the mighty juggernaught. My team won 3-1, although we were heavily outshot in the stats. My buddy couldn’t figure out how his team...
They teased him in the locker room, but phlegmatic Jim Furyk, out of commission at Westchester from a swallowining injury (SWALLOWING INJURY!) had the last laugh. After “throwing my head back awkwardly,” and wrenching his back and neck badly last week, Furyk is right in the thick of the hunt at the U.S. Open with just a few extra doses of Aleve. With only “Reese’s”...
Witness now the rise and fall of a Day 1, back nine love affair. Day one of the U.S. Open is just “getting to know you.” It’s nothing more than a first date. It’s a giggle, a flirt, a flip of blond hair, a flash of a golden tanned leg, maybe even a torrid kiss or two and promises of more to come. But as David Howell found out, falling in love on the first date is for...
Go to cybergolf for the rest of this story: MAMARONECK, NY – The forces of good that battle for the preservation and promotion of golf’s greatest classic, strategic courses won a great victory today. Merion Golf Club – once thought lost to the mists of time forever as too short for major competitions – will host the 2013 U.S. Open. The return of Merion to the...
Bill Fallon of both Oakmont and the USGA provides a great look at what we can expect we the Open returns to another fabled and difficult venue. “They have the greens running about 13-13.5 now for the members and it’s still the only course besides Winged Foot where the membership will say “Let’s make it harder.” Lee Trevino echoed this sentiment saying, “Oakmont is...
MAMARONECK, NY Here’s a telling stat. Halfway through today (it’s 1:35PM) and Winged Foot already has exceeded the highest first round scoring average of the last five U.S. Opens Today at Winged Foot – 75.8 2005 Pinehurst – 74.7 2004 Shinnecock – 73.4 2003 Olympia Fields – 72.5 2002 – Bethpage Black – 74.9 2001 –...
Mamaroneck, NY Here are snippets from tomorrow’s piece for cybergolf. Ernest Hemingway once wrote that, “the purpose of art is to bring order our of chaos, a tall order when chaos is static and a superhuman task when chaos is multiplying.” Hemingway should have covered the chaos that is the U.S. Open. This pressure cooker is a microcosm of the rule of how...
Mamaroneck, NY – Phil told the assembled media at his player interview that while he won’t have his second “driver” (the draw driver) in the bag come Thursday, he’ll adjust his game plan during the course of the tournament depending on the weather. “I think that it’s supposed to rain Wednesday and Thirsday and if that’s...
MAMARONECK, NY – The sign reads “Mamaroneck” but Welcome to The Long Hot Grind over Dark Bloody Ground. U.S. Open week has arrived, where pars are the coin of the realm, birdies are an endangered species and double bogeys are ruthlessly doled out in fistfuls and stamped “paid in full” in the anguish of the contestants. Mind you, that’s before we...
Most savvy New Yorkers are taking the train to the U.S. Open this week. Metro North runs from Grand Central Station every half hour to Mamaroneck all day and even into the night to get those who came into the city for dinner back to their hotels upstate. Likewise, trains run every half hour from Mamaroneck back to Grand Central. The train station is only one mile...
Early reports from the “kinder gentler” Winged Foot with its intermediate rough to “make the punishment fit the crime” (Mike Davis quote) are showing high scores in the “punishment” department. Two golf writer colleagues of mine report the fairways so fast balls contain less in the fairway and when the ball rolls to the edge of the...
Thanks to the architects who appreciate my perspective on public golf and course design, the writers who have befriended me, my and most importantly, you my readers, I received press credentials to cover the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. I’ll provide stories from past Opens in the coming weeks. There will also be features on Pinehurst, other major tournament venues...