• Menu
  • Menu

The U.S. Open

The 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock – If It’s Pray for Birdies, Then It’s Dustin Johnson or Brooks Koepka

SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Pre-eminent sports writer Rick Reilly’s hat said it all. “Pray For Birdies,” it blared in red, white and blue. It feels like an old-school U.S. Open even though the golf course is as wide as a weekend bogey golfer could wish for. Despite the widest fairways in modern tournament history, at the halfway point of the 118th U.S...

Blasts From the Past – The Best of the U.S. Opens Gone By

SOUTHAMPTON, NY – I want to thank the great Dan Jenkins for today’s writing prompt. He published some of his favorite (and not so favorite Opens) and reminded me that it’s time for my annual U.S. Open history lesson for y’all. So here we go; class is in session. Take good notes. You never know when you’ll be quizzed. GREAT STORIES YOU...

Everyone Loves Shinnecock Hills, and You Will Too

SOUTHAMPTON, NY – My colleague and friend Mike Vaccaro, a sparkling gem of the New York Post sports writing diadem, likes to collect datelines. I remember he was especially proud of “Beijing,” but lamented publicly that it couldn’t be “Peking” instead. Mike and I met writing the dateline “Mamaroneck” in 2006 at Winged...

Tee Times for the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills

Here are the tee times for the 118h U.S. Open. We’ll be live at Shinnecock Hills all week starting Tuesday morning. Thursday (June 14), hole #1 / Friday (June 15), hole #10 6:45 a.m. / 12:30 p.m. – Harold Varner, Gastonia, N.C.; TBD; Matthieu Pavon, France 6:56 a.m. / 12:41 p.m. – Michael Putnam, University Place, Wash.; Scott Gregory, England; Will...

Golf News Net Runs My Story on the Imported Rough at Shinnecock Hills for 2018 U.S. Open

So my U.S. Open preview is up at Golf News Net. (They always male it look fantastic!) Ryan Ballengee and I will have wall-to-wall coverage of the tournament all week long, with radio, video, and 1,500 words a day. Plus I’ll have three-day coverage of the Anderson Memorial at Winged Foot. Throw in a round at National Golf Links of America, and that’s a...

Magic Carpet Ride! USGA Imports Turf, Adjusts Surrounds of Greens as Shinnecock Hills Prepares for 2018 U.S. Open

SOUTHAMPTON, NY – It’s the best golf design magic trick since Oakmont made 5,000 trees disappear. Now you see it, now you don’t – prest-o! change-o! – and with a wave of a wand, a whiff of diesel, and a crackerjack grounds crew, the fairways of 2018 U.S. Open host Shinnecock Hills narrowed pretty much overnight. Penn and Teller got...

Golf Course Trades Runs my Shinnecock Restoration Review in Prep for the 2018 U.S. Open

As always, Golf Course Trades did a phenomenal job with my preview for the U.S. Open. Super Jon Jennings leads an all-star cast of supers, meteorologists, and USGA brass in getting Shinnecock Hills ready for the pros and the National Championship. Jennings is a fascinating guy. as the articles states, “Golf is lucky to have gotten Jennings at all, actually. He...

Terrible Weather Delays Season Opening of 2018 U.S. Open Venue Shinnecock Hills

The awful weather of this never-ending winter continued all across New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and into the Rust Belt and Heartland, crippling travel and causing multiple delays to the start of golf season. Even Shinnecock Hills, site of this year’s U.S. Open, has been affected. Erring on the side of caution (of course) the Club will Open one week later than...

Golf News Net Runs my Review of the U.S. Open Qualifying Sites

Wow, what a terrific job Ryan Ballengee and the GNN team did publishing my fun look at the various U.S. Open Qualifying sites. Click here for the story. My fave part of the article: Orange County National’s Crooked Cat course is another boring, watery, center-line slog, so much so that during the week of the PGA Show, you’ll often hear golfers that played...