SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Isn’t it great when something, anything lives up to the hype? We live in a world where journalists have to build everything up to such a degree of hagiographic hero worship, that it takes work to discern what’s culture and what’s a commercial. Happily, this week at the U.S. Open, no one will have to worry that the golf course – ancient and venerable...
SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Nowhere will Shinnecock Hills reveal its slavering jaws as a U.S. Open venue more than at its formidable par-3s. For mere mortal golfers, the par-3s can often be a welcome refuge from the course. Occasionally – not often, but occasionally – the shortest golf holes are the deadliest: like the 12th at Augusta National, the 17th at Pebble Beach...
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...
SOUTHAMPTON – “It’s a process, it’s a process, it’s a process.” If the old Tiger Woods – describing his swing changes – said it once, he said it a thousand times. It became a joke in the media center. I thought it was merely a combination of platitude and mantra; something to he chanted to himself as he worked the range...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
With today’s announcement that Oakmont and Shinnecock Hills will host the 2025 and 2026 U.S. Opens respectively, that fills up all spots available for the next ten years. Here is a list of all future U.S. Open venues through 2026. 2017 – Erin Hills Golf Club, Erin, WI 2018 – Shinnecock Hills Country Club, Southampton, NY 2019 – Pebble Beach...