US Open

Who's in Charge?

Date Written: June 22, 2009

MOTHER NATURE (as seen from above as part of a hazard on an abstract golf course), will forever be remembered as the actual winner of the 109th US Open. She was not "officially" in the field but she reminded us that she's in charge. Tiger, along with half the field, had the worst of the weather draw because of HER, having to play in much more difficult conditions than those that went out later. "The leader board after the first two rounds had a big advantage," Mike Weir said. "For half the field to be able to play in nice conditions was huge."

When the rains came, Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents said:

"Officials hope to finish the third round by 4:30 p.m. The players will then be repaired, and competition in the final round will continue as long as possible Sunday evening and be completed Monday morning."

"Repair the players?" To a man, they did sound exhausted after all the delays over the five full days of a major on a very demanding course.

In the end, Ricky Barnes "unraveled" as most were expecting he would. The more veteran player and sectional qualifier, Lucas Glover, was the unlikely winner. In three prior Opens he had failed to make the cut. His final round 73 yesterday was just good enough to hold off the field. I was reminded by some columnist that Glover left the tour for six months last year out of frustration. To his credit, he figured out a way to not be so hard on himself. I wish I could learn that. Yesterday, he never lost the lead over the last twelve holes. Bill Dwyre of the LA Times summed it up best:

"Lucas Glover didn't just win the U.S. Open on Monday. He won golf's first Bataan Death March. This event took five days to finish, seemed like a month, and left one question burning in the minds of players and fans alike: What day is this again?"

At one point during the third round, Ricky was eleven under. He finished at two under, hanging tough after a bad first nine. He ended up tying for second with Lefty and the charming, comeback surprise of the tournament, David Duval. Welcome back David. You've told us for the longest time that you weren't far off your game. We thought you were either delusional or gonna be just an answer to a stupid Trivia question, "what was your world ranking before the Open?" (Answer, #882.)

From the "Monday Backspin" column on the PGA Tour website crafted by Lauren Deason:

"NO QUIT IN DUVAL: David Duval doesn't quit. He didn't give up over the last decade, when many people assumed he was finished in golf. Once the world's top-ranked golfer, Duval had dropped to 882nd in the Official World Golf Ranking before the week began at Bethpage Black. You heard the stats all week. Duval hadn't earned a top-10 finish since 2002. His last win came at the 2001 British Open. He had missed eight cuts in 14 starts this year. So how could he possibly have tied for second at the U.S. Open? It's easy -- perseverance, determination and a lot of confidence. It may be arrogance, but it's where I feel like I belong, Duval said after his final-round 71. I had no question in my mind I was going to win the golf tournament. Duval's hopes for major glory -- and a major comeback -- appeared to be dashed when he made a triple bogey on the third hole in the final round. But he rebounded with five birdies and just two bogeys over the next 15 holes. Of his performance after that triple bogey, Duval simply said, 'I don't quit.' He proved that more than once this week."

Bill Pennington of the NY Times wrote a charming piece on what I thought, was the biggest story of The Open...Phil's FIFTH, second-place US Open finish. Phil missed two short par putts in the final four holes to lose it. Click on the link to go into the locker room with Lefty after it was all over:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/sports/golf/23golf.html?hpw

Thirteen of us blew our Tiger bullet with his T-6 finish. "I striped it this week," he said. "I hit it just like I did [in the victory] at Memorial. Unfortunately, I didn't make anything. My good [putts] were not going in, and my bad ones weren't even close. I left a lot of putts short. And then when I tried to hit it harder, I gunned it past the hole. I gave myself so many chances, and made nothing." Oh well, that's golf!

Glen Marzion jumps into eighth place in our funky pool with his astute, double-money pick of Lefty that paid off like a win. I count ten of you who think that Hunter Mahan will play back to his T-2 finish last year in this coming weeks anti-climactic, Travelers Championship in CT.

Last thought: Paddy's got about a month to find his game for The British where he's going for his third straight title.