Thought for the Day:
A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour
Surely not again?
Phil Mickelson is so well known for finishing runner-up in the US Open that the fact he has done it six times is almost inscribed on every golfer’s heart. And of course, his own national championship is the only significant hole in his CV – were he to capture it, at last, he would become only the sixth golfer of the modern era to take a career grand slam (the others being Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods). But what are the odds?
On the plus side, he’s been driving the ball well so shouldn’t miss too many fairways. And if he should fail to find the short grass he will face the same problems as the rest of the field and his tournament will then depend on luck. Golf course architects Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore were called in by the USGA to restore Pinehurst No 2, widely regarded as one of the best strategic, or thinking courses in the world, to its former splendour. The general impression seems to be that they have done this in spades. They ripped out more than 40 acres of Bermuda grass and removed about 550 sprinklers – around half the number that were on the course. In consequence, areas off the fairway have reverted to their natural sandy state and the kind of lie in which competitors can expect to find their ball is in the lap of the golfing gods. It could be perched up on a little sandy tee, buried in the indigenous wiry grass that resembles nothing as much as weeds, or unplayable in foot high dandelions.
The other plus for Phil is that a good short game is essential at Pinehurst. The greens have been likened to turtle’s backs, the bonnet of a VW Beetle or an upturned wok, and they are bumpy and undulating, so a delicate touch, of the kind at which Phil is a master, is a great asset. Also, because the US Women’s Open is being played over the same course a week after the men’s event, the course maintenance guys will not be able to cut the greens as tight as they would like. This means we will not see what we have often seen in previous years – putting surfaces that have turned brown and virtually died by the last day of the US Open.
On the negative side, Phil is not having a great year (but says he’s very happy with his game) and his nerve on those crucial putts of six feet and in looks a bit uncertain – and that’s being polite. The biggest minus, however, is those six runners-up spots. Phil says they motivate him and if he keeps knocking on the door, sooner or later it will open. But I think each disappointment adds another layer of scar tissue, especially because on several of those close-but-no-coconut occasions, the tournament was his and he let it slip. It’s one thing to simply come up against someone who plays better on the day, it’s entirely another to have the championship in your grasp and throw it away.
Because I’m a sentimental sucker for a sporting sob story I will be cheering Phil on this week, but when I go the bookies my money will be on Matt Kuchar.
What does it tell us?
In a bold break with tradition the USGA is staging the men’s and women’s US Opens in consecutive weeks over the same golf course – who doesn’t think that the women’s event will feel like the day after the Lord Mayor’s Show?
Incidentally, 22 teenagers have qualified to play in the US Women’s Open. This tells us something profound about the state of the women’s game but I’m still trying to decide what.
We knew it wouldn’t last
Just briefly, two years ago when GB&I unexpectedly lifted the Curtis Cup at Nairn, all four major team competitions – the Ryder, Solheim, Walker and Curtis cups, were on the same (ie, correct) side of the Atlantic. We knew it wouldn’t last and the men amateurs duly lost out in 2013. Now the GB&I women have just been trashed in the Curtis Cup, losing 13-7. It was such a crunching victory that the outcome was almost decided before the last day singles had begun. In the history of the Curtis Cup the America record is won 28, lost 7, tied 3. Surely time to consider widening our pool of players to include continental Europe, as we did with the Ryder Cup.
Is there no-one in golf officialdom, or with any influence or power, who does not recognise that making this change in the men’s pro game revived a contest that was just about dead on its feet because America kept winning with such predictable, nauseatingly easy consistency? The change, to include continental European players, happened in 1979. That’s 35 years in which people of influence should have noticed that Great Britain and Ireland have lifted the Curtis Cup four times in 18 playings (with one tie). To say that this is a bit lopsided is like saying that Tiger Woods is a bit of a miser.
Quote of the Week
When you’re having trouble and topping the ball, it means the ground is moving on you
Chi Chi Rodriguez