Some thoughts on the still-early stages of the U.S. Open

Mike Dudurich

Posted 2009-06-20

Already we have witnessed one of the most bizarre U.S. Opens on record … starting with the fact that as Saturday evening arrives, only a small portion of the third round will get played before Sunday morning.

-- Let’s start at the top. On Friday morning, Tiger Woods gets to the 15th tee at Bethpage Black at even par, sitting pretty for a nice comfortable finish to the first day, er, round, er, day and round. Not so fast my friends. He went 4-over on the final four holes, very un-Tiger like and back in the middle of the pack.

He was not pleased – shocking – and had to wait until late Saturday morning before starting his second round. He struggled to a round of 69 and has a lot of work today whenever his next appearance on the tee begins.

-- You can look it up … There was actually a 30 shot on the front nine Friday morning. And it wasn’t by anyone you could guess in less than a couple hundred tries. Would you believe … Kevin Sutherland? He started on the back nine and had his lunch eaten by the Black, posting a 41. The front nine, however, was dessert. Five birdies on those opening holes and the 44-year-old, hardly a bomber in driving distance, finished the first round 1-over par.

-- You’ve heard me say this before but the USGA has this reputation of being a group of elitist stuffed-shirts with little or no connection with the average golfer. Credit must be given to them, however, for working over the last decade or so to change that and they did a great deal of good PR Friday with a late-morning announcement.

When they had to suspend play in the first round Thursday because of the hard rains that hit Long Island, the 42,500 fans who showed up got to see about 3 hours of golf. The USGA has no provision in their ticket policies for rain checks, so those folks were, well, left out in the rain.

A difficult decision and an unpopular one, but one that made sense considering the same number of tickets had been sold for each of the remaining days of the tournament. Executive director David Fay announced that if there is golf played on Monday, Thursday tickets will be honored.

There were plenty of unhappy New Yorkers when the no-rain check policy was announced. But they now have an opportunity to see some of the most important golf of the week.

Kudos to the USGA for their move.

-- I chuckled watching the television coverage, especially when they showed some of the amateurs like Drew Weaver and Ben Martin.

I covered the Sunnehanna Amateur, a 56-year-old event for the elite college and international players, last week in Johnstown, Pa. Martin, Weaver, Rickie Fowler and Cameron Tringale played there and had already qualified for this week’s Open. What struck me Friday morning was how different the demeanor of Weaver and Martin was this week opposed to last.

At Sunnehanna Country Club, it was all about them and their swagger on and off the course showed they knew it.

At Bethpage, they have become the little fish in a great, big pond and you can see it in how they make their way around the enormous U.S. Open stage. It’s all part of the learning process that might someday make them become those bigger fish.

-- Mike Weir isn’t anywhere near the top on the list of driving distance on the PGA Tour (142nd), but that didn’t stop him from posting the best score of the truncated first round. Despite averaging only 255 yards off the tee, Weir shot a 6-under 64 that included eight birdies and one double bogey. Lucas Glover duplicated that round Saturday morning.

“Because the greens are so soft, it’s actually made the long shots into the greens a little easier,” Weir, a former Masters champion, said.

-- Once again, I’m absolutely astounded at how utterly wrong weather forecasters can be and still keep their high-paying jobs. The forecasts were dire for Saturday, predictions were for 2 or 3 inches of rain to fall on Long Island through the day and into Sunday.

No golf would be played, perhaps forcing a Tuesday or Wednesday finish to this 72-hole event.

As we all know by now, however, the guys who got up early to finish their second rounds did so. And those who didn’t even start theirs until later in the morning, also finished theirs.

The chances of a Sunday finish still aren’t great, with the third round not even starting until late Saturday afternoon.

It’s a good thing that Mike Davis, the USGA’s director of rules and competitions, keeps what he hears from the weather guessers in perspective.

-- What Glover and Weir have done in two rounds is pretty remarkable, considering Glover has been virtually invisible this year on the PGA Tour and Weir’s game is not suited for a long, wet U.S. Open course.

Throw in former U.S. Amateur Ricky Barnes, another guy with not much of a professional resume, who posted rounds of 67-65 and established a 36-hole scoring record for the Open and what we have is a most unlikely leaderboard.

Don’t bet next month mortgage on any of them being there when the Open finally is concluded.

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About Mike...
As a sports writer for over 35 years, Mike Dudurich has seen a lot of great things, covered spectacular events, but his passion is, and has been golf. He recently ended a 29-year career at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and will now be a frequent contributor on GolfGearReview.com. Mike hosts a weekly golf radio show on 1250 ESPN in Pittsburgh from the beginning of April through the end of August. The show airs Saturdays from 8-9 a.m. and can be heard online at http://stations.espn.go.com/stations/espnradio1250/show?showId=insidepghgolf - Listen to Mike Here!.

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