The 2009 U.S. Open – Parting Shots
At NiceBallz we had to endure four days of hellish golf TV viewing to get four hours of great drama only to be left with an unsatisfactory conclusion to the U.S. Open. Here, three days late because we have day jobs and it took us that long to figure out why we care, are our thoughts on the 109th U.S. Open.
Tedious TV – Watching the U.S. Open this year was a chore. Sure, the USGA and NBC couldn’t do anything about the poor weather. We know. But viewers never knew which round they were watching. Was it live or a replay? If you stepped out of the room it was difficult to know. So there wasn’t the same mounting drama we usually get. It was disjointed. Then they cut to Al Roker, “America’s weatherman,” a little too often. Finally, NBC showed replays of last year’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines during another rain delay at Bethpage. Yeah, last year was epic, but did we need to see it again? When I stepped away once and came back to watch Tiger, wearing red, was in the right rough on 18. I thought it was live. Then they showed Rocco Mediate watching nervously in the clubhouse, and I knew I’d been conned. Watching this year’s Open was a joke. I’m not sure what else NBC or the USGA could have done. Nothing really. But watching this year was weak sauce.
Sergio Redeemed? - Seven years ago at the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage, the New York fans heckled the hell out of Sergio Garcia, then a younger and more boorish golfer who waggled incessantly. This year the fans seemed to cut him some slack. Yeah, he doesn’t waggle 43 times before a shot anymore. Thank you! And, perhaps his recent broken heart made Sergio a more sympathetic figure. Nowhere was the newfound affection more evident than when Sergio sprayed his drive on No. 1 way left on Sunday afternoon. He pitched out of the tall grass into a trampled dirt patch where the gallery had been. The people could have skewered him for unraveling in their midst. But when directing patrons out of his way for a third recovery shot, Sergio asked for the man with the kid to move. Rather than heckle him further a few of the more boisterous crowd yelled, “Move the kid! Get back kid!” It was as if the crowd was on Sergio’s side. Quite a change from last time Sergio roamed this public golf course. He even got a few pats on the back when he returned to the fairway, effectively returning to good graces with the rough New York crowds.
Phil Nonchalant About Losing - Phil Mickelson had Lucas Glover right where he wanted him. Then, like so many times before, Phil missed two makeable putts and bogeyed two of the last four holes to lose by two strokes. In doing so, he set a record for finishing in second place a fifth time. Yet Phil has never been more blasé about losing. His wife has cancer. She’ll undergo surgery in a few days. Phil wanted to win yet he didn’t and it didn’t seem to matter. Maybe he has bigger things to worry about. Maybe his priorities are in the right place. But he seemed to care less than ever. Maybe it’s because he knows he’ll eventually win one. I think he will and I think he knows it. Good for him.
Tiger, Tiger Woods, y’all! - Did luck of the draw doom Tiger? Maybe, though he wasn’t exactly whining about it. At the same time, Champions find a way to get it done and Tiger, uncharacteristically, didn’t on Sunday (wait, we mean Monday). More disappointingly Tiger failed to come from behind to win a Major yet again. He gave us epic drama, but in the end came up short and we are left to wonder – Is this a year when Tiger goes 0-fer in Majors? Personally, we think the PGA Championship at Hazeltine has his name all over it.
David Duval - David Duval has been hard to like at times. When he was on top of the world many people found him stand-offish. Aloof. Distant. Even arrogant. How wrong. The man was simply focused on the task at hand and has clearly been doing the same for the past several years. Aside from Mickelson winning, Duval was our favorite, but a heartbreaking miss on 17 dashed any hopes. We’d be satisfied with the runner-up status if he can use this as a springboard for a return to the winner circle – whether in a regular PGA tour event or a major. It would be great to see the man behind the shades emerge from the shadows once more.
Ricky Barnes – We’ve seen a lot of people speculate that this is the beginning of great things for Ricky. Unless he gets some serious coaching up to fix the swing flaws that were painfully obvious on Monday we say – UNLIKELY. Nothing personal, we pulled for Barnes who handled the spotlight with great poise and affability. But his performance in the final round was as predictable as a romantic comedy screenplay: Boy meets Open, Boy woos Open, Boy loses Open. The only difference was in this case – Barnes (Boy) did not win Open back. Unhappy ending indeed.
Lucas Glover - What is not to like about Lucas Glover? Soft spoken. Deferential. Respectful. A grinder. A worker. In many ways everything a U.S. Open is meant to embody – anyone can win if you work hard enough. It’s also why this Open will almost certainly go down as a completely forgettable event except for it being the latest of a string of chances Mickelson missed his chance on, or where (we hope) David Duval began a tremendous comeback. If he proves us wrong and wins another major or two we would like nothing more – but odds (and past history of relative ‘unknowns’ winning) are against it.
The USGA Got Its Man - The USGA got the champion they want. Lucas Glover fits the mold. He is boring and consistent. Fairways and greens, and two putts. The USGA doesn’t necessarily try to identify the best golfer; we already know who that is. The USGA seems to want to find the most consistent golfer over four days, and one who can manage his game by remaining emotionless. Lucas Glover is in the mold of Trevor Immelman, Michael Campbell, Rich Beem, Ben Curtis, Steve Jones, Shaun Micheel or Todd Hamilton as recent major championship winners that casual golf fans have never heard of. But this is who the USGA wants to win. He finds a lot of fairways and makes a lot of putts. Lucas Glover reminds us of Stewart Cink or Chad Campbell, two other players who we think someday could win a U.S. Open. Not the best players in the world, just consistent guys without big weaknesses in their game.
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The USGA along with its confrere R&A are not in the business of entertainment. Rather, they try to create a level playing field adjusted for the player’s negative handicap indices -all in defense of par. In relation to the average PGA event, it is Harvard versus Clown Academy …or Yale. I digress. It’s meant to mean something timelesss, a distillation of golf in our time to measure ourselves against the ages. I found it elevating.
Okay -I just stuck the fork in it and it was overcooked and soggy.
The only real difference between golf now and golf then is equipment. I simply don’t buy the argument of “players now are better athletes” and won’t until I hear or see Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson kick the top of a door frame while standing beneath it. Sam Snead could do that.
More importantly, Snead could drive a golf ball 300 yards, in the fairway, using far more inferior equipment — he had persimmon drivers fitted with early-era steel shafts in his hands, and was striking a wound golf ball with at an aerodynamic disadvantage compared to now.
Golf courses then were by no means as manicured, and that meant thin lies, rocks in bunker sand, and greens as bumpy as old asphalt — and those greens would make today’s poa annua putting surfaces look as smooth as Miss June’s bottom end.
I always took David Duval as a man who was more shy and reserved than stand-offish. He’s not extremely polished in front of a microphone and his discomfort even now is obvious. Some folks just aren’t great at being interviewed live and he’s one of them.
If Phil has more than a trophy on his mind, who can blame him. We’re lucky he even played, considering what his family is going through.
Finally, I agree that Mr. Woods will win a major this year, but I think it may come as soon as Muirfield. He just needs to get his putter fixed.
I agree that David Duval is more shy than haughty. He’s not a blog, twitter, shout out kind of fellow.
Snead had pure mechanics. The equipment is much better -I tried hitting a rotten old persimmon wood a few months ago and it was not easy hitting it pure -my modern wood can go as far as my old persimmon driver.
I’d disagree with the idea that the USGA, R&A and any other organizations who exist as a result of and for the sake of golf aren’t also in the business of entertainment.
If they weren’t…why have their product on TV? Why market it extensively? They are about entertainment – whether they would stoop as low to ever acknowledge it or not.
They played the cards that were dealt them in terms of the weather and the winner. Nothing they could have done about either really.
But in the end, we’re pretty confident that this tournament will go down in history as being one of the more forgettable outcomes and people will recall the rain, Lefty and Duval more than the winner – which is too bad, but that’s life.
Delighted to find such support for David Duval, as he has always seemed to me more reserved than arrogant. I was most impressed with his elegant speech as our Open champion, his candour about the anticlimax he felt afterwards, and would welcome him back into the winner’s circle.
Doesn’t stop me shouting at him to hold his belly in though.