U.S. Open Capsules: Pebble now an intimate meeting of land and sea
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — One shot that stands out from the last U.S. Open at Pebble Beach was the 7-iron that Tiger Woods gouged out of the right rough on the par-5 sixth, a blind shot over the hill and onto the green to turn trouble into birdie.
He might not get so lucky if it happens this year.
That famous meeting of land and sea is a lot more intimate at this U.S. Open.
In a subtle change that could put even more fear into Pebble Beach, the USGA opted to eliminate the rough on six holes along the Pacific coastline, allowing errant shots to go over the cliff and into the biggest water hazard in golf.
“If the wind is into us on those holes, you’re going to see a lot of fun and games,” Ernie Els said. “I actually hit one onto the beach the other day on the 10th hole. If you just leak it there, there’s no way. The cliff comes into the fairway a little bit and from the tee, you might think you can fly it over that side. But you can’t. Or at least I can’t.”
Els didn’t go down to the beach to play his next shot. It was a practice round. Besides, “I don’t know if I would have come back up.”
Padraig Harrington knows where not to hit his tee shot on the sixth hole. He pushed it a little bit to the right during the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February and watched it tumble over the bluffs and onto the rocks at Stillwater Cove.
“I’m not sure if it’s playable to the right,” he said. “It certainly wasn’t playable then.”
That’s just one more element for Woods, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood and the rest of the 156-man field to contend with when the 110th U.S. Open gets under way on Thursday.
Pebble Beach already is a severe test with its tiny greens, already so firm that the USGA put water on them before the final practice round Wednesday to keep them from dying by the weekend. The forecast is for cool temperatures and no rain all week, although there is no predicting whether a marine layer will keep the sun off the Monterey Peninsula.
“Fog will be the players’ friend,” said Roger Maltbie, a Pebble regular who now works for NBC Sports. “If we get sunny conditions with a bit of breeze, this will be a great championship. And I’d be very surprised if anyone breaks par.”
Only one player broke par the last time — Woods with an unfathomable 12-under 272 to win by 15 shots.
Woods played only the back nine Wednesday, finishing with a tee shot into the bunker on the 18th, blasting out to the fairway, then ripping a 2-iron onto the green. Asked what club he used, Woods laughed and said, “None of your business.”
That was a reference to his terse reply when someone asked about the state of his marriage in his press conference Tuesday. With so much chaos in his personal life, Woods has enough to get his attention at Pebble Beach.
Pebble is as beautiful as ever this week. It figures to be as brutal a test at the U.S. Open.
“It’s a course where you need to bring your complete game,” Geoff Ogilvy said. “Of all the venues, when Pebble is set up like this, it’s the one that separates a guy who is on top of his game. That was definitely true in 2000. And I think it will be this time.”
Pebble Beach is only 7,040 yards, the shortest track for a U.S. Open in seven years, yet it tests so much of the game — off the tee, from the fairway, around the green, and the patience required at what is billed the “toughest test in golf.”
Shaving down the rough along the ocean, and around the edges of fairway bunkers, could make it even tougher. It’s not a links course, although the strategy might be similar this week.
“You’re trying to avoid the bunkers, you’re trying to avoid the ocean,” said Mike Davis, the senior director of rules and competition who set up the course. “The ground matters. We’re really accentuating gravity this week. Where is gravity taking the golf ball? We don’t get that lucky very often.”
It was a swamp at Bethpage Black last year, when Lucas Glover outlasted the field in a rain-delayed Monday finish. Even at Torrey Pines two years ago in San Diego, another coastal Open, the sticky, kikuyu grass keeps the fairways from running fast.
Pebble is a treat in so many ways.
“You have to be in complete control,” Ogilvy said. “Whether the winning score is 12 over or 12 under, if the guy with every aspect of his game wins, there’s nothing more you can ask of a golf course.”
Mickelson has one request — anything but a silver medal.
He has a record five of them already from being the runner-up at the U.S. Open, all in the past 11 years. Mickelson celebrated his 40th birthday on Wednesday by playing golf at Cypress Point, considered the finest coastal course in America.
Mickelson, who could become No. 1 in the world this week with at least a third-place finish, played Pebble Beach last week and knows it as well as anyone. He is a three-time winner of the PGA Tour stop, and he opened the 1992 U.S. Open with a 68 in his first round as a pro. He shot 81 the next day and missed the cut.
“I think it’s the best U.S. Open set up that I’ve seen,” Mickelson said. “The one area of concern I have is the greens. They’re so small and they’re so firm that, given there’s not any forecast for rain, I’m certainly concerned that we could have 14 potential seventh holes at Shinnecock if we’re not careful.”
The par-3 seventh at Shinnecock in 2004 — where Mickelson was the runner-up — became so dead that balls no longer stayed on the green and it had to be watered in the middle of the round.
Otherwise, he thinks it’s about perfect. And so do many others.
“It seems like they have it all under control,” Adam Scott said. “No matter what happens, it’s a pretty spectacular way to spend the day, whether it’s the U.S. Open or not.”
Commentary: Tiger of old threatens to make Open appearance
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A chilly breeze swept through Pebble Beach on Wednesday, prompting players to put on sweaters and doing little to calm their fears that the seaside course will get so fast it will almost be unplayable in the U.S. Open.
It wasn’t a lot warmer in the media tent the day before, where Tiger Woods drew a standing room-only crowd of writers for the ritual dance that both he and they seem to be finding increasingly distasteful.
Questions about the state of his game were dismissed with his usual vagueness.
Questions about the state of his personal life were simply dismissed.
“None of your business,” Woods said when asked about his marriage.
It is, of course, because Woods himself made it some of everybody’s business. He was the one who tried to stop the hemorrhaging of his public image with a national television address about his affairs, and he was the one who vowed publicly not just to become a better husband but a better man.
There would be a new Tiger, he promised us all, and soon the world would see him for what he really is.
The world is still waiting.
Woods tees off Thursday in an Open that should tell us a lot about whether he can regain his edge on the golf course. He proclaims his game in good shape and seems more concerned with trying to win on Sunday than trying to make the cut on Friday.
Indeed, his game may be better. Who knows, maybe his marriage is, too, despite the plentiful rumors that say a very costly divorce is as imminent as it is inevitable.
But where is the better man he promised? Where is the player who vowed to show more respect to the game?
Not at Pebble Beach this week, apparently. If anything, the old Woods swagger seems to be back, along with the old Woods attitude.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing for golf fans. Most are sick of hearing about Woods’ private life and salivate just at the thought of him playing down the back nine on Sunday at Pebble with the Open on the line.
NBC executives would be thrilled, too. Woods moves the ratings needle like no player ever has.
They are probably quietly rooting for an expletive or two after a wayward drive, just like the old days. Might get people afraid to walk away during a commercial break, lest they miss something good.
So far this week there hasn’t been, at least off the course. Woods seems even more determined than before to offer fans anything, whether it be an autograph or a revealing quote.
He may have discarded the dark glasses that made him look like he was in the witness protection program, but he’s clearly still full bore in the Tiger protection program.
Ten years ago he won the Open here by an unbelievable 15 shots without saying a word to playing partner Ernie Els. Now his way of showing everyone he has changed comes by offering up this pablum about his opening pairing with Els.
“It’s neat to have Ernie in the group,” Woods said. “I think we’re going to have a good time.”
Yeah, then maybe dinner and a few drinks together. That work for you Ernie?
The prevailing logic going into this Open was that Woods wouldn’t have a good time this week no matter who he was paired with. That’s largely because he can’t seem to hit it straight off the tee, a quality that is usually critically important in the national championship.
But with the forecast for light winds and sunny skies all week, Pebble Beach is growing increasingly fast. And that means Woods can hit long irons and 3-woods off the tee on most holes and rarely reach into the bag for the club he can’t seem to control.
Couple that with a short game that seems as impeccable as ever, and Woods may have some reason for his optimism. At a time where he is desperate for some validation on the golf course, a golf course that plays fast and hard could be just what he needs.
Those who got to Pebble early enough Wednesday to catch the end of Woods’ practice round got a glimpse of that. After hitting into a fairway bunker on the seaside 18th and still having a long shot left, he took out an iron and sent a screamer onto the green.
A television reporter asked Woods what iron it was and he flashed two fingers before thinking better of it.
“None of your business,” he said.
Unlike the day before, he was smiling. And that offered up yet another possibility for this Open.
Maybe he and Els will have a good time after all.
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org
Pebble’s 17th defined by Nicklaus, Watson
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Walking along the back of the 17th green with wedge in hand, Aaron Baddeley dropped a few balls into the nest of tangled rough under his feet.
His target wasn’t the pin placed on the lower-tier of the hourglass-shaped green during a morning practice round. He was aiming at a white tee implanted near the back, just a few paces from the edge of the putting surface.
It wasn’t a shot Baddeley needed to practice at the time. It was a shot he tried because of the history of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
Sometimes lost among the other great holes and picturesque views of Pebble Beach, the par-3 17th and its 200-plus yards of history is forever defined by the 1-iron of Jack Nicklaus in 1972 and the wedge of Tom Watson in 1982.
It’s not worth arguing which was better. Most simply agree that each was remarkable.
“It’s like twofold, because ... when you’re sitting there hitting that tee shot, you look over there to the left I always remember seeing that shot on TV that Nicklaus hit the pin,” Steve Stricker said. “And then when you get up on the green, I mean it’s nine times out of 10, I’ll look over there in that spot where (Watson) chipped in from. So you remember both those shots, at least I do, equally.”
Watson and Nicklaus, rivals a generation apart, have yet another link by what they did on the 71st hole of the U.S. Open at Pebble.
Both shots came in the final round. Both are lauded for their remarkable degree of difficultly — Nicklaus pinging the flagstick with a club Lee Trevino once said “not even God can hit,” and Watson telling caddie Bruce Edwards he was about to sink a chip from off the green when bogey seemed inevitable.
Above all, both shots clinched the U.S. Open.
Asked what goes through his mind standing on the 17th tee, Baddeley didn’t bring up the bunkers framing the front and right sides of the green, the distracting Pacific Ocean in the background or the huge mound dividing the green that television shots fail to do justice.
“Tom Watson’s chip-in. Jack Nicklaus hitting the pin with a 1-iron,” he said without hesitation.
Aesthetically, the 17th doesn’t hold the same grandeur as Pebble’s finishing hole, or the others that hug the Pacific coastline. The deep bunkers surround a green that hides a contoured ridge creating two tiers.
If trying to hit the correct tier of the tiny green from more than 200 yards isn’t difficult enough, the prevailing wind is often hidden by the grandstands near the green.
Nicklaus still remembers that wind — angry and in his face — that made it a challenge to even find the green in ‘72, let alone nestle his shot just inches from the cup. With the club slightly off in his backswing, Nicklaus made an adjustment as he reached impact. The result was a shot that wrapped up his fourth and final U.S. Open title.
“The shot I performed, I don’t think I could ever do again,” Nicklaus said this week at a clinic for wounded veterans in Washington state. “I had a shot where the wind was howling from left to right and into my face. I didn’t know if I could get it there or not.
“I laced a 1-iron and I was quite content to be in the front bunker because I thought I had a good chance to make a three from the front bunker. I had a couple-of-shot lead. But the ball carried the bunker.”
Watson received a special exemption to play in this Open at age 60. While it wasn’t a condition of his ticket back to Pebble Beach, Watson has spent a few moments standing around the 17th green for pictures with some of his practice partners looking to capture a bit of history.
Watson admitted Wednesday he’s tried to replicate his “lucky shot” — as part of an instructional video he’s creating. He holed the shot again, although he wouldn’t say how many takes it took.
“Nostalgia, I guess it comes at 17th tee or 17th green and 18th tee,” Watson said. “Everybody wants to take a picture, so it kind of reminds me of what happened, what occurred here before. It’s pretty sweet, pretty nice.”
Young and old alike, everyone knows the history of the two shots at 17 that won the first two Opens played at Pebble Beach. Amateur qualifier Andrew Putnam was nearly two decades from being born when Nicklaus hit the stick in ‘72.
Baddeley was barely a year old when Watson hit his tee shot over the green, confidently relayed his plan to Edwards, then followed through with a birdie that left Nicklaus stunned in the clubhouse in the middle of a TV interview.
During his practice round Monday, Fred Funk asked the gallery at 17 if anyone saw Nicklaus’ shot in person. Funk saw just a bunch of shaking heads, but everyone knew what he was asking.
The 17th failed to be a factor in 1992 and 2000. Tom Kite’s magical moment came on the seventh hole, while Tiger Woods needed no luck running away with his 15-shot win.
Video archives help keep alive the history of what the 17th meant for Nicklaus and Watson. For the duo, the two shots remain vivid. Nicklaus considered it one of three great 1-irons in his career.
“It was a pretty good shot,” he said.
-- Tim Booth
Watson still has a dream, and game to go with it
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The last time Tom Watson was at a course where he felt this much at home, this comfortable, he almost won the British Open.
That was last year, above the water at Turnberry.
This week, he’s overlooking the Pacific at Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open. And if there’s one man who doesn’t need convincing that anything is possible at Pebble, Watson is the man.
If his plan goes to form, his return to the course where he chipped in on No. 17 to win in 1982 will not be for ceremonial golf. Nor will it be merely for a nostalgic trip back to the spot where he hit one of the most famous shots in the game’s history.
“I am playing well,” Watson declared Wednesday.
Which should mean something, even though Watson is 60 and isn’t “supposed” to be thinking about winning these things anymore.
Last year, he was one 8-foot putt away from capping what many would’ve called the most remarkable golf story ever — a 59-year-old man winning the British against a bunch of players half his age.
“Would have been a helluva story,” Watson said, repeating his line from last year, after he missed the putt, lost the playoff to Stewart Cink and broke the hearts of pretty much everyone outside the Cink family.
Thing is, the loss didn’t stop Watson from playing well. He claims to be as comfortable on the golf course as he has been in decades, still hitting the ball long and straight and finding answers, most of the time, for a putter that used to confound him. He was tied for second after the opening round of the Masters earlier this year, and thanks to a special exemption granted to him by the USGA, he will become the only person to play in all five U.S. Opens at Pebble Beach when he tees it up Thursday.
He will be playing with Rory McIlroy and Ryo Ishikawa, two players who could combine their ages and still be more than 20 years younger than Watson.
But Watson is redefining what a player can do at 60, even on the toughest courses against the toughest competition.
“I still feel as if I can play the golf course,” he said. “I’m out there and I’m still trying to figure it out, figuring out all these lies, these unpredictable lies around the green and the rough. And trying to figure out the new lines and where you have to hit the ball off the tee.”
Yes, Pebble Beach has changed since Watson won here in 1982, pitching that ball from a mound in the rough behind the 17th green, then watching it hit and trickle downhill into the cup for a birdie while Jack Nicklaus looked on, amazed.
But where most golf courses have gotten longer in the past 30 years, as architects try to counteract the effect of technology and stronger players, Pebble has changed more subtly. For this year’s Open, the fairways have been mowed down so they now drop off into the hazards on the oceanside holes. Bunkers have been added. Some trees have been removed, others planted.
The course’s biggest defense remains the fickle wind and weather and the small greens. Quite simply, it will not be a tournament decided solely on who can hit the ball farthest.
The question then becomes, why, exactly, would you count Watson out?
“He’ll just play it with a lot of wisdom and cunning, and also past knowledge. Forget the age,” said Johnny Miller, calling the action for NBC. “You think, ‘well, he’s not a favorite’ but he could contend. I don’t know if he can do it for four rounds, but he’s a great part of the story if he can have a good first round.”
Watson acknowledged that as he has walked around Pebble this week, he has felt the push and pull between nostalgia and the desire to remain competitive — something that comes up most poignantly when he reaches the 17th green and the 18th tee.
“Everybody wants to take a picture,” he said. “It kind of reminds me of what happened, what occurred here before. It’s pretty sweet, pretty nice.”
The memories at Pebble Beach, though, extend well back from that memorable shot in 1982, when he won his sixth of eight majors, and his only U.S. Open. When he was a college kid at Stanford, and the green’s fees were $15, the starter used to let him sneak on for free. He remembers the “black-and-blue” burned-out greens from the 1972 Open that Nicklaus won, remembers playing at Bing Crosby’s old clambake with buddies from Kansas City.
He remembers the time, a few months after his 1982 victory, when he and a few pals ran out to the spot where he made the chip — at twilight and after a few bottles of wine — to see who could recreate the shot.
“Sculled it clear over the green,” he said.
Memories, of course, will get him nowhere this week.
And listening to him talk — not just the words he says, but the way he says them — it’s clear Watson is someone who thinks he might be able to go somewhere, even if time is no longer on his side.
“I don’t know, it could be a year, could be three years, could be six years,” he said when asked how long he can come to events like these and think about contending. “I hope it’s a long time because that’s what I am, I’m a golfer. Plain and simple, a golfer. That’s what I do. That’s what I am. And when I can’t do it anymore on a competitive level, it’s going to be a sad day.”
-- Eddie Pells
Campbell back at U.S. Open trying to find answers
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Michael Campbell's victory at Pinehurst in 2005 started a run of unheralded golfers — sans Tiger Woods in 2008 — to walk away with U.S. Open titles.
Now the 41-year-old New Zealand native struggles to break 80. He hasn't made a cut in 2010 and hasn't shot a round in the 60s on either the European or PGA tours in nearly a year.
It appears to be a dramatic fall.
Over four rounds at Pinehurst in 2005, Campbell remained steady throughout the brutal conditions, shooting 69 in the final round to hold off Woods by two shots.
He arrives at Pebble Beach in what appears to be the worst slump of his career, having shot 80 or higher in nine of the 15 competitive rounds he's completed in 2010. His U.S. Open exemption lasts another five years, but Campbell seems nowhere near his 2005 form.
"I do my own thing. My view on it is it's just the game of golf," Campbell said on Wednesday. "I still feel privileged to actually play the game that I love and make a living from it."
The year Campbell won the Open was the high point of his career. He followed up the victory at Pinehurst with a fifth place finish at the British Open and a sixth at the PGA Championship. He played in the Presidents Cup and was poised to be the next great Kiwi golfer.
It's been a complete struggle since, each year getting progressively worse.
The last cut Campbell made in a PGA event was the 2008 PGA Championship, where he finished 13 over. He hasn't made a cut in a European Tour event since last September in the European Masters.
"It's just the way I am. It's what I do," Campbell said. "I've always done it. Ever since I was a kid growing up as a junior in amateur golf I've always done this. I'm used to it, but you guys are not."
To that end, the difficult setup of a U.S. Open and Pebble Beach might not be the best remedy for Campbell's struggling game. He's played just seven times on the European Tour this season and badly missed the cut in both of his PGA Tour stops at Bay Hill and the Masters.
He played two weeks ago at the Wales Open and the results weren't encouraging — 76 in the first round, 78 in the second. Meanwhile, Graeme McDowell won the event at 15 under.
"I'm looking at the big picture right now rather than the small picture," Campbell said. "It's about plugging away and working on your processes and the outcome will come."
-- Tim Booth
Sweaters, fleece vests, beanies OK at Pebble Beach
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Kristoffer Shane prides himself in looking good on the golf course. This week at the U.S. Open, it’s all about long pants and pullover sweaters for this Floridian who never needs anything remotely close to this much clothing when he plays back home.
Shane, a senior-to-be at Division II University of Tampa, is an alternate and qualifier who was still on site Wednesday with slim hopes of cracking a 156-player field that is set for the opening round Thursday. He would love to show off not only his game but also a few more of his new duds. He had to buy several warmer options to play at Pebble Beach.
“This is basically winter for us,” Shane joked at the practice range Wednesday morning, when he wore a favorite charcoal gray sweater for the first time since January with a crisp new pair of matching pinstripe pants. “I’m not used to golfing in sweaters. I brought a whole collection.”
Shane’s caddie and longtime buddy, Brandon Blake, sported one of the louder looks of the day: a sweater of thick horizontal stripes in purple, gray and baby blue to go with his khaki slacks.
“I have the best dressed caddie,” the 22-year-old Shane said with a chuckle before they headed to tee off for a practice round.
Several golfers wore long sleeve T-shirts underneath their polos.
Matthew Richardson kept taking on and off his argyle sweater early in his afternoon round as it warmed up.
“The number of times he’s taken his sweater off ... all day,” his caddie, Joe Shuchat, quipped. “It’s in and out of the bag. This morning it was windy. He’ll probably want it back on for 4, 5 and 6 and take it off after that.”
Stylish summer outfits, large sunglasses and sunscreen are largely going by the wayside — make that seaside in these parts — this week on the Monterey Peninsula in favor of hoodies, windbreakers, fleece vests and even a few stocking caps. One fan walked through the gates sporting a similar argyle sweater to Richardson’s to watch Wednesday’s rounds.
The fan was far from the only one prepared with an extra layer or two. A female supporter with one of the golfers Tuesday had on a beanie over her hat on a gray, breezy day.
“You look at weather.com and it says 65 and sunny and you get out here and it’s low 50s and cloudy and a little bit of breeze,” said Pebble veteran Mike Weir, who plays this course every year. “Any time you are by the coast, you’ve got to have a little luck of the draw. There are so many factors when you play close to the coast.”
This is such a different climate for a major played in mid-June. It was a sunny and warm, for here anyway, 59 degrees early Wednesday with a northwest wind at 6 mph and the chance of the high reaching 65. The rare sight of sun prompted a couple of course officials to slather sunblock on their faces and necks early in the day.
And this was expected to be one of the best days of the week. While Thursday could be mostly sunny with a high of 64, highs of 61 were in the forecast for Friday and Saturday and 62 for Sunday’s final round. The low was anywhere from 51-53 degrees.
That’s a far cry the scorching, steamy weather on the horizon for next year’s Open at Congressional Country Club in Maryland — or even at next month’s U.S. Women’s Open at Oakmont Country Club (Pa.), and any event played in New York or North Carolina for that matter. Yet last year at Bethpage, everybody had umbrellas for an Open that was pushed to an extra day because of all the rain.
At least at Pebble, the spectacular ocean views featuring sandy beaches, steep rock cliffs and the sound of waves crashing into the shore should provide a small distraction from the shivers along the expansive course.
It was Shane’s mother, Darcie, who researched the California coast and made sure her son — who lives at home — was prepared for anything.
“She’s a professional shopper,” Shane said.
These conditions have been an adjustment — and a nice change of pace from the heat and humidity at home.
“Down here we think of California as hot,” Darcie Shane said Wednesday from Ruskin, Fla., about 30 miles south of Tampa. “I was just watching our weather and the heat index was over 100 degrees at 10 o’clock in the morning. It’s a hot one. I told them to enjoy the cool weather. I like taking good care of Kris. I want him to be prepared. You know how young boys are, they don’t know about the weather.”
-- Janie McCauley
Notebook: Pebble Beach thrilled to get U.S. Open again in 2019
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — As CEO of Pebble Beach Golf Links, Bill Perocchi was busy with all the last-minute preparations for the U.S. Open over the last month when more excitement came his way: preliminary talks of the 2019 Open returning to the Monterey Peninsula.
That’s the perfect time, too — it will be Pebble’s 100th anniversary.
It quickly became a go, with only a formal contract still necessary to make things official.
“It takes what is a great week and finds a way of making it even greater,” Perocchi said Wednesday following the announcement. “In 2000, we had the 100th playing of the U.S. Open. To have the U.S. Open return in 2019 at the 100th anniversary of Pebble Beach Golf Links, we think is just fitting. It says a lot about how special Pebble Beach is and it says a lot about the tradition and the history and just how great a place it is here.”
The 2019 event will mark Pebble’s sixth time hosting the Open after the current tournament starting Thursday.
The USGA also announced Wednesday the 2017 Open is headed for Erin Hills in Wisconsin.
Thomas J. O’Toole Jr., chairman of the USGA’s championship committee, said the decision to bring the Open back to Pebble in nine years accelerated last weekend and is still contingent on both sides signing a deal — something Perocchi expects to happen in the coming months.
“As we embark on our fifth United States Open Championship at Pebble Beach ... to have the chance to announce that we’re coming back here in 2019 for our sixth U.S. Open at Pebble Beach is a magical moment,” O’Toole said.
Before this year, Pebble last hosted the Open in 2000, the tournament’s 100th year.
Perocchi isn’t getting ahead of himself yet, though. His top priority is making sure every aspect of this Open runs smoothly, then he and his staff will spend a little time decompressing before beginning future plans in earnest.
“We look forward to focusing on this year’s Open this week,” he said. “Then we’ll start to think about 2018 and ‘19 and having the Open return here.”
Also, the 2018 U.S. Amateur is set to be held at Pebble and both O’Toole and Perocchi said there are talks of bringing a future U.S. Women’s Open here, after the 2019 Open.
RELAXED WESTWOOD: Lee Westwood played solo in his final practice session for Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Open. He still drew a huge crowd, and didn’t disappoint.
“That a way, Lee!” one man yelled from the bleachers about 30 feet behind the tee on the par-3, 195-yard fifth.
Westwood, who is still waiting to finally capture his first major after many near-misses, smiled to acknowledge the man and then got to work.
The Masters runner-up to Phil Mickelson, he hit all three of his shots to the green.
“That’s about right,” he said to his caddie before trying a second shot, then switching irons for another.
The good-natured Brit tipped his cap as he walked off, stopping to sign several autographs. It was more of the same for the fans after Westwood hit more than a dozen chips out of the second cut of rough.
After all, he could take his time and enjoy the warm afternoon considering he wasn’t holding up any playing partners.
OPEN PREPARATIONS: Geoff Ogilvy didn’t show up at Pebble Beach until Wednesday, which is not to suggest he hasn’t prepared properly. Ogilvy is among a growing number of players frustrated by the crowd inside the ropes during a practice round.
Instead, he chose to play Pebble on Saturday and Sunday (along with a round at Cypress Point), then headed to his summer home outside San Diego for two days of practice.
“You have three or four people in an entourage, so that’s 12 people in a group and balls are going everywhere,” he said. “And there seems to be more of a media presence.”
That’s why he enjoys practice at the Masters, where only the player and his caddie are allowed inside the ropes. At the British Open, the long summer allows him to start anywhere from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Ogilvy said practice rounds at the U.S. Open can last more than five hours, which is draining.
A NEW VIEW: Ah, what the neighbors will do for the sake of good television.
The owners of a house adjacent to the 18th hole at Pebble Beach agreed to let NBC tear out some shrubs in their yard so the network could install a crane there and attach a camera to the top of it.
The result: Viewers will get to see tee shots on the 18th coming almost straight at them, then see the players’ second shots speeding past the camera and landing near the green — a so-called “speed shot.”
NBC’s executive producer of the golf coverage, Tommy Roy, said Pebble is such a beautiful course, “there’s no need for gimmickry.”
But this one exception should make for a pretty cool gimmick, he said.
“It’s an angle nobody’s every seen at Pebble,” Roy said. “It’s going to be a dramatic shot.”
OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Louis Oosthuizen could only laugh and shake his head when he walked to where his golf balls had landed off the second tee during his practice round Wednesday afternoon. Two sailed across the cart path some 205 and 200 yards from the pin, and a pair of marshals were looking after each one. Another ball settled in a nearby bunker.
Oosthuizen, a 27-year-old from South Africa, signaled for the balls to be thrown back to him as he opted to get on with his practice and skip hitting those two from the rough. He focused on his shot out of the sand trap instead.
McILROY’S MISSION: Rory McIlroy is a Pebble Beach first-timer with hopes of playing as well as he did a year ago in his U.S. Open debut.
He realizes his second such tournament will be among the toughest challenges so far in his young career — after he finished in a tie for 10th at the 2009 Open at Bethpage. One of his opening-round playing partners is none other than Tom Watson.
“I played nine holes with Tom at the Masters this year in a practice round and he still hits it as good as anyone out here,” said the 21-year-old McIlroy, from Northern Ireland. “I think it will be a nice two days. I think it’s definitely a good draw for me. It should help me relax a little bit.”
-- Janie McCauley
U.S. Open facts and figures
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Facts and figures for the 110th U.S. Open golf championship, which starts Thursday.
Site: Pebble Beach Golf Links.
The course: Designed by two amateur players, Jack Neville and Douglas Grant, Pebble Beach opened in 1919. Jack Nicklaus redesigned the par-3 fifth hole along Stillwater Cove for the 2000 U.S. Open. It now is owned by a group that includes Arnold Palmer.
Length: 7,040 yards.
Par: 35-36—71.
Cut: Top 60 and ties, and anyone within 10 strokes of the lead after 36 holes.
Playoff, if necessary: 18 holes of stroke play on June 21.
Defending champion: Lucas Glover.
Last year: In a rain-soaked championship that took five days to complete 72 holes, Lucas Glover closed with a 3-over 73 for a two-shot victory at Bethpage Black over Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Ricky Barnes. Tied for the lead with three holes to play, Glover made his only birdie of the final round with an 8-iron to 6 feet on the 16th hole. Mickelson missed two par putts over the last four holes to set a U.S. Open record with his fifth runner-up finish.
Last time at Pebble Beach: In the most dominant victory in major championship history, Tiger Woods led wire-to-wire to win by 15 shots, a record for any major, and tied the U.S. Open record at 272. He did not make worse than par over the final 26 holes.
U.S. Open champions at Pebble Beach: Jack Nicklaus (1972), Tom Watson (1982), Tom Kite (1992), Tiger Woods (2000).
Noteworthy: The four U.S. Open champions at Pebble Beach — Tiger Woods, Tom Kite, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus — collectively have 202 victories on the PGA Tour and 41 majors.
Quoteworthy: “Old age and treachery can sometimes win out over youth and experience.” Tom Watson, 60, on playing the opening two rounds with 21-year-old Rory McIlroy and 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa.
Notable groups Thursday: Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, 4:30 p.m.; Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Y.E. Yang, 11:06 a.m.
Television (all times EDT): Thursday and Friday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., ESPN. 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., NBC Sports. 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. ESPN. Saturday, 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., NBC Sports. Sunday, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., NBC Sports.
Nationwide
Daly back in Arkansas for Nationwide Tour event
FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — While most of the golf world is focused on the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, there’s a two-time major winner feeling right at home at a struggling event on the Nationwide Tour.
John Daly is back in Arkansas to play in the Fort Smith Classic this week, and he hopes his presence can help the tournament attract attention from sponsors. Daly is from Dardanelle, about 75 miles from Fort Smith, and he’s looking forward to playing close to home.
In fact, he’s looking forward to playing, period. It doesn’t matter that this is the Nationwide Tour, where Daly hasn’t played since 1991 — shortly before his stunning victory at the PGA Championship.
“I’m just ready to play. It doesn’t matter where. These guys are as good as anybody else on tour,” Daly said. “I’ve always said it: The guys that play on this tour and the guys that play on our tour, we’re one putt away from keeping our card, every round. I think most of the guys could agree — that’s four shots a week.”
Daly has played 11 PGA Tour events this year, although he has not had his full PGA Tour card since 2006 and has been playing mainly on sponsor exemptions. It’s been 15 years since he won his second major, the British Open at St. Andrews, and now he’s trying to salvage his career while making fewer troublesome headlines off the course.
In March, the Florida Times-Union reported that Daly’s PGA Tour disciplinary file included five suspensions.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever really considered myself as a bad boy. I’ve just made some stupid decisions like a lot of other players have out here. We all make mistakes. We all get fined for throwing a club or saying this and that,” he said. “I’ve toned it down a lot. ... I think I had more fun when I was doing it the other way, but I’ve put a lot of work into my game and into my life. I just think it’s going to pay off. I know the talent’s there.”
And Daly is still a draw — in Arkansas, certainly. This tournament is in its 13th year, and that will probably be all if the event doesn’t find a title sponsor.
So executive director Patricia Brown reached out to Daly, who agreed to forget about trying to qualify for the U.S. Open. Instead, he committed to play in Fort Smith, and Brown says he’ll be back in future years if the event is still around.
“John Daly’s going to make the difference in whether this tournament stays or goes,” Brown said. “As I told him when I went to see him, this is our swan-song year where he has the opportunity to throw the Hail Mary.”
Daly is doing his part to help promote the event, singing the praises of the Hardscrabble Country Club course Wednesday after playing in a Pro-Am. Daly’s schedule also included a performance at a concert in the area.
The LPGA Tour recently started an event in northwest Arkansas, but there’s no PGA Tour stop in the state.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a Nationwide event or a Tour event — something to have professional sports in the state of Arkansas,” Daly said. “It would be great to keep it.”
Despite all that, Daly says he doesn’t feel too much extra pressure this week. He says he’s comfortable playing at home, and he’s played reasonably well in his PGA Tour events, making the cut eight times this year. He’s fought hip problems, and withdrew during two of those events, but last weekend he finished 64th at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn., shooting between 70 and 73 in all four rounds.
“I think Colonial and Memphis were the first two tournaments in three years that I actually felt good for four straight days playing,” he said.
This week, the question isn’t just where Daly’s career is headed — but whether this tournament will still be on the schedule a year from now. There’s a sense that if Daly can’t save it, nobody can.
“We’ll see what happens with the galleries,” Brown said. “I hope it’s crazy.”
-- Noah Trister
LPGA
Creamer continuing comeback at Jersey Shore
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Paula Creamer badly wants to give a thumbs-up at the end of this weekend’s ShopRite LPGA Classic.
It’s been a while since the 23-year-old LPGA Tour star has been able to use her left thumb for anything, let alone gripping a golf club.
Wednesday’s pro-am round marked just the second time Creamer has played 18 holes since undergoing surgery in Birmingham, Ala., on March 30.
“It feels good,” Creamer said after her round on Seaview’s picturesque Bay Course. “My thumb won’t be completely healed for quite a long time, but it’s progress. There was a point when I honestly didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to play golf again.”
She reached that point during the first event of the season, the Honda PTT tournament in Thailand. Creamer, who had first hurt her hand last year, was actually playing well despite the discomfort. Through 15 holes, she was 5-under par.
On the 16th hole, her pain turned to agony.
“I swung the club and felt it pop or tear or something,” Creamer said. “I just immediately went down on the ground and started to cry and I played the last three holes in tears.”
She initially opted against surgery, however. She saw three hand specialists and various physical therapists in search of treatment and/or a brace that would permit her to play golf without an operation.
One of her quests landed her at the Philadelphia Phillies’ spring training complex in Clearwater, Fla. She visited with the Phillies’ medical staff and spent some time hitting golf balls over the fence at Bright House Field with an 8-iron.
“The trainer I work out with knows the Phillies,” said Creamer, who is nicknamed “Pink Panther” for her fondness for the color. I actually threw out the first pitch (at a Phillies game last summer), so we kind of have that bonding.
“I hit some pink balls out on the field, which was pretty cool. The (grounds crew) was watching me take divots and they were running over and putting sand in them. It was the first time they said anybody’s ever hit a golf ball off their field, so it was pretty neat.”
A few weeks later, she was feeling blue.
Just like the Phillies’ Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and company, Creamer went into a hitting slump. Treatments, therapy and a cast failed to help alleviate the pain she felt whenever she tried to swing. The turning point came while she was attending the Tavistock Cup, the annual competition between residents of Lake Nona and Islesworth golf communities in Orlando, Fla.
“I was holding the Tavistock plate and I just watched it fall out of my hand,” said Creamer, who lives in Islesworth. “I had the operation a couple of days later.”
Dr. Thomas Hunt repaired stretched ligaments and a “hyperextension of the metacarpal phalangeal joint,” according to Creamer’s management team, IMG.
This weekend’s ShopRite Classic, which is back after a three-year hiatus, will give Creamer a chance to recapture some of the magic she first displayed at the same tournament in 2004. Then 17, she finished tied for second behind Cristie Kerr, barely missing a chance to become the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA tournament and the first amateur champion since 1969.
“It’s been a crazy couple of months for myself, but I’m glad to be back,” the eight-time LPGA Tour winner with nearly $7 million in career earnings said Wednesday. “My goals are just to really enjoy myself. I’ve been sitting out for so long it made me realize how much I truly love the game and how much I missed it.”
The 54-hole event starts Friday.
Elsewhere
Police arrest suspect in Chi Chi Rodriguez robbery
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A man suspected of leading masked assailants who robbed golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez inside his home was arrested on Wednesday.
Rey Francisco Rivera Marrero, 51, was arrested in the San Juan suburb of Bayamon, police spokeswoman Leticia Jover said.
The five robbers broke into Rodriguez’s apartment at Legado Golf Resort in the south-coast town of Guayama before dawn on May 19. The men woke Rodriguez and his wife, tied them up and stole cash and jewelry worth $500,000.
The 74-year-old golfer said in an interview that he could not identify any of the robbers because they were masked and dressed all in black. But he said he believes the other suspects are young people who will likely be arrested.
“I would like for this to be a lesson for the young people in Puerto Rico to start picking their role models a little better,” he said.
Rodriguez said he has been installing security systems since the robbery.
The golfer, known for his showmanship and victory dances, won eight times on the PGA Tour and has 22 senior tour victories.
