Posted on 06/09/2008 11:14:39 AM PDT by Zuben Elgenubi
This was five years ago in the final round of the Buick Invitational.
Brad Faxon, the other member of the threesome who was known that day as "Switzerland" for his neutral role in this affair, stepped behind the fourth green and whispered to reporters, "Is it always like this when Tiger plays, or is it both of them?"
Imagine what it will be like at the U.S. Open.
Woods, Mickelson and Adam Scott -- Nos. 1-2-3 in the world ranking -- will be in the same group the first two rounds of the U.S. Open next week at Torrey Pines. That's a dream group for television, and for fans in the front row and in grandstands.
But it could be a circus for the guys trying to win the second major of the year.
The only time Woods and Mickelson played together early in a major was the PGA Championship two years at Medinah. That was tradition, because the PGA Championship always puts together the three major champions of the year. Mickelson won the Masters, Woods the British Open and they were joined by U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy.
This seems more contrived.
At least everyone knows now -- not like there was ever much doubt -- that the USGA manipulates tee times the first two rounds.
For years, the U.S. Open was famous for grouping the best three players to have never won a major.
This time, the USGA didn't stop with the current Big Three.
It also grouped Nos. 4-5-6 (Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy and Justin Rose), Nos. 7-8-9 (Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and K.J. Choi) and Nos. 10-11-12 (Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Stewart Cink).
Mike Davis, the USGA's senior director of rules and competition, has been thinking about tee times since last summer. He could not recall the last time Woods and Mickelson were ever in the same group the first two days of a U.S. Open, much less on the same side of the draw.
"They always put Tiger in the opposite wave as Phil because television wanted it that way," Davis said. "As you know, our traditional pairing is the U.S. Open champion, British Open champion and U.S. Amateur champion. Sometimes that worked out if one of those two guys wins one. Of course, Phil has never won an Open."
Of course.
Davis, though, decided to take it one step further, and he found approval with every step up the USGA ladder.
"This year we got to thinking, 'Isn't it kind of crummy that we've never had the two guys ranked 1 and 2 in the world in the same wave?" Davis said Wednesday night from San Diego. "Weather can affect outcomes in the U.S. Open."
Some believe Woods got the good end of the draw at Pebble Beach in 2000, although it's hard to say luck played a role in his 15-shot victory. His bid for a calendar Grand Slam was derailed in 2002 at Muirfield when he was caught in 40 mph wind at the British Open and shot an 81, his worst score as a pro.
And remember Bethpage Black in 2002, when Garcia was stuck in the rain Friday afternoon and complained that officials would have stopped the tournament had Woods been out there?
"Why not put them in the same wave?" Davis reasoned. "The heck with what TV wants. Let's do what we want for the championship."
That's a little disingenuous.
TV runs everything, and it's not like viewers will suffer by not having Woods and Mickelson on opposite ends of the draw. Coverage the first two days starts at 1:00 p.m. and ends at 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast, a combination of ESPN and NBC Sports.
Applaud the USGA for trying what no one else -- has dared and everyone wants to see, even if there might be so many spectators that half of them won't be able to see anything at all.
But it must be cautious.
The U.S. Open, known as the toughest test in golf, is on the verge of trying too hard to live up to its reputation. It went over the line at Shinnecock Hills in the final round of 2004, when the greens were allowed to get so baked that players could not keep the ball on the seventh green in the final round. The last two winning scores were 5 over par.
And the USGA decided to go along with a gimmick that takes place Friday at Torrey Pines, when three celebrities and one lucky (or unlucky) amateur will play the course in U.S. Open conditions to see if they can break 100.
The last thing it needs is more accusations of trying to become more than it was meant to be -- a circus, not a championship.
Even so, it's worth a shot.
The players won't suffer too much, because these guys are used to an audience. Woods and Mickelson, especially, have been around long enough not to get caught up in the hype. Personalities aside, it's all about posting a score and staying close to the lead.
Just don't be disappointed if this doesn't live up to expectations. Woods, Mickelson and Ogilvy all shot 69 on the first day at Medinah in what looked like an ordinary round of a major.
The real treat will be if they're still together on Sunday afternoon.
Or even just one of them.
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The US Open has been held many times at Pebble Beach, remember Tom Watson's famous chip in, and at Olympic Country Club in SF. Both courses are part of the US Open's regular cycle. If you are talking about So Cal you are more accurate in the sense the only time the Open has been in So Cal was the Hogan at Riveria.
The Open has been held at Pebble several times. I remember many years back when Dr. Gil Morgan was the first ever to get to -10 in a US Open. He then promptly blew up and gave it all back.
That Phil Mickelson and Pat Perez grew up playing golf at Torrey Pines is worth noting -- up to a point. Likewise, the fact that Masters champion Trevor Immelman is returning this week to the site of his U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship should be kept in perspective.
Local knowledge should never be dismissed, but it might need to be discounted a bit when the 108th U.S. Open begins Thursday on the South Course at Torrey Pines. The aforementioned players have a measure of intimacy with the municipal course spread along the bluffs overlooking the Pacific, but many PGA TOUR players are by varying, though perhaps lesser, degrees also familiar with Torrey Pines.
That would be the South Course that is damp and soft with scarce rough and tepid greens. That would be the South Course that plays to roughly 7,500 yards, par 72, with wide fairways.
That South Course they won't be seeing this week. Instead, the players competing in the year's second major will encounter the full challenge that Rees Jones infused into the layout when he renovated Torrey South in 2001 and which the U.S. Golf Association has buttressed with its usual setup parameters.
Torrey South, the second municipal course to host the Open and the first course not ranked among the top 100 in the U.S. by any of several ranking sources, could play up to 7,643 yards, nearly 400 yards more than any previous U.S. Open examination. It's been altered to a par-71 track with the conversion of the sixth hole from a par-5 to a 515-yard par-4. The Kikuyu grass fairways, which should be drier and yield more roll, will be pinched in to as little as 24 yards across and lined by steely rough measuring from 1 ¾ inches to more than 3 ½ inches. Finally, greens that crawled at 11 on the Stimpmeter will approach speeds of 13 or more.
"Torrey Pines already is a solid golf course; it's already pretty hard," Stewart Cink, who tied for third at this year's Buick Invitational, said. "But I think we better be ready for a really difficult week of golf. It's a scenic place, but I won't be looking around a whole lot. I'm going to need to have total focus on what I'm doing. There won't be an easy shot anywhere."
Mickelson, who lately has been schooling himself on the course he probably knows better than any other, said that a score of about 5 over par, which was good enough to win the last two U.S. Opens, might be handsome enough to do the trick again.
"It's going to be hard in ways we've seen at a U.S. Open, but just not at Torrey Pines," he said. "But I'm looking forward to the challenge."
Woods, whose health status is not known after knee surgery following the Masters, won this year's Buick Invitational at 19 under par (with the help of 7-under 65 on the cupcake North Course). That means he averaged 4 under on his three days on the South.
He, and everyone else, won't likely sniff such numbers this week. To paraphrase Bobby Jones, they'll all be playing a course with which they are not familiar.
FEDEXCUP POINTERS
• The pairing of the top three players in the world rankings -- Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott -- for the opening two rounds of the U.S. Open will bring together Woods and Mickelson for just the 22nd and 23rd rounds in their professional careers. Of those, only three rounds have been in major championships: the third round of the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 and the opening two rounds of the 2006 PGA when Woods won the British Open and Mickelson won the Masters.
• If you're wondering who has the edge at Torrey Pines between the top two players, one has to look beyond the six Buick Invitational titles Woods has compared to three for Mickelson. First, five of Woods' victories have come after the Rees Jones renovation in 2001. The last of Mickelson's came in '01. Here's a more telling statistic: Starting in 2002, Woods has a 69.19 scoring average on the South Course, while Mickelson's is 71.68.
• Woods might have six Buick Invitational titles, but his victory in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links may have been his one national title in California, if history is a guide. In the other eight most recent U.S. Open tournaments played in the state of California, eight different men emerged with the victory.
• There are eight former U.S. Open champions in the field, including multiple winners Woods, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Lee Janzen, who is the last year of his exemption run following his 1998 victory at Olympic Club in San Francisco. Sixteen other entrants join those eight men as former winners of USGA events.
• Angel Cabrera has quit smoking as he prepares to defend his U.S. Open title. Jack Nicklaus, who was an avid smoker in his early professional days, and still smoked recreationally for a number of years after, applauded the decision. "His nerves will be better. It will help him," the Golden Bear said.
• Justin Rose has switched drivers in preparation for the U.S. Open, replacing his TaylorMade R7 with the R7 SuperQuad that he said immediately added a few yards to his driving distance average. "I'm getting some out there around 300 yards," he marveled.
• Geoff Ogilvy has moved out to Del Mar, Calif., with his family for the next few months to escape the hot Arizona summer, and he has been practicing regularly at Torrey Pines the last week. The 2006 U.S. Open champion should be among the most prepared for the year's second major, which can only help given that his four appearances at the Buick Invitational at Torrey has yielded three missed cuts.
• Of all the players to make it through 36-hole sectional qualifying, two to watch for came out of the Columbus, Ohio, qualifier -- Pat Perez and Davis Love III. Perez grew up playing at Torrey Pines and so did his caddie, Mike Hartford, who actually won the San Diego City Amateur played on the North and South Courses. Love said he's closer to returning to form than at any time this year after making the cut at the Memorial and then shooting a 5-under-par 66 on the tough Ohio State Scarlet Course in his second 18 holes at the sectional. Love won the Buick Invitational in 1996 and has finished in the top five on four occasions.
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8:00PM ET
A look at how Tiger dominates at Torrey Pines, the home of this year's U.S. Open.
What are your thoughts on Furyk? I have been waiting for him to step it up a level but he has yet to make the big move. Do you think his back is still bothering him?
It's gonna be a ZOO out there, the best seat in the house will be from the blimp.
Don’t get your hopes up guys, the US Open has never been oen of Tiger’s strongest majors.
The US Open requires accuracy off the tee, if you’re in the second cut of rough for your second shot you might as well pitch out, Tiger only hit his 5 wood 150 yards out of that stuff.
Tiger’s greatest weakness is his driving accuracy, he has a tendency to hit it right when he let’s his hips get ahead of his hands, then he starts to over compensate and hits it dead left.
Torrey Pines is going to be a beast length wise, so in order to get a short iron in his hands to get close to the pin on his approach he’s going to need to be long and accurate this week, and accurate off the tee isn’t something he’s been good at of recent.
Sorry for the error.
I’m a fan of Furyk also, but don’t expect much this week out of Jim.
He’s not terribly long off the tee, which means he’ll be hitting mid - long iron approach shot onto green that are as fast as a parquet floor, and his putting has been lack luster of recent.
I expect Trevor Immelman to make a good showing seeing how he did at Augusta and last week in New Orleans, also keep your eye on Rory Sabatini, he’s another I expect good things out of this week.
If you’re looking for me to pick an American to make a good showing, I really have to lean towards Boo Weekly early in the week, but expect Phil and Tiger to hang on the leader board through the week.
Though I doubt Phil and Tiger will win, they’re both too wild off the tee.
Personally, I agree with Mark Twain when it comes to golf. However, I am a fan of Tiger Woods as he seems to be a good-guy and is the personification of excellence.
Pla-eeze. I just about died when he won in the playoff a few weeks ago. Can't stand to look at the guy.
Well, he did win in 2003 and came in second with Tiger last year. I've watched him a bit this early in the season and it does look like his back is hurting.
golf ping please
I agree. Tiger has had to long of a layoff and is most likely was to rusty. I just hope he makes the cut. I think the field is wide open as to who may win it.
What good is it if the majority of the TV viewing audience is working on Thursday and Friday and the only network airing it is probably the Golf Channel?
I'm retired so I might take some time off my hectic schedule (yea, right!) to watch some of the coverage but the bottom line is, Saturday and Sunday are the true TV viewing days.......
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