by Jeff Skinner

For the first three days the US Open was all we wanted it to be.  On the final day it looked like the Golf Gods were playing a cruel joke on us.  What was billed as a showdown of top players, long hitters and a few up and comers, turned into a survival of the fittest.  For a while, it could have been billed the survival of the “unfittest” when the 391^st ranked golfer in the world had a chance to win the tournament.

Towards the end of the final round the NBC executives had to be panicking about the possibility of a Graeme McDowell versus Gregory Havret eighteen hole Monday playoff.  What if the USGA held a playoff and nobody came?

I mean no disrespect to McDowell.  I follow the European Tour and he is a very capable golfer and likeable guy.  But as far as pulling in ratings on Monday, well McDowell vs. Havret isn’t exactly Woods vs. Mediate.

Pebble Beach looked as beautiful as ever and it’s time the USGA held the Open at Pebble every five years.  Pebble Beach is too great a venue to not take advantage of it on a regular basis.

Erik Compton playing in his first Open was one of the best stories of the week.  He has more guts (and heart) than any golfer out there.  He needs to be given a few more sponsor’s exemptions.  All he does his show up and make cuts.

I don’t know what was more incredible: Dustin Johnson’s meltdown or the 290 yard three iron to the fourth hole on Saturday.

The USGA’s Mike Davis is a genius.  Who would have thought that a hole less than 100 yards would best these golfers?  The 7^th hole played at 99 yards on Saturday and 92 yards on Sunday.  With the wind blowing, few golfers could get it close.  It played over par for the week.

Call me crazy but I would change two things at Pebble Beach if I was King for a Day.  The green at the fourteenth needs a little rework.  There are too many good golfers making bad scores on that thing.  Secondly, I’d cut the $495 green fee in half, so poor slobs like me can get a taste of that beauty.

Cheers to amateur Russell Henley who pulled a thirteen year old kid out of the crowd at the practice range to caddy for him during a practice round.  He knew he would need one before his buddy showed up later in the week and planned on doing it that way all along.  Henley wasn’t the only one thrilled to be at the Open that day.

How about those fairways being shaved right down to the edge of the cliffs?  That is just the type of different touches that Mike Davis isn’t afraid of trying.  I don’t think he pictured Ernie Els crawling around the banks of those cliffs looking for his ball.

Tiger’s game showed some signs of life on Saturday but his attitude is still one of a selfish, self-centered brat.  In the words of John Feinstein, “Tiger thinks he owns the world.”

It remains to be seen if Graeme McDowell can live up to the distinctive list of US Open Champions at Pebble Beach:  Nicklaus, Watson, Kite and Woods, all current or soon to be Hall of Fame Members.  Maybe this will be his start to greatness.

How about Shaun Micheel’s double eagle (albatross) on the 6^th hole on Sunday?  That is wild.

The stage was set for Ernie, Phil and Tiger to attack the lead on Sunday and all of them played very disappointing golf.

Ryo Ishikawa showed once again that he is as talented a young golfer as there is anywhere in the world.  He played with Tom Watson the first two days and Watson was impressed with his play.  He said Ryo’s putting reminded him of himself when he was a kid.  That’s as big a compliment as the kid can get.

Finally watching Tom Watson walk up eighteen with tears in his eyes and his son on his bag was a wonderful moment for all of us Watson fans.  No golfer has given us the thrills that Tom has for the past year.  This is definitely his last Open at Pebble and you can’t talk about Pebble Beach without talking Tom Watson.  He and Jack made the Opens at Pebble historic and extraordinary.  I can’t wait to see him at St. Andrews.

by Jeff Skinner

It wasn’t very pretty.  In fact it was pretty darn ugly.  The final round of the US Open at Pebble Beach resembled a demolition derby more than a major championship.  All the leaders struggled off the tee, with their approaches and especially on the greens.  None of the six golfers in the last three groups broke par, the best round they could manage was one over par.  Graeme McDowell hung on to win his first major championship with a mediocre three over 74 for a one stroke win over Gregory Havret.

The meltdown started early when leader Dustin Johnson took triple bogey, double bogey and bogey over holes two thru four.  Johnson, who started the day with a three stroke lead, was out of the running right then and McDowell who played the first five holes in one under par found himself in the lead again.

There was no charge by the world number one as Tiger Woods bogeyed three of his first six holes.  He still had trouble hitting a fairway and his putter that had worked for him yesterday was balky at best today.

Phil Mickelson looked to be ready to make a charge right out of the starting gates with a birdie on number one but he squandered many chances when he failed to convert makeable birdie putts on the next six holes.  His string of eight consecutive pars after his birdie was no help and a 39 on the back nine left him in a disappointing tie for fourth place.  At least it wasn’t another second place finish for Phil.

Phil’s playing partner, Ernie Els made an early charge with three birdies over his first six holes.  He looked primed to challenge McDowell when he got to three under, one stroke behind him.  When he put two balls in the hazard on ten he was in desperate trouble.  His bogey on seventeen, which he played in five over for the week, ended his chances and he finished the back nine in forty strokes and a 73 for the round.

Gregory Havret, a Frenchman with a world Golf Ranking of 391, was McDowell’s biggest threat all afternoon.  He didn’t play spectacular golf but was steady enough to be one back of the lead and at even par for the day when he teed off on the seventeenth hole.  His bogey there gave McDowell a two shot cushion going into eighteen.  From that point it was all in McDowell’s hands.

McDowell didn’t so much win this championship as he survived it.  McDowell had to be feeling for Johnson early on but still trying to stay focused on his game.  He was busy making pars while Dustin Johnson was imploding on the front nine.  His one birdie, four bogey round was enough to get the job done with three of the world’s best golfers doing their best to hunt him down.  As ugly a finish as it was, McDowell certainly earned his victory over a very difficult US Open course.

by Jeff Skinner

Dustin Johnson played a superb round of golf at The US Open yesterday and goes into the final round with a three shot lead over playing partner Graeme McDowell.   His 66 showed that he had no intention of succumbing to any pressure and he carried himself around Pebble Beach with an air of relaxed confidence.  He hit some scary long shots and looked to be playing at least two clubs less than McDowell.

The two time AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Champion said “I love playing here, today was a good day.  I had some loose drives on the final nine but I’m very confident in the driver. I like to hit it.”

Tiger Woods lurks five strokes back but if Johnson can hit it as straight as he did on Saturday no one will catch him.  The final round of a major championship has been known to break even the strongest of men.  Johnson will have his chance to withstand the pressure today when he tees off with Tiger playing two groups ahead of him.

Johnson seems like a fairly laid back South Carolina boy that hits it a long way and has a good short game to match.  As a matter of fact, he acts a lot like last year’s Open Champion, Lucas Glover.  Could we have back to back South Carolina US Open Champions?  If Johnson has anything to say about it, and I think he does, the US Open Trophy will be heading back to the Palmetto state for another year.

I published this story last Father’s Day and it is still relevant today.  Being a father, I cherish my time with my children whether it is on or off the course.  It’s not easy being a good, involved parent.  It takes hard work and dedication and sometimes it takes some help from other role models in your life.  Aunt Vi was one of my role models, she still is.  And she still is out there playing golf.

by Jeff Skinner

Since the USGA began its tradition of finishing the US Open on Father’s Day you can always count on a few stories on the networks about the father/son relationship in golf. Many golfers were introduced to the game by their fathers and the father/son bond in golf is legendary. There is no doubt that fathers and sons that play golf together are certain to develop a special bond with each other. However, the special relationship formed on the course during our early years in the game are not limited to fathers only.

My dad never played golf, so we never had a chance to have that “golf bond.” We were very close and shared many interests but golf was not one of his hobbies. He was a child of the depression years and never really exposed to golf. My dad was an anomaly: a Scotsman that did not play golf. I was left to find the joys of the course on my own and my ancestral urges drew me to the game in my mid-twenties. Although my dad did not play, I was not without a golfing role model in my family. In my rather large family of aunts, uncles and cousins, if you wanted to start to play golf you called my Aunt Vi. You see, Vi played golf for years and was fairly good in her day. She learned the game from her husband and was always willing to play or talk golf and to share all her experience with any one that cared to ask. So, I asked my Aunt Vi if we could play golf some time and before I knew it we were playing together each week.

Aunt Vi is a truly special person. She is my Mom’s sister and she spent plenty of time with me and my brother and two sisters. She has had her share of challenges, but her attitude never changed from anything other than positive. Vi was widowed while her two children were still young and she was left to raise them on her own. She was one of the hardest working people I know. One of my first memories of Vi was watching her pump gas at the service station she and her husband ran. As a kid we would go to her house for parties and celebrations and my brother and I always wound up in her basement. Down there we would shoot darts or play the bowling game that was there, but we always were amazed by the dozens of golf bags filled with clubs that stood against a wall in the basement. There were buckets and buckets of balls and boxes of golf trophies mostly her late husband’s, but I suspect there were a few of her own in there.

Vi worked  hard for years and took great effort in raising her two children. All this took place during the sixties, when most women were not in the work force. Vi was out working her entire life and raising her family as a single mom at the same time. This wasn’t easy and it was long before the time when a woman in the work place was common. She was hard working and dedicated and a role model for all of us.

When Vi and I started playing golf together it was the highlight of my week. You could always count on Vi to be funny, upbeat and interesting. There wasn’t a time we played together that we didn’t laugh, mostly at ourselves, or share a great joke or story. She was teaching me the game and the etiquette of golf, but she was really teaching me much more. Vi was a model of independence and self reliance. She was an independent women decades before it was in vogue. No matter what problems or issues she had to deal with, and there were many, she always chose the high road and acted with class and dignity. It didn’t matter if it was being a widow, or cancer, or a slice into a bunker, she took everything in stride and always had a smile on her face and a joke to share. She has showed all of us in our family what real independence and true integrity is. It was not just golf we learned from Vi, it was life.

I liked to bust her chops about her age, she’s a little north of eighty and a little south of ninety, but she takes it and gives it right back. She’s a tough old broad that loves the game. Awhile ago she was getting ready for her weekly Wednesday foursome when she dropped something on her foot. She knew from the pain that something was not right and she was faced with a choice: go check out the foot now and not play golf, or play her round and care for her foot later. She played her round and then found out she had a broken toe. She didn’t care, she got her golf in. Like I said she’s a tough old broad.

Vi has had a special influence on me and many members of our family. I’ve learned much more than golf from VI. I learned independence, integrity and the inter-locking grip. She has helped all of us to see that no matter what life throws at you, you can always live your life with class and dignity and a good laugh or two. Thanks Vi, Happy Fathers Day.

by Jeff Skinner

Tiger Woods had every reason to be angry and disappointed, not with the greens or the setup at Pebble Beach, but with himself.  After back to back bogies on two and three he looked to be heading in the wrong direction on the leaderboard.  It was then that Tiger showed signs of the Tiger we saw here in 2000 when he owned this course and the US Open.

Woods ripped off three straight birdies on four thru six and then he shifted it into high gear on the back nine.  After birds on eleven and thirteen he put the hammer down with birdies on sixteen and seventeen and then hit the sickest shot on eighteen.

Stuck behind the trees on the right side of the fairway with 265 yards left to the green, he smashed a three wood out to the left over the water and faded it back onto the middle of the green.  Two putts later he had his third straight birdie and was at one under for the tournament. It was vintage Tiger, something we haven’t seen much of lately.

Woods is five back of leader Dustin Johnson, who matched Tiger’s 66 and is three ahead of Graeme McDowell.

Check out the videos.  At the 2:45 mark of the first is Tiger’s shot into eighteen and Tiger describes the shot and his round in the second.

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by Jeff Skinner

This is a very intriguing leaderboard going into the third round of the US Open Championship.  Pebble beach won’t be getting any easier as the USGA tries to identify the world’s best golfer.  Graeme McDowell says he knows the course never lets up and he’ll just try to stay to his plan and avoid any big numbers by staying in the fairway and below the hole.

Ernie Els knows how to win an Open.  When he won his first he was only 24 but he thinks he is playing well enough to win and that he has a few majors left in him.

Paul Casey was one of the many victims of the treacherous fourteenth green yesterday.  I am no golf architect but I think there needs to be a little tweaking to that green.  That green is tough enough without having the banks around it shaved to roll-away length.  Anyway, we saw a bunch of 8’s and Zach Johnson even carded a 9 on the tough 14^th.  It is a small miracle and a testament to Casey’s play that he is still in the hunt.  If he makes par on the 14^th he is tied for the lead.  It’s a tough game.  It will get tougher today.  The US Open always does.

Check out McDowell, Els and Casey on Golf.com.

by Jeff Skinner

What a wild day at Pebble Beach.  It was impossible not to watch Phil Mickelson.  Phil used the putting advice he got from Dave Stockton and fashioned a near record 66 and jumped into a second place tie, two strokes behind leader Graeme McDowell.  Phil captivated the crowd with his play and seemed to be putting for birdie all day.  McDowell is a worthy adversary; he has five wins on the European Tour and knows that there is still plenty of golf to play.

Phil was having such a great time he says he doesn’t want the tournament to end.  He just wants to keep playing.  I bet he’ll change his tune if he has the lead on Sunday afternoon and can finally claim the US Open Championship that has eluded him so painfully these past years.

Tom Watson knew that he had to make his last putt to make the cut.  He wanted two more rounds at Pebble Beach and we all wanted the same.  He admitted these greens are very tough in the afternoon and he isn’t the putter he used to be.  He says that the greens didn’t affect his 18 year-old playing partner, Ryo Ishikawa.  He said Ryo reminded him of himself when he was 18.  Wow!  That’s got to be a great thing for Ryo to hear.  It will be fun watching Tom play over the weekend and who knows; maybe we’ll see a bit of the old Watson magic.

by Jeff Skinner

Chip Shots…

Brendon de Jonge must not have heard about how hard the 14^th hole is.  He spun his third shot back into the cup for an eagle.  That’s the shot of the tournament so far.

K. J. Choi starts off bogey, double bogey but battles back with six birdies to scramble to a one under 70 and a tie for fourth.

How the hell does Shaun Micheel birdie 14 and 15?  He picked up two strokes on the field over two of the toughest holes on the course.

How about Ryo Ishikawa with a one under 70?  His game was almost as shocking as his pink outfit.  This kid can play.

I like my short hitters hanging near the top: Mike Weir, David Toms, Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Tim Clark all kept it in the short grass and are in great shape on the leaderboard.

The coolest guy in golf, Miguel Angel Jimenez is tied for 29^th.  We need to see more of him on the telecasts.

Unlike Tiger, I didn’t see much to complain about but ESPN’s main feed left a little to be desired, like fewer commercials and less chit chat.  Boomer should stick to football.

The long, wispy grasses that surround many of the bunkers looks great.  It gives Pebble a more “linksy look.”  However, isn’t Pebble tough enough this week?  It seems to be more penalizing than the bunker or the rough.  Just ask Ernie Els as he chunked one from the wispy stuff on seventeen.

by Jeff Skinner

It doesn’t look like Pebble Beach will be taken advantage of by anyone this week.  In the 2000 US Open Tiger Woods gave Pebble his version of a golfing smack down and finished twelve under par.  The “new Pebble Beach” put on a new face for the first round of The US Open and didn’t allow any player anything better than two under par.  Believe it or not, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods did not have a birdie between them.  The firm greens were tough to hit and tougher to putt.  Tiger Woods complained about the greens on his way to a 74.  He stumbled down the stretch with bogeys on 16 and 18 and a missed birdie chance at 17.  “I hit the ball well enough to shoot a good score,” Woods said. “These greens are just awful. They’re moving every which way.”  Tiger’s interview.

Phil Mickelson didn’t fare any better with a 75 that included 32 putts and bogeys on the last three holes.  Phil was complaining too, but not about the course, just about his putting.  “I thought that the golf course was set up perfectly. I thought Mike Davis did a great job. It was very playable. There was some scoring out there if you played well. I thought it was just really well done. The pin placements were great. The rough was very fair. They put some water on the greens so that shots weren’t able to hold, some greens we weren’t able to hold, we could. I just thought it was really well done.

From my own game and so forth, I thought that I played — obviously I didn’t score well, but I thought I played pretty well, other than putting, I just putted horrific. It’s very frustrating for me to miss all those opportunities. I don’t mind making a bad swing here, there, making a bogey here, there, it’s part of the U.S. Open.”  Phil’s interview.

I am sure Phil would have liked to trade putters with Shaun Micheel as he only used 22 putts for an opening round 69 and a share of the lead with Paul Casey and Brendon de Jonge.  A first round lead does not guarantee anything but a first round blow up can get you out of town on Friday afternoon.  2006 Open Champion, Geoff Ogilvy opened at eight over and long hitter Alvaro Quiros carded a nine over opening round.  They’ll both be scrambling for a low round to make the cut.

US Open Gallery

Ben Hogan hits his one iron into eighteen in the final round of the 1950 Open at Merion Golf Club.  He won in a playoff the next day.  Hogan had just recovered from his car accident and fought through the pain to win his second of three Opens.