by Jeff Skinner
Birdies….
Rory McIlroy of course. The kid played great but more than that he is the kind of person that is really easy to like and easier to cheer for.
Jason Day’s 8 under wins all of the previous ten U.S. Opens. Too bad he ran into the Rory McIlroy show.
Robert Rock and his magical ride to the U.S. Open. After paying $24,000 to expedite his visa, he showed up at 3:30am on Thursday morning never having seen Congressional. His T23 and $76,455 paycheck made it worth the trouble.
American Amateurs: Pat Cantlay, a pro in training, took low amateur honors with a T21 finish. But it was Russell Henley (T42) that stole the show when he stopped and tossed a half dozen balls into the crowd at 18 that cheered him on like it was a football game.
Congressional Country Club. All right all you U.S. Open purists that think par should be the winning score take a chill pill. This is a great course and maybe the USGA couldn’t get the greens up to a 14.5 on the stimpmeter like they prefer but Congressional is a wonderful course and worthy of major championships. So a little rain kept the greens soft but it was only one player that went super low and the way Rory was playing he would have won anywhere.
Bogeys….
Phil Mickelson, a T54 finish at Congressional and another chance by the boards for Phil. His Open clock is ticking.
Dustin Johnson was expected to contend here but a Thursday 75 probably cost him his chance and he finished T23.
The young Americans were nowhere to be seen. Robert Garrigus (T3) and Kevin Chappell (T3) were the low Americans and the likes of Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, and Nick Watney all missed the cut. Bubba Watson finished T63. Are you kidding me?
Henrik Stenson was so upset over a missed shot he slammed his club down but the shaft broke and cut his finger. He needed help from his caddy to bandage the wound. Do you think the Golf Gods dished out a bit of retribution for his misbehavior?
Ernie Els was hoping for a chance at a repeat of his 1997 win at Congressional but a four putt on Friday sent him packing.
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