U.S. Open at Oakmont Journal: Monday

Birdie holes at a U.S. Open? Yeah, I believe there are.

2007 U.S. OpenI arrived at about lunchtime at the U.S. Open’s first official practice round today. Though, as a member of the media I am in a different lot than the one used by the majority of the fans (who are being scuttled off I-76 exit 39 to the “Red” and “Blue” lots), I must say how surprised I was at how few people were attending and how much room was available. Sunday will no doubt be mad crazy, but Monday and I would suspect Tuesday and Wednesday are great days to see some golf.

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SeeMore Putters Make a Comeback

When Payne Stewart died, so did interest in the putter he used to win the 1999 U.S. Open. With new owners and another major win, SeeMore is news again.

Bag DropIt’s always great to see a golf club become popular without endorsement or bonus money. For a PGA Tour player to give up income just to use a putter he believes in is pretty refreshing in these days of logo festooned shirts, caps, and bags.

So when Zach Johnson won the Masters this year with his SeeMore putter, it said a lot. It said even more when he won the AT&T Classic a month later. It also doesn’t hurt that Vaughn Taylor, who led the PGA Tour’s top 50 money winners in fewest putts on greens hit in regulation, uses it.

So while no less than Nick Faldo cast aspersions on Johnson’s putting style during the Masters broadcast, it obviously works. And that’s really the story of the SeeMore putters. They promote a specific kind of stroke and technique. Here’s the story…

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Volume One Hundred One

Adam Scott should start calling in sick on Sunday.

Hitting the LinksWoody Austin (funky shirt and all) throws up a 62 in the final round while Adam Scott implodes yet again while holding the Saturday lead. And I wonder if there isn’t a little part of Suzann Pettersen thinking about what might have been if only she had held onto her lead at the Kraft Nabisco.

This week we have a recap of the Stanford St. Jude Classic, a couple of great children’s charities, and memories of Arnold Palmer’s last U.S. Open round.

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Nine Holes with Sam Snead

With perhaps the most enviable swing in the history of the game, Sam Snead captured the attention of the golfing world for more years than any player before him.

ProFilesSam Snead is a legend on the PGA Tour. Rightfully so. He had as much longevity in the game as anyone ever has and he has the win count to prove it. “Thinking instead of acting is the number one golf disease,” said Snead. He left an amazing record of action.

World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Snead was born May 27, 1912 and died May 23, 2002, just shy of his ninetieth birthday.

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Inside the Ropes at The Memorial

Tag along with a media rookie at The Memorial.

Memorial LogoI had the opportunity to attend The Memorial Tournament last week at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, OH with our editor, Erik (who took about 2000 pictures over the week). After my experience, it’s going to be tough to go to another tournament as a regular spectator.

This wasn’t the first tournament I’ve attended. I previously attended the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club and the 2004 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, but it being inside the ropes as a member of the media provided an entirely different feeling to the week.

Read along as I share some of my thoughts on being a media rookie at The Memorial.

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Golf Talk [Episode 060]

B.J. Wie is trying to run his daughter’s life, but he’s getting too much “I” in there: he’s going to R-U-I-N it instead it.

Golf Talk PodcastZach K.J. Choi and Rory Sabbatini win, the LPGA institutes a drug-testing policy, and Michelle Wie and Phil Mickelson withdraw with wrist injuries, but only one of them seems legitimate. Find out which and a whole lot more in this episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 060 as an MP4 file. For those who want to subscribe to us in iTunes, click here.

For this week’s Show Notes – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information – just read on.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: Tiger

Tiger Woods didn’t win the 2007 Memorial. Heck, he wasn’t even close. But that didn’t stop everyone from taking plenty of pictures of him.

The Memorial TournamentTiger Woods is a big draw at any tournament. Last year, while Tiger was taking time off to grieve the death of his father Earl, the media room at The Memorial was rather bare. Half the number of photographers were present. This year, with Tiger Woods in the field, photographers flooded the course.

We managed to get a few snaps of Tiger in action, and we present them here with a little commentary.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: The Americans

Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson withdrew, but we’ve still got pictures of them.

The Memorial TournamentThe Memorial attracts a wealth of good players, and a good many of them are American. However, their numbers are dwindling, as Jack Nicklaus himself is quick to point out. Nicklaus says golf is again becoming more of a “world game,” and that the pendulum is swinging back towards foreign domination of golf. Witness, he says, the last several Ryder Cups and the number of international players in the field at his tournament.

The man has got a point.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: The Internationals

With all the Aussies that appeared on the leaderboard and a Korean winner, you bet we’ve got a lot of international player photos.

The Memorial TournamentDespite having a field of about 100 to 110 contestants, The Memorial Tournament attracts a wide variety of foreign players. Though they rarely experience success at Muirfield Village, the 2007 edition was won by a Korean – K.J. Choi – and featured several Aussies in contention, including Adam Scott, Rod Pampling, Geoff Ogilvy, and Aaron Baddeley.

Here are some shots of some of the more popular international players from the 32nd Memorial Tournament.

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