One advantage of getting swallowed in the crowds following Tiger Woods: you don’t have to listen to Johnny Miller.
This report comes to us from Pinehurst #2 courtesty of Dave Koster, scratch golfer, North Carolina resident, and friend of The Sand Trap.
Moving day. The day where players try and set themselves apart from the rest of the field. As most of you saw on TV, not many players wanted to do that. This was a day that the players just wanted to get through 18 and hide in the clubhouse. Word of the day: survive.
Continue reading “On Location at the 2005 U.S. Open – Saturday’s Third Round”
Retief Goosen, Olin Browne, and Jason Gore find themselves in a tie for the lead after the second round at the 105th U.S. Open.
The defending U.S. Open champion sits atop the leaderboard at Pinehurst with his sights set on a third victory in this prestigious tournament. That isn’t the surprise at the halfway point. Retief Goosen finds himself in a tie for the lead with Olin Browne and Jason Gore. Browne, who had to shoot a 59 in qualifying to even make it this far, shot a steady 71 on Friday to maintain a shot at winning the 105th U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Gore, on the other hand, has had mild success on the Nationwide Tour (three wins) but has never been in a situation quite like this.
Continue reading “Three-Way Tie for the Lead at the Halfway Point at Pinehurst”
The word of the day: people. Tiger Woods’ group was huge. The other word of the day: money. Guess why.
Pinehurst is still a special place. That didn’t change since yesterday, but there is a new word of the day: people. There were people everywhere. The 20,000 spaces in the stands filled up before 10:00 and most of the other people on foot were following Tiger.
As soon as we walked through the gate, Tiger’s throng was amassing around the 11th hole. As my friend and I walked over that way, we got to watch the Els group hit their tee shots down the 12th fairway. After that, it was a blur. We went over to 11 to watch Tiger, back to 12 to see his tee shot, over to 13 again to stay ahead of him, then to 14 green to watch Els’ approach shot. We stayed there to wait for Tiger (who hit a monster drive on 14 by the way), and catch our breath.
Continue reading “On Location at the 2005 U.S. Open – Thursday’s Opening Round”
Olin Browne and Rocco Mediate show the young guys how things get done when conditions are tough.
There is a lesson to be learned here kids. Never quit when you’re down because some of the best things are yet to come. The best example of this lesson comes from two guys whom have a couple of things in common. These two men are Olin Browne and Rocco Mediate. First and most importantly, they share the lead at the 105th U.S. Open Tournament. Also, they are over 40 years of age (Browne 46, Mediate 42), both have aches and pains, and both have kept going even when they faced failure.
Olin Browne, ranked 300th on the world golf rankings, qualified the old fashioned way for the U.S. Open by going through sectional qualifying. During the first round of the qualifying tournament, Olin finished with a score of 73 which left him disappointed. The next day, he searched for a tournament official hoping to withdraw from the tournament but was unsuccessful. He decided to tee off and what a decision that was. Browne finished his second round with a 59 which was enough for him to find his way to the main event.
Continue reading “Olin and Rocco Share Lead after First Round of the 105th U.S. Open”
Becky Morgan grabs the solo lead in round one of the Wegman’s Rochester LPGA Tournament.
With the U.S. Open as the main focus of the week less attention is being paid to this week’s Wegman’s Rochester LPGA event. That’s too bad because the stellar round that Becky Morgan played today was worthy of praise and adulation.
Two-time runner-up Morgan may have finished with a 3-stroke lead over Lorena Ochoa but it was the exciting way in which she did it that deserves a second look. With strings of birdies from the tenth through the thirteenth and then again from the third through the seventh holes Morgan charged past the competition with ease even though the weather was unagreeably rainy and chillier than expected for the middle of June.
Morgan has not had a victory nor a top-ten finish at all this year, resides at 108th on the ADT Official Money List, has a paltry $27,000 in earnings for the season and missed the cut in five out of the ten tournaments she has entered but feels that her game is finally coming around.
Continue reading “Becky Morgan Captures the First Round Lead at Wegmans-Rochester”
Vijay Singh is one of the best in the world, but does he really believe that nobody else could break 100 on a U.S. Open course?
As the world’s best golfers tee off at Pinehurst No. 2 this morning, I’m still chuckling about a wayward shot world No. 2 Vijay Singh fired off in the media tent yesterday. Vijay obviously doesn’t practice humility or common sense as much as he does his golf game.
So Vijay rolls into the media tent. No one ever expects him to have much of interest to say, and he obliges with all the boilerplate comments about the great shape Pinehurst No. 2 is in, etc.
Michelle Wie seems to enjoy losing, but does losing beget losing?
Michelle Wie became the first woman to qualify for an adult male USGA championship two days ago after tying for first place in a 36-hole U.S. Amateur Public Links sectional qualifying tournament in Pennsylvania.
Wie, who finished second Sunday at an LPGA major, tied Artie Fink Jr. at +1 145 in Altoona, PA to qualify. Wie and Fink earned the only two spots available in the 85-player qualifier for the PubLinks, to be held July 11-16 at Shaker Run Golf Club in Lebanon, OH.
Why is Michelle Wie playing against the men again? The Masters. Specifically, the PubLinks champion traditionally receives an invitation to compete in The Masters, and Augusta officials have said that if Michelle were to win the PubLinks, she’d be warmly welcomed to Augusta National next April.
Dave Koster checks in from Pinehurst and the Wednesday practice round at the 2005 U.S. Open.
This report comes to us from Pinehurst #2 courtesty of Dave Koster, scratch golfer, North Carolina resident, and friend of The Sand Trap.
Pinehurst is a special place. There is no doubt about it. I have been there only one other time. I played #5 and got to enjoy watching a good friend of mine play a game of croquet at their famous courts. That was during a cold day in December a couple years back. My second trip was different.
Fast forward to June 2005. The word of the day: Hot. Well, maybe there are two words of the day. The first is ‘Hot’ and the second should be ‘Water’. One was in high demand and the other was not. I think that you can guess which one is which. That’s enough about the weather and reminiscing about times past. On to the good stuff.
Continue reading “On Location at the 2005 U.S. Open – Wednesday Practice Round”
The previous U.S. Open held at Pinehurst No. 2 featured a memorable duel between Payne Stewart and Phil Mickelson. Oh, and some guy named Tiger finished third. The stage is set for more drama this week.
Pinehurst No. 2 is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest layouts. Yet the 2005 U.S. Open is only the third major championship to be held on the course. The most recent was the stuff of legend, as the late Payne Stewart won a duel with Phil Mickelson just months before Stewart’s untimely death. Will this year’s U.S. Open match 1999’s drama?
Who can forget the 1999 U.S. Open? You had the built-in drama of a major championship finally coming to North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2, one of Donald Ross’ sublime masterpieces. You had Tiger Woods rounding into his “Tiger Slam” form and finishing third, his game ready to explode into the stratosphere. You had Phil Mickelson, looking for his first major championship while listening for his beeper to see if his wife had gone into labor with their first child – who would be born the day following the tournament.
