Open and Shut

We're about thirty-six hours removed from DJ's 3-jack, and it still seems surreal, doesn't it?  So, let's see how our post-Open plot lines have evolved...

Last Shot - Brian Wacker captures the details on Jordan's last full swing, the 280-yard three-wood that left him putting for eagle:

“I hit it right on the middle of the face and I looked up and it was bleeding right, I just

asked for the wind to hold it up just a little bit,” Spieth said. “And it looked like it did, just on the last second it stayed out of going in that bunker and instead found the rebound and stayed up on the top ledge. In midair I was going to be pleased anywhere on the green. And then with the roar I knew it stayed on the top ledge. I'm sitting there thinking, how in the world did it stay up, but I guess it was just my day.” 

And his week. 

Where the ball landed on the green was the same spot that he’d hit it during a practice round with his coach Cameron McCormick and caddie Michael Greller, who had the experience of about 40 loops around Chambers Bay during summers when he was a sixth grade math and sciende teacher at nearby Narrows View Intermediate School before circuitously landing on Spieth’s bag at the start of his career.

Yeah, he didn't seem to like it much, but then he's been known to over-share his feeling with his golf ball and the rest of us.... and where was the Fox on-course reporter to tell us the line the shot was on?

I was more frustrated by Fox's interview of King Louis that derailed any air time to set up DJ's second shot on No. 18, but it was all pretty bad...

A short highlight video of Jordan's finish can be watched here.

Don't Know Much About History - These kids today don't know much about anything that happened before Tiger, so this is encouraging:

Spieth was a freshman at Texas when he first went to St. Andrews with the rest of the Walker Cup team. They played the Old Course, soaked up the vibe at the home of golf and then headed north for their matches at Royal Aberdeen. 

“It’s one of my favorite places in the world,” Spieth said Sunday evening. “I remember walking around the R&A clubhouse and seeing paintings of royalty playing golf, and it was dated 14-whatever. I’m thinking, our country was discovered in 1492 and they were playing golf here before anyone even knew the Americas existed.” 

That was only four years ago, when not many outside golf circles knew Spieth. He’ll get more attention next time he arrives at St. Andrews.

OK, I'd have preferred that he did that homework before going over, but at least he looked at the pictures and drew some quite reasonable inferences.  And he seems to get that the Grand Slam could be kind of a big deal:

“I’m just focused on the claret jug now,” he said. “The Grand Slam is something that I never could really fathom somebody doing, considering I watched Tiger win when he was winning whatever percentage of the majors he played in. And he won the Tiger Slam, but he never won the four in one year. And I figured if anybody was going to do it, it would be him, which he still can.”

I did like how he caught himself at the end there, as there's no sense in venturing into Stephen Ames terrain.  On the other hand, Tiger would actually have to make a cut before we can talk Grand Slam, but I digress...

Curmudgeonly Corrigan sets the scene for us:

The scene is set up perfectly. Spieth and McIlroy hold the four majors between them going into the event and that has not happened since 1972 with Jack ­Nicklaus and Lee Trevino. On that occasion, Trevino denied Nicklaus the treble by a shot. Spieth is determined to avoid the same fate.

So, the key words are historic and almost unprecedented....that's why this is just so.... not sure what to go with here....how about ill-considered:

But, before he shoots for his third major of the calendar year, he will be playing for his second John Deere Classic title. 

Halfway to one of professional golf's most lauded – and yet to be attained – accomplishments, Spieth still is planning on playing in the July 6-12 JDC at TPC Deere Run. He is, apparently, sticking to a commitment he made to the tournament that gave him opportunities to break into the pro game during his college and first pro year.

Yanno, loyalty and honoring commitments is a great thing, but to everything there is a season.  Exactly how many chances do we guess that Jordan will have to go after the third leg of a Grand Slam at the home of golf?  

Quad Cities is played the week before the Open Championship, and Sunday night they run a charter to the location of the Open Championship.  All well and good, but that means you're not on the golf course until Monday afternoon at the earliest, and there's jet lag for even a 22-year old...

And The Old Course is not just any course....there's probably no place where the extensive study is as required or rewarded, especially if they get a week with variable winds.   Shack has similar thoughts here, but I'll add that this would be the perfect year to play the Scottish Open the week before at Gullane.  We've recently seen Rory play and travel too much for all the right reasons, but not with history hanging in the balance...This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, he shouldn't put himself in the position of deciding later that he wishes he had gotten there earlier...

Mikey Likes It - The USGA's Mike Davis is a good guy, having rescued its flagship event from the dreadful Tom Meeks years.  The Open under Mike's watch has become far more interesting, without sacrificing anything in the way of challenge or shotmaking....

Mike has been willing to take risks, both in terms of his set-ups as well as in his choices of venues.  And those risks aren't always going to pan out, as we saw at Merion two years ago and to a certain extent this week.  And if I were a player and showed up to find issues with the greens I'd no doubt be upset, and the last thing I'd want to hear is an obscure blogger telling me to calm down...  That said, Ian, you really need to calm down a bit....

The Seattle Times scored a sitdown with Mike, and there was much of interest.  First his global take on the week:

Davis doesn’t want the excitement of the past week — and the buzz over this event that engulfed the Northwest golf community the past two years — to be buried under any controversy, and he doesn’t think it will. 

“Fifty years from now, they’re going to look back and say, ‘Do you remember the end of this 2015 U.S. Open, how it went back and forth?’ ”

Obviously that's what he wants, but it also seems reasonable.  What more could we have wanted, especially from the final day, with wild charges up the leaderboard, low rounds as well as disasters and a winner that finished birdie-double bogey-birdie?

As for the greens, Mike had this to add:

Davis agrees with the criticism but only to a point, and he promises to do better if the U.S. Open returns to Chambers Bay. 

“In some ways, they weren’t as good as we would have hoped,” Davis said of the greens, “but some people would make it out that they’re putting on broccoli. I completely disagree with that assessment. That’s an unfair assessment to say they were that bad because we have had bad greens before that were bumpier than these; we just have.”

So, how did it come to pass?

Davis said Chambers Bay encountered some agronomic problems last fall when the fescue greens were invaded by poa annua. 

Getting rid of unwanted poa annua has been a challenge for decades. No chemical is available that produces consistent, positive results. Handpicking poa out of greens has been tried, but it’s mostly a losing battle.

“Having done a lot of these things (conducting Opens), I look at it and say, ‘Yes, we had bumpy greens,’ ” he said. “But at the end of it, we’ve had bumpy greens many, many, many times at the U.S. Open. We’ve played this event 115 times, and the vast majority of them have been on poa annua greens. Later in the day, there’s a bounce to them. If you have ever looked at that famous putt Tiger Woods made at Torrey Pines on the 72nd hole, that ball was in the air 30 times.”

That's a good bit of perspective, even though we should likely acknowledge that these greens (or at least the worst of them) were bumpier than the Torrey greens.  Unfortunately I couldn't find the video of Tiger's putt from behind him, but I do remember it being bobbly....

As for the future, optimism prevails:

The two main entities of this Open — the USGA and Pierce County, which owns Chambers Bay — will have their post-championship assessments, but statements from both parties indicate a desire for the Open to return in another 10 years or so. 

“Getting smooth greens, that will happen,” Davis said. “Listen, that will absolutely happen. That will absolutely, positively happen.”

As for the former, it ain't Pierce County's call and, if it happens, it will be at least fifteen years.  By then I can't see Poulter qualifying...so we've got that going for us.

Of Career Slams -  Patrick Kiernan is bearish on Phil's chances:

Memories....

Phil Mickelson second chance to complete the career Grand Slam got off to a promising start, but the six-time U.S. Open runner-up wound up leaving Chambers Bay with a disappointing T-64. With a back-end finish like that and just five more years before he becomes eligible for the Champions Tour, what's next for the aging star in his pursuit of golf history?

Unfortunately for Phil, it doesn't get any easier.

Kiernan goes through the venues, but it's a pretty moot analysis, as he could have hit "Publish" after this one-sentence caveat:

For starters, Mickelson will turn 46 on Day 1 at next year's U.S. Open, meaning a win would make him the oldest-ever winner of the tournament.

He doesn't even mention the psoriatic arthritis... sorry Phil Phans....Not.  Gonna.  Happen.

Haven't We Suffered Enough? - John Hawkins takes us behind the scenes with the Shark... I know, but does anyone know if this is true?

It was an easy call for those who care about such things: Shark + Fox = Outside the Box.

In theory, without query, Norman’s outspoken nature and attack-life mantra were an ideal fit for the network’s golf model. His longtime friendship with fellow Australian David Hill, whose tenure as chairman of the sports division coincided with Fox’s leap into Americana, made the April 2014 hire a no-brainer, so to speak. 

“I’m glad I turned down CBS [in 2006] ,” Norman says. “I was offered the job before [Nick] Faldo took it and knew why I turned it down—I didn’t want to be gone on weekends for another 12 or 14 weeks. This opportunity to stay connected with the game was perfect for me.”

Wow, that was a close call.... but this sounds about right:

One shouldn’t expect anything less, of course, but then again, you’d be surprised. “He certainly goes about the job differently than some of the others,” says USGA executive director Mike Davis. “He’s very perceptive, very into the process behind what’s going on.” 

The two men ran into each other on Wednesday morning while Davis was finalizing first-round pin positions. “He asked me what I thought about a couple of them,” Norman would say that afternoon, “and I gave him a tour player’s viewpoint.” Davis would not confirm or deny that he asked for Norman’s opinion, but an informed third party can easily envision the Shark’s volunteering his thoughts on such matters.

The good news?  Fox only has eleven more Opens under their contract.