Go Time

Balls will be in the air in minutes...  Not that you'll see this for hours.

Today in Existentialism - How did we get here?  If you meant how did we get HERE, specifically Shinnicock Hills, John Feinstein has the answer:

He is also the person most responsible for the U.S. Open being at Shinnecock this week. 

The way Hannigan told the story, it was Harry Easterly, then his boss at the USGA, who 

Frank Hannigan in 2004.

first wondered aloud if it might be possible to take the Open to Shinnecock, which had hosted the second Open in 1896 but had never been seriously considered again as a host because of logistics.

“Harry Easterly had trouble putting one foot in front of the other, much less getting anything actually done,” Hannigan once said—not an atypical Hannigan comment. “But when he brought up Shinnecock, I thought it was worth finding out if it was possible.”

Hannigan assigned two of his top lieutenants: David Fay and Tony Zirpoli to find out what the challenges would be of going to Shinnecock. One was obvious: Shinnecock was a seasonal club, meaning there wasn’t a 12-month membership or staff to run the event outside the ropes. That had been the Open’s tradition—the USGA ran everything inside the ropes; the host club ran everything else. 

Fay reported back that if the USGA wanted to go to Shinnecock, it would have to take over almost all of the championship’s logistics, which would be a major financial gamble. 

“My report was 18 pages,” Fay remembered. “The first sentence said, ‘Unless we’re prepared to take over running the Open outside the ropes, there’s no need to read any further.’ ”

They said it couldn't be done though, after three successful Opens at Shinny, that seems long forgotten.  Hannigan is a man I wish I could have known, a curmudgeon who cared not a whit for public opinion.  Care for an example?

Hannigan never would have fit in at Shinnecock—or any other big money club. He was a believer that anyone on a pedestal—ANYONE—should be a target. 

Even Arnold Palmer. 

In 1994, the USGA awarded Palmer a special exemption to play in the Open at Oakmont. It made sense. Palmer, who had grown up in nearby Latrobe, played his first Open in 1953 as an amateur. He lost a dramatic playoff there to a 22-year-old Jack Nicklaus in 1962 and had his last real chance to win an Open there in 1973, before Johnny Miller blew past everyone with his final round 63.

Hannigan thought giving Palmer an exemption was outrageous and said so in a Golf Digest column, saying that Palmer, at 64, had no chance to compete and was taking a spot away from someone who might have a chance to at least make the cut. 

Palmer shot 77-81, but his final round was one of the most emotional and dramatic anyone there had ever witnessed. He broke down in the media tent trying to explain how lucky he felt to have played the game for so long and got a standing ovation from everyone in the room—all of them breaking the ‘no cheering in the press box,’ rule with no regrets. 

As I walked out of the room, I ran into Hannigan, standing in the back. 

“Still think he shouldn’t have gotten an exemption?” I asked. 

“He missed the cut by 11 shots!” Hannigan roared. “Of course he shouldn’t have gotten an exemption.”

That sound you hear is Frank spinning in his grave over the Tony Romo exemption....

John Huggan takes on the issue of crossing the line with the course set-up, recounting that which across the pond is known as “U.S. Open cock-ups”.  Set aside whether his examples are all of a like kind, but where do I find this line?

“For me ‘the line’ starts and finishes on the greens,” says 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell. “I watched the coverage of 2004’s final round on television last

night. The greens looked to be about a foot too quick. That was the root of the problem. 

And it was the same in 2016 when Dustin Johnson had his moving-ball issue at Oakmont. The greens were just too fast. And that is the most important line. It is architecture versus agronomy. When you have old-school architecture mixed with modern agronomy it can lead to trouble.”

Another former champion, 1988 and 1989 winner Curtis Strange, is also worried by the excessive green speeds attained during America’s national championship.

“Who said U.S. Open greens are supposed to be so fast?” he asks rhetorically. “Where does it say that to make a course tough and fair the greens have to encourage defensive putting? Let’s say we went back to greens running at 9½ on the Stimpmeter. Now you can put pins on some slopes. I grew up on greens like that. I remember hitting five-footers with huge breaks on them. That’s how you find out who can putt—and read greens.

Well, yeah, of course.  But while the R&A undoubtedly does a better job of allowing the guys to do as they will, the first fault lines with green speeds appeared in St. Andrews in 2015.  And when you have to take the players off a links because of wind, that hard to identify line has, by definition, been crossed.

I'll also note that I'm totally unmoved by this argument:

In the bigger picture, the line is crossed when the whole field does not have the same level playing field. That was clearly not the case in 2004. When they had to water the seventh green during the day, it wasn’t fair. Or right. Not everyone was presented with the same playing area or challenge. The integrity of the whole event was compromised, even if, had they not watered, the field might not have finished that day. 

“The test has to be the same for everyone,” says 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy. “And we’re not just talking about course set-ups. A couple of years ago at Oakmont, the morning wave had to stop because of heavy rain. But the USGA kept them out there for 90 minutes or so. They were not allowed to come back to the clubhouse. And they were not allowed to warm-up again for 15 minutes or so. They just had to re-start on what was probably a brutally hard hole. That’s a logistics problem. But not a level playing field either.”

That's a nice ideal, but it doesn't survive contact with reality.  Picture Tiger in that Haar at Muirfield in '02... I'm sure he was comforted by the fact that everyone experienced the exact same conditions as he...  Not.

In the ordinary course of business, greens dry out through the day because, as Jordan would put it, we're not playing in a dome.  The fact is that those early groups should have gotten the softest conditions, but when the 7th green was unplayable for them, the USGA knew that by 3:00 they'd have to stop play if the green wasn't watered.

I also think Huggan errs in comparing Shinny to Oakmont.  The latter was designed with green speeds as one of its primary defenses....  A seaside golf course isn't, because of the expectation of strong winds.  To me, that's the subtext to this week.

A Mighty Wind - Per Shack, we're going to see the set-up tested earl in the proceedings:

That noise you hear is Mike Davis over center screaming "Omaha":

Mike Davis can’t remember ever calling as many “audibles” as the U.S. Golf Association setup team has for Round 1 of the 2018 U.S. Open. 

Despite a nice drenching rain during Wednesday’s practice rounds, winds are forecast to gust as high as 30 mph Thursday. 

“We have purposely slowed the greens down a little bit today, knowing the kind of winds we’re going to get tomorrow,” said Davis, the USGA’s chief executive officer. “We’ve also changed up some of the hole locations, just to make sure they’re in areas that can handle this kind of wind.” 

While Wednesday afternoon’s soaking would soften up most golf courses, the combination of sandy soil, high winds and William Flynn’s steeply-sloped greens will have Shinnecock Hills playing fast enough. But by midday, any extreme winds could push things to the edge, including golf balls. 

“I would also say that if we get some of the top winds that they’re predicting, it doesn’t matter how slow the greens are and how flat the surfaces are,” Davis said. “You will see balls blowing, and that’s just the nature when you get up into 30-mile per hour plus, which we might get gusts.”

Advantage: Early-Late?  So much for that level playing field....

The highest gusts are predicted around 2 p.m. when sunny skies are expected.

Tee times to bear in mind:

1:47 p.m. – Justin Thomas; Dustin Johnson; Tiger Woods

Just sayin'....

While You Were Sleeping - This simply beggars belief:

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas revealed a curious case of blissful ignorance Tuesday at Shinnecock Hills. 

Both learned of the U.S. Golf Association changing its 18-hole playoff to determine ties. In the event of a tie, the U.S. Open will now be a two-hole aggregate playoff.

The decision was announced in February. 

“It’s still 18 holes, right?” Spieth asked when questioned. “I didn’t even know.”

Spieth suggested he had looked at Monday’s weather forecast with the old 18-hole format in mind. 

“So shows you what I know,” he said. 

Hours later, Thomas visited the media center and mentioned some lunch-time discussion about Spieth’s admission. 

“I saw about three people say he didn’t know. I’m like well, I’m glad I read this because I didn’t know either,” Thomas said.

He may not like golf in a dome, but he seems to be living in a bubble....

I'll Take One of Everything -  Shack takes his typical stroll through the merchandise tent, and it all looks pretty sporty:

Golf Umbrella ($55) – It’s black and has a simple USGA logo on the outside, but when you open up this beauty there is a glorious image of Shinnecock Hills’ 16th hole. Even better, the forecast suggests the umbrella won’t be needed this week.

Pretty cool.

Shinnecock Fescue Breeze Candle ($28) – Hand poured in the Hamptons by – wait for it – Hamptons Handpoured, this subtle scent captures a nice blend of ocean breeze and links grass. A whopping 40-hour burn from this soy candle will leave you remembering the 2018 U.S. Open for some time.

I love the smell of fescue in the morning... Also, the afternoon and evening.

The Poster ($22 unframed, $135 framed) – Lee Wybranski knows when to get creative and when to let the subject matter tell the story. This year’s poster is a stunner.

Perfect, especially as it evokes those old British Rail posters that I so love.....

Dust For Kooch's Prints - If whoever did this is in the field, you might want to put them on your fantasy roster.  They seem to be enjoying themselves:

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — A merry prankster is having fun with the nameplates in the locker room at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club ahead of this week's U.S. Open, replacing players' names with symbols. 

A quick stroll through through the locker room on Wednesday provided plenty of photo ops, although not all of the iconography is easy to decode. The Twitter account Titleist on Tour found some others as well. Can you guess which locker belongs to which golfer? Good luck!

He doesn't provide the answers, so we'll keep to the ones I know.  First, an easy one:

None other than legendary Brocton, MA firefighter Matt Parziale.

This one provides a picture of the player, but we can all agree that's an epci porn 'stache:

As for this one?

Gotta be the newly-engaged Rickie Fowler, no?

I guess Beef is in the field:

But I had no clue that Robert Allenby was in the field:

Seriously, no clue folks....

Raining On The Parade - Shane Ryan with a question none want to consider:

U.S. Open 2018: Are we due for a journeyman major championship winner?

Shane lays out three scenarios that lead to such a deplorable result:

1. The Hero’s collapse.

In these cases, the emotional trajectory of a tournament is one of deflation. For Michael

Campbell to win the 2005 U.S. Open, Retief Goosen had to blow a four-shot lead by shooting 81 on Sunday. For Beem to win the 2002 PGA, Justin Leonard had to shoot a 77. For Lawrie to win the ’99 British, Jean Van de Velde had to go full Van de Velde, although Van de Velde himself would have been a journeyman, so now I’m confusing myself. 

2. The “nobody makes a run” situation.

Trevor Immelman won the 2008 Masters despite shooting 75 on Sunday, mostly because his three biggest threats (Brandt Snedeker, Steve Flesch, Paul Casey), shot 77, 78 and 79, respectively. 

3. The “my God, this leader board is trash” scenario.

This is the rare case when the world’s best just don’t show up on a given week. Check out, for instance, the top 10 names on the leader board heading into the final round of Micheel’s 2003 PGA victory: Chad Campbell, Micheel, Mike Weir, Tim Clark, Billy Andrade, Briny Baird, Alex Cejka, Ernie Els, Fred Funk, Charles Howell III, Vijay Singh. I mean … did anyone even watch that?

Playing a little loose with the concept  of a hero, aren't we?   But this is just wrong:

The good news for modern fans is that we are firmly ensconced in the era of the big-name winner. The bad news is that I think we might be due for a journeyman champion at the U.S. Open this weekend. Frankly, it’s been too long, we’ve been too blessed, and Trey Mullinax is going to win by 15 strokes.

Nah, the journeymen never win by a lot, they're not good enough to do that. 

I'm going to park myself in front of my television.  Enjoy.