June 2007 - Posts
OAKMONT, Pa. -- From Z to A.
The Grand Slam of Golf is half-set for 2007 with Zach Johnson and Angel Cabrera.
Maybe some up-and-comer like Tiger Woods or Vijay Singh can win the British Open or PGA Championship and join Zach and Angel in Bermuda this fall.
You know a golf course is difficult when Tiger Woods can't find a birdie on the back nine holes on Sunday, and that was Oakmont Country Club. Johnson said before this U.S. Open began that the story of the tourney would be the course, and it was. Cabrera bogeyed 16 and 17, but won because Fuyrk bogeyed 17 and Woods couldn't find any magic down the stretch.
But Cabrera earned it. His 69 was the only under-par round Sunday of anyone who finished on the leaderboard.
Johnson played two groups from the final pairing on Sunday at Augusta. Woods played in the final twosome, but tied for second. Cabrera played four groups from the last pairing here Sunday. Woods again played in the final twosome.
So the two majors champions this year are from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Cordoba, Argentina. Makes sense to me. Iowa beef and Argentinian beef. From A(ngel) to Z(ach).
OAKMONT, Pa. -- Two years ago, Zach Johnson and Michelle Wie were one-half of a foursome playing a practice round at the John Deere Classic.
Wie was the big-ticket item at that year's Deere. Johnson was the closest thing the tournament had to a local hero. One of the other two players was a then-24-year-old guy from Australia named Aaron Baddeley.
The only time I've ever seen a hole-in-one in person -- other than in miniature golf -- was when Baddeley made one in that practice round, on the 16th hole pushing against the Rock River at the TPC at Deere Run. Had Wie made it, the world would have stopped..
Wie didn't make the 36-hole cut two days later, and neither did Baddeley. But he has won PGA Tour events in 2006 and this year, and takes a 2-shot lead into today's final round of the U.S. Open here. Wie, meanwhile, can barely remember what it's like to make a cut in any kind of golf tournament.
Everyone but Baddeley himself assumes Tiger Woods will take control of things today and win his 13th major. I don't know. Baddeley won two Australian Opens when he was still a teen. He has a world of game, and showed a bunch of it Saturday.
Of course, nothing would be better than Bubba Watson rallying from three shots off the lead to win. Our national golf tournament being won by a guy named Bubba? From a town of 1,500 people in Florida called Bagdad. That would be priceless.
I've seen Woods win majors in person, but I was at Hazeltine in Minnesota when Rich Beem held off Tiger to win the 2002 PGA Championship, and I saw Woods fail to catch Johnson on Sunday of this year's Masters. Why not Baddeley tomorrow? Or better yet, Bubba from Bagdad.
OAKMONT, Pa. -- Two former Greater Cedar Rapids Open champions are playing in the United States Open.
One is Zach Johnson, Cedar Rapids native. I'm sure you've heard of him. The other is George McNeill of Fort Myers, Fla. I'm sure you haven't heard of him.
McNeill, who was 3-over par for the tournament after his fourth hole Friday morning, was fourth at the GCRO last year and tied for second in 2005. He won the PGA Tour's Qualifying School tourney title last December, but has struggled on the Tour in his rookie season.
McNeill made two birdies at Oakmont Thursday, which is more than a whole lot of pros made in the first round, including Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and Padraig Harrington. I hope he makes the 36-hole cut today. You come all the way from Florida to play in the Iowa heat in late July, you should get a payoff.
OAKMONT, Pa. -- The hometown guy of the Gazette playing in the U.S. Open, Zach Johnson, shot a first-round 76 Thursday. That wasn't up to expecations, so let's not dwell on it here. Instead, let's give a little space to a guy who carded a 68 at Oakmont Country Club and had the audacity to call playing conditions "easy."
That's an Englishman named Nick Dougherty. He was born in Liverpool, which is more renowned for being the birthplace of a band of four long-hairs.
The Beatles, I believe they were called.
Dougherty, all of 25 years old, was once an accomplished flute player. His father, a big Beatles fan, traded in a guitar that once belonged to a young Paul McCartney in order to buy his lad a flute. Dougherty said Thursday that he wouldn't feel compelled to buy the guitar back should he win the Open.
''It's his own fault,'' Dougherty mused. "Can you imagine me asking for a flute?
"His general idea was because I was young at the time, he said, 'When you're on Tour, it will entertain you, to be able to sit in your room and play the flute.' You can imagine it, can't you? It's a great idea. TGI Friday's is much more fun.''
"The reason he got (the guitar) in the first place is because he knew Pete Best, the original drummer for the Beatles. I feel kind of bad. Yeah, you win some, you lose some, don't you? I'll get him something better. If I win this, I'll buy him something nice, a house or something.''
I sense an advertising campaign emerging if Dougherty wins this tournament. "TGI Friday's: More Fun Than a Flute."
OAKMONT, Pa. -- There's a five-way tie for the top at the U.S. Open. Three players are even-par through two holes, the other two are even through one.
None of the five will contend, unless you think this is the year of Craig Kanada.
Zach Johnson tees off 13 minutes from when this is being typed. Can he contend? Absolutely. Will he? What am I, Carnac the Magnificent?
But Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has picked Johnson to make it two majors in two tries this year. The most popular pick among the media isn't Tiger Woods, amazingly, but Jim Furyk. The media, of course, drinks.
I'll update here in several hours. It's time to go watch Johnson combat Oakmont Country Club.
OAKMONT, Pa. -- Maybe the trick to winning the U.S. Open is to do what Zach Johnson did here Tuesday on the par-3 13th hole.
Make a short chip for birdie, and avoid putting altogether.
The putting in the tournament here, Johnson said, is "going to be a remarkable test."
Many of the 156 players here may have put it in different, less complimentary terms. You are going to see golf balls roll here this week. And roll. And roll.
"They are by far the most difficult greens I've ever played,'' Tiger Woods said.
"These are the toughest greens we'll ever play in U.S. Open history or even any other golf tournament we play,'' said Ernie Els.
"Well, I guess this (course) is not too bad for a par-78,'' Sergio Garcia joked.
"The difficult part for me,'' Johnson said, "is the fact that you can get on a bentgrass or a Bermuda, where it is at Augusta, you see the breaks more, and you can see the speed based on the burnouts.
"Here, this poa annua, it still looks lush and green and soft when you walk on it. So it makes it very difficult to judge speed, in my opinion. Given that, the greens for the most part go one direction, and they are fast. So you know, I think all in all, it's going to be a speed test and one where you're going to have to make a lot of 3- and 4- and 5-footers for comebacks.
"Getting the speed down and making those 3- and 5- and 7-footers, whether it's for par and bogey. I think a lot of this golf course is positioning. It's giving yourself a chance at par and eliminating double.''
Or, you could just chip in and save yourself the trouble.
Starting Tuesday, check this site daily for updates, notes and nuggets from the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont, Pa.
Previously, Zach Johnson of Cedar Rapids could go about his business at major tournaments without distractions. How will be received at Oakmont Country Club as the 2007 Masters champion? Will he get as much attention Thursday and Friday as one of his playing partners, two-time Open champ Ernie Els? Can Johnson contend for the second half of the Grand Slam? What will he have to say at his pre-Open press conference?
Johnson's other playing partner is Padraig Harrington. Els and Harrington are the Nos. 5 and 10 ranked players in the world, respectively, but they ain't five-and-dime.
I'll be there. Which means I'll be here. And on Gazetteonline.com, of course. And in the Gazette itself.
It's multimedia.