“It’s a goofy system – we all know that. But it’s the system we have"

Doug Ferguson reports on the finalization of U.S. Open exemptions, now at 72 as sectional qualifying beckons. He focuses on the unfortunate case of Arron Oberholser who was bumped out of the Open by .004 world ranking points.

Oberholser was losing a spot or two each week in the world ranking while recovering from injuries to his left hand, falling to No. 45. But he dropped six spots to No. 51 at the worst time – the cutoff for the top 50 being exempt to the U.S. Open.

He wound up .004 points behind Soren Hansen, who already was eligible.

“It’s a goofy system – we all know that. But it’s the system we have,” Oberholser said while waiting on lunch at Muirfield Village. “I probably deserve it. I haven’t played but five events because of my hand. And when I have played, I haven’t played well.”

"Phil made new friends that night, East Coast guys who were never around him before, who just read and heard about this Left Coast character and never knew what to think."

Tim Rosaforte fawns over Phil Mickelson's appearance at a Boys and Girls Club tournament and calls him the "unofficial host pro" when the U.S. Open arrives at Torrey Pines. But more importantly, we learn that Phil is just a regular guy, carrying his own Callaway double strap bag (and here I figured Phil would have picked up a Sun Mountain on ebay).

Mickelson's buddy Gregg Tryhus, the Scottsdale developer (Grayhawk and Whisper Rock), walked every step with them, but Phil never let him take the bag.

Uh, you don't usually hand your bag off to a developer who overpays you to design a course for him.

Seeing Mickelson in shorts, carrying his own sticks, is nothing new around Torrey Pines. Lefty has been doing that since he was playing junior golf. He was out with brother Tim before the Players in the same gear and came back with a scouting report and take on the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge. Tim, the coach at the University of San Diego, is actually longer than Phil, who drove one 357 yards on Thursday at Colonial during an opening round 65.

"Phil has enjoyed carrying his own bag since his junior golf days," Coe said. "He just feels more connected to the course and it allows him to play at his own pace. I feel if the USGA would let him, he would pack his own bag for the Open and probably imagine he was playing in another Junior World."

And if his sponsors let him, he's play barefoot with a shred of hay tucked between in his cheek.

Now about this Boys and Girls club dinner...

Hosting the dinner was New York Times best-selling author Jim Nantz, who said during the introductions he had a vision of a Mickelson victory.

Okay I know I keep interrupting here, but New York Times best-selling author Jim Nantz? Continue...

Afterward, they sat on a stage and conducted a question and answer session that lasted almost an hour. Phil was open, self-deprecating, teasing, funny. At one point, radio host Rush Limbaugh stood up and asked an impassioned question about Tiger Woods, but Phil gave it the full dodge, as any good politician would.

Phil made new friends that night, East Coast guys who were never around him before, who just read and heard about this Left Coast character and never knew what to think.

I'm sorry, did I miss the part where this article started with "For Immediate Release?"

And talk about your buried lede. The last sentence:

Phil forgot to mention what he told the guys gathered around him on the putting green Tuesday morning at Torrey. Even at 7,607, he'll only have to hit driver four times.

Tiger Skipping Memorial: A Break For The USGA?

With four straight Buick Invitational wins at Torrey Pines and six overall, Tiger Woods is even more of a U.S. Open favorite than normal. Mike Davis, the USGA's Director of Rules and Competitions, has joked that if Tiger does not win the Open at Torrey, the USGA would be blamed.

But with it now official that he will play no warm up event, has Tiger taken some pressure off of the USGA setup to produce him as a winner? Or is this simply the most inane question ever posed on this blog? 

Hey, it's Friday and I have to get back to the Laker game. 

Torrey Pines 14th Driveable?

A Golfweek staff report says that the USGA will make Torrey Pines' 14th hole a driveable par-4 during the final round.

Golfweek learned that the fairway toward the green of the par-4 14th hole (which normally plays 435 yards) recently was narrowed. The reason? It’s going to be played as a 277-yard par 4 on Open Sunday, with play proceeding from the forward tee and the hole cut front left on the green. The narrowed fairway approach makes sense for players opting to go for the putting surface. In all likelihood, they won’t even need a driver, and if they do hit it long, they’ll have to deal with a shaved-down rear bank that feeds into the irrecoverable canyon.

Deja Vu All Over Again: Torrey Vandalized In The Middle Of The Night

What is it about these USGA venues and vandals working in the middle of the night?

Tod Leonard reports on the latest minor incident (thanks NRH for the link), which has prompted officials to install a chain link fence around the third green. Some crime scene tape for the character-free front bunker wouldn't hurt either.

South Course – City Golf Manager Mark Woodward said workers arrived before dawn to find fresh footprints in the dew and heavy heel marks stamped into the surface of the green.

Woodward said a two-word vulgarity was etched in the sand of one bunker, and that several sprinkler heads were broken off. The incident was reported to San Diego police and is being investigated.

The damage to the green was minimal and quickly repaired, Woodward said, and though a Torrey Pines men's club outing that was to begin at 6:30 a.m. was delayed by 10 minutes, several golfers said they didn't notice any problems with the green after they played it.

The incident follows another act of vandalism on the same green about a month ago. In that case, Woodward said, it is believed the flagstick was used to scrape an obscenity into the green's surface, but the effect was cosmetic and was fixed with routine mowing.

"Makes you wonder how he got a job working there, huh?"

Steve Elling talks to the USGA's Mike Davis about finishing the U.S. Open on a reachable par-5 and the answer might surprise you.

"From a personal standpoint, nothing would please me more than to see giant swings in scoring on this hole," Davis told CBSSports.com. "A player eagling the 72nd hole to win would be a dream come true."

Somebody pinch me.

A day after Ogilvy had admitted he'd won the Open in ugly, cat-burglar fashion he'd not care to see repeated, Davis' surprising sentiments were relayed. A wry smile creased the Aussie's face as he though of Davis, an affable guy in his third year setting up the Open venue. Davis' tenure has been marked by innovation and an approach that players have broadly characterized as more conservative than his Draconian predecessors.

"Makes you wonder how he got a job working there, huh?" Ogilvy cracked.

Following U.S. Open media day, John Strege posts this item about the 7,643 yard golf course.

But Mike Davis, the senior director of rules and competition for the USGA, said that number is deceiving. "I feel very confident saying we will not play that length one day of the championship," he said.

Davis said the USGA will utilize the variety of tee boxes available to them, resulting in a course that will play "somewhere in the neighborhood of 74 [7,400 yards] and change up to 75 [7,500 yards] and change." That's a big neighborhood, notwithstanding the USGA's benevolence in backing it down somewhat.

Greetings From San Diego: USGA Media Day Edition

The USGA hosted its annual U.S. Open media day to give the region's newspaper assistant copy editors, middle-of-the-night radio sports talk show hosts and club newsletter columnists the chance to spend six hours slashing around Torrey Pines for free.
Jay Rains addresses the press (click to enlarge).

As part of the trade out for being comp'd and receiving a cap and bag tag, the moochers had to sit through a press conference hosted by media relations man Craig Smith, with speeches from president Jim Vernon (who made a great impression, as expected), executive committee member Jay Rains (it's okay to smile Jay!), Torrey Pines superintendent Mark Woodward (talks faster than Marty Scorsese on speed), championship committee chair Jim Hyler (the next Prez) and USGA competitions director Mike Davis (the main draw).

Each offered remarks you can read here, including some fresh golf course setup insights from Hyler and Davis.  Following was a short Q&A and on beamed in DVD, defending champion Angel Cabrera interviewed by Alex Miceli.

A transcript of the Cabrera interview was passed out before the play button was hit, which allowed everyone who remained to track every painstaking minute, which turned out to be 20 for those of us who stayed around. Nothing against Cabrera, but it became obvious within a minute or so that no one really wanted to hear each question translated in Spanish, followed by the answer in Spanish before we heard the interpretation.

Note to USGA: editing was invented for a reason.

As the interview progressed, it became hard to hear Cabrera above the chatter among those still in attendance. The droves filed out to prepare for losing ten balls and posting their three-digit scores.

While someone surely appreciated the journalistic integrity of showing us questions and answers in Spanish, next time let's chop that baby up and whittle it down to the English portion of the proceedings, eh?

I have to admit it was fun watching the blue coats nervously looking at the crowd filing out and amongst themselves wondering if they should pull the plug.

That said, I'm very excited about the Open's return to Southern California and anticipate that the combination of San Diego's fun coastal vibe, the magnificent arena the course should be (thanks to tree removal) and the exciting setup touches being cooked up by Mssrs. Davis and Hyler, that it's going to be a special week.

Some general thoughts and photos after spending the last two days walking around Torrey Pines:


View from grandstand behind No. 5. The classic Open look is taking shape (click to enlarge)Golf Course - The South Course is in excellent condition. The heat wave we had a couple of weeks ago apparently made the kikuyu happy, so the fairways are excellent but not so thatchy that it'll prevent Woodward from speeding them up.  Even as wet as the course is right now with dense fog and some irrigating, I saw a lot of balls running.

The rough is dense, apparently a tad thicker than the USGA had hoped. Therefore they have slightly lowered some of the cut heights (see Davis's comments in the transcript). That said, it's predominantly rye and poa rough, with the occasional kikuyu lie. The first cut of rough will be reduced to 15 feet from 20 because Davis has decided that the course is already playing wide enough.
Healthy crop of rough just waiting to be trampled by spectators (click to enlarge)

The greens are in fine shape, still rolling a couple of feet slower than they hope to have them for the Open where they are aiming for 13 on the Stimpmeter Monday-Sunday. They still don't have the firmness, but there's plenty of time to deal with that.


A newly cut approach improves No. 4 (click to enlarge)The bunkering looks a lot better with longer rough, but not nearly as attractive or strategically placed as I'd like to have seen. Rees Jones decries the "collapsing" bunkers of Doak, Coore/Crenshaw and Hanse, yet he is okay with them at "seaside" courses like Atlantic. When I asked him why Torrey Pines didn't count as a seaside course, he reasoned that the public couldn't have handled such bunkers.

Oh yes, Rees and I chatted for a while in the midst of one of his on-course photo shoots...


Rees Jones (click to enlarge)Rees: He made sure to let me know that he was not in fact the vandal of Chamber Bay's lone tree, so it's nice to know that Rees is surfing the web in between press conferences, photos shoots and exclusive interviews.

In general the Open Doctor is very excited about Davis's plans to vary the setup of more than half the holes and will probably taking credit for having built so much variety into the course by June. Though I don't sense he's too wild about encouraging players to go for the par-5s at No. 9 or No. 18 in two.


The merchandise hangar (click to enlarge)Infrastructure: I paced off the merchandise pavilion as slightly over 100 yards long. And there's also a "satellite" location near the bus drop off by the 12th hole. The various corporate tent villages are coming along nicely and most feature great ocean views, though I did find the ones along No. 1 and near No. 2 tee to be a tad close to play. The Trophy Club (I don't know what it is, but I'm guessing it ain't cheap) sits in a stunning location on Torrey North's No. 2 hole, and just east of it is the media center which will feature an awesome patio and dining area overlooking the ocean. But it is surprisingly far from the drop off point, so scribblers bring comfortable shoes.
View from The Trophy Club (click to enlarge)

Speaking of the most important people in the world...

Media Hotel: I was bummed not to get in the Doubletree Del Mar since I've stayed there twice now at ridiculously low prices (thank you Priceline and Biddingfortravel.com). Besides housing 300 scribes, it's where the media parking and shuttle is located.  After driving around the business parks surrounding the Doubletree, I realized how little there is around the it in the way of local dining in an area with so much great local faire.   Then again, how can you not love a hotel that asks you at check-in to initial a pledge to respect it's no-tolerance-for-smoking-anywhere-on-the-property policy?  

Let the "I hate California" columns begin!

Romo Blames Football For Local Qualifier 75; Now He Can Focus On Important Stuff: USGA Reality Show

The Cowboys QB will still get to play Torrey Pines thanks to his exemption into the June 6 whatever-it's-called-contest.

Romo shot a 5-over 75 Wednesday in a local qualifying event for the Open, finishing four shots out of a playoff for the eighth and final spot for a chance to compete in a sectional qualifying event.

"I found a good rhythm on the backside, but it just took too long to get started," said Romo, who had five video cameras and 25 people following him.

 How nice for his playing partners. I take it those were cameras developing the reality show backstory? If so, nice touch.

"I just haven't been able to practice or prepare. I've got a lot of football stuff. That's part of it."

The U.S. Open is June 9-12. The Cowboys have organized team activities June 10-12, then their lone minicamp June 17-19.

However, Romo will be at the Open as a celebrity guest for an event June 6.

Nice that AP didn't bother to, uh, brand it. 

"This is a worldwide event that they'll be talking about in the pubs of England."

Marisa Lagos in the San Francisco Chronicle addresses privitization rumors for the San Francisco city courses while Tod Leonard in the San Diego Union Tribune does the same thing for San Diego's crown jewel, Torrey Pines.

At Torrey it's the same old story, with Lodge owner Bill Evans seen as the likely operator, even though he flat out denies it and doesn't play golf or apparently, even like it. Especially because he's (claiming) that the U.S. Open won't be a cash cow.

However, Evans does have strong opinions about the matter. 

“There is a responsibility to run the golf courses in the most profitable manner we can,” Evans said. “Golf is such an island among Park and Rec. It doesn't benefit the overall general citizens of San Diego. A large percentage of the owners of the golf course will never play golf.

As for the U.S. Open, Evans said he is “sick of hearing that it benefits me more than anybody else.”

Evans would not comment about the possibility of striking a similar deal with the USGA for future U.S. Opens here.

“This benefits all citizens. This is a worldwide event that they'll be talking about in the pubs of England. Maybe those people will want to visit. Maybe they'll move a business to San Diego. Not everything people do is motivated by greed.”

No, just most things! 

Golf Digest Announces Contest Winner, Sparing Us Of Having To Look At That Annoying Photo Of The Finalists

John Atkinson will be the lucky soul who gets to play Torrey Pines for free with Tony Romo, Matt Lauer and Justin Timberlake.

In the write up on Atkinson's winning of the online vote, I noticed this line about the setup.

They'll play from the same tees, which can stretch the course to more than 7,600 yards, to similar hole locations that players will face in the final round of the U.S. Open.

I guess this means that players would be wise to get a scouting report on the event?

Somehow I doubt Mike Davis will tip his hand by using the final round locations for this exhibition. 

Phil Says Torrey Is The Hardest Course In The World; Vows To Use Newfound Heighth To Tackle It

Andrew Both reports:

"Even if it's soft I don't think anything close to even-par will win," Mickelson told reporters after firing a four-under 68 in the Wachovia Championship first round on Thursday.

"I think it's the hardest course in the world, 7,600 yards at sea level."

The 37-year-old Mickelson said the rough was particularly brutal, even by usual U.S. Open standards.

He played the course with two friends, both scratch-handicap amateurs.

"They are two very good amateurs and they shot about 85," said triple major winner Mickelson. "They had a better-ball score of 80."

2008 U.S. Open Entries And Exemptions

After Monty's little Masters invite tirade (and, sadly the not totally unreasonable point he was making) something about reading the news of only 58 U.S. Open exemptions reads so beautifully. Throw in the lack of special exemptions and it gets even better.

Here is the list of exempt players, preceded by the highlights from the qualifying entry pool, courtesy of the USGA's Craig Smith: 

U.S. OPEN ENTRIES CLOSE; 58 GOLFERS CURRENTLY FULLY EXEMPT
 
Far Hills, N.J. (April 25) – The United States Golf Association has accepted 8,390 entries for the 2008 U.S. Open, to be played June 12-15 at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, Calif., including those from the 58 golfers who are currently fully exempt into the field
 
Ninety-two percent of the total entries were received online, including 1,192 in the final two days applications were accepted (April 22-23). The USGA received 102 entries online in the final hour. The last entry to arrive was from Keith Stone, a 39-year-old amateur from Chelmsford, Mass., who beat the 5 p.m. (EDT) deadline by 56 seconds. The first entry received was from Joseph Tumpach, a 31-year-old professional from Naperville, Ill.
 
The youngest golfer to enter was 12-year-old Rico Hoey of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. The oldest applicant was 79-year-old Harris Moore Jr., a professional from Los Angeles, Calif. Overall, the USGA received entries from golfers in all 50 states and 68 foreign countries.
 
Among the foreign applicants were professionals Dawuda Mahama, 40, of Ghana; Lawan Mallam, 28, of Nigeria; and Alejandro Villavicencio, 28, of Guatemala. To be eligible, a player must have no higher than a 1.4 Handicap Index®, or be a professional.
 
Eight past champions are already fully exempt from having to qualify for the upcoming Championship. They are: Angel Cabrera (2007); Michael Campbell (2005); Ernie Els (1994, 1997); Jim Furyk (2003); Retief Goosen (2001, 2004); Lee Janzen (1993, 1998); Geoff Ogilvy (2006); and Tiger Woods (2000, 2002). An Open champion receives a full exemption into the field for the next 10 years.
 
The number of fully exempt golfers will increase with the inclusion of the top 50 players from the World Golf Rankings, the top 10 money leaders on the 2008 PGA Tour and the top two money leaders on the 2008 European PGA Tour as of May 26. The winner of the Players Championship (May 8-11) also receives an exemption.
 
Local qualifying at 111 sites will begin May 5. Sectional qualifying at 13 sites will be conducted on June 2, including one in England. A 14th sectional qualifier will be played May 26 in Japan. It is the fourth consecutive year that the USGA has offered these two international sectional qualifiers. 

The Open is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the USGA. Other championships include the U.S. Women’s Open, the U.S. Senior Open and 10 amateur competitions.
 
A list of the 58 golfers who are already fully exempt into the U.S. Open follows.
 
April 24, 2008
 
THE 58 PLAYERS WHO ARE ALREADY FULLY EXEMPT FOR THE 2008 U.S. OPEN
 
Robert Allenby                         9,10
Stephen Ames                        8
Woody Austin                          9,10
Aaron Baddeley                       8,9,10
Brad Bryant                             7
Jonathan Byrd                         10
Angel Cabrera                         1,8,11
Mark Calcavecchia                 9,10
Michael Campbell                   1
Paul Casey                             8,11
K.J. Choi                                 9,10,13
Daniel Chopra                         13
Stewart Cink                           9,10
Tim Clark                                9,10
Ben Curtis                               4
Luke Donald                            9
Nick Dougherty                       8,11
Ernie Els                                 9,10,11
Niclas Fasth                            8,11
Steve Flesch                           9,13
Jim Furyk                                1,8,9,10
Sergio Garcia                          9,10,11
Retief Goosen                         1,11
Todd Hamilton                         4
Soren Hansen                         11
Padraig Harrington                  4,9,10,11
Charles Howell III                    9,10
Trevor Immelman                   3
Lee Janzen                             1,8
Zach Johnson                         3,9,10
Shingo Katayama                   15
Jerry Kelly                               8
Hunter Mahan                          8,9,10
Shaun Micheel                        5
Phil Mickelson                         3,5,9,10,13
Colin Montgomerie                  11
Geoff Ogilvy                            1,9,10
John Rollins                            9,10
Andres Romero                      11
Justin Rose                             8,9,10,11
Rory Sabbatini                        9,10
Adam Scott                             9,10
Vijay Singh                              5,9,10
Heath Slocum                         9,10
Brandt Snedeker                     9,10
Henrik Stenson                       11
Richard Sterne                        11
Steve Stricker                         8,9,10
Toro Taniguchi                        15
*Michael Thompson                2
David Toms                            8
Scott Verplank                         8,9,10
Camilo Villegas                       10
Bubba Watson                        8
Boo Weekley                           9,10
Lee Westwood                        11
Brett Wetterich                        9,10
Tiger Woods                           1,3,4,5,8, 9,10,13
*=amateur
 
^{Key to Player Exemptions –
 
1)         Winners of the U.S. Open Championship for the last 10 years.
2)         Winner and runner-up of the 2007 U.S. Amateur Championship.
3)         Winners of the Masters Tournament for the last five years.
4)         Winners of the British Open Championship for the last five years.
5)         Winners of the PGA of America Championship for the last five years.
6)         Winner of the 2008 Players Championship.
7)         Winner of the 2007 U.S. Senior Open Championship.
8)         From the 2007 U.S. Open Championship, the 15 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 15th place.
9)         From the 2007 final official PGA Tour money list, the top 30 money leaders.
10)       Those 30 players qualifying for the 2007 season-ending Tour Championship.
11)       From the 2007 final official PGA European Tour, the top 15 money leaders.
12)       From the 2008 official PGA Tour money list, the top 10 money leaders through May 26.
13)       Any multiple winners of PGA Tour co-sponsored events whose victories are considered official from April 25, 2007, through June 1, 2008.
14)       From the 2008 PGA European Tour, the top two money leaders through May 26.
15)       From the 2007 final Japan Golf Tour money list, the top two leaders provided they are within the top 75 point leaders of the World Rankings at that time.
16)       From the 2007 final PGA Tour of Australasia money list, the top two leaders provided they are within the top 75 point leaders of the World Rankings at that time.
17)       From the World Rankings list, the top 50 point leaders as of May 26, 2008
18)       Special exemptions selected by the USGA.}

Tweaking Torrey

Thomas Bonk details some of the pre-U.S. Open changes to Torrey Pines and they may surprise you. Or, you may not care.

No. 4, 488-yard par four: The hole that runs along the ocean, the fairways have been widened out to the right, up near the green.

No. 5, 453-yard par four: The fairway has been widened in the drive zone, which should bring bunkers into play.

No. 13, 614-yard par five: If the shortest teeing area is used at 5390 yards, the fairway to the left, up against the canyon, is widened.

No. 18, 573-yard par five: A risk-reward hole, the fairway is widened out near the pond and wraps left around the pond.

Of course, the USGA did narrow a couple of fairways, the 612-yard 9th where three yards were taken off the left of the fairway in the third shot area and the 435-yard 14th where the fairway was narrowed up beyond the drive zone.

The Open is still seven weeks away, and that's plenty of time to start getting ready for the chatter about the brutal, 614-yard par five - if it's played from the farthest tee, which would require a 250-yard carry over a canyon.

Kikuya, Kikuyu, Whatever

David Shefter posts a Q&A with the USGA's Pat Gross about the state of Torrey Pines and the influence of its "kikuya" grass, perhaps a new version of the kikuyu that I thought was covering much of the course.

“When do you say to the West Coast, ‘The tournament must end at 4 o’clock your time.'"

Doug Ferguson talks to David Fay about the U.S. Open finishing at 7 p.m. Pacific. Now, I'm a conoisseur of David's spin and do love his baseball metaphors. Which, I must say, would come in handy right about now:

“When do you say to the West Coast, ‘The tournament must end at 4 o’clock your time,’” USGA executive director David Fay said.

And that means what, exactly? Finishing at 4 p.m we are deprived of having dinner at a normal hour? Flying out of San Diego on Sunday night? Perish the thought!

“I know it puts Europe at a disadvantage. We tend to look east, where it’s just as easy to look to the west. If K.J. Choi (of South Korea) is leading, the time might be better for Asia.”

Always thinking of Asia. That's why he gets the big bucks! Thank God it wasn't something flimsy like wanting to finish in prime time to grab another Nielsen point.

Ferguson also notes:

The last time a major was held on the West Coast was Pebble Beach for the 2000 U.S. Open, and the final round was scheduled to end at 5 p.m. PDT.