Love adds Stricker, Furyk, Johnson and Snedeker

    In the weeks leading up to Monday’s announcement, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III said he wanted to use his four captain’s picks to find a hot player, good putters and experience.

   His four picks – Dustin Johnson, Jim Furyk, Brandt Snedeker and Steve Stricker – checked each of Captain Love’s designated boxes.

   It meant leaving off Hunter Mahan, who finished ninth in points and won twice this year, Rickie Fowler, whose game went as flat as his cap brim over the summer and Nick Watney, who I probably would have given the spot over Furyk.

   In announcing his four choices, Love called this “the deepest, strongest year of earning points” he can remember which made narrowing his choices more difficult.

   If one of the four flames out against the Europeans at Medinah next month, it will be easy to say Love made a mistake but at the moment, it’s hard to argue with his choices.

    Stricker was a lock because he’s one of the world’s best putters, a perfect partner for Tiger Woods and the kind of guy Love and others want in the team room. When it comes to team chemistry, he’s a huge asset.

   Picking Snedeker was a good move because he’s playing well, he can putt with his eyes closed and it’s his time to be on a Ryder Cup team. Snedeker has quietly become a top-level player and his enthusiasm should be a nice addition to a team with low-key personalities such as Jason Dufner, Johnson, Furyk and Woods.

   Johnson played his way onto the team over the last month after missing a big early chunk of the season due to an injury. Imagine Johnson and Bubba Watson paired in alternate shot, just for the pure awe aspect of the shots they might hit together.

   If there’s a rap on Johnson, it’s that he’s not a great putter. But he’s too talented to leave off.

   Furyk stumbled home in the U.S. Open and the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, kicking away big wins that raised questions about whether Love would choose him.  But Furyk has been on almost as many U.S. teams as red, white and blue and figures to be a calm presence in a tense event.

   But he’s 8-15-4 in his Ryder Cup career and Love will likely sit him in four-ball (best ball) competition where he’s a dreadful 1-8-1.

    Love answered one set of questions Monday. Bigger questions await at Medinah.

Beaten by a man with a broken leg...

I learned long ago that golf has a mind -- and a warped sense of humor -- of its own.

That's why an otherwise beautiful tee shot can stop in a divot, why your opponent's skulled 7-iron can skip across the water like Captain Sullenberger hit it and why kids want to dress like Rickie Fowler.

If you play, you understand. If you don't play, don't start. You'll have more fun piercing your tongue.

That brings me to my latest slapdown.

Playing in the Cedarwood club championship over the weekend, I got beat by a man with a broken leg.

Both days.

I know, Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open on a broken leg. He was playing the Barclays last weekend, I checked.

The only guy I beat got DQ'd because he signed an incorrect scorecard.

I think he's the only guy I beat. I wisely grabbed a beer after the round and didn't glance at the scoreboard or anyone else before slinking away, pretending I had somewhere to be -- and it wasn't the practice tee.

Let me make it clear that I have great admiration for the man who beat me on one good leg. He has a rod in his bad leg, parts of it have come loose and he now has a stress fracture in his thigh bone. When he makes a full swing and tweaks his leg the wrong way, it looks like it hurts worse than a Rosie O'Donnell monologue.

But he loves golf and keeps playing through it, kicking my butt in the process.

There's something inspiring about his willingness to keep playing but let's not make it about him. Let's talk about me.

I could tell you I was 1-over par through seven holes and facing an easy approach shot into the par-5 eighth green Sunday, thinking I might be able to backdoor my way into second place in the net division after another in a long history of poor starts in the club championship.

But then I'd have to tell you that three holes later I was 10-over par and relieved that both of my Titleists missed every vehicle moving on Highway 51 after my tee shots at the easy 10th hole turned right of Sean Hannity on their way off the property.

You might think that seeing a man with a broken leg grinding away would push me to keep grinding, too. You might be wrong.

A three-hole stretch of double-bogey, triple-bogey, quadruple-bogey kills your incentive. Let's see sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella put a happy face on that scorecard.

I finished and, after briefly considering donating my clubs to a nearby pond and bailing out of an October trip to Bandon Dunes, I wondered why I'd expected anything different. If nearly 50 years of playing golf have taught me anything, it's not to bet on myself when you have to putt 'em out.

My only regret?

I should have bought the man with the broken leg a beer.

What does Ko's win say about the LPGA Tour?

Fifteen-year old Lydia Ko, who won the LPGA Tour's Canadian Open on Sunday, wasn't born when Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters.

Make you feel old?

Make you wish you could hit it and putt it like the kids these days?

Ko became the youngest player in LPGA history to win a tournament, breaking the record set last year by Lexi Thompson. Ko was brilliant, making seven birdies on Sunday, to pull away from Jiyai Shin and Stacy Lewis, two of the tour's best players.

Afterward, she talked about wanting to buy a dog and her goal of attending Stanford, both of which she may eventually get though she couldn't take her $300,000 winner's check because she's still an amateur.

Ko's victory raised an interesting question:

What does it say about the LPGA Tour?

It's a tour in desperate need of a jolt of relevance and Ko's victory at least pulled some of the attention away from Nick Watney's victory in the Barclays and the musical chairs being played for the final four spots on Davis Love III's U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Without a dominant player at the moment - Yani Tseng's sterling game has dulled slightly - the LPGA needs someone or something to bring it into focus. Maybe it's Ko.

She recently won the U.S. Amateur and now she's an LPGA Tour winner. It says everything about her potential and perhaps too much about the LPGA Tour at the moment.

Augusta National does the right thing

  The news Monday that Augusta National Golf Club has its first two female members -- former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Darla Moore of Lake City, S.C. -- was both overdue and inevitable.

   Still, it's good to have the issue resolved.

   Did it take longer than it should have?

   Yes, but Augusta National moves at its own pace. We may never know for sure but my sense is the club might have added female members before now had Martha Burk's public attacks a few years ago not slowed the process. The club wasn't going to be bullied into action.

   However, the issue wasn't going to go away until female members were admitted. For all the progressive initiatives pushed by chairman Billy Payne in its stated quest to 'grow the game,' the message was flattened by the reality that Augusta National hadn't fully opened its doors to women.

   Hundreds of rounds of golf are reportedly played by women each year at Augusta National but until now, there were no female members.

   Payne was pushed in his pre-tournament interview in April on the membership issue and said, as other chairmen have, that club matters would remain private. It became more awkward because Virginia Rometty had become CEO of IBM. Her four male predecessors had been Augusta National members.

   Payne is a smart man who no doubt understood the conundrum of pushing global growth at a club with a restricted membership. With Rice and Moore now having their own green jackets, Payne and the club can push forward rather than play defense against the perpetual questions.

   It was important enough that the club made a public announcement of the new members, Payne calling it "a joyous occasion." 

   Augusta National is a unique place. The club reportedly has about 300 members and they are rich and powerful people. The club has positioned itself to be a powerful force in golf and it has the opportunity to be an example. 

    It became a better one on Monday.

Coore, Crenshaw give No. 2 another look

   Recently, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw stopped by Pinehurst to take a look at their restoration project at No. 2, which has been open for more than a year now.
  With both the men's and women's U.S. Opens less than two years away, they're looking closely at the width of fairways and the amount of growth in the sandy natural areas.
   Here's a link to what they had to say about No. 2:

http://pinehurstresort.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/coore-and-crenshaw-provide-update-on-pinehurst-no-2-restoration/

Rocky River, Verdict Ridge open with new greens

   Two area courses that made the conversion from bent grass to bermuda grass greens earlier this summer are ready to reopen.
   Rocky River Golf Club in Concord is scheduled to reopen Aug. 20 and will offer special rates the first week after its reopening.
   Verdict Ridge Golf & Country Club in Denver will reopen to the public Aug. 25.
   Both courses are among a large group of area courses that made the transition to more heat-tolerant putting surfaces this month. The Wyndham Championship being played this week at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro made a similar move and is hosting the PGA Tour less than 12 weeks after making the change.

Feherty weighs in on Rory: 'No. 1 in the universe'

   David Feherty, the brilliant golf announcer and social commentator, walked the final round of the PGA Championship with Rory McIlroy and was blown away by what he saw.

   Here's a portion of what Feherty told a handful of reporters standing outside the Ocean Course clubhouse after the championship:

   "This was better (than McIroy's U.S. Open performance at Congressional in 2011). Congressional didn't have the disaster potential on every single hole. Out here you hit one loose shot, you're not talking about a one-shot swing or two-shot swing. You could lose three or four. He never gave anybody even the vaguest whiff on the breeze. No, he was locked up so tight

   "He made every single putt that mattered and when he missed a green, he missed it in the right place. It was perfect under the severest of pressure. He did what all great players can do. He played the best possible golf as if it had the least possible consequence. That's what great players do. They make it seem like it doesn't matter when it matters more than anything else to them.

   "I think it's the greatest round of golf I've seen and I've seen Tiger Woods play a lot of great rounds of golf but that was something special."

   Asked about McIlroy regaining the world No. 1 ranking, Feherty said;

   "He's No. 1 in the universe right now, not No. 1 in the world. It's not close. Tiger's not where he was. People keep asking is Tiger Woods back? Back where? Yeah, he's back. He's won three times this year. He's not back where he was at the turn of the century. I think it will be another century before anybody gets there. It's an unreasonable standard to hold anybody to. 

   "The way (McIlroy) swings the club and the way he thinks about the game of golf and his attitude on the course, both good and bad, I've never seen anybody more evenly balanced and more beautifully suited to play golf for a living. He looks like a slightly less energetic Tom Watson."

Observations from the PGA Championship

  A few observations while waiting for the PGA Championship to resume Sunday morning:

 -- It's likely the players who will finish their third rounds Sunday morning will have a big advantage in terms of playing conditions over those who got their third rounds in before the storm. The course will be softer and the wind is forecast to be down, setting up lower scoring and a chance for the leaders to separate themselves a little more.

   -- Unless something changes Sunday, Tiger Woods' weekend struggles in major championships this year has become a problem. He hasn't broken par on the weekend in the four majors and he played himself backward and virtually out of contention on Saturday. 

   A pulled birdie putt at the third hole from short range seemed to frustrate Woods who followed with consecutive bogeys. Someone cracked he was in danger of running out of gloves because he had to sign so many for spectators he hit Saturday.

    -- Given the challenges with weather during August, particularly thunderstorms in the southeast, it's interesting that the lineup of PGA Championship sites through 2018 doesn't include a west coast venue. The PGA hasn't been played out west since visiting Sahalee near Seattle in 1998. Torrey Pines, some pointed out, is nice this time of year.

  -- Another PGA question: Knowing there was a better than good chance of afternoon thunderstorms Saturday, why didn't they start players earlier in the third round? The PGA Tour does it routinely.

   There's an argument to be made for televising the event live but showing a slightly taped-delayed version beats showing highlights from the 2009 PGA Championship -- unless you're Y.E. Yang.

Simpson looking ahead, not back after PGA

  Webb Simpson got the weekend off after missing the cut in the PGA Championship but he left the Ocean Course feeling better about his even-par 72 on Friday than he fat 79 on Thursday.

    "I look back on that first nine holes (a 6-over 42 on Thursday) and it's kind of what got me," Simpson said. "But the course played really hard (Friday). I feel good. I hit it good and finally got the putter going. It's just one of those deals where I got off to a bad start."

   Simpson plans to take a couple of days off at home with his wife, son and new daughter then defend his championship at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro next week.

   "It's kind of good to get this under my belt before the playoffs. Hopefully, I'll play a little better next week," Simpson said.

Simpson 'disappointed' with rough start at PGA

   U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson opened with a 7-over par 79 that left him "disappointed" in his first competitive round in a month.

   Simpson shot 6-over par 42 on the front nine with a double bogey on the third hole and four bogeys in his last five holes before making the turn.

  "I was rustier than I thought I'd be," said Simpson, who took a month off for the birth of his daughter last month. "I didn't hit a bad shot on No. 1 and make bogey. At No. 3, I thought my wedge shot would be 10 feet, went over the green and I made double. Just kind of rusty stuff from there."

   Simpson had three 3-putts on the back nine.

  "It's a tough way to get back into it but I'm glad I got the first round under my belt. I'm not quite out of it," Simpson said.

   "As hard as I worked at home, I didn't expect to come out here and struggle so much. I hit it really good today. Just stupid mistakes and couldn't get anything going. Seemed like every time I'd make a birdie, I'd make a mistake the next hole.

  "I didn't feel nerves this morning like I thought I would. That's a dangerous place because I felt like I was floating out here."

   The Charlotte-based players were led by Brendan de Jonge and Martin Laird, who opened with 71s while Robert Karlsson had 74 and Johnson Wagner shot 75. Pinehurst teaching pro Kelly Mitchum shot 76.

Ocean Course isn't easy -- getting there

   The Ocean Course is beautiful.

   It is also remote.

   As in a long way from anything but a few really big, really nice houses owned by what I assume are very rich people.

   Playing the Ocean Course, even as a resort guest when it's not in PGA Championship trim, is a challenge.

   So is getting there.

   What's that old adage, no one wants to hear about the delivery, they just want to see the baby?

   No one wants to hear about the challenge of getting to the Ocean Course. They want to see how Phil and Rory and Dustin handle what can be a beast of a golf course if the wind kicks up.

   But getting to the PGA Championship isn't easy for anyone.

   Even if you have your yacht moored at a nearby marina, it's a 25-minute drive in among the live oaks, lagoons and poster-pretty golf holes on other resort courses.

   If you're staying in Charleston, it was a one-hour, 40-minute shuttle bus ride to the Ocean Course Thursday morning. Generally, it's been about an hour. It's a substantial ride if no one is on the road, which tends not to be the case in mornings and when a major championship is being played nearby.

   Navigating the course can be a test because it's laid out essentially with nine holes in one direction and the other nine running parallel the other way. Four miles end to end. It's about a half-mile from the ninth green to the 10th tee. 

   It's not easy. But major championships aren't supposed to be easy.

What do players think of the Ocean Course?

So what do the players think about the Ocean Course?

   They think it's long. 

    "A big golf course," Rory McIlroy said.

   "A big ballpark," Tiger Woods said.

   "They're going to make us work," Bubba Watson said.

   Officially, the Ocean Course measures 7,676 yards but it won't play its full length during the PGA Championship. Set-up man Kerry Haigh plans to move tees depending on the wind, which is predicted to kick up, particularly Friday and Saturday afternoon, gusting to 30 miles per hour.

   The par-4 12th hole, listed at 412 yards, will play 305 or thereabouts at least one day, tempting players to try to drive the green.

   There's a lot of target golf involved in playing the Pete Dye design, plotting your way around the course from spot to spot. It's not a subtle course. The penalty for a poor shot is generally severe.

   "A lot of it is visual," Woods said. "There's a lot more room out there, whether it's on the fairways or the greens, than you think. He just makes you look the other way. He's a masterful designer in that way.

   "If you play conservatively, he gives you a lot more room but also you're far away from the green all the time."

   What does the Ocean Course remind players of?

   Whistling Straits, another Dye design, where Martin Kaymer won the PGA Championship two years ago.

  "It's very similar to Whistling Straits," McIlroy said.

   

Pinehurst's Mitchum "excited and nervous"

   When Pinehurst Resort teaching pro played the Ocean Course in the Carolinas PGA section championship last fall, he didn't have Adam Scott hitting practice balls beside him and Scott's caddie, Steve Williams, watching Mitchum hit tee shots on the seaside range like he did Tuesday morning.

   That's just one thing that makes Mitchum's appearance in the PGA Championship this week something different.

   In a normal week, Mitchum said he'd probably be working with a student instead of dodging rain showers to polish his game in advance of the Thursday start at the Ocean Course.

  "I'm excited and nervous. This is not my normal routine," Mitchum said. "It's a very difficult golf course but it's cool being out here with the best players in the world."

   Mitchell played a practice round Monday at the Ocean Course and when he got a look at where the tees are going to be set for the championship, he knew he wasn't playing the section championship anymore

   "We played it at 6,800 yards last fall and it was a wonderful course from there," Mitchum said. "But 7,600 is a little different.

   "Because it's rained so much, it's not playing firm and fast. I need firm and fast. I've used my hybrid more this week than I've used it in three years."

    Mitchum's goal?

   "Try not to get too wrapped up in what's going on and just have a good time," he said.

When bad things happen to good players

    Adam Scott.

    Jim Furyk.

    Who’s next?

    Tournament golf is littered with torturous tales of leads lost at the last moment, would-be champions done in by nerves and not trusting themselves when it matters the most.

   Scott’s slow-bleed loss at the British Open was a classic example and the Aussie got company Sunday when Jim Furyk, once rock-solid, kicked away the WGC Bridgestone Invitational with a 72^nd hole double bogey that looked downright ugly. Furyk, in case you’ve forgotten, also drop-kicked the U.S. Open trophy in Webb Simpson’s direction in June when he snap-hooked a tee shot coming home and couldn’t buy a par with a platinum card.

   Furyk and Scott are just the latest to lose tournaments they seemingly owned. It happens all the time, whether it’s a $5 nassau with your buddies, a club tournament, a mini-tour or when David Feherty is walking the golf course watching you.

   Like car wrecks, it happens.

   “It is a cruel game,” Furyk told reporters Sunday night.  “I’ve lost some tournaments in pretty poor fashions, but I don’t think I’ve ever let one slip nearly as bad as this one.”

   Ernie Els won the Claret Jug. Keegan Bradley won a WGC event before he defends the PGA Championship he won last August when Jason Dufner couldn’t hold the lead coming home.

   At Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, bad things are going to happen to good players.

   The question – particularly Sunday afternoon -- is when and to whom.

Tiger on Kiawah: 'A big ballpark'

   Tiger Woods made his first visit to Kiawah Island's Ocean Course Tuesday for an early look at the site of next week's PGA Championship.

  Woods said the course was unusually soft due to two inches of overnight rain but he had plenty to take in as he prepared for the year's final major championship.

   "It's going to be long," Woods told reporters Wednesday at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. "I think it's going to be close to 7,700 yards and that's just a big ballpark."

   Woods said many of the holes played into a crosswind rather than the prevailing southwest wind that has approximately half the course playing into the wind and the other half playing downwind.

   Woods said it will be only the second time he's played on paspalum greens and he expects them to firm.

   According to published reports, Woods' yacht has been seen in the Lowcountry.

   "It's going to be a great test," Woods said. "I don't know how the spectators are going to get around this place. First of all, I don't know how they're going to get to it. But once they're there, it's going to be a great environment."

'

If golf were in the Olympics this year...

   If golf were in these Olympics (it returns to the Games in 2016) the United States would have four players in competition -- Tiger Woods, Webb Simpson, Bubba Watson and Jason Dufner.

   No Phil Mickelson.

   The way the selection process is set, players will be chosen based on their world ranking on a certain date. The two top-ranked players for each competing country will qualify. If a country has four players among the top 15 in the world, it will be allowed to enter four players.

   That's not likely to change.

   What should change is the Olympic format. Right now, it calls for a 72-hole stroke-play tournament just like almost every other golf tournament.  So much for imagination or creativity. As others have suggested, how about two-man team play or something else? 

   Since they still haven't started building the Olympic course in Rio, it's not too late to tinker with the format.

   

Kiawah ready for its PGA moment next week

  It's been seven years since Kiawah Island Golf Resort learned it would host the 2012 PGA Championship and more than three years since championship director Brett Sterba set up shop to begin putting the physical pieces together at the Ocean Course.

   On Monday, it all comes to life.

   "After all the years of waiting for this, for it to be here next week is exciting," resort president Roger Warren said. "The major stuff is done. We're just putting the finishing touches on things now. We'll be ready."

   Each PGA Championship has its logistical challenges and this one is no exception. 

   Ticket sales were limited so that no more than 30,000 people will be on site during tournament rounds. With no public parking within the resort and very limited roads leading into Kiawah Island, the traffic plan received high priority and officials are optimistic it will limit congestion near the resort.

   The Ocean Course is a dramatic setting, framed by the Atlantic Ocean. It has challenging spots for spectators to walk among the dunes that line most holes but special viewing areas have been created with large gathering spots for fans. 

    Warren said officials anticipate 10,000 fans for practice rounds Monday, 15,000 on Tuesday and around 20,000 on Wednesday. Somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 are expected each day beginning Thursday.

   "The thing I'm looking forward to is the reaction of people when they arrive at the course and see the scope of the effort that has been put forth," Warren said.

Simpson 'so thankful' for Willow Grace

  Webb Simpson and his wife, Dowd, are parents of a daughter, Willow Grace, who arrived Saturday.
   "We are so thankful," Simpson said in a short message Sunday morning.
   Willow Grace is the couple's second child. They have a one-year old son, James.
   With both mother and daughter doing well, Simpson plans to return to the PGA Tour in another week when he tees it up at the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.

Bobby Jones used clubs that were later outlawed

  While the discussion continues about whether the R&A and USGA will ban the anchoring of long putters in the future – there seems to be a growing sense that they’ll be outlawed in 2016 – such a change wouldn’t require asterisks by major winners who used belly putters.

   Peter Dawson, the R&A boss, pointed out in his Monday press conference that Bobby Jones won some of his major championships using concave-faced clubs that were later deemed to be illegal.

   There’s no asterisk next to Jones’ achievements.

   It would and should be the same for any players who win majors with anchored putters now if the rules are changed in the future.

   According to Martin Dempster’s story in the Scotsman this week, 16 of the 156 players in the Open Championship used belly putters while 27 players used long putters.

   No wonder the issue is getting a serious look for golf’s ruling bodies.

Is decision near on belly and long putters?

  Is a decision looming on the legality of the long and belly putters?

  It sounds like it.

  During his post-Open Championship press conference Monday, R&A chief executive Peter Dawson explained that his organization and the USGA are giving the subject a long, serious look. Not coincidentally, the question was raised again after belly putter-wielding Ernie Els won the Open after long-putter whiz Adam Scott kicked it away over the final holes.

   You had to wonder what the R&A suits were thinking watching Scott, Els and others putt with sticks that don't fit the traditional version of what a putter should be.

   Perhaps the belly putter is slightly more tolerable to the game's ruling elders than the broomstick-style that has helped Scott so much but the notion of seeing a new generation of youngsters growing up with putters stuck in their bellies or sternums must be disconcerting to the traditionalists.

   If you ask me, you shouldn't be able to anchor a club to your body during a stroke whether you're doing it like Scott does it, like Els does it, like Bernhard Langer used to do it and like any other putting-afflicted soul does battle on the greens. It doesn't mean I'm right, only that I think golfers should be required to make a stroke, not use a pendulum.

   That's not to discredit in any way the major championship victories of Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson or Ernie Els. If belly putting or long putting is so great, everyone would do it. They don't. 

   It's not a cure-all. But it's a growing trend and while the argument can be made it's already too far down the line to draw it back now, it bears examination.

   "Anchoring is what we're looking at, method of stroke, and it's all about putting around a fixed pivot point, whether that fixed pivot point is in your belly or under your chin or on your chest," Dawson told reporters Monday. "I don't distinguish between the two. It's a matter of stroke issue."

  Don't expect an immediate announcement but perhaps something later this year.

  And if you've abandoned the short putter for a belly or long putter, keep a short putter around just in case. 

Sims shoots 59 in eGolf event

 Michael Sims of Bermuda cracked perhaps golf's most dramatic barrier Thursday, shooting a 12-under par 59 in the second round of the Southern Open at the Country Club of Salisbury.

   Sims, who played four years on the Web.com (formerly Nationwide) tour, became the first player to break 60 in competition on the Charlotte-based eGolf Professional Tour.

   He birdied his first eight holes Thursday on his way to an 8-under par 27 on the front side of the Donald Ross-designed course. Sims made four putts of 10 feet or longer among his eight opening birdies.

   "What's cool is that the 27 on the front nine is my lowest (score) by two," Sims said. "I shot 29 on this tour a few years ago."

  A birdie at the 10th pushed Sims to 9-under par. After four consecutive pars, Sims birdied the par-5 15th, holed a 22-foot birdie putt at the 16th and had a tap-in birdie at the 17th. He parred the finishing hole to post 59.

   Sims said he had forgotten the par was 71 and thought he had shot 60 when he missed a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 18

   "I hit that birdie putt and left it a few inches short and thought, 'You have to be kidding me,'" Sims said. "When the other guys in the group congratulated me, I remembered that it was par-71. Pretty surreal feeling."

   Sims, who shot 71 in the first round, will enter the final round of the Southern Open Friday trailing 36-hole leader Drew Weaver by one stroke.

-- Ron Green Jr.

A Charlotte version of the Tavistock Cup?

   Jeff Conyers has an idea.
   He wants to create a Charlotte version of the Tavistock Cup, the early-spring shootout among touring pros representing their respective golf clubs in the Orlando, Fla., area.
   It would be different here. It wouldn't involve tour players unless, say, Johnson Wagner wanted to play for Quail Hollow or Robert Karlsson got involved for Longview, but the idea is to bring together teams representing 15 golf clubs in the Charlotte area.
   Each team would have a foursome, perhaps two foursomes, and there would be a one-day tournament for what would be called the Shepherd's Cup.
   In addition to the golf aspect, the event would be a fund-raiser for the Shepherd's Center, a non-profit organization that provides for seniors, helping empower them in a variety of ways.
   The organization hosts a one-day captain's choice event at Olde Sycamore to raise funds for the group. Last year, 14 foursomes participated.
   Watching The Tavistock Cup, which originally pitted the pros from Isleworth against those at Lake Nona in Orlando, got Conyers thinking about creating something like that here.
   It's a good idea.
   There are interclub matches among various clubs during the year but this would, ideally, bring all the clubs together one time. It would also allow for other foursomes to participate.
   Conyers said he's already received the support of some club pros in the area and he's attempting to reach out to every local club to assess the interest level.
  If you're interested, contact Jeff Conyers at 704-321-0490 or via email at jeff@InsureEd.com. 

Bunker shots: Phil, Webb and Half Moon Bay

   Splashing out a few bunker shots:
   -- Did you ever think you'd see Phil Mickelson post seven straight over-par rounds on the PGA Tour?
   That's where his game is now as he heads across the Atlantic to play the Scottish Open this week before the Open Championship next week. He shot 79 in his one full round at The Memorial, wasn't a factor at the U.S. Open and flamed out in two days at the Greenbrier.
   He said his game isn't that far off but the results suggest otherwise.
   -- Peter Williamson, who won the North and South Amateur at Pinehurst over the weekend, doesn't have the big amateur profile of some other players but he's getting there.
   Williamson was a three-time Ivy League champion at Dartmouth, was medalist in the expanded 54-hole qualifier at Pinehurst and never trailed in his finals victory over Clemson's Thomas Bradshaw.
  -- It was surprising to see Webb Simpson come unglued on the back nine Sunday. With nine holes to go, it looked like Simpson was on his way to a second victory then he shot a fat 40 coming in, falling quickly out of contention in a tournament where he was the only leader with a victory on his resume.
   Talking to reporters afterward, Simpson, who had gone 59 consecutive holes without a bogey, said, "It's just the nature of the game. You go from not making any mistakes all week to making them all on the back nine."
   He'll learn from it and be fine, I expect.
   Simpson doesn't plan to play again until the WGC event at Firestone next month while he and wife, Dowd, await the birth of their second child later this month.
  -- While on the West Coast last month, I got a chance to play the spectacularly attractive Half Moon Bay Ocean Course.
   It's one of the prettiest golf courses I've ever been on and, if you're in the San Francisco area, it's worth the short drive south to Half Moon Bay. The views, from almost every hole, are tremendous and they did a nice job designing wide fairways and accessible greens to keep resort play moving.
   Even if you don't play well, the experience is enough to make you smile.
  

Dottie Pepper finally gets her chance

   Meg Mallon got it right by making Dottie Pepper one of her assistant captains for the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club.
   And, hopefully, it will lead to Pepper getting the chance to captain the U.S. Solheim Cup team somewhere down the road.
   It would probably have happened by now had Pepper, who played at Furman, not been caught calling the American team "choking dogs" when she thought her microphone was off during the 2007 matches. She's always been brutally honest and fiesty and it came back to bite her, even if she thought her comments wouldn't be heard by anyone without a television headset on.
   "I had kind of made good with it a long time ago that, hey, I screwed up. The guy on the switch screwed up. We all screwed up. And that if that was the way it was going to be, that was the way it was going to be. I couldn't change that," Pepper said in a press conference announcing her appointment.
   Some people felt the comment killed Pepper's chance of ever being part of a Solheim Cup team but, fortunately, it didn't.
   If you remember Pepper, you recall how her emotion practically glowed in the international competition. She was criticized for her exuberance but that's her nature.
   She'll be a terrific addition to Mallon's team. They compliment each other, Mallon calling herself a broad brush person while Pepper is good with logistics. It's also a necessary step in setting Pepper up to captain the team down the road, maybe in 2015.
    Wouldn't that be fun?

Andy Griffith leaves us memories and reruns

   When my eight-year old nephew saw an image of Andy Griffith on the computer screen today, he stopped and said, "Hey, Andy Griffith."
   What other 86-year old entertainer would an eight-year old recognize?
   It speaks in a small way to who Andy Griffith was, not just to my boomer generation, but to seemingly every generation that will be celebrating the Fourth of July on Wednesday. He was Andy Taylor, the great American sheriff and moralist.
   Andy Taylor was a television creation but what made him enduring is how much we wanted him to be real. Andy Griffith was real and, though most of us knew him only through the characters he played, I hope he was something like the sheriff who didn't carry a gun.
   When the news came that Andy -- if you're born in North Carolina, you're born on a first-name basis with Mr. Griffith -- had passed away in Manteo, I felt it. Maybe you did, too.
   He had that kind of effect on many of us.
    'The Andy Griffith Show' went off the air more than 50 years ago but it has lived on through syndication, the rare television show that can be shared by three generations. It was about Barney Fife and Opie, Ernest T. Bass and Aunt Bea, Helen Crump and Thelma Lou.
    At its heart, though, it was about Andy.
   Andy Griffith did many things in his career but he is best remembered for being the sheriff of an imaginary town where most of the trouble was caused by Barney. Andy Taylor wasn't perfect but he set a nearly perfect example for Opie and the rest of us. It was simple but it felt right.
   Think about this: How rare is it to come across an 'Andy Griffith' episode you don't remember?
   Barney's side car?
   Aunt Bea's pickles?
   The goat that ate dynamite?
   Seen it, seen it, seen it.
   Miss Crump, I think I luv you...
   You can probably hear it.
   Andy Griffith gave us that and more.
   To borrow a line from perhaps the best episode of 'The Andy Griffith Show,' a lot of hearts feel empty today.
   But don't our memories seem nice and full.

   

Linville: Playing mountain music

   There is an everlasting charm to Linville.
   If you've been there, whether to take the edge off the summer heat, spend a night at the Eseeola Lodge or just driving through to look at the October leaves, you probably know what I'm talking about. It's just a small mountain town at the foot of Grandfather Mountain, the kind of place you could drive through without noticing but if you've been there, chances are you brought a piece of it home with you.
   Linville was missing its traditional summer softness this past weekend, the thermometer nudging 90. A Charlotte resident, who's had a summer home in Linville for 25 years, said Thursday was the first time he'd turned the air-conditioner on in the evening in all those years.
   Still, there was a freshness in the unseasonably warm mountain air. The flowers, whether in a professionally landscaped garden or growing wild on a hillside, were spectacular. If I were a gardener -- I have the withered skeletons of potted plants to prove I'm not -- I could list the various types of flowers that were in bloom. Instead, think of the best colors in Crayola's 64-crayon box and most of them were on display either in window boxes, little gardens or just off the side of the road.
   The wedding party ducking into the Eseeola Lodge Saturday afternoon couldn't have found a Hollywood set better as a backdrop for their big occasion. The little stream out front. The mountains on both sides. The scent of summer in the air.
    When people ask me my favorite golf courses in North Carolina, I always include Linville Golf Club. I've been fortunate enough to play there a handful of times and spent Saturday afternoon there with Appalachian State football coach Jerry Moore, Harris Prevost and my dad. It's the kind of course you'd like to play every day and those are more rare than you might imagine.
   Moore is one of the region's great natural resources and he fits the North Carolina mountains like a good sweater. Prevost is the Tiger Woods of finding golf balls. He once found 100 on the 11th hole at Grandfather Golf and Country Club, a testament to high handicappers, his tenacity and his refusal to ever pay for a Titleist. He was one shy of a finding a dozen Saturday -- and that doesn't count the two times he fished my Titleist 1 out of two different creeks.
   My dad still tells the story of playing at Linville decades ago and seeing two guys in his group hit it inside five feet on the first hole. Beat that, one said to him. So he did. He holed his second shot for an eagle.
   Late Saturday afternoon, we drove through Banner Elk, climbed a curvy road up the hill at the Elk River Club and found ourselves looking across the mountains from the deck of Max Muhleman's house. Muhleman is the man who convinced George Shinn and David Stern that NBA basketball could work in Charlotte and then did the same with Jerry Richardson and Paul Tagliabue bringing the NFL to Charlotte.
   Besides earning Muhleman the everlasting appreciation of Charlotte sport fans, it earned him a commanding view across the golf course below and the mountainside in the distance. He deserves a statue outside one of our arenas but the view from his deck will do.
   That evening, a big moon hung over Grandfather Mountain in the distance, its light a summer night's blanket.
   On Sunday morning, the skirl of bagpipes could be heard coming from a church.
   Another day, another chorus of mountain music.

First Tee looking for new executive director

   The First Tee of Charlotte is looking for a new executive director with the announcement that Jennifer MacCurrach is leaving June 30 to return to Austin, Tex., where she will run the First Tee program there.
   MacCurrach came to Charlotte from Austin, where she will return.
   A search for a new executive is under way.
   In the meantime, Ian Bollinger will continue as director of instruction and Kaitlyn Jarman will continue as marketing and events manager for the program.

Big changes underway at Quail Hollow

  Quail Hollow Club is in the midst of another facelift.
   Several significant changes are underway that will alter the way the course plays next May when the Wells Fargo Championship returns. More changes are likely in the coming years in advance of the 2017 PGA Championship.
   Two holes -- Nos. 4 and 8 -- are undergoing major changes while the 11th, 12th and 13th holes are being tweaked.
   To accommodate a new short game practice area, the tee on the par-4 fourth hole is being shifted approximately 50 yards to the left and the hole will be lengthened to 508 yards from the championship tee. From the new tees, the hole will play straightaway, eliminating the gentle right to left movement of its former design.
   The move allows the club to expand its practice tees and create a new short-game area with three greens. The existing short-game area, located to the right of the practice range, will be converted into a tournament parking area.
   Among the features of the new short game area will be a sod-faced bunker, reminiscent of those on the famous links courses in Scotland and Ireland.
   The short par-4 eighth hole is also being revamped with a new green being built to the left of the existing green, which was among the most controversial on the course. The tees will be shifted slightly and the hole will play between 325 and 340 yards with an opening at the front of the green to allow long hitters to attempt to fit their tee shots between two bunkers.
   Bushes behind the 10th green and adjacent to the 13th tee have been removed and the tee on the 13th hole will be lowered and shifted to the right, changing the angle of approach to the heavily contoured green. Also, the back tee at the par-4 11th hole will be moved back in order to bring a fairway bunker back into play.
   The 12th green, which has been openly criticized by Phil Mickelson among others, is also being rebuilt to soften the severe contour.
   In addition, several cart paths behind the clubhouse and around the putting green are being removed. They will be replaced by a single path that will allow for better spectator movement.
  The project is expected to be completed by Aug. 15.
  Quail Hollow will convert to bermuda greens in advance of the 2017 PGA Championship and club president Johnny Harris said it's possible the transition could be made as early as next summer. The club is interviewing candidates for the superintendent position formerly held by Jeff Kent.
   "We knew we had to do some things," Harris said. "The changes will make it harder for the tournament players but not for our members. We don't have an Alister Mackenzie or Donald Ross heritage to worry about as far as making changes. If the board thinks it's the right thing to do, we're going to do it."

Lang gives Duke program long overdue LPGA win

   One of the most inexplicable streaks in golf ended Sunday when Brittany Lang won the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Ontario.
  Lang became the first former Duke women's golfer to win on the LPGA tour.
  Talk about overdue.
  But golf, as anyone who's ever played knows, has its own way of doing things. Ask Jenny Chuasiriporn, the Duke golfer who lost the 1999 U.S. Women's Open to the legendary Se Ri Pak in a playoff. Chuasiriporn was a good player, not a great one, but for one charmed week she made herself a piece of history.
  It was Chuisiriporn's one shining professional moment but it was a great one.
  She was at the front end of what has become a golf dynasty, headed by Dan Brooks, who has the gift for spotting talent and cultivating it. Brooks and the Blue Devils have won five national championships, being similar in golf to what Mike Krzyzewski and his program have been to men's basketball.
   But LPGA victories had been an elusive target.
   From Amanda Blumenherst to Anna Grzebien, from Liz Janagelo to Virada Nirapathpongporn and from Beth Bauer to Candy Hanneman, Duke has produced outstanding players. The latest is Lindy Duncan, the reigning national player of the year.
   But for one reason or another, the LPGA victories hadn't come.
   Lang,a All-American at Duke in 2004 and 2005, has been close several times and is regarded as one of the tour's top players. But she needed a victory because that's what the best play for.
   When she got it Sunday, Lang got it for herself and for a program that didn't need LPGA Tour victories to validate its success but more than deserved it.
   "I can't believe it took me seven years to get a win out here," Lang said after her victory.
   Hard to believe it took the Blue Devils that long to break through. Perhaps, it's the first of many more.

Simpson to skip British Open as due date nears

  For Webb Simpson, the U.S. Open just keeps going.
  He got home early Monday morning, spent a day in Charlotte, let his father-in-law take the U.S. Open trophy to his office, did some interviews and, while spending time with his young son, James, tried to absorb what he had accomplished.
   The reaction has overwhelmed Simpson.
  "It's been great," Simpson told reporters at the Travelers Championship. "I've gotten so many texts or messages on Twitter. I got some emails from older guys who I've looked up to my whole life that I didn't expect. So that kind of just congratulatory reception from them has been great. And I've got a couple of emails from older golfers that I'm probably going to print out and frame and guys that I've respected so much in so many areas of life. They've just given me invaluable advice through these emails that I didn't expect.
  "Tom Watson wrote me a great email. Greg Norman left me a message on the phone and some other guys, Hale Irwin, who I've never even met before. Just guys that are legends of the game that have told me some things that I would have paid for."
   Simpson also talked with Arnold Palmer, whose name was on his Wake Forest golf scholarship. Palmer sent Simpson a note and they were together on Golf Channel's 'Morning Drive' show.
   Simpson is playing the Travelers Championship this week outside Hartford, Ct., honoring a commitment he made before he changed his golf life with his victory at The Olympic Club last Sunday. It's where Simpson played his second professional event in 2008 after writing a letter asking for a sponsor exemption in the field and he hasn't forgotten the tournament's willingness to give him a spot.
   With his wife, Dowd, due to give birth in late July to their second child, Simpson has decided he won't play the British Open next month.
   "I'm a guy who loves my family, and we're probably only going to have a couple more babies, so I have the rest of my life to play in the British Open. I don't want to miss the birth of the second child. So it's an easy decision," he said in his press conference.
  "After winning it's certainly a little harder not to go because I'd love to go and try to win another major, but in the grand scheme of things and grand scheme of life it's a decision that I know I'll always be happy that I made. Because the first experience watching my first son being born was one of the greatest experiences I think a person can have. And I don't want to miss it again."
   

Playing Olympic: One man's struggle

So you're wondering how hard The Olympic Club really was if Webb Simpson won the U.S. Open at 1-over par?

Well, let me tell you.

Tougher than the ice road truckers. It would scare the swamp people.

Because there wasn't a Monday playoff, I was among the media people whose name was pulled in a lottery, giving me the chance to tee it up at Olympic.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. And, to fully appreciate the challenge of playing a U.S. Open, our group decided to play Olympic just as it was played in Sunday's final round. That means the same tees, the same hole locations, the same trapdoors to step through.

I won't bore you with my scorecard. No one wants to hear someone else's hole by hole account of their round of golf unless they're getting paid caddie fee.

Let's start this way: Tiger played the famously difficult first six holes in 6-over par on Sunday. He beat me. By four.

But I did make a beautiful par at the tough, uphill par-4 second which seemed to be missing a fairway.

That was one highlight. We'll get to the other one momentarily.

A couple of things became clear while playing Olympic. It's the most visually intimidating driving course I've ever played. When the players talked about having to shape shots off the tee (sometimes hearing that can make my eyes glaze over), they meant it.

Imagine hitting a tee shot down a hotel hallway and having to turn it around a corner -- with ball-swallowing cypress trees on both sides. And if you miss the trees and the fairway, the rough is thicker than good clam chowder.

Trust me.

A playing parter missed the par-3 15th green by four inches -- four inches -- and we'd given up his ball for lost until someone almost stepped on it as he was preparing to drop another ball.

The greens were also smaller than they appeared. I've had dinner at tables bigger than the 18th green.

 Speaking of the 18th green, that was part of my other highlight. Nice 4-iron off the tee. Nice choke-down 8-iron up the hill and the same birdie putt Graeme McDowell had to force a playoff. His never had a chance. Mine hit the back of the hole and refused to fall in but it was an easy four.

One other thing worth noting: The burger dogs at the turn are as good as advertised. They're essentially cheeseburgers shaped to fit a hot dog bun but that's like calling the Mona Lisa a painting of a lady. The club doesn't own the halfway house. It's operated by an outside vendor who's been making the burger dogs for years, clogging arteries for decades.

They're fresh cooked when you order them and they're as good as hitting every fairway.

So what did I, who carries a 6.7 handicap index at Cedarwood Country Club, shoot?

It's not important.

The handicap computer will kick out that 96 anyway.

Photo: Lee Westwood uses binoculars to look for his ball in a tree on the fifth hole during the fourth round of the U.S. Open Championship golf tournament Sunday, June 17, 2012, at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

The U.S. Open: Winners and losers

   Taking a last look at what happened -- and didn't happen -- at the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club:
   The Good
   -- Webb Simpson didn't lead the field in greens hit in regulation (58.3 percent), fairways in regulation (55.3) or birdies (13). But he made putts when he needed them and that wins U.S. Opens.
    Simpson's string of six straight one-putt greens midway through the final round proved to be the point of separation.
   -- Beau Hossler became a star. He didn't finish as low amateur -- Jordan Speith got that medal -- but Hossler became a crowd favorite with his play and his demeanor. He seemed unaffected by virtually everything. He's headed to Texas in another year. A guy named 'Hoss' playing for the Longhorns. Perfect.
  -- American golf seems just fine.
   It wasn't long ago this fall's Ryder Cup matches had practically been conceded to the Europeans. Six straight majors had been won by players from the other side of the Atlantic, Tiger was down, Phil was struggling and it was easy to hear European fans practicing their 'Ole, Ole' cheers for Medinah.
   Now the Americans have won three straight majors -- Keegan Bradley, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson -- while Matt Kuchar won The Players Championship. No wonder U.S. captain Davis Love III was smiling Sunday afternoon.
   -- Lee Westwood's attitude.
     He's tortured in majors like few others have been. His chances at Olympic died when his tee shot at the fifth hole lodged in a Monterey cypress, which eat golf balls the way kids eat candy. He looked like a bird watcher when he grabbed binoculars and tried to identify his ball in the tree.
   Still, he handled it beautifully. Climbing the huge staircase from the 18th green to the clubhouse Sunday after another disappointment, Westwood turned to his manager, Chubby Chandler, who was struggling up the steps behind him and said, "Pretend I'm wearing a short skirt."
   -- The Olympic Club: It was hard but players had no major complaints. There's already talk the U.S. Open may come back in another 10 years or so.
   The Bad
   -- Jim Furyk's finish. He missed the last five fairways in the final round, leading to a pair of bogeys that doomed his chances for a second Open.
   Pro golfers are creatures of habit and Furyk admitted he was flustered when he reached the par-5 16th hole and found the tee had been moved up 95 yards from where it had played earlier in the tournament. He wasn't prepared for that and said he couldn't get comfortable with the shot he wanted to hit. He wound up snap-hooking his tee shot into trouble, the beginning of his end.
   -- Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy: Numbers One and Two, respectively, flamed out on Thursday and couldn't save themselves on Friday.
   Donald seemed to try too hard and suddenly there are questions about McIlroy's focus. While both were huge disappointments, there's no reason for panic in either camp.
  -- Tiger's weekend: Perhaps the best that can be said is he scored better than Phil Mickelson on the weekend. When he needed it most, Woods couldn't hit fairways and couldn't make putts. He became just another guy trying to win and failing.
   -- The Bird Man: The clown wearing a Union Jack hat and crowing like a bird who disrupted the trophy presentation Sunday evening was last seen being escorted away on a golf cart wearing a bracelet of handcuffs.
   Credit to Webb Simpson for his quick reaction -- "Enjoy the jail cell, pal," -- and to USGA executive director Mike Davis who went middle linebacker on the guy.

Webb Simpson and the US Open trophy come home

   Webb Simpson, his wife Dowd and their new U.S. Open trophy took the red-eye home from San Francisco Sunday evening, jetting cross-country into a North Carolina morning new in so many ways.
   Simpson's gritty, impressive victory at The Olympic Club recast him as a professional golfer. There are good players. There are winners. And there are major champions.
   It was just the fifth major championship Simpson had played and while he believed he had the game to win a major, Simpson admitted he wasn't sure it would happen so soon.
   And here it is.
   Simpson joked that he had even more admiration for Tiger Woods, being able to win 14 times in golf's biggest tests. Simpson didn't want any more of the U.S. Open or Olympic.
   "I really didn't want a playoff," he said.
   It wasn't necessary when Graeme McDowell's last chance birdie putt missed on the 72nd hole.
   Simpson and Dowd watched the end on television in the locker room. When they weren't watching golf, they were watching videos on their phone of their son, James, who is just learning to walk.
   This was their first trip without their one-year old son and perhaps their last together until after Dowd gives birth to their second child, due Aug. 3.
    Two weeks ago, Simpson spent four days in Pinehurst, playing golf with his buddies, taking the nervous edge off his pre-Open preparations. He had missed consecutive cuts after his disappointment of not winning the Wells Fargo Championship at home, fixed a flaw in his swing and felt good flying west.
   Simpson felt even better flying home.

Can a 17-year old win the U.S. Open?

   Of all the potential story lines in the final round of the U.S. Open, none is more intriguing than the possibility -- with admittedly long odds -- of 17-year old amateur Beau Hossler going home with the trophy.
   "I still have the goal to be low amateur, but my goal now is to win the tournament," Hossler said Saturday afternoon with the bullet-proof mentality of a teenager.
   Why not?
   He starts the final round four strokes off the lead but with all the trapdoors scattered around The Olympic Club, it wouldn't take much for the leaders to move backward. If Hossler is the guy who moves forward, well, hello world.
   The U.S. Open is supposed to scare people. It hasn't scared Hossler. He looks like he's playing a friendly round with his mates from Rancho Santa Margherita High.
   You want emotion? He's not real big on that but his game says plenty.
   He's already booked to attend Texas but he has to finish high school first.
   It won't be a shock if shoots something close to 80 in the final round. It's a huge day and the golf course will be wicked.
   But maybe he'll shoot something under par. He thinks he can. That's the first step. 

McDowell: I don't fear success. I fear failure

   Rarely do you hear athletes talk about their fears.
   What's Tiger Woods afraid of? Who knows?
   But Graeme McDowell, who is 18 holes away from winning two U.S. Opens 90 miles and two years apart, made no secret Saturday night that he was wrestling with some demons before he teed off in the third round at The Olympic Club. McDowell was two off the lead before the round started and had the jitters, not unlike the feeling he had two years ago on Saturday at Pebble Beach.
   The difference this time is he's in the lead going into Sunday, not playing from behind as he did at Pebble Beach where Dustin Johnson soon chopped away his chances.
    "I've gone through these emotions all the time," McDowell said. "It's basic stuff. It's basically fear. Fear of going out there and messing it all up. The two fears we all have are fear of success and fear of failure. I don't fear success. I fear failure."
   McDowell said he expects to feel more relaxed Sunday than he did Saturday.
  "I'll just try to go out and do my job," he said. "If it's good enough, great. If it's not, perhaps I'll
drink a cold beer and get over it."
   Sounds like a plan.

The U.S. Open: What have we learned?

   What have we learned halfway through this U.S. Open?
   Here's the good:
  -- Tiger Woods is back. He may not win but he's ready to win another major -- finally. You can see it in the look and the confidence in his swing.
     Now all he has to do is finish it.
    -- Graeme McDowell is a great interview and a pretty good player. When McDowell's playing career is over, which may be a while, he has a future in television.
    Asked what he expects the winning score to be, McDowell said, "Levelish."
    He's probably right.
   -- The qualifying process gives the U.S. Open stories like 17-year old amateur Beau Hossler, 14-year old Andy Zhang and 40-year old Casey Martin. The Masters is great, by far my favorite event, but it doesn't have characters like the U.S. Open does.
   -- Plodders prevail.
     Check them out: McDowell. Jim Furyk. David Toms. Matt Kuchar. Jason Dufner. Hunter Mahan. All in the top 10.
   The bad:
    -- Luke Donald. Even he admits it.
    -- Rory McIlroy. He's going through a phase...I hope.
    -- Bubba Watson. Not built to win U.S. Opens.
    -- Traffic on the Bay Bridge. Okay, it has nothing to do with the Open but they've had a couple of really rough days getting back and forth to Oakland so I thought I'd at least mention it.
   

The Open: Love it tough but not impossible

   Why is it some people love to watch the pros make bogeys and double bogeys in the U.S. Open?
   They enjoy it, almost wallowing in the big numbers that accumulate on Open scorecards like another gnome in a hoarder's den.
   I don't get it.
   Well, I suppose I do get it. People like to see golf's one percent suffer once in a while.
   We all know how hard golf is. I don't need to watch Luke Donald shooting 79 to remind me again. This is the U.S. Open, one of the most important tournaments in the world, and I'm okay if guys make some birdies. I'm not advocating 16-under par like Rory McIlroy shot last year at Congressional but I'm okay if 5, 6 or 7-under wins the Open.
   I get the 'total examination' idea of the U.S. Open. The winner should prove he can drive in the fairway, hit greens, chip and, of course, putt. But I prefer to see the leaders move forward, not gradually fall away like the last leaves of autumn.
    Determining a champion should include a guy being able to make something happen, not to be the best at avoiding calamity.
    Mike Davis and Tom O'Toole, the two guys in charge of setting up U.S. Open courses, get that idea, too. It's their job to find the balance, leaning toward tougher is better, but not squeezing all the fun out of the championship.
   O'Toole says "it might not be particularly spectator oriented" but that's the nature of the challenge.
   "I think that if fans had to see this 52 weeks of the year, it probably wouldn't be good," Davis said. "But to see it once a year, at least the feedback we've gotten...is that it's something that fans want to see a tough test one week of the year."
   The trick, Davis said, is making it difficult but keeping it exciting. The Olympic Club can allow both.
   The first six holes are wicked, the middle portion of the course is like a dull headache and the closing holes allow for birdies. The par-5 17th is reachable in two and the 18th is a short par-4, creating at least the possibilty for fireworks rather than a dumpster fire at the end.
   It's the U.S. Open. It's supposed to be hard, not impossible.
  

The best in the world? Are you sure?

   Of all the surprising things that happened in the first round of the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club including Ian Poulter's canary yellow shoes, nothing was as unexpected as the utter collapse of Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy.
   It was so complete that it made playing partner Lee Westwood's 73 practically glisten.
   I'll admit to being one of those who thought Donald was the man to beat this week. He was playing well, keeps the ball in play, has a brilliant short game and it seems time for him to win a major championship.
   What does Donald do? He goes out and shoots 79.
   Thanks, Luke.
   Nine pars. Nine bogeys.
   That won't win you any money in a nassau with your buddies. I know it's the U.S. Open but he's the No. 1 player in the world and he had 36 putts. Was he putting with a snow shovel?
    The good news is Donald tied 14-year old Andy Zhang.
    Then there was McIlroy, who posted a smooth 77.
    At least he made a birdie. One. Former Charlotte 49er Jeff Curl birdied three of his last eight holes.
    Westwood may have kept himself in the tournament, grinding out a 73 that started with a double bogey.
    The top three players in the world, Numeros Uno, Two and Three, were a combined 19-over par Thursday. Just for that, they should be forced to wear Poulter's yellow shoes on Friday.
   

Walking with Tiger, Phil and Bubba

   After walking the first nine holes with the Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods-Bubba Watson pairing today, a few quick observations:
   -- There wasn't much conversation among the three because they rarely walked to the same places. Tiger kept walking down the middle of the fairway. Phil and Bubba kept going to the rough.
  -- Woods looked like the old Tiger, in control. The other two looked like they were driving a car with a stuck accelerator.
  -- The galleries were enormous, as you would expect, but because they were making bogeys rather than birdies, there weren't many explosive cheers. That's the U.S. Open for you.
  -- After Mickelson bounced a tee shot off a man in the gallery on the 14th hole, he tossed another ball to the guy as a souvenir. A man standing nearby said, "Next time, hit me."
   Another spectator said, "Go stand in the fairway, then." Mickelson just smirked.
  -- Olympic is very difficult. When Woods ripped a beautiful 3-wood tee shot on the par-5 17th hole then watched it roll across the fairway and into the rough -- something that happens a lot at Olympic -- he handed his club back to caddie Joe LaCava and just shrugged.

Former 49er Curl feeling good again

   Jeff Curl, the former Charlotte 49ers golf star, is playing in his first U.S. Open this week and it comes at the same place -- the Olympic Club -- that his father, former tour player, Rod Curl, played in his first Open 46 years ago.
  "That's pretty cool," Curl said during a practice round prior to his first major championship appearance.
   The course has changed significantly since his father played it but the elder Curl is in San Francisco, sharing the experience with his son.
   Jeff Curl finished at Charlotte in 2000 and finally feels his golf career coming together. A full-time member of the Nationwide Tour, Curl is coming off an eighth-place finish last week and he's healthy for the first time in years.
   He's had two shoulder surgeries, a torn ligament in his ankle and he cracked five bones in his back last November when he was "goofing around."
   After living in Charlotte for five years, Curl recently married and moved to Birmingham, Ala.
   "Marriage changed my life," he said. "I've settled down a little bit."
  This will be Curl's third PGA Tour start and he isn't intimidated. He's played with and against many of the players in the field and spent the weekend playing practice rounds with Ernie Els and Steve Marino among others.
   "I always tell people that when I'm healthy, I feel I'm as good as anyone," Curl said. "But the times I've been healthy have been few and far between. I really started feeling great about a month ago.
   "Obviously, this is the U.S. Open but my game is built on ball-striking. I won't surprise me if I shoot 82 or if I finish in the top 20. I feel good about my game."

Rory: My bobblehead is better looking than me

 Defending U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy has the distinction of throwing out the first pitch prior to the San Francisco Giants' game Tuesday night against the Houston Astros. It's not something he practiced in advance.
  "I've been throwing a few golf balls on the course, threw a few medicine balls around ... at the gym.
  "I don't know whether to play it conservatively and just lob it into his hand or go for the fast one."
   McIlroy's appearance included fans receiving a bobblehead doll with McIlroy's likeness.
  "I think it's maybe better looking than me which is a good thing."

Charlotte CC to host City Am finale

  Catching up on things before heading to the U.S. Open at Olympic Club:
  -- The course rotation for the 53rd Charlotte City Amateur championship is set and registration for the prestigious event is nearing a close.

    The tournament, Aug. 17-19, will be played at Cedarwood Country Club, Carmel Country Club and Charlotte Country Club. The field will be cut after each round.

   Registration closes June 22. If you're interested in playing, visit www.charlottecityam.com.

   -- Gastonia's Harold Varner III, whose college career just ended, will defend his title in the North Carolina Amateur championship beginning Thursday at Treyburn Country Club in Durham.

   Varner, who helped East Carolina to an NCAA tournament appearance as a senior, became the first African-American winner of the event. Top challengers are expected to be another ECU golfer, Adam Stephenson, 2011 runner-up Richard Fountain, Paul Simson and 2012 Carolinas Mid-Am champion Paul Simson.

  -- If you didn't visit the media tent at the RBC Heritage over the years, you probably didn't know Arnie Burdick, who oversaw the place for years. He was a retired newspaperman from upstate New York who settled on Hilton Head Island and became as much a part of the annual PGA Tour stop there as the famous tartan blazer awarded to the champion.

   Burdick passed away last week at age 92 after a brief illness. He was still at his post in April when the tournament rolled around again, serving mostly as a greeter and making sure everyone had what they needed. We lost a good one.

   -- If you want to be part of the 2014 men's and women's U.S. Opens at Pinehurst and you don't have the game to qualify, here's your chance: The tournaments are looking for approximately 7,000 volunteers to work over the two-week period.

   Volunteers don't have to work every day. There are four and five-day shifts available. If you're interested, visit http://2014volunteers.usga.org.

Tiger, the way it used to be

What did you do Sunday afternoon when Tiger Woods holed it from San Quentin behind the 16th green at Muirfield Village for a birdie David Cooperfield couldn't explain?

Did you shout (I did)?

Did you high-five your dog?

Did you shake your head, call your wife and tell her watch this?

You did something because Tiger Woods, the one we saw again Sunday winning the Memorial, does things that make us react. He does things on the golf course that we remember.

In his prime, when he was painting the game like no one has before him, Woods astonished us. No one else has done that, at least not as consistently and spectacularly as Woods did for a decade or more. He gave us remember where you were moments.

The 215-yard 7-iron up the hill at No. 6 at Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open. The 6-iron from a fairway bunker over the water at the Canadian Open. The chip shot at No. 16 at Augusta National the last time he won the Masters.

Most great players have one of those moments. Tiger has them in an eight-piece place setting.

For the last two-plus years, all the talk has justifiably been about whether we'd get the Tiger Woods we knew back or if time and turmoil had taken him away forever. His win at Arnold Palmer's tournament in March validated his contention he could still win and, after a dreary stretch that included a second straight missed cut at the Wells Fargo Championship, Woods showed us Sunday what we once took for granted.

With Jack Nicklaus watching, he tied the Golden Bear for second on the all-time list with 73 PGA Tour victories. It was a nice bit of symmetry and it rekindled the thought that Tiger may still chase down Jack's record of 18 major championship victories.

He still needs four to tie, five to go where no one ever has. It's a huge ask, a Hall of Fame career still be built to get it done but Sunday reminded us why we used to think Tiger would make it happen. I'm guilty of saying and writing he would win 20 or more majors. If you didn't say it, you thought it because of how dominant he was.

It's different now but suddenly the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in two weeks has a familiar feel. A week ago, it was about Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald and now it's about Tiger going for No. 15.

It's nice to know the thrill isn't gone.