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Five Things We Learned: Saturday at the US Open
For the fan in me, Moving Day always arrives with a sense of expectation, and departs with a sense of sadness. There is mild grief for not just the players who fall from contention. There is also the angst with knowing that just one day remains, in what began as three practice rounds, prior to four days of competition. It is inevitable that this come to pass, just as it is inevitable that a competitor will eventually raise Victoria in triumph.
On Saturday, the true diversity of the LaLaLand experience came to the fore. It was intimated by a reliable source, that a somewhat-sinister plot was hatched to reduce the number of golf fans in attendance. Next, a golf ball landed, from over three hundred yards away, in the golf ball holder of a television announcer’s cart. Finally, the shortest golf hole in US Open championship history was played and, at a mere 80 yards, did play under par.
Thanks to statistics provided by the host USGA, we know that it is likely that the winner will come from somewhere between five-under par and ten-under. In the last 49 years, no player has pulled a Johnny Miller, and come back from more than a five-shot, third-round deficit. The last player to do so, was Miller himself, fifty years ago at Oakmont.
The USGA has the course where it wants it. Inspired by decades of Hollywood thrillers, tees will sequence in a manner that tests the psyche, while holes will be situated in a manner that tests the steady hand. Falter but once, and much will be needed to recover. On that somber note, welcome to Sunday, and five things that we learned on Saturday, at the US Open.
Rickie Fowler lips out his par attempt on No. 18 to drop into a share of the lead through 54 holes. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/0IbQ8EzKIE
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 18, 2023
1. Front Nine-Back Nine starring in remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
On Saturday, Tom Kim took a wee 29 shots to complete the first nine holes of the North course at Los Angeles country club. Only five players have done this in the entirety of US Open history; none since 2015. Six birdies and three pars did the trick, and a seventh birdie at the 10th hole lit the hearts and souls of all fandom. The North course simply shrugged, and said Welcome to the back nine. It is there that more dreams are dashed than a Hollywood lot.
Next up for Kim was a series of holes whose distances defy conception. The second of two massive par-three holes, and a closing sequence of plus-size par four holes, wrapped around the aforementioned, tiny one-shotter. Kim had no more birdies in the bag, but three bogeys jumped up out of the rough and reduced his round from minus-seven to minus-four. Kim moved inside the top ten, but outside of that five-stroke margin that predicts winners.
2??9??
Tom Kim is making a big move at LACC. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/gS36nB0Y8h
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 17, 2023
2. Snakes are everywhere
Not the kind that take advantage of new arrivals in Tinseltown, nor the ones that lurk in the high rough that edges the fairways at LA North. The putting surfaces at the George Thomas masterpiece are conducive to the reading of long putts, and that bodes well for golfers in search of an on-course comeback. They are the ones most likely to take a run at long putts, and they are the ones most likely to be rewarded. There’s one exception: Rickie Fowler. Anyone who has watched the Cali Kid-turned OSU Cowboy since his amateur days, knows that Fowler putts all putts with confident abandon. He is trying to make all of them, and he believes that he can. Some hit the edge and spin away (see opening paragraph) while others tumble in from unbelievable distances. If the putter shows up and the nerves hold up, Sunday might be a great day for Fowler.
From 69 feet away??@RickieFowler rolls in a lengthy birdie at No. 13. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/75FCIgUNjf
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 18, 2023
3. Whirls and Twirls
Like a lot of generational things, the club twirl is lost on folks above a certain age. Even when Tiger started to do it, none of us born prior to 1975 cared all that much. For those born after, it was an era-defining expression of golf swagger. Look closely at Wyndham Clark below, and you can see the effort he puts into the club twirl. It’s as if his trainer had moved him from leg day, to arm day, to twirl day, in preparation for this event.
Clark earned the right to twirl his club with this approach. Few anticipated that Clark would be tied for the lead through 54 holes, and paired again with Fowler in the final group. The Colorado native played an unspectacular front nine of minus-two, which kept him near the top. Bogey at 11 and 12 were stage direction for his exit, but he then did an unexpected thing. He made birdie at 13, then followed a bogey stumble at 17 with the shot you see below. The bell might toll for Clark on Sunday, but he’ll have some odds to do yet another, unpredicted thing: win.
A closing birdie to tie the #USOpen lead for @Wyndham_Clark. ? pic.twitter.com/kPgLzXzSUZ
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 18, 2023
4. Who needs putter?
Scottie Scheffler had quietly gone about his business at Wilshire Boulevard’s lovely layout. He stood one-over on the day through 16 holes, and four-under on the week. It looked to be another close-but-no-cigar for the 2022 Masters champion, and then the Texan made an unprecedented move. Scheffler drew a distant iron shot in toward the 17th green, and watched as the ball released along the green of the course’s toughest par-four hole. He did not have a proper vantage point from which to see it finish, but he knew from the roar that the only place it could lie, was four inches below the putting surface, nestled in the hole. The eagle brought him to six-under, and a closing birdie staked him to a penultimate pairing with Rory McIlroy.
In my mind, this is the pairing to watch. Scheffler is McIlroy of a decade ago. He wants more than one major title on his resume; he wants many, and he does not wish to miss out in 2023. McIlroy is the almost-aging, former-firework who shined bright early, but has cooled in the ensuing decade. He knows that one major win can ignite a celebrated, second act to his career. One more close call can add another layer of scar tissue that makes winning again, more difficult.
? SCOTTIE EAGLE ?
Scottie Scheffler holes out from the fairway on No. 17! #USOpen pic.twitter.com/MIgpxtWxMU
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 18, 2023
5. Oh, those Hollywood Nights
There’s the Bob Seger song, and there’s also the Newbomb Turk movie, that bookend the tragedy and hilarity of the West Coast. Sunday will give us a winner. If it doesn’t get done in regulation, it will happen in a two-hole playoff. In anticipation of a playoff and in assurance of a prime-time, East coast finish. Rickie and Wyndham will tee off a full seventy minutes earlier than they did on Saturday. We know the following:
*Someone will shoot 30 or better on the front nine;
*Someone unexpected will rise (and the opposite);
*Someone unexpected will falter (and the opposite);
*After a week away from the PGA Tour, we will talk about the merger again on Monday;
*Odds favor a first-time major champion, as six of the nine within five strokes, have no majors on their dossier;
One thing that we do know, is that no one will repeat the magnificence of Cameron Young, who decided to liven things up with a tee shot for the ages, on Saturday’s tenth hole. Despite never visiting the fairway, Young made par. How he did it, is the stuff of Hollywood minds and cameras.
"Nobody will believe this."
Cameron Young's tee shot ended up in a spot made for a ball. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/rGVYnSTGVj
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 17, 2023
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Tour Rundown: Surprise USWO winner | Sepp surges
I know it’s not the tour, and I know it’s a shell of its 1912 US Open self, but a 59 in a legitimate tournament is a thing. The Erie County (NY) Amateur was played at the course where I learned the game, and a collegiate named Ryan Edholm posted 59 on Sunday, to win by eight shots. I was glued to the feed, and jumped up when I saw them finalize the score.
To the tours! The USGA celebrated its Women’s Open championship at storied Pebble Beach Golf Links this week, and the USA was treated to prime-time golf viewing for a second consecutive, national championship. Neither the competitors nor the golf course disappointed, and it is a pleasure to provide an extended look at the tournament. The PGA Tour visited TPC Deere Run in Illinois, while the DP World Tour found a home in Denmark. Let’s have a look at how each event concluded, with this week’s Tour Rundown.
USGA/LPGA: Corpuz arrives from nowhere to claim United States Open title
If you hurry up and check Allisen Corpuz’s wiki page, you’ll see the one professional win on her record is the Hawaii Women’s State Open. Venerable an event as it is, it’s not an LPGA-calibre title, nor even a Symetra Tour win. Even more important, she won that event when she was all of 16 years of age, so she wasn’t even a pro! After schooling at Southern Cal and a stint on the 2021 USA Curtis Cup side, Corpuz turned pro, and earned two top-three finishes in her first two years on tour.
Forgive us for a moment if we talk about that other wain who won her first tour event in her first tour start. Yup, Rose Zhang was at Pebble Beach, but she only finished one-over par and only tied for 9th position. What did Corpuz do? She won the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel. Corpuz began the week 69-70 to not only make the cut, but earn herself a final-pair spot with Bailey Tardy on Saturday. While Tardy struggled to a 75, AC held it together and posted a fine 71. Her reward was a second-consecutive day in the final duo, this time with the on-fire Nasa Hataoka. Hataoka delivered a 66, the only score below 70 on the day. That’s one hot round.
Hataoka had been here before. She finished runner-up in two other major championships, and was eager to shelve the mantel of almost and replace it with certain. Sunday was not her day, however, and she struggled to five bogeys and a birdie, a 76, and a tie for fourth with the aforementioned Bailey Tardy. Tardy came back from her 75 with a 73, earning a top-five major placement.
Back to Corpuz. The lass from Honolulu made six birdies on the day. She began with stroke-savers on holes one and three, then made bogeys at four and nine, along with another birdie at seven. She turned in one-under 35, and began to put distance between herself and the field. Then came Charley Hull, and things began to change.
Hull found the same flint that Hataoka encountered on day three. The English pro made birdie at four of her first five holes, and turned in 32. Three birdies against one bogey on the inward half gave her a 66, the low round of the day. Her reward was a tie for second spot with another Sunday Queen, Jiyai Shin of Korea. Shin signed for 68 and reached the same, 6-under par total as Hull. No one, on this day, would track Allisen down.
Corpuz put the doubters to bed with three birdies over the first seven holes on the vaunted, back nine at Pebble Beach. A meaningless bogey at 17 meant that her margin of victory was reduced to three strokes. After safely walking the final fairway, Corpuz was an LPGA tour winner, a major champion and, in all likelihood, a member of Team USA in Spain’s 2023 Solheim Cup matches.
What pressure?
Allisen Corpuz is putting on a historic performance at Pebble Beach
Watch now on NBC! pic.twitter.com/6fzRYGPVYa
— LPGA (@LPGA) July 9, 2023
PGA Tour: Straka survives double bogey at last for second tour title
Josef Straka (no intel on how he earned the nickname “Sepp”) had golf social media ablaze this afternoon. He turned for home in 28 shots, and still had more in the tank. His front-nine eagle and five birdies were followed by four consecutive chirps from 11 to 14. Folks were talking 60, 59, 58. All that the boy from Austria had to do, was dock the boat. Well, he didn’t, finding water on 18 and a double bogey. He finished four days in Silvia at 21-under par, and didn’t think for a moment, that it would hold up.
Until it did. Neither Brendan Todd nor Alex Smalley could close with anything spicey, and Ludvig Aberg started too far back for his 63 to give him a shot. Todd and Smalley tied for second at 19-under par, with the precocious Aberg another stroke back, tied for 4th with Adam Schenk. It was Straka in the end, whose final-round 62 held up. Now, it’s off to Scotland for many, as preparations begin for the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
This man can not miss.@SeppStraka needs to shoot 1-under in his final four holes for a round below 60 @JDClassic. pic.twitter.com/5mYhLtu84e
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 9, 2023
DP World Tour: Second Chance for Højgaard in home country
Rasmus Højgaard did nothing right down the stretch of the Made in HimmerLand stop on the DPWT. He finished well ahead of the leaders, and began to applaud his home-country fans for their presence. Then, Nacho Elvira and Richie Ramsey forgot how to finish the tournament, and just like that, Højgaard found himself in a playoff with Elvira for the title. We’ll get to the playoff (all six holes of it) in a moment. How did we get there?
Højgaard had himself a weekend, to the tune of 65-64. For a time, he thought that his 129 over the final two days would earn him a top-three finish, until tires started falling off. Elvira played his final six holes in plus-one, with three bogeys against two birdies. Robert MacIntyre stood three-under on the day, when his tee shot on 14 nearly went OOB. Six shots later, he posted a triple bogey on his card, added another bogey, and missed overtime by two shots. For Richie Ramsay, the knife cut the deepest. He had quietly worked his way to the top spot, only to see all his day’s efforts undone with a watery double at the 72nd hole. He finished solo third.
So it was left to the astonished Højgaard and the Spanish Elvira, to settle matters on the 18th hole … and the 18th hole … and the 18th hole again. Six times they returned to the final teeing ground, and five times, each man made par. On the sixth go-round, Elvira cracked and Rasmus claimed his fourth DPWT title. Three have come in playoffs — Luke Donald, you paying attention?
Shots of the week from Made in HimmerLand ?#MIH23 | @DP_World pic.twitter.com/deVZZStyEI
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 9, 2023
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Morning 9: Co-leaders at USWO | Blixt fires 62 | DQ at Pebble
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Morning 9: Wie West’s last hurrah | Garcia fails to qualify for Open | Block clarifies Rory comments
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