Did They Break 100?

by Mulligan Stu on Jun 6, 2008 8:07 PM EDT

You remember that USGA/Golf Digest contest, right? The one in which one "regular" golfer was selected to join celebs Tony Romo, Matt Lauer and Justin Timberlake at Torrey Pines to find out if any of them could break 100 on a U.S. Open course?

The quartet is playing Torrey Pines right now, and is through nine holes (ed. - the round is now complete). Don't go any farther if you are planning on watching the broadcast of the round next weekend (the Sunday of the U.S. Open).

Recall that this contest originated because of a comment that Tiger Woods made at last year's U.S. Open at Oakmont. Woods said there was no way a 10-handicapper could break 100 at Oakmont.

So why not put that to the test? They're not using Oakmont, of course, but they're playing a U.S. Open course with U.S. Open rough and U.S. Open speed on the greens.

Golf Digest has some good pre-round coverage, including photos of the players and their caddies (Dr. Bob Rotella, Greg Norman and Butch Harmon are three of the four caddies, not sure who the fourth is).

So, as noted above, the round is through nine holes, and here are the scores:

Tony Romo, 2.2 handicap: 40
Matt Lauer, 6.2 handicap: 48
Justin Timberlake, 6.0 handicap: 52
John Atkinson, 8.1 handicap: 59

Look at Romo go! Can you imagine how mad the USGA will be if Romo breaks 80?

Update: The final scores are in - Romo 84, Timberlake 98, Lauer 100, Atkinson 114. So the 2.2 handicapper and 6.0 handicapper broke 100; the 6.2 and 8.1 handicappers didn't. I guess Tiger was right.

And congratulations to Romo and Timberlake on the accomplishment. Golf Digest has a slideshow of photos from the competition. Check out J Timberlake lookin' all Jesper-like.

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any wagers ?

a few tough holes coming in – won’t be easy for Romo, but he has the game and the nerve to break 80. I can’t see the USGA being too upset that a guy who has enough game to at least try to qualify for the tournament having a good round…does this mean Jessica Simpson didn’t make the trip ? :-)

what do you think of what Golf Digest and NBC did with the guys they picked ? the original premise was to have a 10 handicapper take on the US Open course. Atkinson is an 8 and they rationalized it by saying that he is a 10+ at Torrey Pines – seems fair to me, but there are some people who think they cheated the premise a little bit. (of course, they also took the feel good, PC route by playing up the cancer survivor angle)

How would YOU go about taking on this challenge ? Would you go out and play the same game you play at home and take your chances ? OR – would you hit whatever you can hit the straightest, keep the ball in play, listen to your caddy, (tell Dr Bob to go sit down – he’s messing with your mind), and try to play bogey golf ?

Seems to me that if the game is to just break 100, the driver stays in the bag…no…the hotel room (unless you have ultimate confidence in it), maybe the 3-wood too if you don’t have confidence in it. A whole bunch of hybrids, 4 and 5 irons off the tees would get the job done.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jun 6, 2008 9:05 PM EDT reply actions

that HAD to be fun...

...playing in front of a gallery like that – for national TV – having your name on a sign on the range – big names for caddies (even if his wasn’t a golfer)

...great set of pictures – but I have a couple of questions…

I see Atkinson had his driver out on the range. I guess he was either very confident or felt he had to “man up” at Torrey Pines.

How the heck did the highest handicapper get stuck with the worst possible caddy ? Bob Rotella ? Are you kidding me ? The last place I would want a shrink is ON the golf course before or during a round. What is he going to tell me when my ball is in calf deep rough..”think positive, John – if you picture it – you can do it”. Sheesh. Put Norman or Harmon with Atkinson and give Rotella to Romo…might help him when the football season rolls around.

Does Romo know that even though the “D” hat he wore IS a Duke hat – it isn’t “The DUKES of Hazard” ? Did Jessica give that to him thinking it was ? :-)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jun 9, 2008 2:35 PM EDT reply actions