Everyone loves a good list, right? Golf World has put together an entire section of lists relating to the U.S. Open - bests and worsts, firsts and lasts, and more varieties. The full complement can be viewed here. It's an interesting way to pass a few minutes, and you're sure to find much to agree with - and probably more to disagree with. Such is the nature of the beast.

A few selections from the various lists:

Top 10 U.S. Open Playoffs: 1. Francis Ouimet defeats Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, 1913

Best Quotes: "Nobody wins the Open. It wins you." --Cary Middlecoff after his 1956 victory at Oak Hill

10 Worst Collapes: 5. Sam Snead, 1939. Leading by one on the last tee at Philadelphia's Spring Mill Course, Snead makes a triple-bogey 8, and launches a lifetime of Open frustration.

Things You'll Never See Again: 3. A 19 on one hole (Cherry Hills, 1938). Hitting his approach into the creek guarding the par-5 16th, Ray Ainsley stubbornly tries playing the ball, refusing to take a drop. Eventually getting it out and onto the green, he one-putts for a 19. Elapsed time: 30 minutes.

10 Worst U.S. Open Sites: 1. Northwood Club, Dallas (1952). Following Oakland Hills, preceding Oakmont, it stuck out like a range ball in a sleeve of Pro V1s.

I might disagree that a 19 on one hole is something we'll never see again ... but then, somehow, John Daly will have to get into another Open.

Let's see, I haven't turned on the television yet today, but a quick glance at the scoreboard shows that - at least through the middle parts of the morning pairings (nobody has finished Round 2 as I write this) the scoring is holding pretty steady compared to Round 1. And that the second-round lead will likely be less than the 3-under that led Round 1.

Use this thread to discuss today's play.

Round 1, that is.

As a former newspaperman, I can say that the Sports departments at newspapers in the central and eastern time zones are hating primetime U.S. Open golf. But then, as a former newspaperman, who cares! It's on TV in primetime!

The Round 1 leaderboard at the end of play:

Justin Hicks, 68
Kevin Streelman, 68
Rocco Mediate, 69
Stuart Appleby, 69
Eric Axley, 69
Geoff Ogilvy, 69
a-Rickie Fowler, 70
Robert Karlsson, 70
Lee Westwood, 70
Robert Allenby, 70
Ernie Els, 70

Befitting the first round of a U.S. Open, there are some great players, some good players, some journeyman, a who-the-heck-is-that, and even a hotshot amateur. Good stuff.

Justin Hicks finished his round at 3-under, the first golfer to get in the U.S. Open clubhouse at that number.

Who?

Doesn't it seem like there's a Justin Hicks on the first-day leaderboard every year at the U.S. Open?

Hicks graduated from the University of Michigan in 1997 and turned pro that year. This is just his third career start on the PGA Tour, and one of the previous two was the 2004 U.S. Open.

Hicks has status on the Nationwide Tour, where he finished 80th on the 2007 money list. He had one runner-up last year, one other Top 10, and made 8 of 15 cuts.

He's bounced between the mini-tours and the Nationwide Tour over the years. This season he's played in six Nationwide Tour events, making three cuts. In 2005 he got into 10 Nationwide tournaments, making five cuts.

While he has no chance of hanging in there until Sunday, Hicks will always have a first-round 68 at the 2008 U.S. Open, will always be able to claim that he once led a U.S. Open. And ain't nothing wrong with that.

Use this thread to share comments about the first round of the U.S. Open.

Tiger Woods double-bogeyed the first hole. That guy is way overrated.

Later: Never have I been happier to hear Johnny Miller. Because when Johnny goes on the air today and tomorrow, that means Chris Berman if off the air. At least temporarily. Please, USGA, take a cue from Augusta and tell ESPN to keep that guy away from future championships.

Tiger and Phil both at +1 through 14 ...

I'm trying to invoke the image of Vijay Singh catching Trevor Immelman talking to himself in the mirror ...

Immelman is The Masters champion, and the only player in golf with a shot at the Grand Slam in 2008. But Trevor says:

“I would be the happiest guy on earth if I did it over the span of a career. We can safely say that if I do it this year I will retire, OK? There’s no chance of that. I haven’t not even for one second thought about that.”

I certainly understand why Immelman wouldn't admit to thinking about the Grand Slam. If he, or any other player not named Tiger Woods, talked publicly about Grand Slam hopes, they'd be mocked and ridiculed.

But I wonder if he's telling the truth. I wonder if he's never - not for one second - allowed himself to dream. To fantasize. When he's alone, when nobody will catch him talking into the mirror, to consider - just for a second - the teeniest, tiniest possibility of winning the Grand Slam.

I hope he has. But if he is telling the truth - if he really has "not even for one second thought about that" - then I think we can write off Immelman this week at Torrey Pines. 

Golf.com published a piece today written by an "anonymous Tour player,"  one who is in the field at the U.S. Open. Mr. Anonymous starts off with Tiger Woods:

For a change, we're not talking about how much he's going to win by — we're talking about what's up with his left knee.

The vibe on Tour is that his knee isn't as far along as he's been letting on. He's Tiger Woods and he can surprise everybody, but this time it's different. When he bagged the Memorial, his agent told Jack Nicklaus that Tiger couldn't put as much weight on his knee as he wanted when he swung. That can't be good. He'll have been out for almost eight weeks. I don't see him being Tiger sharp.

Mr. Anonymous even says there's speculation Woods might pull out before Thursday if he doesn't feel he can win. Huh.

Then he moves on to Phil Mickelson, whom our anonymous author likes as the winner given Tiger's knee worries. But as often happens when other players discuss Phil, Mr. Anonymous can't resist getting in a few digs, too:

Plus, now that Phil is an inch taller, he's even more formidable. Yeah, the other players were laughing last month when Phil said he went to a longer putter because all the stretching and workouts he's been doing caused him to grow an inch. That's Phil being Phil. First of all, who's even measuring himself at age 37? Are his pants suddenly an inch short?

Nobody has a problem with him, but other players simply can't relate. He's eccentric and plays the game a different way. He had five wedges in his bag when he won at Colonial. Five wedges? Good Lord. I guess that's why he didn't play safe and hit three-wood on 18, where he lost another drive to the left on the final hole (a trend I've noticed with him). With all those wedges taking up space in his bag, he didn't have a three-wood to hit.

That's your 8:06 a.m. (PDT) group off the No. 1 tee at Torrey Pines next Thursday.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott. Quite a U.S. Open grouping, eh?

On Friday, they go off No. 10 at 1:36 p.m. (PDT). The full U.S. Open pairings are below the fold.

Continue reading this post »

... in a cart. Wuss.

I take that back. I occasionally use a cart, and not because I'm recovering from knee surgery, but because I'm fat and lazy. So I guess Tiger is one up on me there. Make that two up.

At any rate, Tiger Woods played a practice round at Torrey Pines yesterday, his first  round of golf since the knee surgery. He didn't complete the 18th hole because camera-toting fans and/or media were waiting around the green, according to the AP report.

Torrey Pines has been closed since May 21 in advance of next week's U.S. Open, so Woods and coach Hank Haney were the only people on the course.

“It went well,” Haney said in a telephone interview. “He hit the ball really well. It was definitely a positive day.”

There's been talk that Torrey Pines has been set up to be a little easier - or a little less punitive - than some other recent U.S. Open venues. Haney's comments may call that into question:

“In the deep stuff, it's a sand wedge, maybe a 9-iron at the most,” Haney said. “We were messing around on No. 10 and he tried to hit a 5-wood. Even when the grass is deep, if you open the face and hit a cut, you might scoot it 150 yards. It's quite a sight to see Tiger 165 yards from the pin with a 5-wood.”

The U.S. Open now uses graduated depths of rough from the fairway, and Haney said Woods could reach the green from the lower cuts. But anything in the rough above the hole was virtually impossible to get close.

“The greens were so fast,” he said. “In the 30 years of being on tour and teaching players, that was the fastest I've ever seen greens this far out. They were putting beautifully.”

There were 14 U.S. Open sectional qualifiers played on Monday, 36 holes each, one in England and 13 across the U.S.

The golfers who made it through - who earned spots in the U.S. Open field - were (as they always are) a mix of major champions, veteran PGA Tour players, mini-tour players, and a whole bunch of guys with no chance at making the cut in the Open.

But such is the nature of qualifying: Everyone there, regardless of credentials, is dreaming of winning the U.S. Open.

Davis Love III made it back to the Open. Fred Couples didn't, getting disqualified after posting a 69 in his first 18.  (Update: Couples was disqualified after the completion of the his second 18, after he'd already finished two shots short of a playoff.) Hunter Haas and Mark O'Meara got in, but Brad Faxon shot 79-77 in his first competitive rounds since knee surgery in December.

A bunch of big names, including some former major champions, failed to qualify. Such is always the case. Justin Leonard apparently didn't even try (neither did Kenny Perry).

Look below the fold for results from all the 13 U.S. qualifiers, plus some of the big names who failed to make it into the U.S. Open.

Continue reading this post »