Text size:

Mean course is great theater

Johnette Howard

June 20, 2004

The winds finally were gusting at Shinnecock Hills yesterday and suddenly, the golfers' scores were bobbing up and down like some poor little buoys on whitecapping seas. Jeff Maggert's score sank six shots during yesterday's third round.

Fred Funk, God bless him, looked like every high-stakes tournament golfer would - if you could turn them all inside out. Funk groaned. He muttered. He snatched his club out of the air after one missed shot, then pinched the bridge of his nose like he felt a migraine coming on at No. 17.

Those weren't streaks of sunlight simmering off all those leader boards around Shinnecock Hills yesterday. They were the fingernail marks of guys trying to hang on.

Finally, the U.S. Open that everyone expected - the unpredictable, nerve-shredding U.S. Open everyone was hoping for - arrived on Day 3.

Johnette Howard Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

The course finally bit back, setting up a crowded and highly unpredictable final day that will be more than great theater. If the wind keeps blowing, it's a lock to be a crowded, rollicking, elbows-out adventure as hard-edged as the running of the bulls at Pamplona or the platform scrum for a spot on a rush-hour subway pulling out of Penn Station.

Expect more bruised feelings today at Shinnecock, if not outright gore.

"I'm actually just glad to be off the course at the moment," said Sergio Garcia - this though Garcia had three birdies on the back nine.

"You just had no chance of stopping the ball," said 2001 Open champion Retief Goosen - this though Goosen begins play today as the leader at 5 under par, two shots ahead of his South African countryman, Ernie Els, and Phil Mickelson, who bogeyed the last two holes.

Mickelson's late-round sins were minor - getting a plugged lie in a bunker at 17, then lipping out a putt at 18 that made him look away in disgust. He paid dearly for both errors. But yesterday, almost everyone who had the slightest wobble did.

That's why as star-studded as the top of the leader board is - five of the 10 men who are within six shots of the lead have won a major - Mickelson doesn't expect any reprise today of his classic Masters duel with Els on the back nine at Augusta. Mickelson seized that tournament by sinking five birdies on his last seven holes, and Els was nearly as good. But attack this golf course like that?

"Heavens, no," an incredulous Mickelson said. "We won't have a finish here like Augusta. We won't have anyone come from behind like Ernie did, or shoot 31 on the back like myself. But what we will have is guys outlasting each other. It will be who can make the most pars . . . You can even play bogeys out here. It's doubles that hurt."

Mickelson is right, of course. Today's round will be akin to watching crabs trying to crawl over each other in a bucket - close, cramped, and occasionally irritating for the principals involved. The scores are more likely to fall back toward even par than they are to pull away from it. Today's finish could be more like Raymond Floyd's classic win at Shinnecock in the '86 Open. On that day, eight contenders who already won a major or would go on to win a major were still sardined atop the leader board by the final turn Sunday. In addition to being good, it helped to be a masochist that day.

Goosen, Els and Mickelson - all proven winners - would seem to be the safer picks today. But even the other contenders such as Funk and Shigeki Maruyama of Japan have showed great resiliency. Maruyama's short game is beautiful to behold. Funk's nickname is Fairway Fred because he hits the ball so straight.

Today, like yesterday, the wind will remain the biggest wild card. The wind suddenly makes the swaying long grass along the fairways seem meaner; and the wind adds menace to those pebble-strewn bunkers around the course that forced Mickelson to discard two dented wedges during practice rounds this week. The wind is the torment that could leave everyone staggering off the course today muttering incoherently.

Even in the best of times, on the kindest of circuits, golf can be a diabolical game. But there's something more crueler and more mind-bending about hitting a shot dead solid perfect - only to see the wind make your ball zig-zag like a butterfly on its path toward the hole or push your well-struck putt just a smidgen wide.

"It was a mental and physical struggle today," Els said with a weary wag of his head.

It's guaranteed to get only more hellish today. Just the way a U.S. Open on Sunday should be.

Phil Mickelson's 3rd-round scorecard

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out

Yards 393 226 478 435 537 474 189 398 443 3,573

Par 4 3 4 4 5 4 3 4 4 35

Score 4 3 4 5 4 4 5 4 4 37

Hole 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In

Yards 412 158 468 370 443 403 540 179 450 3,423

Par 4 3 4 4 4 4 5 3 4 35

Score 4 3 4 4 3 4 5 4 5 36-73

E-mail

Reprint

Related links

2004 Course Guide

2004 U.S. Open

Popular stories

Hampton Roads Facts, Data and Statistics

Blogs