Tiger Woods is 46 years old. But he is aging champion, returning to the sport, not ready to exit the stage.
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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – The PGA TOUR schedule is sprinting to the finish. This week’s Open Championship is immediately followed by a World Golf Championship (FedEx St. Jude Invitational) and then one last opportunity, at the Wyndham Championship, to jockey for FedExCup position before the trio of Playoffs events. For all the talk of this new schedule’s frenetic pace, at least we are past the days when majors overlapped, forcing players to declare their allegiances to one side of the Atlantic. That was the case in 1951, when The Open Championship last visited Royal Portrush. The first Open played outside England or Scotland started just a day after Sam Snead won his third PGA Championship. The Open’s qualifying rounds were taking place when Snead beat Walter Burkemo in the championship match. RELATED: Tee times | Expert Picks | Power Rankings | Tiger sharpening game | Rory’s 61 at 16 | Five things to know about Royal Portrush | Writers roundtable Most of the top Americans joined Snead at Oakmont Country Club outside of Pittsburgh. The contingent that traveled to Northern Ireland was so small that an amateur, Frank Stranahan, was its leading man. This was a day when professional golf was still a hardscrabble existence. As an heir to the Champion spark plug fortune, Stranahan never felt pressure to play for a paycheck. He was still one of the world’s best players, finishing second in both the Masters and Open Championship in 1947. He won his second British Amateur the year before playing Royal Portrush. Just four Americans qualified for the 1951 Open. One of them, Charles Rotar, didn’t need to make the lengthy trip. He was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Stranahan was both low amateur and low American, finishing 12th in the championship. This year’s Open includes an American amateur who earned his spot via qualifying, Brandon Wu, but a lot has changed in six decades. The PGA is now in May (and at stroke play) and trans-Atlantic travel is infinitely easier. Thus, there was no decision to make. The American contingent over here this week is in the midst of a successful run in the Grand Slam events. Americans have won nine of the last 10 majors – Italian Francesco Molinari’s win at Carnoustie a year ago is the lone exception – and all three this year. Four of those last 10 have been won by Brooks Koepka, most recently at the PGA. Koepka and his countrymen could find Royal Portrush to their liking as they look to extend the streak. Irish links are known for more dramatic elevation changes than their cousins in England and Scotland. That means many of the holes require an aerial approach. The run-offs surrounding the greens also make recovery more difficult, making it harder for players to scramble their way to a good score. “I think more than typical Opens that I played, you’ve really got to ball strike it,â€� said the most recent American to win a major, U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. “Not a lot of run-ups, you’re going to have to fly it on the greens, which I think sets up pretty good for me.â€� Royal Portrush received rain Wednesday, as well, which should allow players to fly shots closer to the hole. The course is playing softer than last year’s crispy test at Carnoustie. The biggest decisions may come on the tee. At least seven holes have some degree of dogleg, requiring players to commit to a specific line and distance. Players can be aggressive and cut the corner or lay back with irons. They may pay a high penalty if their tee shot fails to carry onto the fairway, though. The lusher conditions mean that the rough is thicker than the wispy grass that players saw last year, when Scotland was hit with a record heat wave. In some places, nothing more than a hack-out is possible. “Depending on the wind, you’re going to hit a lot of different clubs on every hole,â€� said Dustin Johnson. “You have options. You can kind of challenge it and get it down it there if you’re driving it well or you can leave it back and play it a little longer hole.â€� Darren Clarke, the 2011 Open champion and a Royal Portrush member who will hit the opening shot Thursday as part of the first threesome on the course, said he will be an interested observer this week. He’s curious to watch players pick a strategy. “You can try and take it on at your peril,â€� Clarke said about his home course. Weather and wind will play a part in players’ decision-making. The conditions have an outsized impact on scoring on links courses, so calmer conditions could goad players into being aggressive. Earlier in the week, the weather was reminiscent of a pleasant mid-summer’s day in the Midwest. That changed Wednesday, and tougher conditions could continue when play gets underway. Wind gusts up to 25 mph are expected Thursday. So are showers and “short-lived bursts of heavy rain,â€� according to The Open’s official forecast. “I think it’s why this course is so well-designed,â€� noted Justin Thomas, a contributor to the Americans’ latest run, having won the 2017 PGA. “You really can do anything. I mean, even a hole like 1, do you want to hit driver and take it past every bunker or do you want hit 3-wood and kind of fit it in between them or do you want to hit a 4-iron and keep it short? You have the opportunity to do what you want.â€� Decisions, decisions. At least players weren’t forced to pick which major to play.
ERIN, Wis. — To drive along the two-lane roads that wind through Wisconsin pastures on the way to Erin Hills, to see the rolling terrain of a golf course built on 652 acres that opened only 11 years ago, is sure to pose a natural question. What is the U.S. Open doing here? Forget for a moment that very few Americans were even aware of golf at the time, and the same could have been said about that two-lane road that led to Shinnecock Hills when it first hosted the U.S. Open. Then again, that was in 1896. The U.S. Open was in its second year. What raises questions about Erin Hills is that it’s the second time in three years for golf’s second-oldest championship to go somewhere new. And it’s even more pronounced because the U.S. Open now has 121 years of history behind it. “Listen, if you look at our next 10 U.S. Open venues, they are historical, tried-and-true sites that have these wonderful names associated with them,” said Mike Davis, the USGA’s executive director. “But we relish the idea of occasionally introducing a new golf course, because when you think about it, there’s no country in the world that has as many great golf courses as the United States, and we should celebrate that.” What is the U.S. Open doing here? The short answer is the USGA was lacking a good spot in the Midwest. The U.S. Open has been to Hazeltine and Oakland Hills, both now used more by the PGA of America. It went to Olympia Fields in 2003 and found Chicago politics involving the support staff to be tougher to manage than U.S. Open rough. And then along came a wonderful piece of property 40 miles west of Milwaukee purchased by Bob Lang, whose dream was to build a public course that could host a U.S. Open. The USGA saw it for the first time late in 2004, and the wheels were set in motion. Lang’s inspiration was “Open,” the book by John Feinstein on how Bethpage Black came to host the U.S. Open in 2002 (and later in 2009). David Fay, the former USGA executive director, recalls being in Lang’s office in the summer of 2005 when Lang asked if he would sign the book for him. “Here’s hoping a book will be written — in the not-too-distant future (i.e., when we’re both alive to enjoy it!) — on the U.S. Open at Erin Hills,” Fay wrote. They’re both alive, even though Fay retired (he’s working for Fox Sports this week) and Lang had to sell the course a year before it was awarded the Open. Only part of the success of Erin Hills will be based on how it plays this week and the quality of the winner. The real measure is if it returns. Because if it doesn’t, how would that look? “It would have to be a negative,” Fay said Tuesday. “My signature was on all those contracts through 2019. I would never go to a place if I were to think it was never going back. I would be disappointed if we didn’t return.” Chambers Bay in 2015 had all the drama a U.S. Open could want, ending with Jordan Spieth capturing the second leg of the Grand Slam when Dustin Johnson took three putts from 12 feet on the last hole. What it didn’t have was much grass on the greens, a product of either bad weather or bad agronomy, take your pick. It also had one hole where spectators couldn’t watch and others where they needed binoculars. Those can be fixed. Either way, Chambers Bay is on the clock. The idea of going somewhere new is part of U.S. Open history. When the U.S. Open was still in its infancy, there was a stretch from 1916 (Minikahda) through 1930 (Interlachen) went it was held on courses hosting a U.S. Open for the first time. That was to be expected. With more history behind it, the U.S. Open had 22 straight years of going somewhere it had been before, a streak interrupted by Pinehurst No. 2 in 1999. Just like now, there were spurts of new sites. The U.S. Open was at Olympic Club, Oak Hill and Southern Hills for the first time from 1955 to 1958. Those courses now have combined to host the U.S. Open 11 times. There was another stretch like that involving Champions (1969), Hazeltine (1970) and Pebble Beach (1972). Not all of them were love at first sight. “All you need is 80 acres of corn and some cows,” Dave Hill said when he was runner-up at Hazeltine in 1970. Hazeltine is where Payne Stewart won his first U.S. Open, and where Tiger Woods lost his first major when he had the 54-hole lead. It’s where the Americans captured the Ryder Cup last September. It has more than corn and cows. Whatever happens this week at Erin Hills, it’s worth trying to look it at through a wide lens. “What Erin Hills doesn’t have is history yet,” Davis said. “But everybody had to start somewhere.”
DUBLIN, Ohio – Jack Nicklaus has revealed he and wife Barbara both contracted COVID-19 in March but have since recovered. Speaking on CBS during a final-round weather delay of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide that he hosts at Muirfield Village, Nicklaus said the couple bunkered down at home for more than a month and managed to get through the virus without too much complication. Both Jack and Barbara turned 80 earlier this year, putting them in the at-risk category for the virus that has caused devastation across the globe and claimed over 142,000 American lives. “Back in mid-March Barbara and I both contracted the coronavirus. Barbara was asymptomatic, (while) I had a sore throat and a cough,” Nicklaus told Jim Nantz. “It didn’t last very long and we were very, very fortunate. We were very lucky and our hearts go out to the people that did lose their lives and families. “We were home from the 13th of March until we were done with it by about the 20th of April. We just stayed at home for the next month and made sure that we were well. We got the antibodies and theoretically we can’t give it, and can’t get it, and that’s a nice position to be in.” Those close to Nicklaus have known the news for some time but this is the first public declaration. Nicklaus has been tested multiple times and as late as a week ago was informed he carries the antibodies to the virus. “The fact that they got through it and they’re safe and here and healthy, it’s all good news for all of us who are a part of golf and who looked up to Jack and been around Barbara all these years,” Tiger Woods said. “The fact that they’re healthy is nothing but positives.” The couple has responded by running a campaign to help raise funds to provide protective equipment for frontline health care workers dealing with COVID-19 cases. Through the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation the “Wear the Bear. Show You Care.” campaign was launched. People who donate $100 or more receive a hat with the Nicklaus Golden Bear wearing a mask. The NCHCF also matches those donations. “We have a little Golden Bear with a mask on a hat and we’ve sold a lot of them and it’s been wonderful because we’ve raised a lot of money for protective equipment,” Nicklaus added. “We were just a couple of the lucky ones so we feel very strong about trying to work with the people that are working with those that who have COVID-19.” For information or to donate to the “Wear the Bear. Show You Care” campaign, visit nchcf.org/wearthebear.
