AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > June > 14 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USCourse will provide entertainment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Oakmont, Pa.— Before we go any further with this U.S Open, the l07th, if you’re keeping score, there are a few little items that should be brought before the house. First, let me say that there shall be no discussion of the wrist in golf. We all know a wrist is very important to the swing, but haven’t we sort of overdone Phil Mickelson’s? (What about his putting?) And that guy walking along with him on the course holding his hand the other day. Who do they think they’re kidding? (Just kiddin’.)
Nor will we speculate on just how becoming a father will change Tiger Woods’ game. Most of us males have all become a father at some time or another — three times for me — but never did it affect the Earth’s rotation such as this one. I read somewhere the other day this story headlined “Fatherhood Fits Tiger Well.”
Swell. I think that’s just great. I don’t know how the study was made, but I presume that Mrs. Woods was included among those consulted. I’ll say this, that being a father, and raising my three sons, was the highlight of my life.
We’re here, at Oakmont Country Club — the president is a Georgia Bulldog, by the way, Bill Griffin out of Morgan County — to play the national golf championship on a course that’s pretty much the same as it was when it was created in 1903. It was simply plopped down along this acreage along Hulton Road, and here it lies. Greens were laid out on ground the way Mr. H.C. Fownes found it. No bulldozers, no shapers, no false ponds. You might say the original designer was God. It is, to continue its mystique, the only golf course in the country with an interstate highway running through it, I-76. Otherwise known as the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
You’ve read, too, I’d suppose, about how the course is “treeless.” Stripped over the years by a carefully and slyly managed program, cutting out a few here and a few there until there wasn’t tree left on the course. Well, that’s not altogether true. There are trees all over the place, spreading oaks and elms and beech and so on, but not on the course itself. None of the trees left affect play. The quality of golf was not affected, though Joyce Kilmer would have been crushed. You know, “I think that I shall never see,” and so on.
Hear what Arnold Palmer says of Oakmont. (He lives about 45 minutes away.) “Some golf courses you play and get comfortable with. Oakmont just doesn’t happen to be. I’ve played it since I was 12 years old, and I’m still not sure I understand it.”
Oakmont is a golf course meant for the U.S. Open. It plays hard and it plays mean. It can be stretched out to a length of 7,230 yards, not exasperatingly long by any means. But it’s deviltry is not wrapped up in the length, it’s undulation and harsh greens. Since I first came here in 1973, the year of Johnny Miller’s 63, I’ve parked by the 10th green hours at a time for some of golf’s cruellest entertainment. The hole is 462 yards, all downhill, to a green that’s also downhill, with a serious slant. By the end of the Open, it’s a good bet that the 10th hole will have taken the most blood. It’s like watching a horror movie.
The USGA elves take delight in their clever pairings. For instance, all three of the Spaniards, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and Pablo Martin were lumped together. Worked for Jose-Maria, who came in at 70. It had to be in a moment of high humor when Boo Weekley and Bubba Watson, the two drawling Floridians, were paired with Nobuhiro Masuda from Japan, who was heard to say afterward, “Don’t anybody around here speak American?” In Japanese, of course.
Best bet: Not one of the heavyweights will win this Open. Pick your favorite underdog.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Furman Bisher
Comments
By Leroy Rogers
June 15, 2007 12:42 AM | Link to this
As bad as I hate to, I have to go with Tiger. He has matured so much in not using his driver and can get up and down from the parking lot! And putt when it counts…he is better than the Golden Bear, I think. {I sure hope I am wrong again!} Golf needs for Phil to win because he is another Arnie Palmer, while Arnie is still around to see Phil appreciate the paying customers. The thing that burns me is Tiger’s body language and his ugly words when things don’t go well. Today he make all the big putts but one, I think. It is so difficult to get it close to the hole. I thought Augusta had awesome greens but Miller & Co. say Oakmont is the worst. We shall see. I think over par will win again as last year. Leroy Rogers
By Leroy Rogers
June 15, 2007 12:43 AM | Link to this
As bad as I hate to, I have to go with Tiger. He has matured so much in not using his driver and can get up and down from the parking lot! And putt when it counts…he is better than the Golden Bear, I think. {I sure hope I am wrong again!} Golf needs for Phil to win because he is another Arnie Palmer, while Arnie is still around to see Phil appreciate the paying customers. The thing that burns me is Tiger’s body language and his ugly words when things don’t go well. Today he make all the big putts but one, I think. It is so difficult to get it close to the hole. I thought Augusta had awesome greens but Miller & Co. say Oakmont is the worst. We shall see. I think over par will win again as last year. Leroy Rogers
By Leroy Rogers
June 15, 2007 12:43 AM | Link to this
As bad as I hate to, I have to go with Tiger. He has matured so much in not using his driver and can get up and down from the parking lot! And putt when it counts…he is better than the Golden Bear, I think. {I sure hope I am wrong again!} Golf needs for Phil to win because he is another Arnie Palmer, while Arnie is still around to see Phil appreciate the paying customers. The thing that burns me is Tiger’s body language and his ugly words when things don’t go well. Today he make all the big putts but one, I think. It is so difficult to get it close to the hole. I thought Augusta had awesome greens but Miller & Co. say Oakmont is the worst. We shall see. I think over par will win again as last year. Leroy Rogers
By jh
June 15, 2007 7:17 AM | Link to this
Who cares? I don’t give a rat’s a* about golf….I’d rather be fishing.