The cast reunites at Bethpage


Brian Gay – er, excuse me, I should refer to him by his proper name, “Blowout” Brian Gay – sure does have a knack for taking an afterthought tournament and wringing the thing’s neck.

Last time we saw him do his Cadillac home run trot was at Harbour Town, when the golf world was still nursing the Masters hangover. Gay surveyed the scene, realized everyone was still talking about the Tiger-Phil twosome, or Angel Cabrera’s stunner, and said, in effect: Fine, then. I’ll just win by 10 when nobody’s looking.

On Sunday in Memphis, while the golf world readied itself for the United States Open’s celebrated return to Bethpage Black and Tiger’s assault on Mount Golden Bear, Gay did it again. He signed for a card that read 64-66-66-66, an 18-under total that meant a five-stroke win over the field and another “Blowout Brian” special. He earned a ticket to Bethpage, so in honor of BB’s dominance, perhaps it would be nice to provide him with a Bethpage refresher, if you will. Back in ’02, Gay was just a face in the crowd, holding a PGA Tour card but without a PGA Tour win. He would play at Bethpage, but miss the cut.



So, for the sake of Blowout Brian, who surely is headed to Long Island thinking bigger things than a missed cut, let’s remember what the golf world was like in June 2002, when we made our first trip to Bethpage, and how it compares to June of 2009, as we ready for the Open’s return:

• In 2002, Tiger Woods was King of the Universe. In 2009, Tiger Woods is King of the Universe.

Summary: No change.

• In 2002, Tiger came to Bethpage with seven major championships. He left with eight. In 2009, Tiger will come to Bethpage with 14 major championships. Unless a lightning storm centers on his driver, he will leave with 15.

Summary: No change.

• In 2002, Tiger came to Bethpage a bachelor with no children. In 2009, Tiger comes to Bethpage a married man with two children.

Summary: If Tiger fails to win the ’09 U.S. Open, we can likely blame lack of proper sleep and the fact that he may have to change a diaper or two between holes.

• In 2002, Phil Mickelson came to Bethpage with zero majors and the reputation of a major choker. In 2009, Phil Mickelson comes to Bethpage with three majors and, unfortunately, the reputation of a guy who hasn’t won one since he choked at Winged Foot in ’06.

Summary: While Lefty has broken through since we last came to Bethpage, and his ’04 and ’06 Masters wins were particularly stirring, there remains the nettlesome fact that he hasn’t been able to close at a major since he turned the 72nd hole at Winged Foot into his own personal carnival. The situation is worth monitoring.

• In 2002, Sergio Garcia was 22 years old and had zero majors, but all the promise of Tiger’s next challenger.

• In 2009, Sergio is 29, has zero majors, and is essentially an also-ran.

Summary: My, oh my, how we’ve dramatically ratcheted down the expectations on Sergio. In the summer of ’02, we were readying for a decade of Tiger-Sergio duels. Ha! Excepting the Ryder Cup, El Nino has been the king of big-stage disappointments, whether losing a playoff at Carnoustie to Padraig Harrington in ‘07, or fading at Oakland Hills over the final holes at the ’08 PGA, again to Harrington. In ’02, he played in the final twosome with Tiger in what was a charged matchup. Sergio got as close as two strokes after two holes, but bogeyed the 3rd and never got back into it. Like, ever.

• In 2002, Sergio was heckled relentlessly by New York crowds for his re-grip problem, and crushed by the media for complaining that he had to play in a rainstorm when he said play would have been halted for Tiger. He also flipped off the fans. In short, Sergio proved to be a major championship whiner. In 2009, Sergio left Augusta National griping about the course setup, and getting crushed by the media again.

Summary: No change.

• In 2002, Phil came to Bethpage as the crowd favorite, the fallible everyman, the lovable underdog taking on the big, bad Drago that is Tiger Woods. In 2009, Phil comes to Bethpage as all of the above, plus the sympathetic hero whose life has taken a tragic turn.

Summary: If you thought Phil was loved in New York seven years ago, imagine the outpouring of support for him after the news of his wife Amy’s breast cancer. At Memphis this week, he met with cancer-stricken children. It was heart-wrenching, to say the least. Get ready for some big-time Kleenex moments if Phil is in this thing late on Sunday.

Scorecard of the week

• 66-70-69-68 – 273, 15-under, LPGA rookie Anna Nordqvist, first place, McDonald’s LPGA Championship.

Setting aside the fact that she totes a very Swedish “v” following the “q” in her last name, making us viewers think the leader board had a typo, or looked like a ‘Scrabble’ draw, bravo to the young Nordqvist. She won her first LPGA event, and her first major, in only her fifth start.

It wasn’t nearly as exciting as Brittany Lincicome’s Kraft Nabisco eagle close-out in the ladies’ first major, and it had that bummer aspect of summer majors on the East Coast: weather delays. (Don’t forget to find a lightning shed at Bethpage this week, by the way.) As such, Nordqvist had to play 22 holes on Sunday after a Saturday weather delay.

That few of us had ever heard of Nordqvist added to the confusion, and the championship was dealt a further blow when uber-Tweeters Morgan Pressel and Christina Kim failed to make the cut. Instead of having the insightful bon mots on Twitter from Pressel or Kim as each prepared for what could have been a climactic final round, we learned from Kim over the weekend that “Warm candied walnuts are truly a euphoric experience every person should indulge at least once in their life.” And Pressel, the frustrated competitor, took out her anger over her beloved Red Wings’ failure in Game 7 and her own missed cut to rip the GPS in her rental car, which couldn’t find her a decent bagel place on Sunday morning: “It is frustrating how unreliable and useless a GPS can be, and how yet we have so much faith in them.” On a lighter note, she saw and loved the movie “The Hangover.”

Carolyn Bivens’ idea to have the LPGA take over Twitter is both a good thing for the LPGA’s visibility, and a one-way ticket on a seemingly endless journey through the banality of life.

Then again: I learned of Michelle Wie’s ace on Saturday from a Natalie Gulbis tweet. Wie finished T-23, and my bold prediction that she would win a major this year has only two chances left to be good.

Mulligan of the week

• There will be no John Daly at Bethpage this week, and that is a shame. If the place that hosts the “People’s Open” is without the “People’s Champ,” you can call that a gigantic missed opportunity. Heck, I’d have imagined New York galleries going so nuts for Daly in his polka-dotted slacks, he might have crowd surfed at one point.

Plus, Daly is all over Twitter, and his tweets from Bethpage would have been priceless. After all, this is the guy who tweeted a photo of himself and coach Rick Smith making French toast during a rain delay in Memphis. If you don’t consider your life enriched after that, then I have no hope for you.

Alas, Daly played in the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier in Tennessee last week, but shot a 1-over 143 and didn’t come close to making it to Bethpage.

So, for the sake of our own entertainment, somebody turn back the clock to last Monday and give that man a mulligan!

Broadcast moment of the week

• “Look at that beautiful extension” – Peter Kostis, on CBS’ SwingVision.

How drained of drama was the St. Jude in Memphis? Kostis’ analysis of “beautiful extension” was applied to a SwingVision breakdown of a squirrel running up a tree.

True story. CBS taped a squirrel at the golf course making the vertical run up the tree bark, and broke it down into that super-duper micro-slow motion of the SwingVision camera. After all, Gay was crushing the field by five, Mickelson was done, Daly was done, and Tiger was nowhere near the premises. Why not analyze the squirrel’s style?

It must be said, the squirrel was phenomenal, flaunting an impeccable technique honed by thousands of years of evolution. Who knew a squirrel got all four limbs airborne while running up a tree? There has to be some pronation and supination involved here. Look for Rocky the Flying Squirrel to release his teaching video, “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Tree Running” to be pedaled on a Golf Channel infomercial coming soon to a sleepless night near you.

Where do we go from here?

• In ’02, New York fans proved the most energetic, enjoyable and memorable fans in golf history. Given that the ’02 Open was so historic, it’ll be tough to match the originality of the muni-course passion that ran through Bethpage that year. In fact, the crowds do run the chance of trying too hard to mimic the epic and raw energy of ’02.

Then again, it’s New York. Somebody once sang about that place being top of the list, king of the hill, A Number Onnnnnnnnnnnnneeee …

If it’s good enough for Sinatra, it’s good enough for me. Bring on Bethpage.

Lucas Glover delivers breakthrough win at US Open
By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports Writer


FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP)—A voracious reader, Lucas Glover took a moment to scan the names etched on the walls of the U.S. Open trophy.

Talk about a great ending.

From Hagen to Sarazen, Jones to Hogan, Palmer to Trevino and Nicklaus to Woods, Glover couldn’t put the glistening silver chalice down. The last name on the list, improbable as this seemed a week ago, is now his, a permanent tribute for enduring a grueling week at Bethpage Black better than anyone else.

Glover won the 109th U.S. Open on Monday afternoon, one perfectly timed birdie at the par-4 16th helping seal his two-stroke victory over Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Ricky Barnes. Glover finished at 4-under 276 for the long, damp, oft-delayed week, getting just the second win of his career.

“Here I stand,” Glover said.

There he stood, all right.

He was on the right side of the draw, weather-wise, for the first two rounds, opening with a 69 and then shooting a second-round 64 in rare scoring conditions for a U.S. Open. Glover didn’t break par the rest of the way, shooting 70 in the third round and then closing with a 73 on Monday.

It was good enough, and then some.

“I held it together and that’s important,” Glover said. “The patience thing, I’ve been preaching all week to myself and you guys and everybody else here that asked me what I’m feeling, it paid off.”

So many storylines unfolded during the final round of the Open. There was Duval, who started the day ranked No. 882 in the world, looking for his first win in eight years. There was Barnes, who’ll go down in history as the fourth player to reach double-digits below par in the U.S. Open, wasting a huge lead with a bogey barrage that doomed his chances.

And then there was Mickelson, looking for something that would have been pure Hollywood.

He wasn’t even a lock to play at Bethpage Black. Amy Mickelson, his wife, will begin breast cancer treatment next month. Phil Mickelson won’t play any golf for a while, so his wife sent him to this tournament asking for a truly one-of-a-kind vase for her upcoming hospital stay: A big trophy with curved handles and a little statuette on top.

Lefty almost pulled it off, too. He tied Glover for the lead after an eagle at the par-5 13th, but two bogeys coming in left Mickelson tied for second at the U.S. Open for a record fifth time.

“I think maybe it’s more in perspective for me, because I feel different this time,” Mickelson said. “I don’t know where to go with this, because I want to win this tournament badly.”

A family vacation awaited Mickelson, some badly needed rest and relaxation before Amy Mickelson begins cancer treatment July 1. But first, Mickelson needed to greet his people—hundreds of them, autograph-seekers in the parking lot chanting “Phil! Phil! Phil!” as the world’s No. 2 player signed whatever they wanted for about a half-hour.

Police officers, state troopers and security guards—many of them armed— tried to form a wall to stop the hordes from getting to Mickelson. On the fourth try, they finally got him to his car, where Mickelson then signed autographs for them.


AP - Jun 22, 5:56 pm EDT
“There’s some more important things going on,” Mickelson said.

Duval thought so, too.

He was the Comeback Kid this week, surviving spats of big trouble in nearly every round, especially Monday when a triple-bogey and a mudball on the front side sent him spiraling downward.

Duval rallied every time, nearly stealing the trophy out of Glover’s grasp. It was his first top 10 since 2002, netting a check for $559,830 that nearly matched what he’s made in the last five years combined.

“It’s very difficult to sit here and say second place is a failure,” said Duval, who led the field with 19 birdies. “It is very much a success. It’s not quite the success I had looked forward to this week and had hoped for, and in some way expected. But success, nonetheless.”

Tiger Woods was 15 shots back in the third round on Sunday. Somehow, he found himself bidding for major No. 15 on Monday.



AP - Jun 22, 5:56 pm EDT
It didn’t happen, and for the first time in five years, he isn’t the reigning champion at any of the majors.

He was four shots back with four holes to play after a birdie at No. 14, and the ‘Can he do this?’ chatter ended quickly from there. Woods hit a 5-iron over the 15th green to make bogey, and had to settle for a 69 that left him in a tie for sixth, four shots back of Glover.

“I striped it this week,” Woods said. “I hit it just like I did at Memorial, and unfortunately, I didn’t make anything.”

Glover only made one big putt, and that was enough.

He’s got an everyman vibe, a tobacco-chewing, Sinatra-listening 29-year-old from South Carolina who says he tries to be nice to everyone so they can be nice to him. His only win, until now, came when he holed out a bunker shot on the final hole at Disney nearly five years ago.

Glover hit two perfect shots into No. 16 on Monday, then made the birdie that came almost at the same instant Duval made bogey at the par-3 17th, the two-shot swing that proved to be the difference.

An hour later, the trophy was his.

“I hope I don’t downgrade it or anything with my name on there,” Glover quipped. “It’s an honor, and I’m just excited and happy as I can be to be on here.”

I was there in the mud TT Actually ran into Phil (totally by accident) about 45 minutes before he teed off. I really thought he was going to win it. It was a shame my course did not get to play the way it was suppose to play. Even so only five players managed to break par.
Also Duval was quite a story, I was standing on the third tee when he plugged that tee shot under the lip of the bunker that led to a triple bogey. I cringed when I saw the ball land, was impressed when he came right back with a birdie on four.
I arrived early and walked out to where Barnes had marked his ball on two the night before, they had security all around the area I have played with a few guys who may have kicked that ball closer to the fairway. I have been where he was and that shot is not fun.
Instead of coming back with another Open I think some thought should be given to bringing the Ryder Cup to this course down the line. The last four holes are perfect theatre and 17 is a perfect ampitheatre for whatever will unfold. You think we are loud at the Open? Give us a Ryder Cup