Andy Capostagno GOLF
It is sometimes difficult to take Americans seriously when they speak of history. For most of their population, old is something that happened before World War II, antique before World War I. It is that much worse in the marketing of golf by the United States television networks, where adherence to family values and swearing allegiance to the flag have non-Americans gagging in their armchairs.
There will be more than the usual amount of such nonsense this week, but the good news is that this time there is an excuse for it. First of all, the 2000 US Open marks the 100th playing of the event; secondly it is being held at Pebble Beach, a golf course that is worth getting gooey about.
For the purists (and golf is full of
purists) there is no better golf course outside the British Isles than Pebble Beach. It’s set in a typically British links landscape, alongside Carmel Bay, a small slice of the Pacific Ocean that was once the personal fiefdom of golf nut Clint Eastwood, a past mayor of Carmel.
In 1992 Tom Kite won his one and only major at Pebble Beach in a remarkable final round. At the seventh hole, just about the most famous par three in the world, Kite chipped in for birdie. At the same hole Dr Gil Morgan also made two to get his score to the unheard of mark of 12 under-par.
At which point the golfing gods got up
and bit him for his presumption. He went on to drop nine shots in the next seven holes to let Kite in. It is perhaps not insignificant that while Kite will be among those pegging it up in California this week (and coming off a win in the seniors tour he cannot be entirely discounted), Morgan will be among the absentees.
But Tom Watson, the champion at Pebble in 1982, will be there and so will Jack Nicklaus, the champion in 1972, the first year that the US Open visited the site. Both of those gentlemen can tell the new guard of Tiger, El Nino, Duval et al a few things about the course.
Tiger Woods might argue that he knows a few things himself, having won the AT&T tournament at Pebble in February. He birdied the last six holes, among the toughest on the course, on the final day. But that week the course was set up for a regular tour event, this week it will be set up to the US Golf Association’s (USGA) special US Open criteria.
That means fairways as thin as Kate Moss, rough as thick as Irish stew and greens as hard and fast as a Las Vegas blonde. And as if that were not enough, the wind is guaranteed to blow hard enough to make the tee shot at the 97m seventh into anything from a lob wedge to a three iron. It is no place for mugs.
The stated aim of the USGA on these occasions is to restore the sanctity of par. The big hitting, streak-putting chorus of the regular tour should not be allowed to win the country’s premier championship. In theory, the harder the test the fewer players there should be with genuine chances to win. And by and large down the years the USGA have had their wishes come true.
For example, Denis Paulson, a journeyman who had won nothing in 13 years, won the Buick on Sunday and on one hole hit his drive 350m. He will not win at Pebble Beach. But several men left in his wake last week could. David Duval was beaten in a play-off and is impatient for that first major championship. Garcia got his score to 10 under par and then paid the price for his grip-it-and-rip-it philosophy. Ernie Els made a double bogey at the 12th and finished in a tie for fourth.
Els told a reporter last week, “if it hadn’t been for Tiger I would be having an incredible year”, referring to the fact that although he hasn’t won he has been in regular contention, including runner-up spot to Vijay Singh in the first major of the year, the US Masters.
Els has won twice in the US Open and
the reason is plain to see. He is effortlessly long, which allows him to hit a club less than the average professional. He has a silky touch on the greens and is among the finest bunker players in the world. And perhaps most important of all, he grew up on courses where the rough is made of kikuyu, an insanely difficult grass to hit a golf ball out of.
With that behind him, anything the USGA
throw his way may be tough, but not that tough. Els’s game is in good shape and if the wind blows it may be him and not Tiger that everyone ends up chasing.