The post GOLF’s Subpar: Billy Ray Brown talks what it’s like facing off against Tiger Woods appeared first on Golf.

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Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by 3-time PGA Tour winner Billy Ray Brown who shares what it was like going head to head with Tiger Woods down the stretch at Torrey Pines.

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The post This priceless insight helped first-time Tour winner hit the shot of his life appeared first on Golf.

The post This priceless insight helped first-time Tour winner hit the shot of his life appeared first on Golf.

Luke List had two long hours to think about what might soon be a reality: a chance to compete in a playoff for his first PGA Tour title.

Fortunately, he also had some welcome distractions.

After signing for a fourth-round 66 at the Farmers Insurance Open that elevated him to 15 under for the week, List had time to kill before the outcome at Torrey Pines would be decided. He joined his family — wife Chloe; daughter Ryann, 3; and son Harrison, 7 months — in player dining. Chloe was feeding Harrison; Luke fetched Ryann a cookie. They hung out and talked and laughed. It could have been a low-key Tuesday afternoon in their Augusta, Ga., home.

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Of course, it was anything but. As the final groups reached the 15th and 16th holes, List’s playoff hopes were still very much alive, so he went back outside to rap putts on the practice green and bang balls on the North course, against a dreamy Pacific Ocean backdrop. “I found something in my swing, felt really good,” he said.

The temperature had dropped. Dusk was inching closer. “Luckily, I was kind of warming up again as the light progressed down so my eyes were adjusted,” List said. He was still grinding away when Will Zalatoris arrived on the 18th green. After a nifty approach, Zalatoris had 8 feet left for birdie. Make it and Zalatoris would notch his first PGA Tour win; miss and he’d face List in overtime. Zalatoris’ putt looked good until it didn’t, wobbling left at the last moment.  

By this point, the sun was melting into the horizon. You could argue it was silly to start a playoff in the rapidly fading light — there was time for one hole at the most and putts were already getting difficult to read — but both players seemed eager to decide a winner on Saturday. So off they went, back to the 18th tee.

List and Zalatoris both hit soaring fades that landed in the same right fairway bunker, their balls settling just inches from one another’s. Both players hit well placed recovery shots back into the fairway. Both players were left with shortish approaches over the pond that fronts the sprawling, sloping 18th green. Pitching wedge in hand, List hit first. He had 135, only he didn’t play it 135.

List knows a thing or two about playing golf in Southern California; he and Chloe lived for several years in Seal Beach, about 90 miles up the coast from Torrey Pines, which means he has played his share of SoCal courses. And in this high-pressure, high-stakes moment, that local knowledge proved indispensable.

“When the sun goes down, it cools off a good 10 degrees or so and that’s almost 10 yards,” List said. So instead of playing a 135-yard shot, List and his caddie, Jeff Willett, figured the adjusted distance was more like 148. “We had a good number and I just trusted it was going to play that long and I think it landed past with some spin and I think that’s kind of what you have to do on that approach,” List said.

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The ball stopped inches, no more than a foot, from the hole, but because of the dwindling light, List had no idea just how brilliant a shot he had hit.

“I couldn’t tell,” he said. “I thought it was like a little behind the hole. Then I got closer, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s good.’ … For it to be six inches or whatever the number was was incredible. Obviously, that’s the dream, to have a kick-in that you don’t have to putt, but I was ready to have a putt to win anyway.”

Of course, it wasn’t that putt that clinched him his first Tour crown — it was the swing that had preceded it.

“To hit that wedge shot [was] special,” the new champ said. “I’ll remember that forever.”

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The post Stoke Gained: Inside the unexpected overlap of passions between golfers and surfers appeared first on Golf.

The post Stoke Gained: Inside the unexpected overlap of passions between golfers and surfers appeared first on Golf.

On a hazy morning just north of San Diego, hours before his regularly scheduled tee time, Paul Loegering is reading breaks. He’s looking at three-footers, and there’s not much in them — modest waves frothing a couple hundred yards offshore.

“It’s pretty choppy out there,” Loegering says. “Better conditions for golf than surfing.”

Not that he’s deterred. As he does most days when he isn’t traveling with the PGA Tour, Loegering plans to partake in both. He’ll hit the waves, then he’ll hit the links.

Per usual, he won’t be alone.

At 55, a brown-haired, slight-framed former collegiate surfer who earns his keep in the golf equipment industry, Loegering (pronounced leggo-ring) is the ringleader of a crew that swaps wet suits in the morning for collared shirts in the afternoon. As he puts it, “Our motto is ‘Surf AM, golf PM.'”

Given those twin passions, they’d be hard-pressed to find a better place to live. This morning’s subpar surf is a consequence of unfavorable onshore winds. But a big swell is coming, according to the forecasts, along with offshore breezes that help hold waves in a sweet, feathery shape. That’s more like it for San Diego, where nearly year-round surf and sunshine provide an ideal backdrop for Loegering’s amphibious lifestyle.

“I’m not sure what more you could want,” he says.

Looking at this happy union of golf and surfing, it’s easy to forget that the two sports used to get on poorly. Barely more than a generation back, golfers and surfers occupied opposing camps, eyeing one another from a wary distance through the lens of caricature. Where surfers scoffed at the stiff-lipped snobs on land, golfers shunned the bleach-brained slackers in the water. Little did they realize how many traits they shared: Golfers, like surfers, were drawn to a sense of harmony with nature; surfers, like golfers, spoke of their pursuit as a spiritual quest. In mindset and motivation, to say nothing of motor skills, the commonalities were plain. You just had to look.

As this recognition grew, it led to something more than peaceful coexistence. It encouraged intermingling. Famous golfers started surfing and the other way around. Fashions shifted. Dress codes loosened. Influences washed back and forth. Surfers embraced “etiquette.” Golfers began speaking of courses with good “vibes.”

In recent years, the crosscurrents have been felt in many places. But nowhere on the U.S. mainland are they stronger than in San Diego, where the U.S. Open was held just a couple of weeks ago.

Start at the host course, Torrey Pines, its fairways running atop oceanside bluffs. Below it is Black’s Beach, famous as a nudists’ hangout but also as the site of one of the West Coast’s finest beach breaks. Follow the shoreline in either direction and you come upon a string of other pearly surf spots — La Jolla Shores, Swami’s, Terra Mar and more. Just inland, the commercial landscape also reflects the region’s hybrid interests. In Encinitas, a few clicks up the coast from Torrey, the design studio of noted putter-maker Scotty Cameron stands almost cheek-to-jowl with Hansen’s, a landmark local surf shop. In nearby Carlsbad, FireWire, the largest surfboard-maker in the world, sits in the same industrial district as the likes of Callaway and TaylorMade.

One of FireWire’s cofounders is Chuy Reyna, an ex-pro surfer and a fixture in Loegering’s AM/PM group. Now 52, Reyna came to golf in adulthood and can’t get enough. He plays a couple times a week and counts himself a “member” at Goat Hill Park, in Oceanside, though membership seems almost too formal a term for a kickback, low-cost public course that has a surfboard hanging from the rafters of its pro shop.

“I love the mental and physical challenge,” Reyna says of golf. “You know there’s always an opportunity for improvement but also that you’ll never master it. It’s like surfing in that way.”

If there’s a Kevin Bacon of these overlapping worlds, it’s Loegering, who lives in Carlsbad and works as Tour manager for True Temper Sports, the leading golf-shaft-maker in the industry. Name an athlete in either sport — odds are Loegering has them on speed dial. He plays golf with surf god Kelly Slater. He surfs with Adam Scott and Rafa Cabrera-Bello, among other big-name golfers who have caught the bug. Last winter, in advance of the Farmers Insurance Open, the Tour pro Tyler McCumber rang up Loegering, whom most everyone knows by his nickname: Lego. He wasn’t looking for a caddie.

“I love the waves in San Diego,” McCumber says. “And Lego is about as good a local guide as you can get.”

The waves in San Diego were not the first ones Loegering learned to ride. He grew up in Manhattan Beach, close to L.A., in a middle-class neighborhood blocks from the water, and started surfing when he was seven. Though he knew some golfers, he viewed them as most grommets did. “I thought they were all squares,” he says.

A come-to-the-mountain moment occurred in high school, when a buddy took him to Riviera to watch the L.A. Open. Loegering was stunned by the beauty of the setting. Back home, he picked up clubs and — spoiler alert! — got hooked. In college at Long Beach State, Loegering surfed competitively, but golf became his north star. After graduation, he moved to San Diego, bent on getting certified as a PGA professional. A life in the golf shop didn’t seem so bad.

In those days, Loegering would get up before sunrise to squeeze in surf sessions at Black’s, then scramble up the bluffs to make an early morning Torrey tee time. Too bad he also needed to pay rent. While filling out forms for his PGA training program, Loegering saw a listing for an entry-level job at Callaway. It was 1994. He never looked back. From newbie clubfitter, he rose to become the company’s Tour rep, and then went on to do the same for TaylorMade, helping customize equipment for some of the game’s best players. None of them surfed, not as far as Loegering knew. Nor did he raise the subject.

“I was worried that if I told them I was a surfer, they wouldn’t trust me with the fitting,” he says.

Greg Norman would have had faith. Before he was the Shark, Norman was a surfer, riding waves along the Great Barrier Reef, a part of his past that he never discussed with his peers.

“I was competing against guys like Ballesteros and Faldo,” Norman says. “If I’d brought up surfing, the conversations would have been very short.”

When Norman talks surfing today, he stresses its reliance on “balance, flexibility and proprioception.”

“You’ve got to plant your feet, you want your upper body relaxed, you’ve got to be attuned to the speed of the waves and everything around you, just as you’re attuned to the wind and other elements on the course,” he says. “Very different sports but a lot of similarities.”

This was the same discovery Kelly Slater made when he took up golf in earnest in the mid-1990s. Though he’d had prior brushes with the game, this deeper dive showed him how much golf helped with body awareness.

“I don’t think it’s an accident that those first years I really got into golf, in ’96 and ’97, were probably my best years in surfing,” Slater says. Coming from a surfer who has won 11 world titles, that’s saying a lot. In 2015, Slater launched the eco-conscious clothing line Outerknown, which includes polos and other golf wear. In that crossover, he was not a pioneer. In recent decades, the golf fashion industry has burst with brands that touch upon the surf-meets-turf connection, among them Johnnie-O and Linksoul, whose cofounder, John Ashworth, was one of the OGs in the space.

A Southern California native, Ashworth surfed and played golf as a kid but kept his golf side closeted when he was in the waves. He recognized the game had an image problem. In time, he sought to change that image through apparel.

“I knew how soulful golf was,” Ashworth says. “But for people outside to see that, you had to get rid of the silly rules.”

Another expression of that ethos is Goat Hill Park. Six years ago, Ashworth led a group that assumed its lease, rescuing the city-owned course from oblivion. Among the first things he did was scrap the dress code. You have to wear a shirt, but that’s about it. Though it’s not hard on the water, Goat Hill has ocean views, and its “vibe” is so beachy you can almost taste the salt spray. Ashworth says he didn’t set out to create that atmosphere. It happened organically, an outgrowth of the natural ties between golf and surfing.

“I think of them as practices, more than anything,” Ashworth says. “There’s something spiritual in both.”

If that sounds to you like New Age claptrap, then you’ve never flushed an iron shot at twilight or risen with the sun to get barreled by a wave.

Paul Loegering is conversant in the lingo. Golf and surfing are “part of my soul,” he says. His job with True Temper, which he’s held since 2015, keeps him on the road 35 weeks a year, but he stays centered by stashing surfboards at friends’ houses for use in Florida, Hawaii and other coastal stops. Once his hidden passion, surfing has become a source of bonding. He and Adam Scott have chased waves in Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, Nicaragua. Three years ago, Cabrera-Bello joined them at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in the Central Valley, an artificial wave pool that is something like the surf world’s Augusta National Golf Club.

In Carlsbad, Loegering shares a seaside duplex with his fiancée, Julie Chandler. (He has three grown children from a previous marriage.) His upstairs office, adorned with photos from his surf adventures, overlooks the ocean. The ground floor backs up to a converted shed that Loegering calls the Board Room, and not because it’s where he makes executive decisions.

It’s a half-block to the water, but on this windy morning, Loegering has a couple boards and a bunch of gear to carry, so he borrows a neighbor’s buggy — a souped-up golf cart with a surf rack on top — and buzzes to the water. Reyna is there, along with two other AM/PM buddies: Chris Nagle, an Aussie transplant who works in finance but lives for the outdoors, and Ted Robinson, a childhood friend and one of the finest longboarders of his generation. Robinson already has his wet suit on. Loegering dons his and marches toward the waves.

It will take some skill to find lively rides in these slothful conditions, but some surf is always better than no surf.

“This is one of those days where you clear your head in the ocean and go make some birdies,” Loegering says.

He stands there for a moment, one foot on the sand, the other in the shallows. Then he plunges in.

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The post Jon Rahm seized the moment at the 121st U.S. Open as his competitors succumbed to it appeared first on Golf.

The post Jon Rahm seized the moment at the 121st U.S. Open as his competitors succumbed to it appeared first on Golf.

LA JOLLA, Calif. — There was a moment, early on U.S. Open Sunday, when the golf world stood at a sort of moral attention, the preferred USGA stance. All was orderly. All was right.

Rory McIlroy and Russell Henley, in the day’s penultimate twosome, were marching down the first fairway, and the gents in the final twosome, Mackenzie Hughes and Louis Oosthuizen, were on the first tee. Behind them, Gary Woodland, a former U.S. Open winner, and Edoardo Molinari, a former U.S. Amateur winner, walked on by, coming off 18, their workday done early, their sparkle a couple steps behind them.

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Standing sentry on the back of the first tee were three mainstays of U.S. Open golf: Mike Davis, at the last event of his 31-year USGA career; Bob Ford, the ultimate USGA head pro (Oakmont, Seminole), coming out of retirement to work as the starter; and Roger Maltbie of NBC, who played in eight Opens and covered a thousand more.

The spectators were silent. The Pacific, in the distance, heaved like a sleeping baby. King Louis smashed an opening tee shot, made a U-turn, shook Davis’s hand, wished him a fond farewell, and headed out. All of the contenders were out. They were all off and running.

And that was it for order.

For the next five hours, chaos visited this slice of golfing paradise. We’re not even talking about the guy who slipped under the ropes with club and ball, attempting to play a hole on this public links, the South Course at Torrey Pines.

Bryson DeChambeau almost made a 1 (on the par-3 8th), tapped in for a 2, raced to the top of the board with a front-nine 33, then did a back-nine stall-out like a drone out of juice. History will have to decide whether he bladed or shanked his fourth shot, from gnarly greenside rough, on the par-4 17th, where he made an 8. Well, others have made 8 there, too.

And how about BBB? (Big, bad Brooks.) After characteristically macho birdies on 13, a monster par-5, and 15, a monster par-4, Koepka was four under for the tournament. (Spare him, and his touring bros, the whole championship lecture. Not their thing.) Koepka was in perfect position to post five under early and let the others sweat. Instead, he made two bogeys on his way to 18, on his way to Palookaville, and there ain’t nothing for him there except private-jet travel to Royal St. George’s and glory’s last shot.

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As for McIlory, his room-service chicken-sandwich magic ran its course. On Sunday afternoons at U.S. Opens, veteran players (and observers) often get a number in their head about the winning score that is never far off. This Sunday, for all the world, felt like six (under) would win and five would play off. (That’s the vernacular.) Rory plays to a number. So does Tiger. (How you, Tiger?) So did Jack Nicklaus and Mickey Wright and various others. McIlroy knew, making the turn at four under, he was in good shape, with two back-nine par-5s he could reach in two. But he needed 39, three over, coming in. Not what the doctor ordered. Not even close.

Nobody could play the back nine, and you’re required to play the back nine. Nobody could do anything from 10 to the house. The air cooled. The pressure mounted. The rough got heavier. The pressure mounted. The greens got slower. The pressure mounted.

Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

And then came Rahm.

Senor Jon Rahm, of Spain, of greater Phoenix, of the world.

Under normal circumstances, he’s hard to miss, what with his thighs on loan from the Sequoia National Forest, his five-day stubble, his Jimmy Neutron head. His temper, his grace. Witness how he handled his sudden departure from his last tournament, the Memorial, where he was leading by six shots after three rounds but could not play on Sunday because he had tested positive for Covid-19. He blamed no one but himself.

And then there was the Sunday night at the 2020 Memorial, when he was told on live TV that he was receiving a penalty for unwittingly causing his ball to move in the greenside rough on 16. He handled that with grace, too. Of course, it helped that he won the tournament even with the two extra shots. He plays hard courses well. The best do. Torrey Pines was a tough course this week. A difficult, fair demanding beautiful course.

Rahm was in the fourth-to-last twosome. He was three shots behind the leaders through three rounds. Who could have expected him to win? Who was focused on Rahm? Through 54 holes, there were three guys at five under. Two guys at three under. Three bombers — Scottie Scheffler, plus Rahm and his playing partner, Matthew Wolff — at two under. Another five guys at one under. The USGA odds-making computer did the gambling math for us. (That’s just weird. That doesn’t sound like the USGA that Mother grew up on.) Rahm’s chances were officially listed as eh.

Yes, of course, anytime you start your day with a birdie followed by a birdie, that be nice. That be promising. As for Rahm’s back nine, at least he wasn’t going backward. He was four under standing on the 10th tee. He made a par there. Another on 11. Another on 12. Another on 13. Another on 14. Another on 15. Another on 16. Yes, past results do not predict future returns. Still.

No Spaniard had ever won a U.S. Open. Spanish golf, to reduce Spanish golf to a sporting stereotype, does not lend itself to U.S. Open golf. To British Open golf? Yes. To Masters golf? Yes. To Ryder Cup golf? Yes. The Spanish play golf with flair and emotion and heart. That’s their stock-in-trade. U.S. Open golf is Hogan, Big Jack, Mickey Wright, Andy North, Curtis Strange, Larry Nelson. Fairways and greens and control your heart rate. That was not Seve golf, Jose Maria Olazabal golf, Sergio golf. That’s not Jon Rahm golf.

Rahm cried after he beat Tiger Woods on Sunday at the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris. Not from the joy of victory, but out of appreciation. That his life and his talent and his work had taken him to a place where he could face his childhood hero on equal footing and then some. That’s Rahm. He’ll tell you that it was a privilege to play the first two rounds of the 2019 Masters with its eventual winner, Tiger his own self. That’s Rahm, the golfer and man.

Rahm is a new father. Sunday was his first Father’s Day. His wife’s maiden name is Kelley Cahill. Not a notably Spanish name. But she’s sporty, as is the Rahm clan and so many others from the Basque, as he is. Mrs. Rahm can throw a football 50 yards. She threw the javelin at Arizona State, where they met.

Father’s Day (we all know) is a high-corn American holiday, but have you ever seen Rahm at an airport or a restaurant? He does family like nobody’s business, shuffling along in massive flip-flops, wearing a T-shirt he might have slept in, his arm around somebody not making him any money, traveling with a half-dozen or more. It’s a joy to see. They all speak fast.

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Rahm’s college coach at ASU was Tim Mickelson, Phil’s brother. Later, Tim became Rahm’s manager. The Mickelson brothers have Torrey Pines in their blood. What they know about the South Course, Rahm knows. Rahm has had Spaghetti alla Mary (Mary Mickelson, mother of Phil and Tim) more than once. Rahm won at Torrey Pines in 2017, at the Farmers Insurance Open. Through three rounds he was three shots back. (Sounds familiar, right?) He closed with two big putts, holing a 60-footer on the last. His win that week was his first on the PGA Tour. He was young. Even now, he’s only 26.

But. . . 

Rahm’s backswing is as short and fast and Phil Mickelson’s is long and rhythmic. Julius Boros won two U.S. Opens with long and rhythmic. Nicklaus, four, L&R. Hogan, four, the same. Payne Stewart, two, ditto. Coming into this U.S. Open, the last short-and-fast swinger to win a U.S. Open was Hubert Green, in 1977.

Then Rahm made a birdie on 17, to get to five under, and his odds went from eh to good chance to get in a playoff. Then, on the par-5 18th: up-and-in from a greenside bunker, the birdie putt from 18 feet. Holy smokes. He was at six under and his odds of winning went to very damn high. Then King Louis did on 17 what he did not do at the 1st: he drove it out of play, took a penalty shot, made a bogey and Rahm won from the house. From the driving range. From Spain. From Mary Mickelson’s. From the ASU campus. From the memory bank of all the things he saw Tiger do over the years. There have been two U.S. Opens at Torrey Pines. Tiger won the first one, and Rahm the second.

He hugged his wife.

He hugged his caddie.

He hugged his baby.

He hugged his trophy.

He hugged Phil.

He tucked in his shirt. It’s always coming loose. It really doesn’t matter, in 2021. But, you know, the USGA.

He was awakened by crows Sunday morning. Damn crows. He never got back to sleep. When your first-born is 10 weeks old, you don’t go back to sleep, anyway. Ditto for when you’re trying to become the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Open. 

“I’m a feel player,” he said in victory. He said a lot of things, about Phil, about Tiger, about his wife, their baby, this game, his game, Spanish golf, about life and sudden death. Real life sudden death, a reporter friend from home, from Spain. A lot of players like to say they are feel players, but Rahm really is. This U.S. Open was chaotic. For a true feel player, that’s nothing but good.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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The post Tour Confidential: Jon Rahm’s moment, King Louis’ lay-up, Torrey Pines’ close-up appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour Confidential: Jon Rahm’s moment, King Louis’ lay-up, Torrey Pines’ close-up appeared first on Golf.

Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com. This week, we discuss Jon Rahm’s breakthrough victory at the U.S. Open, Louis Oosthuizen’s decision to lay up, whether Torrey Pines deserves to host again, and more.

1. Jon Rahm won his first major in electric fashion, dropping hard-breaking birdie putts on the 71st and 72nd holes of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines to beat Louis Oosthuizen by one. Which part of Rahm’s game most powered him to this come-from-behind win?

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Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): His patience. Prior to his back-to-back birdie finish, Rahm made seven pars in a row to open the back nine. With Louis Oosthuizen opening a two-shot lead, Rahm could’ve pressed and made some sloppy bogeys. Instead, he waited until the time was right and pulled out some clutch putts down the stretch. 

Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): Rahm was a five-tool player today. Drove the ball beautifully. Spot-on irons. Unforgettably clutch putts. And some really deft chipping when it mattered (that up-and-down on the par-3 3rd kept his momentum going early). The capper was the patience Zephyr mentioned, which was maybe most evident on his second-to-last shot. Opting not to play aggressively on that bunker shot on 18 and choosing to trust his flat stick — that took a cool-minded maturity he hasn’t always shown.

Sean Zak, senior editor (@sean_zak): His ball-striking. Did he miss a shot Sunday? From the first wedge into 1, to the tight little nipped spinner into 2, to all the approaches to 20 feet on the back nine. The guy hit every shot well. Even the one on 18 that landed in the greenside bunker. 

Alan Bastable, executive editor (@alan_bastable): Supreme ball-strking and shot-making are almost a given with this guy. What really impressed me Sunday was his relative calm. Staying collected in the heat of battle has long been Rahm’s bugaboo, and while he showed some frustration after burning the edge on 14, he didn’t let it unravel him. Not much dropped for him through the first 54 holes and deep into the fourth round, but he stayed patient, because, he said, he knew the putts would come — and come they did, in the most critical moments of all. 

Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier): His putter. Without those two bombs on 17 and 18, we’re talking about King Louis, U.S. Open champion. Putt for dough and all that.

James Colgan, assistant editor (@jamescolgan26): His maturity. In what world is the Jon Rahm of the past few years resisting the urge to do something crazy as he toils away with pars while trailing down the back nine? He’s grown a lot, and his performance Sunday showed it.

2. Put Rahm’s last two holes in perspective. Where do they rank among the clutch finishes in recent major history?

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Melton: It’s the best since … December, when A Lim Kim made three straight birdies at Champions Golf Club to close out a similarly impressive U.S. Women’s Open win. 

Sens: It was up there. On the cool-under-pressure front, it’s hard to forget Dustin Johnson, playing under the cloud of a potential penalty at Oakmont. And closing it out with some ridiculously macho ball-striking.

Zak: It’s extremely up there. It had been some time since the men’s game saw a clutch, major-winning putt of any length on 18. And somehow that followed a better putt on 17. Considering Louis’ finish, too … they’re connected. 

Bastable: I’m not ready to put it up against Tiger’s Torrey Open finish in 2008 — partly because of Tiger’s physical condition and partly because Tiger knew he had to make that putt — but, gosh, it sure felt similar, from the length of the putt to Rahm’s dropped jaw and fist-pump. Also, the difficulty of Rahm’s putts should not be understated. Big left-to-right swingers for a righty are always a big ask. Add the unpredictability of poa and, well, color me impressed.    

Dethier: It’s funny, Rahm’s putts were long enough that it almost feels beyond the realm of simple skill that they went in. There’s some luck involved there too, right? I’m not sure if that makes them more or less clutch, but they were damn impressive either way. I was especially impressed with Rahm’s decision to take his medicine at 18 — a decision that obviously paid off. 

Colgan: They’re on the short list of putts I’ve stood up from my couch and yelled because of. That seems like it’s worth something to me. 

3. Oosthuizen had the lead for much of the late stages of the final round until Rahm’s closing birdies and Oosty’s 17th-hole bogey dropped Oosthuizen two back and needing an eagle on the reachable par-5 18th to force a playoff. After Oosthuizen’s drive found the left rough, he decided to lay up from 227 yards and take his chances on holing a short wedge shot. What did you make of his decision to lay up?

Melton: I don’t hate the decision to lay up considering the lie he had, but I think he pushed it a little too close to the green. I would’ve much rather seen Oosthuizen leave himself a full wedge so he could put a little more zip on the ball and bring it in from through the backdoor.

Sens: I’d have to defer to Mark Broadie on the percentages, but given that lie, and all that trouble lurking, laying up sure seemed like his best chance of making eagle. 

Zak: The only reason you actually go for the green is if you can clear the water and STAY on the green, giving yourself a putt. That wasn’t happening from that lie. He made a fine decision for his game. 

Bastable: [whispers] I actually thought the lie looked … decent? But, yes, who are we to question King Louis? Clearly he felt had a better chance to hole-out a wedge than whatever bunker shot or rough-choked chip he likely would have faced had he gone for it. From the stress-free comfort of my couch, though, I would have loved to see him give it a go.    

Dethier: I’d have probably hacked something down the right side instead, leaving some sort of tricky flop shot that probably wouldn’t have gone in but might have had a better chance. I also probably would have hit it in the water and made 8. No real second-guessing from me.

Colgan: Hard to question the move, but frustrating for Louis (and for all of us) that we couldn’t have seen him give it a run at his own 72nd-hole magic and another playoff at Torrey.

4. Many players had a chance on Sunday, from Bryson DeChambeau to Brooks Koepka to Rory McIlroy to the three players who started the day tied for the lead: Oosthuizen, Russell Henley and Mackenzie Hughes. No doubt they’ll all be thinking what could have been, but which non-winner’s Sunday most surprised you? 

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Melton: I was shocked by Brooks’ finish. He played so well all day and then crumbled down the stretch. For someone who prides himself on flexing his muscle at the biggest moments, seeing him falter late was a surprise.

Sens: Bryson. When he seized the lead heading toward the turn, I figured he’d be off to the races. It was almost like he got body-snatched, and the bizarro-universe Bryson took control. 

Zak: There was nothing more surprising than Bryson’s 44 on the back nine. 

Bastable: Bryson might beg to differ. As he said on Sunday evening, that’s golf! Can’t help but think that Rory won’t toss and turn a bit tonight. He was cruising along, within one of the lead at one point, and then it all went south. Bogey on 11. Double on 12. Another golden major opportunity gone. When I look at the ’board, though, the biggest surprises might be Harris English and Guido Migliozzi grabbing top-5s. Didn’t see that coming on Saturday night.     

Dethier: Bryson. Having played D3 college golf, I’ve seen plenty of players go 33-44 for a smooth 77, but it’s much more rare to see it from someone leading the U.S. Open.

Colgan: Ah Dyl, what I wouldn’t give for a “smooth 77.” … My biggest surprise was Xander. Entered the final round within striking distance of his first major, at his home course, and … whimpered his way to an even-par 71? Something doesn’t add up. The baffling armlock decision looms large.

5. The players by and large loved Torrey Pines — Phil Mickelson called it the best U.S. setup he’d ever played — but if social media is any indication, certain corners of golf fandom were less than enamored by the 2021 U.S. Open host site. What say you? Did Torrey’s South Course earn itself another Open this week?

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Melton: I think it was a worthy test, if not the most exciting layout. I don’t know that it deserves a spot in the rumored “U.S. Open rota,” but I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing a championship held there once every 20 years or so.

Sens: It was an interesting week of architectural chatter, with design aficionados bashing Torrey for its lack of artistry and others calling those aficionados out-of-touch snobs. See any parallels to other conversations in our culture? But anyway. I think both sides were right in a sense. The architecture buffs were not wrong in many of their critiques of Torrey. And yet Torrey once again produced a riveting Sunday. So the design buffs were in the very small minority in being disappointed. Like it or not, the U.S. Open will be back at Torrey at some point in our lifetimes, assuming we all stick to high-fiber diets. And we’ll start the same debate all over again.

Zak: Torrey does not deserve another U.S. Open. The Tour visited this course five months ago. They’ll be back in another seven months. The setup, as many players noted, was not much different besides firmer greens. That kills the course intrigue that can carry excitement of its own throughout the week. The fact that good players played well at a Tour course does not mean it was major-championship worthy. 

Bastable: Agree it feels way less special when a major visits a regular Tour stop. Part of the intrigue of majors is seeing a course you haven’t seen in years, if ever. That said, my sense is the vast majority of fans at home don’t care about venues. If 50-year-old Phil in the mix, or Brooks and Bryson duking it out, or Jon Rahm is winning his first major with two closing birdies, the fact that those moments are happening is way more meaningful to viewers than the course on which they’re happening.   

Dethier: What a smart panel. These answers are all terrific. I love the fact that Torrey Pines is a muni hosting a major. I also don’t think it should, so long as the Farmers also stays at Torrey. Send this event to Chambers Bay instead!

Colgan: Does Torrey deserve another Open? Probably not. Do I still feel *incredibly* strongly that public-access courses should feature prominently among major championship hosts? Absolutely. Golf is elitist enough. Give the championships back to the people. (Bethpage, anyone?)

6. For storylines, it’s tough to beat Rahm winning his first major on his first Father’s Day and just days after coming back from a Covid quarantine. But what other story from the week will stick with you?

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Melton: Richard Bland! He might’ve faded on the weekend, but what a fun storyline that was to follow over the first couple of days. 

Sens: Damn. Zephyr took the words from the tip of my keyboard. Bland was a heart-warmer, for sure. But I’ll also remember that weird glitch in the matrix late in the day on Sunday, when many of the world’s best players all imploded within a small window of each other. Rory’s double on 12. Both Morikawa and Bryson making double on the par-5 13th, to name just a few of the stumbles. That was very strange and compelling stuff. 

Zak: Matthew Wolff’s return! It was great seeing him back hitting golf shots, smiling all over, playing Wolff Golf. It’s exciting stuff, and it’s clear to see he’s in a better place now than he had been. A victory in its own right.  

Bastable: Yeah, Sean nailed it. Seeing Wolff back in form was great fun, and listening to him was riveting. All week he spoke openly about the demons he’s been battling, including “managing the fear” of playing on a global stage. His honesty was as striking as it was refreshing. You can’t help but root hard for the guy.       

Dethier: Guido Migliozzi! My man finished T4 with a fist-pumping Sunday 68 to shoot way the heck up the leaderboard. He probably had no idea when he finished, but he punched his ticket to the Masters in the process. Good week for Guido.

Colgan: Devastated that DD mentioned Guido — the man is an absolute fireball. Dylan Wu risked his Tour status to play in the event after making it through sectional qualifying, and I think that’s pretty jazzy. I hope he’s able to nab a card.

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There’s been something missing at this 121st U.S. Open.

No, we’re not talking about Tiger, although we certainly miss him. Nor do we speak of packed, sweaty grandstands, which we’re, of course, missing, too. Joe Buck and the Fox Sports robo-cams? Nope, not them, either. They’re all but vanquished from our memory banks, having covered their last Open way back in 2019 — keep up, people!  

Absent from this U.S. Open along the cliffs of Southern California has been any real sense of tangible, in-your-face anguish. The championship synonymous with blood, sweat and kvetching players has exhibited disappointingly little of those hallmarks over the last three days.

Many observers have remarked that this U.S. Open has looked and felt more like a Farmers Insurance Open, the annual Tour stop at Torrey Pines. That sounds like a lazy cheap shot, but if you look at the numbers, the analogy is warranted. At the 2021 Farmers, the field scoring average on the South Course over four days was 73.341. The scoring average at this U.S. Open through 54 holes: 73.502. A mere .161 differential. Peanuts!

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The field this week has made just 158 double bogeys and 15 “others” (triples or worse). Compare that to last year’s Open, at Winged Foot, where the field rung up 253 doubles and 27 others. Or venture back to Shinnecock Hills in 2018 — if you dare! — where the boys cumulatively signed for 338 doubles and 59 others.

Come on, you’re saying, apples to oranges — Torrey isn’t Winged Foot or Shinny. Then allow us to direct your attention to the 2008 U.S. Open — yes, at Torrey Pines. In the week when Tiger and Rocco put on a show for the ages, the field scoring average was a beefy 74.711. Total doubles: 298. Others: 50! Unless the blue blazers grew the rough another 3 inches Saturday night and took a flamethrower to the greens, the 2021 Open seems destined to be a teddy bear next to the ’08 iteration.   

The setup on Saturday, when the scoring average dipped to 72.408, was particularly benevolent. “I thought the golf course played short today,” Rory McIlroy said after a five-birdie 67. “They played the up tee on 3 with a short pin, they played the up tee on 9, up tee on 13, up tee on 17, so the golf course played short. It means that all the par-5s are reachable for the guys, and I think that was part of the reason why you’re seeing some better scores.”

Added the Scottish southpaw, Robert MacIntyre, after his one-over 72, “The score is there for the taking. I just didn’t take my chances.” Martin Kaymer (69) called Torrey “gettable.” Of the notably lush greens, 54-hole co-leader Louis Oosthuizen said, “It’s not that quick, but that’s poa in the afternoons.”

Not that quick? Open greens should be running like an Indy track. Less green, more brown!

Paul Casey shot a front-nine 31 on Saturday on his way to a 67. “Any time you can have seven birdies in a round of golf at a U.S. Open,” he said, “it’s a good day.” 

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Well, for the players, yeah. But what of the fans, most of whom relish in seeing the Open punch their golfing heroes squarely in the teeth. Where was the pain?! The carnage?! The carping?!

Indeed, to a man at Torrey, the field has had nothing but good things to say about the South Course setup. Birdies have a way of breeding compliments.

Even Ian Poulter was gushing about the job the USGA has done.

Ian Poulter!

You remember Poults, right? He’s the guy who has spent his career excoriating U.S. Open setups. “I came into my first U.S. Open, and I wanted to enjoy it, and I hated it,” he said at the 2018 Shinnecock Open (that was the same week when he was so triggered he turned a Shinnecock locker into a stack of firewood). “I hated a lot of U.S. Opens through the years, to be honest.” Among them: the 2008 edition at Torrey. “Hated it,” Poulter recalled on Saturday.  

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But this week at Torrey, where Poulter has gone 74-71-68? “Credit to those guys,” he said of the USGA’s setup team. “I like what they’re doing. I like the trend they’re on, and hopefully we can make it a little more enjoyable at times.”

It’s a familiar refrain, even from the USGA’s most reliable critics. “I just thought that they’ve done such a great job with the setup,” said Phil Mickelson, three years removed from a petulant course-setup protest that has gone down in Open lore.

That’s the other thing that has been missing this week: a five-alarm, viral-ready meltdown. Maybe it’s the laid-back San Diego vibe, but where is the six-putt-followed-by-a-WD (like we saw at Winged Foot)? Where is the club-snapping (like we saw at Pebble)? Where is Spencer Levine at Oakmont?

There’s still time, USGA! Make Sunday hurt.

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The post What a rules gaffe taught us about U.S. Open co-leader Russell Henley appeared first on Golf.

LA JOLLA, Calif. — This is why we love golf, professional golf, major-championship golf, seaside golf. Why we love the people who play it and their caddies. The organizations that stage these storied events, on hard courses, old trophies waiting backstage. (Take a bow, USGA.) The architects who cultivate these playing fields. (Rees.) The wind-burned security guards, the fans with their merch bags. The suited broadcasters and sneakered reporters who disseminate the varied and excellent stories that come out of major-championship golf, despite the absurd over-management of the players by far too many player managers. 

But most especially — once more with feeling — the people who play it.

It’s a varied and excellent leaderboard.

Love King Louie. Rory, a gem. Go on down the line.

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But I’m rooting for Russell Henley. 

The players, as they always have, reveal themselves with how they handle bad lies and lucky bounces. How they handle their caddies, their playing partners, their fans. How they handle rules issues. How they handle themselves.

Enter Russell Henley.

Henley did something, mid-November, 2019, that has stayed with me and others. He was playing in Mexico, at the Mayakoba Classic. He shot a tidy 66 to start. After completing his second round, he realized that he had inadvertently and repeatedly violated a rule — the so-called One Ball Rule — that had no impact on his score whatsoever. He did it in a manner that no playing partner or fan or rules official could have possibly known. But he knew, and that was enough.

Henley was signing autographs after a round, signing game balls, when he realized he had been using one type of Pro V1x for most of the round, and a prototype Pro V1x, with slightly different marking, for four holes. He shot 69, but he had violated the One Ball Rule. With a two-shot penalty on each of those four holes, his 69 became a 77. He missed the cut.

I’ve been rooting for Henley ever since.

Arnold Palmer used to say, “I’m a USGA man.” Arnold won a U.S. Amateur and a U.S. Open and later was the honorary chairman of the USGA. What did Arnold mean? Loads.

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That the game’s code of grace-under-pressure was elemental to him. That he, like the USGA, liked fair, difficult courses. That he embraced the idea of leaving the game and the course in better shape than you found it.

And that the rulebook published every two years by the USGA, in concert with the R&A, is the necessary and sacred starting point for any serious competition. Yes, Palmer had his issues with individual rules and rules officials over the years. But he understood that the rulebook was at the heart of the game. And so does Henley, who is in three-way tie for first through three rounds.

Henley was a college star at Georgia, but he never won a U.S. Amateur. He’s 32 and is playing in his eighth U.S. Open but he’s never had a top-10 finish. His best finish was in his first Open, in 2010, when he was the low amateur. No one is confusing him for Arnold. (Jordan Spieth is more likely.) But he knows what Arnold meant, when he said he was a USGA man.

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“I hope I’m a USGA man,” Henley said Saturday night. For an entourage he had . . . nobody. Henley’s balky player credential was stuffed in his back pocket with a long blue lanyard dangling along his right leg. “I know what he’s saying. I think getting rewarded for being mentally tough and just hitting good shots under pressure is kind of what U.S. Opens seem to be all about. You can’t really fake it around a U.S. Open course. You kind of have to have everything going. I like that — I get what he’s saying.”

Henley’s play was gritty on Saturday. After rounds of 67 and 70, he shot a 71, playing in the last twosome with Richard Bland, on a day when 71, even par, was about as good a score as he could make. He may look like Spieth, who won the 2015 U.S. Open, but Spieth’s game is loaded with style. Henley’s game is out of the fairways-and-greens mode, the one used by many Open winners. Scott Simpson, for instance, your 1987 champion. There’s a long and worthy U.S. Open tradition of that working, too.

There is no way to know how many players would have called that penalty on themselves in Mexico, 18 months ago, as Henley did. Bobby Jones once said, famously, “You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank as to praise him for playing by the rules.” Still, pretend you’re Henley: You and only you know you have broken a rule. It would be easy to say to yourself, “Dumb rule. Made no difference to my score. I’m playing the weekend and cashing my check.” Henley did not do that.

“Gosh, I feel like you’re always going to feel better about making the right decision,” he said Saturday night. “It was a pretty easy one. I think the rulebook is what makes the game, plain and simple. The rules make the game difficult — and they make it fair.”

How can you not root for this guy?

Richard Bland, 47-year-old Englishman, shot a third-round 77 playing with Henley, and still he was willing to talk to a reporter after his round. (That says something.) He had no entourage. (That says something.) He and Henley talked a little through the round, but not much. Both players had their hands full.

I told Bland about what Henley did in Mexico.

“Well,” Bland said, “you’d like to think that every player would do that, but—”

He didn’t finish his thought.

“Russell’s a really nice fellow, with a lot of game,” said the man who had the best view of Henley’s third round. “He played hard. He should play well.”

Michael Bamberger may be reached at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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The post Ian Poulter ‘hated’ Torrey Pines at the 2008 U.S. Open. What a difference 13 years makes appeared first on Golf.

Many players have a love-hate relationship with the U.S. Open.

Ian Poulter’s has been more of the hate-hate variety.

In 15 starts in golf’s toughest test, Poulter has zero top-10s, four missed cuts and a withdrawal.

“I’ve hated it for 14 years,” he said of the championship halfway through the 2018 edition at Shinnecock Hills. “I came into my first U.S. Open, and I wanted to enjoy it, and I hated it. I hated a lot of U.S. Opens through the years, to be honest, because I’ve gone home early and I haven’t had the finish that I would have liked.”

Poulter was just getting started. A day later, after the USGA was roundly criticized by players for letting the greens get too crispy, Poulter unloaded both on social media …

…and his locker:

Another low point came in 2008 at Torrey Pines, when Poulter — well on his way to a missed cut — withdrew with a wrist injury with three holes still to play in the second round. (His wrist had been bugging him heading into the week, the result of a tennis match he had played before the Open with Justin Rose.)

Poulter’s feelings on the setup that week?

“Hated it,” he said Saturday with his trademark candor.

This week, though — 13 years after Torrey’s maiden Open — Poults is singing a different tune about the setup on the windblown cliffside course, perhaps because he’s been playing like a guy who could actually win this thing, his confidence building by the day. Thursday: 74. Friday: 71. Saturday: 68!

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“U.S. Open golf is always frustrating,” Poulter said after his sporty six-birdie performance that boosted him to even for the week and within striking distance of the leaders. “You know it right from the outset, but they’ve done a really good job this week. I think the rough has been tough but fair in places. I think around the greens it’s been very, very juicy and very hard to predict lies. I think from kind of the fairway positions, they’ve given you a couple of opportunities.”

But Poults’ praise didn’t end there!

“Credit to those guys,” he added of the USGA’s setup czars. “I like what they’re doing. I like the trend they’re on, and hopefully we can make it a little more enjoyable at times.”

Another 68 on Sunday and Poulter might find this event a lot more enjoyable.

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The post ‘He’s reeling it in!’: Justin Thomas breaks out fishing pole after U.S. Open chip appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘He’s reeling it in!’: Justin Thomas breaks out fishing pole after U.S. Open chip appeared first on Golf.

Justin Thomas leaves Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Open with a fish story.

No, he isn’t too close to contention at Torrey Pines (sitting six strokes back through the early portion of round 3 play), nor does he have his second of the four “big ones” on his line — at least not yet. But make no mistake about it, he caught the funniest moment of the tournament after his chip shot from just off the 8th green on Saturday.

It all started when Thomas walked to the tee on the 8th hole, a 171-yard par-3. In order to entice a risk-reward flavor on the hole, the USGA tucked the flagstick on the front shelf of the green just behind a large, mounded bunker. The strategy was simple enough: those who executed their tee shot properly would wind up on the shelf and face a simple, relatively straight birdie putt. Those who did not would face a difficult two-putt or up-and-down in order to save par.

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Needing a spark (and several birdies) in order to vault himself into the thick of contention, Thomas locked in on the flag, but his approach landed a whisker short, tumbling into the rough just next to the bunker. He faced an awkward second shot with his feet in the bunker, but his chip would be aided by the shelf behind the flagstick, expanding his margin of error.

Seconds later, JT settled into an awkward stance and struck his shot, which rolled onto the green and past the hole. But the fun was only beginning. Just as the ball reached the top of the embankment, gravity began to pull it back toward the pin.

Standing in the bunker, Thomas flipped his wedge in the air like a fishing pole and began reeling it back in — throwing in a few pulls on his line for good measure.

“He’s reeling it in!” NBC Broadcaster Dan Hicks said with a laugh.

When all was said and done, the 28-year-old faced only a tap-in for par, which he rolled in easily.

He might not have the championship when the weekend concludes, but the adoration of the Torrey Pines faithful? Well, they’re hook, line and sinker.

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The post Here’s everything you get for winning the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines appeared first on Golf.

Winning any major championship is the ultimate achievement for a professional golfer, but the U.S. Open — widely regarded as the year’s toughest test — may be the most prestigious of them all.

In 2020, Bryson DeChambeau took home $2.25 million for his victory at Winged Foot, and this year’s winner will receive the same amount. But in addition to a guaranteed place in major championship lore and an infusion of cash, the winner of the U.S. Open also receives a litany of other, lesser-known benefits, all of which are outlined below.

Special hardware

The 2021 U.S. Open champion will enjoy a post-victory photo op on the 18th green with the 18-inch, sterling-silver U.S. Open trophy, which has been given to the champion since 1895. The historic original was lost in a fire in 1946 but the replacement has been going strong since then. The champion keeps the trophy for a year, then can purchase a replica for the trophy cabinet at home.

In addition to the trophy, the USGA also bestows a gold medal to the U.S. Open winner, which in 2012 was renamed the Jack Nicklaus medal, with an image of Nicklaus emblazoned upon it.

Points galore

The points allocation for winning a major championship may be worth more than the winner’s check itself. The U.S. Open champion receives 600 FedEx Cup points, and 100 Official World Golf Ranking Points.

Accessories

Depending on where a player is in the standings at the time of his victory, these points can mean the difference between cracking the Top 50 in the world ranking, which gets you ultra-exclusive invites to no-cut WGC events (read: guaranteed money), and a higher ranking on the FedEx Cup points list. If a player makes it through the FedEx Cup playoffs into the Tour Championship, there’s some serious bonus money to be had.

For Ryder Cup-eligible players, points are worth double at the U.S. Open and other major championships, so he’ll get a boost in that department, too. (The European team qualifies via World Ranking points and money earned in European Tour events, which include the major championships.)

A 10-year exemption into the U.S. Open

Winning the U.S. Open grants you entry into the year’s premier major championship for a whole decade. Nice!

Invites to the other majors

The 2021 U.S. Open champion will enjoy exemptions into the year’s other three majors (the Masters, PGA Championship and Open Championship) as well as the Players Championship, for the next five years.

A trip to Kapalua

What better way to start 2022 than to compete in the tropical paradise that is Maui? Yep, the 2021 U.S. Open champion will be eligible to play in the Tournament of Champions — another no-cut event, for more guaranteed money!

Guaranteed Tour membership

PGA Tour players are independent contractors, so they have to earn everything they get. And when a player wins the U.S. Open, he can enjoy some nice job security, with guaranteed membership on the PGA Tour for five years, and the European Tour for seven years.

So there you have it! Not a bad haul for four days of great golf.

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