Here are the first few paragraphs of my Monday column after the grand finale of the U.S. Open: SAN FRANCISCO Congratulations to Webb Simpson for winning the 112th U.S. Open Golf and Masochism Tournament played at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. He started Sunday four shots back but he shot a splendid 68 and passed the leader, Jim Furyk, who did not shoot a single birdie on Sunday. Simpson showed poise and guts, considering he’s only 26. In case… Read More »
Here is the opening to my Sunday column about the faltering Tiger Woods at the US Open: SAN FRANCISCO You can’t exactly say Tiger Woods choked. You can’t say he choked even though he shot six bogies on Saturday, bogeyed two of his last three holes like some amateur who’d been invited to play the Open on a lark, even though he came into Saturday’s play tied for the lead at 1 under and left mired in a pack, a… Read More »
Here is the opening to my Saturday column about the U.S. Open: SAN FRANCISCO — Answer this question. Who has the largest personality at the U.S. Open, which now has reached the halfway mark, which has passed cut day? If you said Tiger Woods, a reasonable answer, you’d be wrong. If you said Jim Furyk or David Toms, who share the lead with Woods, or Phil Mickelson, who barely managed to stick around for the weekend or anyone else, you… Read More »
Here is the opening to my Friday column about the golf threesome — Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson: SAN FRANCISCO The world stopped at 7:33 Thursday morning. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson were approaching the tee at the ninth hole of the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club — it was their first hole. And the entire planet, at least the crowd at the Olympic, was in a state of pure anticipation. The air was… Read More »
Here is the opening to my Thursday column on Phil Mickelson which really is a compare and contrast of him and Tiger Woods. Hey, I was an English major. SAN FRANCISCO When reporters interviewed Tiger Woods at the Olympic Club this week, they mostly asked about him. But when reporters interviewed Phil Mickelson, they mostly asked about him and Tiger. It’s as though Mickelson exists in a binary universe, a Tiger/Phil universe in which Mickelson is the lesser star, overwhelmed… Read More »
Here is the opening to my Wednesday column about Tiger Woods: SAN FRANCISCO Tiger Woods had just gone full snippy in a Tuesday news conference. He tries to act nice, he really does, but full snippy is right below the surface. A reporter asked the obvious question, the key question of U.S. Open Week: Does he have to win a major to prove he’s a great golfer again? “I think even if I do win a major championship,” Woods replied,… Read More »
Here are the first few paragraphs of my Tuesday column about Casey Martin at the US Open: SAN FRANCISCO Casey Martin is playing in the U.S. Open. That may not seem like big news to you, but it is. In 1998 when he played in his first and only Open — at the Olympic Club — he was the cause célèbre of golf. Some people perceived him, 26 at the time, as a bad guy, although he’s a very nice… Read More »
Golfer Rory McIlroy is the defending champion in the U.S. Open. And he’s a very good golfer. He really is. But he will not win the next U.S. Open in June at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Frankly, the poor unsuspecting soul does not stand a chance and he doesn’t even know it. I wrote my Tuesday column for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat explaining why McIlroy already is toast at the U.S. Open 2012. To read my column,… Read More »
