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OAKMONT, Pa. -- Well, at least the weather was nice.
And the pristine fairways looked good, scything their way between the
acres of rough.
Not that the short grass was seeing much use on what was a day of
carnage at the 107th US Open here at Oakmont. Only two men--Paul Casey
of England and the transplanted Canadian by way of Trinidad and Tobago
that is Stephen Ames--broke par as the 156-strong field averaged a
hair under 77. In other words, the USGA in their finite wisdom
transformed, as if by magic, the world's best golfers into nothing more
than a bunch of choppers hacking about at the local muni.
Some, of course, will love that the pampered millionaires have been
humbled yet again by the gray-haired and blue-blooded blazer brigade,
but for every one of those deriving vicarious pleasure from such a
spectacle there will surely be ten real golfers squirming at just what
the game at the highest level has become in the 21st century.
Still, for all that, the championship continues to breathe beneath
the blanket of long grass that all but covers the magnificent Oakmont
course. And, as such, there is a competition to talk about, one that is
led by perhaps the two longest hitters in the field, a man called Angel
(Cabrera) on level par, with another named Bubba (Watson) one shot
back. Ames, Justin Rose, Niclas Fasth and Aaron Baddeley are two over
par and two shots off the pace.
Angel and Bubba? Justin and Aaron? Niclas? Whatever happened to good
old golf names like Arnie and Jack? Gone the way of persimmon
apparently.
Anyway, what the two men at the head of the board have in common is
an ability to hit golf balls well into the middle distance with clubs
that could almost double as weapons of mass destruction, such is the
speed at which Cabrera and Watson are capable of swinging them. Crash,
bang, wallop, like it or not, is modern golf folks. And, in conditions
like we have seen over the last two days, it seems to work.
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For all that, the man from Cordoba was making all the right noises after making a tap-in birdie at his final hole, one that eliminated all those on 11 over par--Phil Mickelson among them--from the championship.
"I think I have a very good chance," he said. "I'm playing very well."
And, to his credit, he dismissed with a snort an inane question as to what he would say to Mickelson next time they met.
"I did not knock out Mickelson," he declared. "Mickelson knocked himself out, so I don't think I'll say anything. He was the one who shot 11 over par."
For all the high scores (Adam Scott 18 over, Colin Montgomerie 18 over, Steve Elkington 23 over, Sergio Garcia 14 over, Padraig Harrington 13 over, Retief Goosen 13 over), it must also be acknowledged that Oakmont was not impossible, even in such extreme man-made conditions. One man, in fact, made the fearsome course appear positively benign, such was the quality of his play.
Step forward Paul Casey. After an opening 77 appeared to be the prelude to his spending a weekend at home in Scottsdale, the 29-year-old Englishman played a beautiful round of golf that included five birdies and only the one bogey at the 18th, his ninth hole. Only once did he miss a fairway and his putter saw use a mere 26 times. It was, as he said himself, "a bit of a surprise."
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Whether luck had anything to do with it or not, such a score--three strokes better than anyone else could manage--hauled him all the way up to seventh place, three shots off the lead. There was even a hint of genuine spectator support for a man who is still living down his infamous comments regarding America and Americans in the wake of the 2004 Ryder Cup.
"I've never had an issue with American fans," claimed Casey. "And I've been having a great time over here for a long time. They were tremendous."
So was he, of course.
Not so happy with his day on the links was one Tiger Woods. Which isn't to say he was unhappy either. The world number one got himself round in 74 to be five over par and far from out of contention for what would be his third U.S. Open title.
"I don't know what the average score was, but I think I shot under par," he quipped. "It was playing hard out there. The greens got really quick. It was just really hard to place the ball underneath the hole."
Indeed, almost every hole was a bit of a struggle for Woods, his two birdies more than swallowed up by the six bogeys that littered his card. But, for all that, he claimed to be enjoying himself.
"The U.S. Open is a fun challenge," he claimed, convincing no one in the process. "It's always going to be tough and you have to grind away. That's the fun part of it; it's just so different from any other tournament we ever play in."
And for that at least, we must all be grateful.
