Johnny Apologizes!

This Richard Sandomir follow-up on Johnny's apology over the Rocco-as-pool-cleaner-remark almost reads like something out of The Onion. And speaking of The Onion, reader Jon shares this fresh game story from the satirical rag.

More U.S. Open Ratings

From Ron Sirak in this week's Golf World Bunker, note the last item:

The 4-10:30 p.m. EDT broadcast on NBC Saturday earned a 5.3 rating, a 15-percent bump over last year's 4.6. The prime time hours (8-10:30 p.m.) earned a 5.9, 84 percent higher than second place CBS, and peaked at 6.3 from 10-10:30. Sunday's telecast, from 3-9 p.m. EDT, earned an 8.5 rating, up 21 percent over 2007. The prime-time hours (7-9 p.m.) earned an 11.4, NBC's best for that time period since the 2006 Winter Olympics.

And from NBC, regarding Monday's playoff:

NBC Sports' broadcast of yesterday's dramatic conclusion to the U.S. Open earned a 7.6 overnight rating and 20 share (2-4:45 p.m. ET), the best Monday golf rating in 30 years (Phoenix Open, Jan. 16, 1978, 7.7/20 national rating), and a 90 percent increase over the last time the Open finished with a Monday playoff (2001 - 4.0/12). Tiger Woods won his third U.S. Open title and 14th major championship overall, edging Rocco Mediate on the 19th playoff hole.

Reflections On The 2008 U.S. Open: Fan Experience

I forgot to mention in the post on the "Championship Vision" TV that over the next few days I'll reflect on the 2008 U.S. Open and would love to read comments from others who attended. The Open will return to Torrey Pines, so why not start making our wish list for making a successful venue even better (and I know Rees, you just can't wait for the design critique post!).

So, the fan experience, as observed by someone who had an armbadge (for what it's worth)...

- While I never took the shuttle from Qualcom Stadium, I heard excellent reports about the experience. Wish they could find a closer place to park like Del Mar, but with the fair I understand why that was impossible.

- The grandstands were excellent and plentiful, though I'm still mystified by the huge gap between the 18th green and The Lodge while the scoreboard was buried under a tree that made reading it tricky for older fans in the stands. Yes, The Lodge is a beautiful piece of Greene and Greene style architecture and a great place for the Executive Committee to test the limits of a two-drink maximum (wait, that's the staff rule, sorry), but the priorities seemed a bit skewed here.
The 18th green setting and scoreboard (click to enlarge)

-  So much for uninspired SoCal sports fans. The buzz around the marquee pairings and playoff was incredible. I'm still astounded at Rocco's ability to walk from green to tee through a deafening roar and settle down enough to put a good swing on the ball. Tiger is used to it, but I doubt Rocco had ever experienced a rush like some of those walks.

Dick Rugge in the AmEx Tent (click to enlarge)- The corporate sponsors. As you know, I've been a strong supporter of...banishing the corporate involvement. It pains me to admit that the American Express Experience was one of the real highlights of the week. The opportunity to see USGA testing equipment and chat it up with USGA equipment gurus about how the ball rollback will work (just kidding!) was quite unique, as were the history related exhibits. The Lexus tent was much less classy, but for reasons I'll never understand, the fans loved waiting in line to pose with the trophy and hit a closest to the pin shot. 

- The merchandise tent. Reasonable pricing on nearly all items, an incredible array of choices for all taste buds and an efficient operation (at least the times I visited, though I did hear about some long waits to pay).  Whatever they are paying Mary Lopuszynski, it's probably not enough.

- Armband madness. The USGA's Craig Smith and Pete Kowalski are saints, walking 36-holes a day doing a masterful job corralling the massive media and guest entourage (Reggie Jackson?) who were awarded armbadges for inside the rope access. It's not a new problem I'm sure, but there were one too many go-fers belonging to producers for international TV as significant writers had to borrow armbadges. The USGA needs to reevaluate the access here because fans were growing weary of sitting in a spot all day and having their views blocked. And I grew tired of hearing the same old bad jokes.

Tiger's 18th hole eagle Saturday and the media inside the ropes (click to enlarge)- The volunteers. They seemed well trained and I never heard about a lost ball, which was incredible considering the grey skies and how far down some balls would nestle. I spoke to many marshals during the week to hear observations on how holes were playing, and their energy and passion was wonderful. Of course, when there is a waiting list to volunteer, you better behave because you could always be replaced!

Reflections On The 2008 U.S. Open: The AmEx TV's

As a devoted supporter of the USGA's corporate partner program (what would I make fun of without it?), you already knew my first stop of the week was at the American Express Experience. Okay, so it was. But when I heard they were loaning out free mini televisions to the first few thousand cardholders, I made my way to the tent Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. to find a 700-yard long line (the first group would not tee off for another hour).

"Championship Vision" is a wonderfully simple little device that the USGA signed off on as an experiment that became one of the real hits of the Open. Sunday I arrived at 7:15 and the line stretched to the merchandise tent a hundred yards away.
The Sunday line to get a TV (click to enlarge)

The screen is approximately 4x6, provides an amazing photo and has a strong signal that carried the NBC telecast. There were also options of viewing the 1st tee and 18th green action. Ear plugs are provided to listen to a commercial free feed of the telecast and if you fail to return it after play, AmEx will donate $350 of your money to the coffers.

The picture is even better in person, and a nice shade cover helps when the sun comes out (Click to enlarge)The only negative was the decision to mute out the announcer chatter between the breaks, otherwise the device worked wonderfully and added tremendously to the fan experience.

On Saturday USGA President Jim Vernon asked me how I liked and I gave it a big thumb's up. Behind us was Dick Ebersol, so I asked the NBC Executive Producer why he didn't have one. He pointed to his audio device that let him listen to the announce feed.  I said that's nice, but I like seeing the telecast too and offered him a look at "Championship Vision."

He had never seen one and seemed to know nothing about it. (Why do I think Mark Carlson is going to hear from Dick?)
The lightweight devise hangs around your neck (Click to Enlarge)

Based on the experience, I would gladly have paid to rent one. So Ebersol might want to look into it, because these little TV's may just become a key part of the golf tournament spectating experience.

"And then Tiger told me, 'We're done for the year.'"

ESPN.com's Wayne Drehs, who profiled Steve Williams earlier this year, managed to get Tiger's caddy to offer some insights into last week.

When the golf cart departed the seventh green at Torrey Pines on Monday afternoon, carrying Tiger Woods, Steve Williams and both of their wives to the U.S. Open trophy presentation, the caddie knew his season was over.

"I kind of had a premonition that might be it," Williams told ESPN.com Wednesday night. "I had an inclination that a certain surgery might be required. And then Tiger told me, 'We're done for the year.'"

And...

Once on the course, Williams said he spent most of his time encouraging Woods who, despite grimacing, not once complained to Williams that he was in pain.

"Tiger never complains. That's one of his greatest attributes," Williams said. "If he's prepared to play in a tournament, he's going to take the consequences. I'm a bit of a fast walker and there were a few times that he told me to slow down a bit so he could walk at my pace, but that was it."

This really surprised me. Maybe it explains that extra spin Tiger managed to put on the ball.

On the 72nd hole Sunday, needing a birdie to force a playoff, Woods hit his tee shot in the bunker and left his second shot in thick rough 101 yards from the pin. It was there that Williams believes he had one of the greatest calls of his career, encouraging an exhausted Woods to use his 60-degree wedge, a club he usually hits 85 yards, for his approach from 101.

"While he was standing over that ball, my heart was beating pretty hard," Williams said. "But I figured he only had one chance -- to hit that 60-degree club as hard as he could and squeeze a little more distance out of it. And that's exactly what he did. It landed just beyond the pin, had some spin on it and came right back towards the hole."

Even More U.S. Open and Tiger Clippings

GolfDigest.com posts Dan Jenkins' report from Torrey Pines.

All that aside, the USGA figures Torrey Pines is a keeper for future Opens. The organization took enough money out of the week -- start the estimates at $50 million -- that might allow one entire USGA officer's family to live in a home in Rancho Santa Fe, depending on the upkeep and the size of the garage.

In this environment, the USGA knew how to entertain the 400 million spectators. It offered the pairing in the first two rounds of Tiger with the Magnificent Magician, Phil Mickelson (the deep thinker who was going with no driver and five wedges), and Australia's young and single Adam Scott.

The most fascinating incident on Friday had nothing to do with Tiger's game, although it did involve his threesome. Tony Navarro, Scott's caddie, got into it with an unruly fan at the ninth tee. The caddie suggested they meet at the bottom of the hill. They did, and observers declared Navarro the winner on points. The 7-year-old son of the unruly fan was in the gallery, as was the unruly fan's father, who was also apprehended. In the end, it struck those of us who appreciate dark humor that the kid, seeing his dad and granddad being led away, would in future years have a fond remembrance of an incident that occurred within 48 hours of Father's Day 2008.

There's no doubt that Saturday was the most surreal and exciting day of a U.S. Open since the Open used to end on Saturdays.

Richard Sandomir offers this anecdote from the head of NBC Universal Sports.

“It’s a real loss,” said Ken Schanzer, the president of NBC Universal Sports. “You hope as we go forward that new stories emerge. We have two other majors to be played, and it could be that someone becomes hot and important stories happen through them.”

Schanzer said he witnessed Woods’s appeal on a flight during the playoff.

“I stood up,” he said, “and the whole Jet Blue plane was watching Tiger Woods; young and old, men and women, black and white, applauding on the plane. When you see greatness, you’re drawn to it, and in his case, you’re drawn in multiples.”

Steve Elling talks to Hank Haney who says Tiger is only going to get better after surgery.

"He's going to better than ever," said swing coach Hank Haney of his star pupil. "Think about it. His knee hasn't been right for a long, long time and he's won, what, 10 of his last 13 tournaments, with two seconds and a fifth?

"After they finally get this fixed, how can anybody think he won't play better than he ever has?"

And Mark Soltau chats with Bubba Watson and Mark O'Meara who both say the game and Tiger will be better off thanks to Tiger's sabbatical. Right.

Tired Of Losing Their Arses: Bookies Happy Tiger's Going Away For A While

Chuck Culpepper reports for the L.A. Times and talks to jubilant bookies.

"I feel guilty having said it now," Adams said Wednesday night. "Obviously when Tiger goes in for any major tournament and wins, the bookies as a whole take an absolute hammering."

The Sunday Putt

I can't get enough of Tiger's reaction to Sunday's birdie putt on 18 and Rob Matre has just posted his sequence of the shot and reaction. Having just watched the replay on Universal HD Network, I can say this is one of those rare instances where the photography tops the televised version.

Who Says Golf Doesn't Move The Needle?

Thanks to reader Jeff for this post by Craig Labovitz at Arbor Networks Security Blog looking at the incredible spike in Monday Internet traffic caused by the U.S. Open playoff.

Internet Providers usually spend their time worrying about threats from hackers, link failures, and router configuration errors. Yesterday, though, many of them were worried about Tigers…

Starting around 9 am Pacific and peaking at 1:30 pm yesterday, many ISPs noticed an unusual increase in traffic. At first, a few security engineers worried they were under some type of new DDoS attack. But the flood of traffic did not appear directed at any individual customer — the gigabits of anomaly traffic surged to almost all customers from multi-national banks to the bakery down the street and home DSL / Cable users. For several ISPs, traffic into their network grew by 15-25%. In one provider, inbound traffic nearly doubled.

It turns out that the U.S. Open played at Torrey Pines yesterday generated one of the larger Internet-wide flash crowds this year. Traffic dipped and peaked corresponding to Tiger’s initial misses and subsequent spectacular comeback as millions of office bound fans tuned in to the live NBC and ESPN coverage.

Retief Confirms He Has No Sense Of Humor, Jokes That Tiger Was Faking Knee Injury

Reuters' Norman Dabell reports on Retief Goosen's attempt to put out the fire caused by his comments to the Times' Kevin Eason.

Goosen told Reuters on Wednesday before playing in the BMW International Open pro-am that he had not been serious.

"I was joking, really. I mean, how do I know? I never spoke to the guy," Goosen said.

"He's got a sore knee, yes, and at the end of the day it's a great achievement by Tiger winning his 14th major.

"But I wouldn't really know how sore or not his knee was. Obviously if his knee was really bad he would have withdrawn.

"I won't say I knew he was faking it. How would I know?

"Anyway, it's great to see that he's recovering well and that he's back on form."

From the original Eason story:

“Nobody really knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured. I believe if he was really injured, he would not have played.”

The South African was trying to soften the impact of his remarks last night, although he did not attempt to retract them, merely implying that he was not being serious. When approached by The Times on the eve of the BMW International Open in Munich, Goosen said: “I was being light-hearted. No one but Tiger himself knows how badly hurt he was. But if he was really badly hurt, he would have withdrawn, wouldn’t he?”

Goosen’s comments caused embarrassment at IMG,

...now that's saying something...

the management group that looks after the interests of both golfers, which would not make an official statement last night, but suggested that the South African’s remarks may have been misconstrued.

Risky Business: No. 14 At Torrey

I settled in on No. 14 tee Sunday and again for Monday's playoff to file a story for Golf World.

More U.S. Open Clippings

So much great 2008 U.S. Open reading and so much time to savor it thanks to a pitiful Game 6...

Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN.com:

I watched 5½ holes of the playoff while waiting near a food kiosk at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. My flight to Tampa, Fla., was delayed, so I sat on the edge of a huge potted plant as Woods' 3-stroke lead morphed into a 1-stroke deficit.

But here's the thing: It wasn't just me sitting there. I turned around and there was a guy crouched below the palm fronds. A woman sat on the floor to my right. A father and son stood to my left. Before long, there were about 20 of us in a semicircle -- business people, tourists, flight crews, ticket agents -- all watching an ancient TV whose spotty reception featured a series of Zorro-like slashes on the picture.

A handful of us had to board before it was finished. When I left the TV, Woods was in the fairway on No. 18 and Mediate was in the rough. That's all we knew as they shut the cabin door.

"I want Tiger to win," said one of the businessmen who had stood nearby, "but I don't want Rocco to lose."

That's how pure the U.S. Open was. You rooted for the underdog and the big dog.

Pat Forde says it was "arguably the greatest golf tournament ever" and writes:

If you sat next to Mediate on a flight from San Diego to New York, you'd probably know his life story by the time you were over Omaha, Neb. He'd be doing card tricks, telling jokes, showing you pictures from his vacation.

If you sat next to Woods on a flight -- well, forget it. He'd be on his private jet.

In his peppy Golf World game story John Hawkins writes:

Tee markers were moved all over the place -- six holes played to significantly different lengths during the week. For Sunday's final round, the 7,643-yard behemoth was shortened by a whopping 361 yards. Davis' makeshift drivable par 4, the 14th, had a subtle effect on the outcome: five of the top-eight finishers birdied it. The greens might have been a bit soft and the breeze somewhat feeble, but after back-to-back winning scores of five over, a playoff at one under was easy on the eyes and even nicer to the ears.

Jaime Diaz looks at Tiger and wonders...

...it is impossible not to be worried whether Tiger Woods will fulfill his destiny as a golfer. Will his gift be diminished? Have we seen the best of him? Is his time at the pinnacle of the game short?

These are heavy questions, and perhaps not even Woods really knows the answers, as he indicated when he said after the victory, "This week had a lot of doubt to it."

Tim Rosaforte takes on the Phil driver drama and says Harmon and Pelz signed off...

It didn't matter that Mickelson was trying to avoid the wide-left miss that cost him at Winged Foot two years ago. This was the longest course in Open history, and just about every expert except Harmon piled on Mickelson and short-game guru Dave Pelz—who provided data that led to the decision to sacrifice distance for accuracy. "I don't have a problem with the decision but with the execution," Harmon said.

Two weeks before the Open, Mickelson gave hints he wasn't going to attack Torrey South in the conventional way, saying he expected to hit driver only four to six times per round. In the interim, Pelz emphasized to Mickelson that playing from the fairway was going to be the key for the week. Their plan was based on a club Mickelson had made for him at the Callaway facility, a 13-degree FT Fairway 3-wood bent to 11.5 degrees. Able to carry shots hit with that club 280 yards, with 20 yards of roll, Mickelson was hoping to put less stress on his short game by keeping his ball in the fairway.

Bob Verdi focuses on Rocco but also compliments the USGA hierarchy.

Mediate walks as if he's late for a train. He's perpetual motion over the ball until impact. He waves, he laughs, he talks to himself, then hangs around waiting for an answer. Rocco earned a spot by surviving an Open playoff qualifier against so many kids, he felt like a chaperone. When he arrived at Torrey Pines, he went to the merchandise tent and bought Open pins for his hat, like the fan he is. "Hey, I play golf for a living," Mediate said. "And I played well in my favorite tournament, one where you don't have to make eight birdies a round to compete, one where you have to be precise. Why shouldn't I be happy?"

Spongy greens troubled some players, one of whom carped that it felt like he was "putting an egg instead of a ball." But Rocco never barked, because this was the "most fairest" Open setup ever. His attitude might have had something to do with his altitude, and overall, the usually restive locker room was a demilitarized zone. Torrey South was difficult and exacting, yet playable and flexible. More significantly, golfers sensed the intransigence and arrogance of the previous USGA regime was absent. Jim Vernon, Jim Hyler and Mike Davis got high marks for directing and producing an electric show. "Nothing wrong with the course," Rocco repeated. "Absolutely nothing."

Steve Elling has the Hank angle covered.

Hank Haney got a shade choked up, his eyes misting over as he watched his prized pupil hoist the U.S. Open trophy overhead for the third time.

As Tiger Woods kissed the chrome, Haney had no trouble putting the guy's latest other-worldly accomplishment into perspective. He did not equivocate, qualify or pull his punches, and even though he's on the Woods payroll, his opinion means plenty because Haney knew more than anybody about what Woods was enduring this week.

After 91 grueling, grinding holes had been completed, Haney finally pulled back the curtain regarding what Woods faced over the past two months since having surgery on his chewed-up left knee for the third time.

"It's his greatest win, given all of the things he had to overcome," Haney said, repeatedly clearing his throat. "The amount of pain he played in, the lack of preparation, it's his greatest win and I know he feels the same way."

Bill Fields zeros in on the amateurs in last week's field, while Brett Avery's stat package includes some interesting numbers.

Doug Ferguson's notes column clarifies Tiger's PGA Tour status should he not play a full schedule (not to worry!), reminds us that the North Course at Torrey will have a few extra weeks of recovery thanks to a later Buick date and noted that Curtis Strange looked "as comfortable as ever" in the booth. So sorry I missed that.

Finally, Harvey Araton in the New York Times says Tiger is the new Jordan.

Woods has the advantage of playing an individual country-club sport that affluent baby boomers have grown into, not out of, but by Sunday evening he was no doubt crossing generational and socioeconomic lines, getting the attention of many who weren’t certain of the difference between a birdie and a bogey.

When N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern held his annual state-of-affairs finals news conference before Game 2 here last week, I asked him about the yearly challenge of Woods and the United States Open to what used to be a window for the N.B.A. to dominate coverage and conversation.

“That’s not really a concern for us at all,” Stern said. “We worry that all sporting events over the past several years have had a decline in their big events, and to see that reversing, where it was reversed this year in the Stanley Cup, it has been reversed in our playoffs, in our conference finals in double digits, and it’s going to be reversed in our finals in double digits, we would like to see all sporting events do better.”

"Augusta could use this type of excitement"

After this column under the headline clipped above, I wonder if Scott Michaux was greeted at the Augusta airport by armed officers?

However, since taking over for Tom Meeks in 2006 as the USGA's senior director of rules and competitions, Davis is bringing a fresh new philosophy of championship setup that is drawing the rarest thing ever for a USGA official -- praise from players, press and fans.

"It's as fair as I've seen it," said two-time U.S. Open winner Ernie Els. "You have an opportunity to hit driver on every hole if you want to. There's enough room out there. And if you're going to just miss it, you still have a 50/50 chance of getting it to the green, which I think is a great setup."

And...

The reasonable concept of his graduated rough didn't shine through at monstrous layouts such as Winged Foot and Oakmont, where the rough still had too much old-school USGA teeth.

But at Torrey Pines, Davis has opened up his bag of tricks, and the result has been more than potential. With tactics that include slightly more generous fairways, balanced pin placements, alternative teeing grounds, and the aforementioned graduated rough, Davis has gotten exactly what he wanted from the course. He's created a U.S. Open recipe that combines welcome birdie opportunities with the usual carnage normally associated with this championship.

"It's awesome," said 2006 U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy of the Torrey Pines setup. "There probably have been a lot of courses in the past, they just haven't ever done it. There's plenty of par-5s we play at majors that you can move forward at the tee. At Augusta, they don't do it, because they got rid of the old tees. But you could do it most places. Here, they're actually doing it."

And for the zinger...

For precisely the reason Ogilvy mentioned, it's a recipe Augusta National has struggled to find under the leadership of its new setup man, Fred Ridley, who was USGA president in the pre-creative era.

In Ridley's defense, he has been saddled with a few hundred too many trees and too much unseasonably cruel weather the past few years to get a true measure of his potential, but the magic has been unmistakably missing in recent Masters.

But the club could learn a thing or two from Davis. The key to creative golf is a creative setup that provides options. Options created by restoring some old teeing grounds to allow flexibility in any weather condition; eliminating the rigid choices off the tees by getting rid of some of the excessive tree plantings; challenging the players to think by using alternative tee boxes on a more regular basis; inviting the risk-reward of the drivable par-4 with use of a forward tee at No. 3.

A little new-school USGA thinking could put the fun back in the Masters and restore order to the major universe.

Gabcast On Torrey

Larry Aylward and I have a quick chat about the 2008 U.S. Open.

Gabcast! Torrey Pines Revisited #1

"As for Woods, he simply needs to get healthy. He can't and shouldn't go through what he did for five days at Torrey Pines."

Thomas Bonk in the L.A. Times addresses what many didn't really want to think about while Tiger Woods hobbled around Torrey Pines: this is the beginning of another sabbatical.

No one should be shocked if Woods takes a leave of absence, maybe even a long one.

The Buick Open in two weeks? Not likely.

The AT&T National in three weeks, a tournament of which he is the host? Probably not.

The British Open in five weeks? Don't count it.

Let's hope everybody got a good look at Woods wearing his red coral-colored shirt Monday at Torrey Pines, where he outlasted Rocco Mediate, because we're probably not going to be seeing much more of him and his red shirts for a while.

And...

There has been speculation that Woods' left knee requires further surgery, that he might need a procedure such as microfracture surgery, along the lines of what Greg Oden, the No. 1 draft pick of the Portland Trail Blazers, needed. Oden sat out this NBA season.

Microfracture surgery stimulates the growth of cartilage. Woods has had surgery on his left knee three times, the last occasion two days after the Masters to clean out cartilage.

Those in Woods' camp would not speculate about the possibility that such a surgery is needed.