"He would hit four or five balls, then limp to the cart for a rest."

John Huggan gets Hank Haney to talk about the weeks leading up to the Open and Tiger's knee prognosis.

"Three weeks before the US Open he couldn't walk. It was about then he started hitting balls and trying to play a little bit. I watched him practise. He would hit four or five balls, then limp to the cart for a rest. He'd sit down for a few minutes, then limp back to the balls and hit four or five more. That was all he could do.

"At that time he was insistent that he was going to play in Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village. I just shook my head. 'Bud,' I said, 'how are you going to do that? You can't even walk.'

"His feeling was that he had to play in the Memorial because he was so rusty. But he couldn't walk from the kitchen to the dining room table without bending over, he was in so much pain. So there was no way he could play."

With the Memorial proving a tournament too soon, Woods' mind then shifted to the possibility of making it to the US Open.

"He started playing a little bit, but never more than a few holes at a time and always in a cart," recalls Haney. "In fact, he didn't play more than 72 holes total between the Masters and the US Open. When we went to Torrey Pines the weekend before the tournament I told him he had to try and walk at least nine holes. Just to see if he could do it.

"So I drove the cart and he walked nine holes. He made it, but only just. I was asking him if he could bend down to read putts. He said, as he always does, 'I'll be all right.' But I made him do it. So he tried. He could get down okay, but he had to lean on his putter to get back up again. Even then he was still saying he'd be all right!

"Anyway, he walked nine holes on the Sunday, then nine more on the Monday. And he couldn't hit more than 50 balls on either day. Whether he was going to play was in doubt right up to the last minute."

“I would hope it would be teed up pretty good"

Tim Sullivan in the San Diego Union Tribune talks to David Fay about the prospects for a return to Torrey Pines and it seems it has to get in line behind Oakmont and Erin Hills. (Now, I'm no accountant, but if I'm looking at the numbers from last week I'm making a case for Erin Hills waiting a few more years...like, after Tiger has retired.)

The USGA will consider those courses at its October championships and executive committee meetings in New Jersey. Based on the commercial and theatrical success of the 108th Open, however, Torrey Pines could also be considered for fast-track approval.

“It's unusual, but not unheard of, to select three U.S. Open sites at one meeting,” Fay said yesterday via e-mail.

Site selection, Fay cautioned, is only a first step. The USGA customarily withholds announcing its decisions until a formal agreement can be negotiated with prospective tournament hosts.

Given the additional complexities involved in haggling with city government as well as the various private enterprises that operate at Torrey Pines, those negotiations could turn tricky. Still, the success of this year's tournament was so great that the USGA may want to ponder pushing another site back a year in order to accelerate its Torrey Pines timetable.

After all, a PGA Championship in San Diego in August has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Whether auditors will conclude that the city broke even on the 2008 Open will depend on the size of their imagination. The city stands to collect only $500,000 in cash for an event that could be worth up to $50 million in profits to the USGA, according to Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal.

Though Fay says that estimate is a distortion – “the guy who parsed the numbers together for Sports Business should receive an advanced degree for making accounting a creative art!” he wrote – the USGA typically books enough profit to pay millions to the Open site.

And this is nice to read since despite his great intentions and hard work, the appearance of a conflict has not been a positive...

The Friends of Torrey Pines, the donors who made the Open possible by funding the renovations that raised Torrey Pines' South Course to USGA standards, should have no role in the next round of negotiations. Eliminating these middlemen – well-intentioned though they were – means the city should be able to deal directly with the USGA and therefore reap a larger piece of the proceeds.

“I would hope it would be teed up pretty good,” said Jay Rains, who spearheaded San Diego's Open initiative before becoming a USGA vice president. “I'm not personally aware of why the city wouldn't directly contract (with the USGA).”

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.

R&A Releases Padraig Pace of Play Video; Sergio Manners Set For '09 Release

Thanks to reader Chris for forcing me to not ignore the R&A press release on their new Padraig Harrington helmed etiquette videos, which include a pace of play segment from Europe's answer to Ben Crane.

Casey To Vijay: You Can't Keep Up WIth Me In The Gym Old Geezer

Who said it would get dull with Tiger out of the picture fo ra while? Thanks to reader Chris for Craig Tregurtha's report on the lastest chapter in the Vijay v. Britain's-soft-golfers-spat, with Paul Casey tells us far more than we ever wanted to know about his home routine:

“I am angry, he has no clue what I do, so how can he comment?” Casey, who had a second-round 68 to move into contention at the BMW International Open in Munich yesterday, said. “I can only speak for the guys I know well, like Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Ian Poulter, but we are all working incredibly hard and I think it is an unfair shot from Vijay. I would like to see him try to live with me in the gym for a couple of hours.

“He does not know us and he has no evidence to back up what he says. We are all very frustrated that we have not won majors and that our results have not been as good as we would have liked. But it is not down to lack of effort and perhaps when we do make a breakthrough then it will open the door to a lot more wins.

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.

Knee Jerk Reaction

The psychics will be called next week. For now, we're talking to doctors, nurses and hospital janitors about Tiger's knee.

I'm just shocked Bill Frist hasn't been quoted yet.

John Garrity talks to a mystery doctor who says we aren't getting the full story.

But the doc isn't sure that the Woods camp has been completely forthcoming about the famous patient's condition. "There's a couple of things that still don't make perfect sense," he said. "There's no such thing as a double stress fracture in a young, healthy person. I've been a knee surgeon for 25 years, and I've never heard of that, although it happens in old people.

"Furthermore, it's extremely hard to tear an ACL just running. It happens mostly in women — say, from running up and down a basketball floor. And a non-contact ACL, that's not likely to cause bone or cartilage damage."

An unbylined Independent report says he should only be out three months while Damon Hack compiles other medical experts and their forecasts.

Steve Elling hears from the crackpots who think Tiger was putting on an act.

According to this report from Australia, some sucker bet $252,300 that Tiger would win three majors. Nice try. Hope he got his room comp'd.

In the non-medical opinion division, John Antonini says that Tiger will still be ranked No. 1 even after 6-8 months off. I'm not sure if that's a statement about the rankings or how weak his competition is.

Thomas Bonk talks to Ty Votaw who sees lots of upside in us getting to familiarize ourselves with this month's next great player, Anthony Kim.

"We see a vast amount of potential for something that's drastically different than doom and gloom," Votaw said Thursday, one day after Woods said he was out for the year and needed surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

And the folks at FedEx are trying their best to put a positive spin on this...

"There is continued excitement surrounding the FedEx Cup and the strong play of the field of golfers promises to make this year's competition incredibly exciting," said Carla Boyd, a spokeswoman for FedEx.

Incredibly.

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.

Golf Channel: Tiger To Have ACL Surgery**

The unbylined report says he has a stress fracture and will have ACL surgery. Does that sound right?

Update on 2008-06-18 15:56 by Geoff

**The official website version makes much more sense. Two different injuries, same knee. Wow. It's painful just thinking about it.

Update on 2008-06-18 16:54 by Geoff

Tim Finchem issues a statement. I know you were on the edge of your seats...

“For an athlete as talented and competitive as Tiger Woods, taking the rest of the season off must have been an incredibly difficult, yet necessary decision, one that we understand and support completely. The fact that he needs additional surgery only makes his performance and victory at last week’s U.S. Open all the more impressive. First and foremost, our concern – as it would be for any of our players facing surgery or illness – is for Tiger’s health and overall well-being, both on and off the golf course. We wish him the best toward a speedy recovery.”

Update on 2008-06-18 19:17 by Geoff

Doug Ferguson writes:

Haney was with him in Florida when doctors told Woods the preferred treatment for the stress fractures was three weeks on crutches and three weeks of inactivity.

"Tiger looked at the doctor and said, 'I'm playing in the U.S. Open, and I'm going to win.' And then he started putting on his shoes," Haney said. "He looked at me and said, 'Come on, Hank. We'll just putt today.'"

Tim Rosaforte considers the rehab timeframe and writes:

What Woods did not discuss were the long-term affects of the injury; some of which is obvious, some undetermined. "If he wants to go after [Jack] Nicklaus' record, he'll need a good ACL reconstruction to do it," said Dr. Jim Bradley, team physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and a foremost expert on knee surgery. "But this is not career threatening."

And...

"It's like rebooting a computer," Bradley said. "In pro football, we say we get a guy back (from ACL reconstruction) in six months, but in fact, they're really not right until they go through a full season. It's almost a year's time before they're back to where they were beforehand."