It's not easy to preview the U.S. Open's return to a course that so recently hosted and which has been so exhaustively profiled. But, the working press did their best and here are just some of the stories I enjoyed.
First off, just a note: Golfweek.com offers a one-stop location for all of their latest news, previews, qualifying scores and the latest WD's (two Sunday). And of course I've also will add to my links list on the right as the week goes.
Jason Sobel offers his traditional Weekly 18 with plenty of U.S. Open info, including some nice ideas for picks (and those who should be doing a rain dance).
Bob Harig takes us back to last year and asks people where they were when Tiger birdied 18 Sunday. With the story, ESPN.com offers a video feature that recaps the epic 08 Open. Golf.com's coverage is frozen in time.
Karen Crouse catches up with Rocco. While Connell Barrett organizes reader questions for Rocco.
The USGA Museum has posted their Tiger Woods scrapbook with much from last year, but the really great stuff is from his early career and an interesting interview with Earl. Love the bucket cap!
Cameron Morfit talks to Mike Davis and also predicts a storybook ending for Phil Mickelson Sunday afternoon. Tim Rosaforte explains the odd dichotomy of California boy Phil Mickelson returning home to Bethpage.
Michael Foley asks what's wrong with Padraig Harrington who inexplicably continues to talk about making swing changes after winning two majors. That's my nice way of saying I would not make him a pool pick.
Chris Berman explains how he does his best to drive people bonkers during the opening rounds of ESPN's U.S. Open telecast.
Rich Lerner delivers hooks and cuts from the LPGA Championship and previews the U.S. Open.
Dave Shedloski reminds us why the 2002 Open was so memorable despite the awful setup and finishing in the dark.
Bill Fields considers why no one has broken the 63 barrier. Now with Bethpage being soft, the setup actually reasonable this time and those greens so flat, maybe this is the week? Oh I shouldn't have dared to think such a dreadful thought.
Peter Williams looks at Doug Batty's improbable run as a qualifier.
Christian Red uses the 10th anniversary of Payne Stewart's tragic death to check in on all of the families of those who died aboard the private jet. Thanks to reader Tim for noticing this impressive bit of research and writing.
Erik Peterson does the Bethpage walk-up car line thing and lives to tell about it.
Ron Kroichick contemplates the impact that the U.S. Open has had on the public course venues it's been played at. Check out those new Torrey Pines green fees.
Speaking of the golf course...
Greg Logan takes us back a few years and reminds us who the visionairies were who saw Bethpage's potential as a U.S. Open venue.
Bill Pennington explains the course changes and in this video segment, interviews Rees Jones and only subjects us to one Open Doctor groaner.
Alan Shipnuck compares Bethpage with Liberty National, home to this fall's Barclay's.
John Huggan talks to Mike Davis about his golf philosophy:
"Everybody seems to have this fixation – much more so in the US than in the UK – that, when someone is in the rough, the penalty has to be the same every time. Conversely, those same people think that, when a ball is in the fairway, you are always entitled to a good lie. So when they get in a divot they are looking for a free drop!
"None of that should be true though. There is some charm to getting a bad lie in the fairway or a great lie in the rough. That's golf. And leads to the potential for spectacular shots. How can that be bad?"
Mike Stachura says Bethpage may play a lot shorter this time around because of improved equipment, though with the recent rains and reports that the course is soggy, maybe not.
Well, first of all there will be more players using drivers that have a large area of the face that has a high spring-like effect. In 2002, that area of high ballspeed was a few square millimeters smaller. What's more, club designers today actually have to slow down the center of the face because it's so easy to engineer a single point on the face that produces the maximum allowed springiness.
But there's more to it than that. Players are better matched to the golf ball than they were seven years ago. To be sure, the majority of the field in 2002 had already switched to multilayer urethane-covered balls, but there were still a handful of balls in play that year with windings.
SI features a great gallery of artsy Bethpage aerial images by Fred Vuich. They also posted an aerial flyover page.
Ron Whitten reiterated his take on the design heritage of Bethpage, with other notes about the course setup possibilities in the current Golf World.
Bethpage was conceived by Robert Moses, the most powerful unelected public official of the 20th century, but owes its implementation to Joseph H. Burbeck. As manager of the Bethpage Corporation in 1934, Burbeck supervised the design and construction of the complex, at the start drawing upon the talents of design consultant A.W. Tillinghast, the legendary architect who candidly credited Burbeck with the ambition of making the Black Course as great and severe a test as Pine Valley.
Sadly, Tillinghast never viewed the finished product. Burbeck, however, became the superintendent of Bethpage State Park in 1937 and presided over the place until his retirement in 1964.
You can also read his controversial 2002 profile of Burbeck here.
Whitten also analyzes the Black Course's putrid finishing hole and the options Davis considered before sticking with it as a courtesy to the everyday golfers who want to play the entire Black as it plays in the Open.
And finally, Damon Hack says No. 17 was the place to hang out last time. I can't wait to check it out for myself.
The flight east allowed me to really savor Amy Wallace's must-read look at the wildly entertaining Yellowstone Club saga and the lovebirds who own it, the Blixseth's. Also part of the mess is Porcupine Creek, a favorite of the Golf Digest panel where Ms. Blixeth lives...and weeds.
