2009 U.S. Open Clippings, Monday Final Round Edition

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Doug Ferguson's game story and his lede:

Halfway through his third round, Ricky Barnes had a six-shot lead and a smile to match in the U.S. Open. Ten holes later, with darkness gathering, he couldn't get off Bethpage Black fast enough.

Larry Dorman's NY Times story includes a revealing image of Ricky Barnes after his first hole bogey (before halting of play) and this lede:

The 15 hours of daylight during the year’s longest day was not enough to illuminate a finish to the soggy United States Open at Bethpage Black on Sunday. But just before it died, it lighted the corners and cracks of the games of the co-leaders Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover and gave some insight into what may happen on Monday when final round continues at 9 a.m.

Thomas Bonk on Phil Mickelson's state of mind. Sean Martin also weighs in on Phil. As does Bill Pennington.

Bob Harig on the final pairing. You'll love finding out who Barnes is sandwiched between on the world ranking.

John Strege tells us things we might not know about Ricky Barnes. I definitely forgot about his interesting path to the final pairing of the US Open.

Ian Poulter Tweets from the course (between rounds) to show us mud on his ball. The heartbreaking image is here.

SI digs up a 2003 profile of Barnes.

Gary Van Sickle makes final round picks.

Bill Fields reminds us of some other strange majors while Steve Elling says this one is pretty much the worst, not that it's anyone's fault.

Mark Soltau compiles the best quotes of the day.

TV Times are here.

And mopping a few items missed yesterday:

Michael Buteau talks to Pete Bevacqua of the USGA about the importance of Tiger Woods to golf: “He’s our own TARP money." And shares this:

Because organizers sold less than 50 hospitality tents, which range in price from $32,500 for a table of 12 inside a course-side pavilion to $230,000 for a 40-foot-by-40-foot shelter, the association was left with about 1,500 additional daily and weekly ticket packages to sell to the public.

The tents that were sold remain shrouded in anonymity. There are no visible marquees because the occupants do not want to be known.

“Everybody is afraid of being seen out here,” Bevacqua said. “Until people understand how effective a tool this is, corporations will still use this as a tool, but they don’t want to draw attention or exposure to themselves.”

Newsday notes on Tiger's hecklers Saturday.

"We're on Long Island, baby, where men are men!" one fan yelled. "Put that umbrella down!" The taunts were mixed with cheers from the majority of the crowd. Woods did not respond to the people who were heckling him but tried to quiet the crowd with a "sshh" hand gesture, putting his finger to his lips, as golfers prepared to tee off on the adjacent 12th tee. "Suck it up, you've got your own video game!" someone shouted at Woods.

The best sports fans in the world.

2009 U.S. Open, Hopefully The Final Day

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Can you recall a day where so much could happen? I suppose it'd be more exciting if the rain would stop and the people could just enjoy a great day of golf.

Comment away! Johnny, Dan, Tiger, Ricky, Phil, Tilly...whatever crosses your mind. Predictions welcome too.

NBC comes on at 11 a.m. EST. Here's my Twitter feed:

2009 U.S. Open Clippings, Sunday Edition

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If they can start at 7:30, there's a chance the round is finished reports Doug Ferguson. Amazing. A re-pair will not happen if the weather is holding things up again.

Bob Harig talks to players about the difficulty of playing with so many stops and starts.

Adam Schupak on Ricky Barnes and his rebirth, looking to become the first man to win a major wearing a painters cap.

Here I was listening to Lucas Glover talk after his round and found myself nodding off. After Cameron Morfit's profile, I'm reminded why he's a guy to root for.

Mark Soltau with the days best quotes. Love Ogilvy's, really bored with Tiger's poa-green complaints.

Speaking of Tiger, Gary Van Sickle has a full report on the world No. 1's day.

Sam Weinman kicks off the discussion about luck in majors and just how much was involved with this year's draw. This year's Open definitely surpasses the worst draw contrast in recent memory: the 2008 Northern Trust Open.

Jeff Babineau makes the case that the Open is more than just Tiger and Phil.

Trevor Murphy, the shock TV star of Saturday's round, filed this diary entry for GolfDigest.com.

Golfweek's coverage is here, including a couple of player blogs from Rickie Fowler and Matt Nagy.

Tim Rosaforte explains David Duval's New York connection, if you are so inclined to root for him.

And finally, Jaime Diaz interviews Dan Jenkins about Ben Hogan. And if you haven't been following Dan on Twitter, you're missing out.

"We have excellent relations with Setanta"

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Lawrence Donegan reports that the demise of sports network Setanta means that the UK rights holder to PGA Tour coverage may be leave the Tour as "the hardest hit sports league."

Where will the PGA tour go now? Sky, which used to hold the rights and bid around £5m-a-year when they came up for auction in 2006, may be interested. But it will not be interested at a price anywhere near that paid by Setanta - especially as it was miffed to lose the contract in the first place.

And this...

It is hard to know for certain because we don't know how the deal with Setanta was structured. But let's say the $103 million was spread evenly over the reported five years; that's $20.6 million a year. Two years have already elapsed, which leaves three years at $20.6 million - a total of $61.8 million. Ouch!

2009 U.S. Open Clippings, Saturday Edition

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So much good writing, so little time. Just a few that caught my eye:

All the transcripts are here.

Mark Soltau finds the best lines of the day and puts them all here.

Golfweek.com compiles notes from its staff writers, including stats about the weird leaderboard and horror stories on Ernie Els and Brian Gay.

Lawrence Donegan's game story. Doug Ferguson's here. Still waiting on the local editions...

Michael Bamberger praises the USGA for a "nice save" on the ticket policy change. Oh I can't wait to read the tabloids tomorrow!

Steve Elling on the lopsided advantage for the afternoon-early guys.

John Huggan on Ian Poulter's silly little rant about plugged lies in the sand. He also notes Paul Casey's 75 and post round silence.

Jeff Rude on the Lefty Lovefest and how his playing partners have been ignored.

Ryan Herrington says the low amateur race might actually be close and interesting.

Thomas Bonk sums up the timing scenario possibilities and concludes there's no use trying to figure out where this Open could go.

I posted an item on GolfDigest.com earlier in the day on Tiger's prediction of mud on the ball worsening as the day went on, with a negative impact on scoring. Looks like Tiger got that one wrong.

Sean Martin on Drew Weaver's impressive opening round.

Mark Reason reminds us of Graeme McDowell's past U.S. Open success after his opening 69.

Neal Best on NBC's bonus coverage Saturday.

Jack McCallum on his RV neighbors.

The Angry Golfer visits the merchandise tent and vents about. I was disappointed that he missed the $168 belts, easily the LOL item of the week.

"The great thing about this game is the fact that we have the same set of rules for everybody."

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Thanks to reader jmr for this report on Dick Rugge's webcast appearance with Andy North. I guess since Andy is asking serious questions, I'm going to have to lay off him for at least a month.

While I still support the groove rule change (I know, you're relieved with that clarification), the bifurcating of golf keeps me wondering why we couldn't have done it with the ball first.

Andy North just destroyed Dick Rugge! Just eating lunch, watching the open webcast and Dick Rugge comes in the booth to talk about the new groove rules. Rugge explains that the condition will apply on Jan. 1 2010 for pros, and 2024 for ams. Andy North asks, "So if I have a favorite wedge will I have to get a new one?" Rugge says, "Yes, but only if you're a pro." Andy then asks, "So I guess I'll need 2 different sets of clubs then." Rugge nervously answers in the affirmative.

It gets better. The very next question asks Rugge about conforming clubs . . . the first sentence out of his mouth was, "The great thing about this game is the fact that we have the same set of rules for everybody." This is literally the very next comment after his stumbling bifurcation explanation. Ummm, Dick . . . 2 rules, same rules, 2 sets, 2010, 2024? Not the same game, not the same rules, not a clue about fixing this game.

North also commented on the balls going too far and that they needed to spin more (a common thought from those with experience and/or common sense). Rugge's explanation? "Driving distance has actually flatlined for 6 years on tour." Thanks Dick -- now that 80% of classic courses were destroyed about 8 years ago with the new ball and titanium face, its nice to know that the USGA has full control. Andy North +1, Dick Rugge and the USGA -100.
06.19.2009 | Unregistered Commenterjmr

2009 U.S. Open Round 1, Day 2

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Here's where to observe, opine, and oscillate on what appears to be a day where golf will be played.

A few more reads: Jeff Neuman on 47-year-old Mike Miles, Bamberger on the ticket issue and a decision the USGA "will come to regret," Lupica on the same topic, and Stephanie Gaskell reports on the rainfall amounts. A chart with her story (not online) shows that June is a bit more wet than some have led us to believe. The average June rainfall is nearly 5 inches (at 7.32 now) and in 2003 they had 10.27 inches of rain.

Oh and here's my Twitter feed.

Round .5 Clippings, 2009 U.S. Open

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The rainout gave me a little more time to do some clippings. And there's actually a lot of fun stuff posted.

John Hawkins goes out in the rain to see just how miserable conditions were. And who says writers never leave the tent? On a serious note, in the video you'll get to see just how water logged the property is. And I can attest. They didn't just pick the worst spots. It's like this everywhere. Poor Bethpage deserves better!

Also on the video front, Jeff Rude talks to Tom Lehman in hopes of hearing how he hit the same person twice on the same hole, Bethpage's fifth.

Gary Van Sickle wisely points out that this week's problems should be a sign of trouble for the 2014 USGA plan at Pinehurst to contest back-to-back Opens.

I've already believe I was called out on Twitter for my latest GolfDigest.com entry of the day about Bethpage's lack of subsurface green drainage. That's comical since I'm not a fan of the USGA Green construction (largely for artistic and economic reasons). However, the question will be asked after this week: can Bethpage host another Open without converting to the better-draining green spec? I'd hate to see it happen, but when you want to host U.S. Open's and it tends to rain when you do so, they really come in handy.

Michael Walker points out the USGA's no refund policy and how it's not going over well. I heard local sports talk shows were chatting about it and less than civil tones, and the discourse likely won't improve when they hear the Yankees are giving all ticketholders to Wednesday's rainout a free ticket.

Alan Bastable talks to some of the disgruntled fans. Everyone was frustrated except those fortunate enough to have access to the corporate tents.

Perhaps in homage of Dan Jenkins, Jim McCabe tries to lighten the mood with a worst case scenario game story.

Golfweek features photos from the lovely day one.

Dave Fanucci on the USGA's weather policy and how they monitor inclement weather.

Dave Shedloski with some of the anecdotal evidence from Jeff Brehaut and others that Bethpage was playing long in almost unimaginable ways.

Jaime Diaz notes that the AmEx Experience is popular not only for the shelter it provides, but the cool amenities like the indoor bleachers setup in front of a huge screen and the interactive swing analysis. I'll get pictures before I leave, it's pretty swell.

And Jack McCallum, legendary SI NBA writer, is camped out in an RV near the course to experience the People's Open in the People's Town Car.