"Women's Open mystery"
/Besides the odd and seriously advanced timing of the 2019 U.S. Open return to Pebble, Jerry Stewart reminds us of another mystery from last week's press conference:
Read MoreWhen you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Watch The Villages Golf Cart Drill Team Perform!
/There's no truth to the rumor that they're looking for Jack Nicklaus to dote the i in Villages. It must be nice to have this much free time on one's hands...
Read More2010 U.S. Open Fourth Question: Your Agronomic Impressions
/Having been fortunate enough to be there, I have my take on Pebble Beach as presented by superintendent Chris Dalhammer: quite good considering the hand he's dealt and very much in line with past Opens.
Read More"Buried Treasure"
/My Golf World analysis of Pebble Beach's design issues and the dilemma of making repairs is now posted at GolfDigest.com.
Read MoreHank: "It didn't get dysfunctional; it always was dysfunctional."
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Do not miss Guy Yocom's gripping interview with Hank Haney, where the floodgates open up and we learn about the fricking weird unique relationship between student and teacher.
The day before we got to Augusta, I felt like he became more committed to what I had been telling him to do. When he got there, Sunday was good. Monday he struggled, but that was the day of the press conference, so I knew he had a lot on his mind. Tuesday and Wednesday he did well. Thursday and Friday he did well. Saturday he did well, too. Yet somehow, when he came to the range after his round Saturday, which was the only time he had practiced after a round all week, he said he felt like he hadn't hit it well. He said he hit it terrible. And I didn't understand what he meant by that.
It sounds like communication was breaking down.
At that point you just have to ride it out. Six years of that. And then on Sunday when he warmed up, he wasn't open to suggestions. He wasn't asking what he should do. At one point, I asked him if he was open to ideas, and in his way he halfheartedly did what I suggested. He struggled on Sunday. That was it.
Jaimee and Rachel can relate.
I talked to him only two times after that. That was his way of blaming me. Maybe I'm reading too much into it; maybe I'm being too sensitive. But when someone doesn't talk to you...
You felt the onus was on him to call you?
Right. I sent him an e-mail on everything I thought he should do and work on. I got no acknowledgement at all, but that wasn't unusual. Then it got to the point where I didn't know what he was doing or thinking. Yet the whole time he was telling the media I was still his teacher and that I was going to continue to be his teacher and I was talking to him every night.
It sounds like it became dysfunctional.
It didn't get dysfunctional; it always was dysfunctional.
Jaimee and Rachel can relate.
Was Tiger generous with you? Did he express his appreciation to you in unusual ways, such as signing flags for you or dropping you notes?
Generosity is relative. It was generous of him to give me the job. I don't have anything signed by Tiger, no. Not one thing.
Did Tiger pay you well?I don't want to answer that. There's no reason for me to go there.
Jaimee and Rachel can relate. Well, maybe not Rachel.
Where's Ari Fleischer When You Need Him? Tiger U.S. Open Edition
/The reviews are in and Tiger's not exactly winning over the hired weepers with his post round comments. Mark Cannizzaro in the New York Post:
Read More2010 U.S. Open Third Question: Why The 2019 Announcement Now?
/I know it was a week ago, but a lot of people are still scratching their heads over the USGA's decision to announce the execution of a "letter of intent" to return to Pebble Beach in 2019. The emails I've received have mostly focused on the oddity of committing so far in advance and most of all, upstaging the 2017 Erin Hills announcement.
Read MorePebble The Permanent Host? I Think Not.
/Tim Rosaforte and I debate this notion for GolfDigest.com. Spare me the jacket one-liners, I already heard plenty of not-very-clever one-liners from that international house of fashion sense known as the media center.
More Pebble Beach Then And Now: #8
/I've got a couple more before-afters that I forgot to post last week once play got underway. So before the 2010 U.S. Open buzz wears off...
Alister MacKenzie renovated the 8th green in 1926 as part of an audition for the greater overhaul that was handled by Chander Egan, Robert Hunter and Roger Lapham. Here is an early view of MacKenzie's green, with the 2010 US Open perspective showing two added bunkers. I'm not sure who added them, but something tells me it was Robert Trent Jones. And I think he made the right choice.
"I’ll probably keep playing them, just to torture myself once a year. I get angry, and it makes me hate golf for two months. Then I’m OK again.”
/Todd Milles features all of Ryan Moore's post round tirade Sunday, and the only part I would agree with is his point on the 17th.
Read MorePebble's 17th Up Close (Video)
/Warning, yours truly doing video on camera here. Make sure to not sit too closely to the screen.
Read MoreA Sale At The Pebble Beach Company Store!
/Driving home today after finally caving and buying a few items at Monday's 50% off sale, it occurred to me just how badly bungled the U.S. Open merchandise selection and pricing was. Though it was delightful to hear from sales reps that numbers were at 50% of the budgeted sales figures through Friday. The public does have limits.
Let's hope that in the USGA contract with the Pebble Beach Company for 2019 that the blue coats take control of the shop to ensure better stuff and pricing that fans have grown accustomed to.
Of course, the 50% off prices still felt like retail prices...in the real world.
