Revisiting Olympic Club Slow Play Controversies Through The Years

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In this week's Golf World U.S. Open preview issue, I write about the slow play crackdown at the 1966 U.S. Open that led to some dramatic changes in times and also some unhappiness from several in the field, including Jack Nicklaus.

In a real career highlight, I obtained the quotes from Mr. Nicklaus during an interview in the Memorial press center men's room. No one said I was classy. But what are you going to do when the best ever says, "well, go ahead, ask your question!"

If only I had a camera to capture the look on his face when told Johnny Miller said that the USGA policy at Olympic made Nicklaus a faster player from that day forward. It looked something like this.

"The True Heart Of San Francisco Golf"

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Bill Fields pens a wonderful story in this week's Golf World capturing the the public golf scene, its storied history and the battle to save San Francisco muni's.

GolfDigest.com also has posted a Fields image slideshow capturing the many characters and courses that make the Bay Area arguably the richest of all the American public golf scenes.

Qualifier Miller: “The man upstairs blew that one in for me."

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Rob Oller with a nice follow-up story on Dennis Miller of the lip-hanger putt fame. Lost in the putt was Miller's status as an alternate who started his day at 6:15 and learned soon after that he was going to get in the field.

The video has gone viral. On it, Miller strokes his putt, which breaks left to right before stopping on the lip. One-eighth of an inch of grass separates him from his U.S. Open dream. He takes a step and turns away in disgust, not watching as the ball makes a handshake agreement with gravity and drops. Five seconds of hesitation that felt like an eternity. The small gallery goes crazy. Miller does a double take and raises both arms.

“The man upstairs blew that one in for me,” Miller said.

As of Thursday evening, someone's cell phone camera shot of their television screen had logged 313,583 views on YouTube (Tiger's Memorial chip-in actually has fewer: 222,908). So, so, SO glad the people in golf televisoin continue to really embrace the power of YouTube!

Miller has drawn a 12:45 Thursday time and 7 a.m. Friday tee time with Casey Martin and Cameron Wilson.