Remember Beau Hossler, the upstart 17-year-old would captured the imagination of young and old with his composure at the U.S. Open at Olympic a few weeks ago.  Well he is back in the limelight again playing in the A T & T National at Congressional this week.  On a course that has been set up to Open standards- narrow fairways, long rough, hard greens, and stimps in the upper quartile- his even par 71 on day one was good enough for a T-20 with some established names like Angel Cabrera, Jason Day, and J.B. Holmes.

His Bossness even outplayed the host, one Eldrick Woods, who struggled with his driving, short game, and putting before carding a very sloppy one over 72.  Of course it was not operator error but the conditions according to Woods.  On his Oh-fer in sand saves he said, “My 60 (degree wedge) is not designed for this type of sand…there’s so much sand in these bunkers”.  Not sure what his explanation was for a flubbed chip that looked like the work of a Pro-Am partner.  The 50% in fairways hit and mediocre putting were what really held him back.

Beau on the other hand was T-3 in the field in driving distance at 321 yards-granted the hot air and fast fairways were conducive to long carry and roll out.  He hit 64 percent of the fairways and was 13^th in the most important stat of all, strokes gained putting for the day.

Hossler played Congressional as a 16-year-old last year at the U.S. Open so he is not unfamiliar with this setup.  He confirms that there is some retribution in this setup for last year’s scoring orgy.  “These have got to be the fastest greens I’ve every putted on”  he said, “I don’t know, maybe the same speed as Olympic but these have a lot more pitch to them, so get on the wrong side of the hole an you’ve got no chance”.

To everyone’s amazement Beau once again has a chance playing with the big boys this week on a very difficult track.  He is drawing crowds, signing autographs, and piquing the imagination of golf junkies once again.  I would not be surprised to see him for some extended coverage on TV come Sunday.  He just seems to have a comfort level in the spotlight uncommon at such a young age.

Bea is a breath of fresh air in an atmosphere that seems laden with a plethora of the hot variety.

June, 2012

Tiger Woods and the A T & T National tournament return to Congressional Country Club this week after a two-year hiatus caused by the club’s hosting of the 2011 U.S. Open.  As the commentators like to say, Tiger’s presence as the host of this event will “move the needle” and there should be swarms of adoring fans attending in spite of the sweltering heat forecast this weekend in the nation’s capitol.

They will be in for a treat because Tiger’s new motif is he only wins at tournaments hosted by the iconic heroes of the game.  Having won Arnie and Jack’s events at Bay Hill and Memorial already this year, winning his own event at the storied Congressional Country Club seems only fitting.

The only thing mitigating that might be the set up of the course.  I have a feeling that if the folks at Congressional have a say the pins will be hidden in the Port-A-Johns to try to avoid the scoring frenzy that occurred in the soft conditions when Rory blistered the course at 16 under last year.  They will be anxious to prove to golf officials watching that Congressional is still a worthy major championship venue.

The main beneficiaries of this event are military personnel and their families who will be honored guests and the Tiger Woods Foundation who is the main charitable beneficiary.   Tiger has said he wants to expand the presence of his foundation and their learning programs on the east coast and making Washington, D.C. as a base for these activities seems to be his priority.  The Tiger Woods Foundation and Congressional have agreed to continue their relationship with this event through 2014.

Other than missing a couple of notable Irishman-McDowell, McIlroy, Harrington, and Clarke-who are playing in the Irish Open at Royal Portrush this week, the fans will have plenty of marquee players to follow.  Dustin Johnson, Hunter Mahan, Jim Furyk, Nick Watney, Angel Cabrera, and K.J. Choi are among those scheduled to join in the Tiger festivities.

This should make for some entertaining weekend viewing from the air-conditioned comfort of your living room couch.

June, 2012

In June of this year the USGA opened the Mickey Wright Room at the USGA Museum in Far HIlls, New Jersey to honor the greatest female player the game has ever known.  Previously only three other golfers have been honored with a gallery full of their personal memorabilia-Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, and Arnold Palmer.  Mickey Wright now joins this elite group and deservedly so.

Mickey Wright won the coveted U.S. Open four times   (usga.org)

Mickey Wright won 82 times over her career including 13 major championships.  She is the only woman to have ever held all four major titles at one time.  She won 10 times in both 1961 and 1962, 13 times in 1963-still the record, and 11 times in 1964.  That is 44 tournament titles in four years.  Ben Hogan once said she had the finest swing ever in the game.  Her domination of the game in her prime was well, Tiger-like.

The gallery exhibit includes over 200 personal artifacts donated by Mickey Wright.  They include her worn 1955 bullseye putter with which she won 81 of her 82 titles. Her 1963 Wilson Staff irons she used in all but one of her victories from 1963 on are part of the display.  Scrapbooks, trophies, signed magazine articles, family film footage of her hitting balls at age 11, even the contestant badge from the 1954 U.S. Women’s Open where Mickey played as a young amateur with Babe Zaharias are part of the collection.

One of my favorite items donated was a yellow mat that Wright used to shag balls off the her patio onto the 14th fairway of the golf course where she lives.  Rhonda Glenn, a USGA historian and long time friend said, “I sat on her patio and watched her….it was a treat…I used to watch Hogan practice when I was a little girl, at Seminole.  There was this crack when he hit the ball.  I never heard it again until Mickey was hitting balls.”

By creating this gallery in a room next to Arnie’s, the USGA will help educate a golfing populace that knows little of her accomplishments and all she did for women’s golf.  Mickey Wright said in an interview, “This is a here and now and forever feeling that honors not just me, but the history of women’s golf.  This is also for all the women who came before me…..It is a tribute to their tenancity in making women’s golf a legitimate, recognized national sport”.

In 2010 Mickey Wright was given the Bob Jones Award in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.  It is the highest award that the USGA hands out.  With the opening of the Mickey Wright Room in Far Hills the USGA furthers that recognition and places her among the all time greats of the game.

If you have never been to the USGA Museum in Far Hills you owe yourself this pleasure-it is a very special place.  You now have one more wonderful reason to make the journey.

June, 2012

I know this is a stretch but allow me to fantasize for a moment and imagine what it would mean if a 17-year old was to win the 2012 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club.  This could be an accomplishment equal to “The Greatest Game Ever Played” 99 years later.  That day an unknown amateur, Francis Ouimet, at age 20, beat the renowned British professionals Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a playoff to take the U.S. Open at Brookline and put American Golf on the radar scene for the first time.

Beau Hossler has proven over these last few days that he has the game and demeanor to compete at the top level at a very tender age but to actually win the big one while still in his teens is just inconceivable.  As to his name appearing atop the leader board on Friday for a couple of holes he said, “I was pretty excited about it, but then again I had another 40 holes …..you’ve got a long way to go, and you can’t get too wrapped up in where you’re at.”

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On Saturday his goal remained, as it had been when he missed the cut in the U.S. Open at age 16 at Congressional last year, to be low amateur.  Then he did the unthinkable-shot even par 70, making bounce back birdies 4 times after making a bogey on this harrowing track, to maintain his position at 3 over within four shots of two former U.S. Open winners Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell.

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As a 17-year old maybe there is a bit of precociousness in his attitude but his goal has now changed because he actually believes he can win this golf tournament.  I know this is unlikely but if he somehow can continue this out of body experience he has been going through for three days and post a two under 68 on Sunday, it might just be good enough to earn Beau a Monday playoff date against a couple of seasoned professionals for this title.

How cool would that be.  Cooler than free dry cleaning-the one perk from this Open experience that Hossler thought was “pretty sweet”.

I don’t know about you but if Beau gets through the juggernaut first nine holes on Sunday within striking distance of the leaders I will hanging on his every swing continuing to imagine the unthinkable.

My bet is Mark Frost, who made a movie about Ouimet’s startling accomplishment in 1913 at Brookline, will be having similar thoughts.  I am pretty sure that Beau has seen the movie a few times and is very familiar with the storyline.

June, 2012

After last year’s scoring orgy at the U.S. Open at Congressional Mike Davis of the USGA was not going to have any more of that this year in “golf’s toughest test” at The Olympic Club.  A course so angular that keeping it on the fairway is like try to land a dimpled marshmallow on a tilted snare drum treated with talcum powder, the dry and windy conditions of San Francisco have made it even harder and faster driving the players to delirium.

The three guys with the thickest paw pads are Tiger, Furyk, and Toms who have somehow managed to scratch out a one under par score through the first two rounds.  Tiger has showed great control, finding a way to hit 75% of the fairways and 70% of the greens.  Toms has had only 56 putts over the two days that is four less than the other leaders.  Furyk has managed to hit 75% of the greens in regulation despite hitting less than half of the fairways.

The scoring carnage has been well distributed.  Nick Watney and Justin Rose backed up opening 69’s with a pair of 75’s.  Mickelson and Zach Johnson shot 76 and 77 on day one and just managed to squeak in under the +8 cut line to play the weekend.  Significant others who will be watching the last two rounds from the comfort of their family room couches include defending champ Rory McIlroy and the world’s number one Luke Donald.

Patience and a short memory seem to be the key once again at the U.S. Open.  A good recovery game around these tiny greens does not hurt either.  Furyk set the bar in the morning round with a gritty 69 to post one under.  Tiger had what looked to be a glorious approach into the short par five 17th that held it’s steam a nano second too long only to sneak off the back right of the green and then tumble down one of Mike Davis’s shaved banks to nestle among the Cypress trees about 50 yards below the green.  He played away from the flag with a deft pitch and managed to salvage par and his momentum.  Toms showed superb iron play down the back nine with two birdies and no bogies to catch the big cat.

With scores in the sixties few and far between the weekend will be about limiting fender benders and making combackers for par from 10 feet.  Betting against Tiger when he has the 36 hole lead in a major is a losing proposition but, besides the two major winners who are currently tied with him, there is Graeme McDowell only two back and he has a history of grabbing the tiger by it’s tail.  This demolition derby should make for some entertaining reality TV this weekend.

June, 2012

Jack Nicklaus has always been the singular motivation in Tiger’s career ever since he was a wee cub.   Going into this week he needed only one more win to tie Jack for second on the all time PGA Tour wins list.  So, as Tiger is apt to do, he added a little exclamation point when got his 73rd PGA Tour victory by making birdies on three of the last four to shoot a five under 67 and win “Jack’s Tournament” at The Memorial.

The exclamation point was the shot of the day or, as Nicklaus said afterward, a shot that should be at the top of Sportcenter’s Ten Best for the next month.  After making his third two-putt birdie of the day on the par five 15th, Tiger missed the green on the par 3 16th 50 feet from the hole in the heavy grass long and right leaving himself an impossible up and down to keep his run on track.   With the green sloping drastically away from him to the water behind, getting or keeping it on the green was a task-leaving a makeable par putt seemed highly unlikely.

So Tiger did what only Tiger can do-with the tournament on the line he hoisted a full Otis Elevator into the air and landed it on the only six inch square piece of green that would avail him a save and watched the ball languish it’s way down to the hole and drop in.  We haven’t seen pitching drama like this since his Nike hanging chad on the 16th at Augusta in 2005.  After that roar the field did not stand a chance.

The ensuing adulation was not restricted to the regular fans.  Nicklaus, sitting in the broadcast booth said it was “the most unbelievable, gutsy shot I’ve ever seen”.

A routine stinger iron to the center of the fairway on 18 and a crafted 9 iron draw off the back side wall of the green to ten feet led to the final birdie to nail his 73rd PGA Tour win and tie his childhood idol.

Tiger likes winning in front of golf immortals-he clearly feels at home in their presence.  He won Arnie’s tournament at Bay Hill earlier this year for the seventh time and now he has won Jack’s tournament for the fifth time.  In fact this is the fourth time he has won both Arnie and Jack’s tournaments in the same year.  Today’s performance was another clarion call announcing that Tiger belongs amongst them.

June, 2012

On the PGA Tour there is a definite changing of the guard going on and the good news is the new guys are not wearing Cue-Tip hats.  For the first time in a long time it seems that all the hay that is being made out there is not from guys with foreign passports but by young or up-and-coming Americans.

Of the 20 sanctioned PGA Tour events in 2012, 17 of them have been won by Americans.  Only 30 year-old Hunter “Wrap Arounds” Mahan has two wins.  Other winners include guys with real game and engaging personalities like Brandt “Opie” Snedekar, John “?” Huh, Bubba “Are You Kidding” Watson, Ricky “Orange Futures” Fowler, and Matt “The Cheshire Cat” Kucher.

The freshest face of them all has to be Kootch, he is no newbie but his real talent finally seems to be jelling in his young 30’s.  Characterized as an ATM by Johnny Miller, he has been the most consistent performer on the American scene for a good three years now.  His Cool Hand Luke performance at The Players confirms that this man has the demeanor and the game to win on the biggest stages.

Kootch was always considered a “can’t miss” from when he won the U.S. Amateur at Cog Hill in 1997 and backed it up the next spring with two great rounds at The Masters with defending champ Tiger Woods and a tie for 14^th at the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club.  But it took a trip through all three of Dante’s levels over his 12 years as a pro, including a retreat stint on the Nationwide Tour, to find his ballast and his game.  With the Open returning to Olympic this June and his ability to turn his drive in either direction to work against those side sloped fairways, Kootch has to be the favorite going in.

Let’s not forget that this is also a family man with sensible values.  He approaches his game with an ever present smile and sufficient humility acknowledging how lucky he is to be making a living doing the thing he loves to do.  Match that with competitive confidence and an ability to let all bad things slide off his back and you have something unique in the golf world today-a role model for your kids.

Then there is the Tropicana spokesman on tour, 23 year-old Ricky Fowler.  As Eddie Murphy used to say about orange futures, “Feelin Good, Louis!”.  Ricky is certainly feelin’ good about his game and his rapid ascension as a potential rival to that other 23 year-old Irish phenom.

What we have seen the last two weeks with his win at Quail Hollow and his riveting runner-up  place performance at The Players is possibly the most charismatic American package of raw talent and competitive verve since Arnold Palmer.  The swing, the sashay, the entire citrus package is original as well as commercially and competitively viable.

Throw Bubba and his transcendent performance at Augusta into this mix and you have to say that American golf has a new gulf stream blowing.  Davis Love III has to be licking his Ryder Cup Chops right now working the Excel spreadsheet on potentials for his squad a Medinah this fall.

May, 2012

After three rounds of the RBC Heritage Classic it is almost refreshing to see a couple of diametrically challenged guys going cheek to cheek for the title.  Neither Carl Pettersson or Colt Knost are candidates for doing Ab Buster infomercials but they are playing some kind of great golf this week at Hilton Head.

This tournament has a history of being won by horses for courses because of the unique character of Pete Dye’s Harbour Town Golf Links.  Guys not known for prodigious length have won here.  Boo Weekly has won twice here and used this stop annually as his personal annuity.  He is in the hunt again.  Brian Gay, Peter Lonard, and Jose Coceres have been winners over the last decade.

With tightly ensconced driving areas and overhanging limbs obscuring access to tiny greens it is all about accurate driving, a great short game, and adept putting if you are going to win here.  Carl is first in Greens In Regulation and Colt is first in Strokes Gained Putting which explains why they are 12 and 11 under respectively.

Pettersson is an accomplished player on the PGA Tour with 4 career wins and over $16 million in lifetime earnings on the tour.  He has won over $1.1 million with two seconds so far this year.  Knost is one of the most celebrated amateurs in recent history.  He won both the U.S. Public Links and U. S. Amateur in 2007 and represented the U.S. on the winning Walker Cup team that year.  The adjustment to this competitive level has been a challenge but Colt has made 6 of 8 cuts and made over $300,000 so far in 2012 for his best showing ever on the PGA Tour.

With the trend to ripped physiques and bulging biceps on the tour, it is great to see a couple of double chin guys who look like they could be in any Saturday foursome at your club in the final group going into Sunday.  They should be comfortable playing in the same group again-probably will share some Toasty Peanut Butter Crackers at the turn.

Hopefully there won’t be any celebratory belly bumps down the stretch-not sure the National Earthquake Control Center would know what to do with those readings.  Good news is no one looks skinny in that halucious Tartan Plaid Blazer they give to the winner.

(For more on Pettersson’s fitness routine see Brian Wacker’s PGATour.com article)

April, 2012

Once again the theater of the final round of the Masters did not disappoint, there were so many stories going on at the same time it took a white board to keep up with all the possibilities down the back nine.  What stood out for me is what the pundits always say,  the pin positions and contours of Augusta National reward creativity and imagination when coupled with clear decision making and precise execution.  In other words, improvisation with a purpose.

No one improvises better on every shot he plays than the winner, Bubba Watson.  A throwback to the old days of shafts that bent and wound balls with lots of spin, Bubba intentionally curves the ball more than any player out there.  The ultimate feel player he craftily wields that pink shaft on his Ping driver manipulating his hands and wrists to create the curve he sees in his minds eye for the shot at hand.  His philosophy is simple, “If I have a swing, I have a shot.”

The shot he played on the second playoff hole may be one of the ultimate golf improv bits we will ever witness.  He was hitting off of the pine straw, out of a hallway of pines from 155 yards with no sight line to the green.  He had to curve it a good 40 yards just to get it toward the target and managed to snuggle one in there about 20 feet below the hole to set up the winning par.  This was like looking over Michelangelo’s shoulder as he dabbed just the right amount of paint to a cherub’s cheek on the curved Sistine Chapel ceiling from his back.

The day was full of improvisational wizardry.  The Sunday pin on the 14^th hole alone required a misdirectional approach that many of the players used to set up a crucial birdie in a charge at the lead.  Two timely holes in one on sixteen-Adam Scott and Bo Van Pelt-were the source of thunderous cheers pretty early in the proceedings.

But the most incredible existential result of the day had to be the tremor created by Louie Oosthuizen’s albatross double eagle on the 2^nd hole that propelled him to the top of the leader board.  From a good 260 out he lashed a long iron down the hill that landed on the front of the green and then rolled a half acre or so up the green, banked hard right, and sought out the hole as if the ball had eyes.

The most amazing thing to me is that neither Oosthuizen or Bubba, who witnessed this feat first hand, let it change their approach to playing the next 16 holes.  What transpired after that was just some of the most competent competitive play by band of leaders that you can ever imagine.

In the end, when the key putts did not drop for Padrig, Phil,  Hanson, or Westwood or when an errant swing on 16 derailed Kootch, it just seemed that Bubba and Oosthuizen were feeding off of each other’s calm and making all the key shot that mattered to get to a playoff.

The first playoff hole was riveting as both guys thumped it well up the fairway, granted Bubba’s thump was about 30 yards longer than Louie’s, and put the ball on the makeable side of the hole into the 18^th green.  The two birdie putts missed by a total of two inches and sent them to the 10^th for one more go.  After Bubba side swiped the Pink Lady and sent his drive careening into Sherwood Forest Louie need to just stub one down the center and give himself a good look at the green.

Here Louie blinked-hitting it wild right as well he caught a tree and ended up a good 250 from the hole on the edge of the right rough.   Failing to reach the green on his second gave Bubba Wizardry the opening, and I use that term facetiously, to work his magic.

It may seem hard to live with this result for Oosthuizen, but he played a mench of a final round in a major.  It will be just for him to wonder how it wasn’t his day after the folkloric shot on two seemed to destine his name for a cubicle in the Champion’s Locker Room.

April, 2012

In the old days when you heard the pundits invoke this phrase it was usually because Phil Mickelson was trying some hair-brained escape artist shot which was destined to go awry and kill his chances of winning a tournament.  He just seemed to have an irrepressible urge to pull off the most risk laden play when something more conservative would have served his interest.

But now “Being Phil” has taken on an entirely different connotation, it is the rare display of a superstar stepping off of the pedestal to say or do what is right rather than what is in his self interest.  This is a refreshing sight in a time where most of the famous from the entertainment world seem incapable of seeing beyond their own reflection and taking in their larger image in the world around them.

Two mentions from Tom Boswell’s Washington Post column “Masters 2012-Peter Hanson And Phil Mickelson Have Inspired Each Other” reflect how, as a result of so much personal experience, good and bad, Phil Mickelson has become comfortable with himself and his responsibility to practice behavior we can aspire to.

In spite of having a one shot lead, Peter Hanson is the underdog, the dark horse going into the final round.  His inexperience in the pressure cooker of the final group on the final day of a major would make him easy prey for a fellow competitor to diminish or simply ignore.  Yet Mickelson spoke with respect and admiration for what Hanson has done so far in earning his way into the final group on Sunday.

As Boswell says, “MIckelson…..was equally impressed with the show Hanson provided in front of him. Phil said, ‘Watching him hole putts on 15 from the fringe, on 17.  On 18 he knocks it to a couple of feet.  He just played phenomenally.  It’s very difficult to try to follow those kinds of birdies when you’re watching it right in front of you’.”

Phil knows he has the advantage of fame and competitive reputation on his side but he feels no obligation to take advantage and assert it on his adversary.  By resisting this temptation, he elevates the game of golf to a standard of sportsmanship most other athletic competitions seem incapable of displaying.

Phil also has a reverential respect for the greats of the game who paved the path before him and have provided him with the opportunity for personal fame and fortune.

“On Thursday, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus hit the ceremonial first-group tee shots a 7:40 a.m. That day, Mickelson’s tee time was the very last group of the day, a full six hours later.  Yet Phil was there to shake the hands of the Big Three..a gesture that surprised and touched all three, especially since no other famous current stars showed up.”

This is the same respect that Phil carries for the multitude of fans that support him and provide the financial feedbag from which all the pros feed so voraciously.  Unlike most of the guys out there, Phil exchanges high fives with fans along the walkways between holes, makes eye contact with strangers who seek out his attention, and even provides an engaging hug to a more familiar acquaintance.

There are those who have questioned his judgment in playing the game early in his career but it is hard to ignore how this same guy has embraced with dignity and respect the competitive atmosphere in which he works.

As Boswell concludes, “Much that once seemed like Phil schmaltz when he was young and bumptious now seems mature, genuine and generous.”

April, 2012