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14

Jun
Thu

Tiger turns his playing partners into innocent bystanders on Day 1

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- There were times during the first round of the U.S. Open when it felt like the glamour group of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson were wailing away at each other with 50-pound bags of wet sand. They were locked in a slow-motion slog around an Olympic Club that is clearly going to be a beast this week. Of course, playing a U.S. Open is supposed to be like driving into downtown Los Angeles at rush hour -- a lot of effort put into going nowhere fast. So the fact Tiger, Lefty and Bubba were bleeding bogeys early instead of bagging birdies --all were over par after seven holes -- came as no real surprise. And the fact that Woods handled the difficulty of the course and the distraction of the high-test pairing the best -- shooting a one-under-par 69 that could have been lower -- sent a strong message that his four-year major drought could end here this week. Photo by Harry How/Getty ImagesBefore play began, there were a lot of questions as to who would benefit most from the all-star threesome. Woods low-keyed the pairing; Mickelson said playing with Tiger pumped him up; and Bubba whined about the golf course. That Woods played the best -- really, at times, brilliant -- golf was another impressive step in rediscovering the Full Tiger. "I played well today," Woods said. "I felt like I had control of my game all day and just stuck to my game plan and executed my game plan. I felt very pleased with every facet of my game today and I stayed very patient out there. As I said, I was very pleased how I executed my game plan." Related: The most grueling U.S. Opens in history Of all the majors, the U.S. Open will be the one that will be the most difficult to win for Bubba. He simply does not drive the ball accurately enough to handle U.S. Open fairways, and his imaginative shot-making is of little use in the deep rough that lines the fairways at Olympic Club. There was a lot of ugly in his 78 shots Thursday, but he saw the beauty in Woods' game. "That was the old Tiger," said Watson, who dismissed his round as just a bad day. "That was beautiful to watch. That's what we all come to see. That's what we all want to watch and that was awesome to see him strike the ball." Mickelson said earlier he'd been having trouble focusing in early rounds of tournaments and that's why he was excited about playing with Woods. He thought it would psyche him up. But the five-time runner-up in this tournament hit the ball all over the California coast on his way to a 76. He also took note of the quality of Woods' play. "Yeah, he struck it really well," Mickelson said. "He's playing really well. Had really solid control of his flight, trajectory, the way it occurred, it was impressive." When all is said and done here, the USGA might want to reconsider such high-profile pairings and instead spread around the talent wealth. About the only folks who really benefitted from Woods, Mickelson and Watson playing together was ESPN, which has the early-round TV rights. Almost everyone other stakeholder got the short end of the stake. The crush of gallery and media about the group made it difficult to see for those folks who paid good money to be on property. It also left other groups with embarrassingly small crowds. And clearly, the carnival atmosphere didn't help either Mickelson or Watson. While Bubba and Lefty got failing marks for all aspects of their games in the first round, Woods was impressive. He drove the ball extremely well, shaping it into scoring positions brilliantly. His iron play, however, remains not nearly as precise as it once was. Time after time, he put his tee ball in a perfect scoring spot and then didn't get the ball close to the hole. When he hit it stiff on No. 3 -- his 12th hole -- Woods missed the four-foot birdie putt, highlighting another club that does not perform the magic that was once routine for Woods. And after driving into the greenside bunker on the short par-4 seventh hole, Tiger played a poor sand shot and made only par. But the fact that his 69 could have been lower has to be a positive sign. And perhaps most impressively, and most importantly, Woods handled the mental aspect of the sexy pairing better that the other two. Tiger, who used to dominate his playing partners mentally and owned the intimidation factor, had lost that pretty much since Y.E Yang took him down in the 2009 PGA Championship. There are signs he is getting it back. Related: The Tiger Woods timeline At the Memorial two weeks ago, Woods birdied three of the last four holes to win, including turning an impossible up-and-down on No. 16 into a chip-in birdie, a bit of the magic the Full Tiger used to have. There was just enough of that kind of Woods on display Thursday at Olympic Club to make you think he could join Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus as the only four-time U.S. Open champions. Woods does have one more day paired with Lefty and Bubba and one more day could well be all that is left in their U.S. Open, especially since the rule that all those within 10 strokes of the lead make the cut has been abandoned. The Full Tiger used to start majors with a solid couple rounds, take the lead on Saturday and close it out on Sunday. This felt a little bit like the beginning of that. Let's see if he can follow the rest of the game plan. -- Ron Sirak Follow @ronsirak !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

14

Jun
Thu

Dustin Johnson launches drives from home plate

For most players, the Wednesday before a major offers one last opportunity to complete preparation for the tournament. Even so, players employ different strategies. Some play and practice hard while others, such as Phil Mickelson who played at San Francisco GC instead of Olympic Club on Wednesday, seek to get away from it all. For Dustin Johnson, it meant taking a few cuts at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.Not with a bat, however. As part of a promotion by TaylorMade-adidas, Johnson's equipment sponsor, DJ was to hit tee shots using his R11S driver from home plate, over the right field wall and into McCovey Cove, the body of water behind right field. Only some 150 yards, the task of reaching the water was no major feat. Still, Johnson had several members of the hometown Giants and visiting Houston Astros mesmerized with his powerful blasts, one which measured 344 yards.After the exhibition (which included similar attempts by former major leaguer J.T. Snow and Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain, the latter showing plenty of game with a trio of impressive drives), Johnson fielded questions in the Giants dugout, including one about why he was doing something such as this on the eve of a major."I played baseball in high school and I thought it would be pretty fun," said Johnson. "It's the first time I've been to the stadium and not everybody gets to see it like this. I have an afternoon tee time tomorrow so it's no big deal. Plus if you're doing a lot of work on Wednesday you're really not prepared."Johnson, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch (bouncing the ball short of the plate; check out the video, below), can only hope his prep at AT&T Park brings the same results as it did for Cain, who went on to pitch a perfect game against the Astros. --E. Michael Johnson

14

Jun
Thu

U.S. Open: Thursday's Birdies and Bogeys

Who were the winners and losers on Thursday at Olympic Club? It's time to take a closer look with another edition of birdies and bogeys.

13

Jun
Wed

Nicklaus and Zhang: Two prodigies generations apart

SAN FRANCISCO -- At ages 13 and 14, some of us have mastered the complex movements necessary to tie our shoelaces. Then there are Jack Nicklaus and Andy Zhang. Nicklaus was 13, the youngest player in the field, when he walked onto the first tee for the 1953 USGA Junior Amateur Championship. He arrived 30 seconds before his 7 a.m. starting time. He heard the voice of Joe Dey, the USGA executive director. "Young man," Dey said, "30 seconds later, you'll be starting on the second hole, 1-down." Never, not once ever, did the chastened young man show up late for a tee time. Zhang is 14. Born in Beijing, China, now living in Florida and a student at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, he will become the youngest player in U.S. Open history when he tees it up at 8:21 Thursday morning at Olympic Club. Zhang, 14, is the youngest player in U.S. Open history. (Photo: Getty Images)As it happened, Nicklaus did a press conference today in the Open media room. The occasion was the USGA's announcement that it has renamed its Open champion's medal "The Nicklaus Medal." The organization also announced the creation of a "Nicklaus Room" at its museum in Far Hills, N.J. A couple hours later, the USGA delivered Zhang to the media room. Nicklaus had enriched and entertained the assembled literati, a 72-year-old elder statesman filling notebooks with memories and opinions formed in another century and refined in this one. Then came the prodigy, Zhang, who charmed everyone with memories from . . . this week. Related: Golf's all-time biggest phenoms He'd played Open qualifier rounds in Florida and was the fifth alternate waiting for a spot in the tournament. He flew to San Francisco and was on the putting green at 5:20 p.m. Monday when an USGA official informed him a spot was open due to a withdrawal and asked if he wanted to play. "And I got really excited," Zhang said, smiling, "and I'm here." On the plane ride here, he had asked a friend, "I was, like, so I get to practice on the driving range and putt and chip in the U.S. Open facility. So is it OK if I go up to Tiger and those great players for autographs?" The friend told him, "No, you are going to be the one who is giving out autographs." Zhang again, shyly: "And I came here and everybody knows me for some reason. Yeah, I'm signing autographs, I guess." Asked how he dealt with nerves in such a situation, or if a 14-year-old even has nerves, Zhang said, "I do." Laughing now. "I definitely do. I am shaking a little right now sitting here. I heard Jack Nicklaus was sitting in this chair this morning. Was he?" Murmurs of assent from the scribblers . . . "Yeah? So I'm trying to get used to this." A nervous chuckle here. "I'm not doing quite well right now." Give him another 58 years, maybe he'll be as much at ease as Nicklaus was in that same chair. Give Andy Zhang four Open championships, 18 major championships in all, maybe he, too, will sit back and tell us, in wonderful detail, the difference between winning his first Open and his last major championship 24 years later. "One, I was a young kid," Nicklaus said, meaning the 1962 Open, "and the other I was an old man," meaning the 1986 Masters. The '62 Open was played at Oakmont, just outside Pittsburgh, home country to the game's everlasting king, Arnold Palmer. "I didn't realize, and I'm a young 22-year-old kid -- I had no idea that Arnold Palmer lived anywhere near there," Nicklaus said, adding this aside: "A 22-year-old doesn't have much of a brain, anyway, sort of goes along and whatever happens, happens." Related: 10 Ways to Win the U.S. Open at Olympic This happened: Nicklaus beat Palmer in a playoff. "And, all of a sudden, 20 years later, you look back on it and say, 'Wow.' . . . In '86, when I won the Masters, you know, I was basically beyond my career. And nobody thought I could win the golf tournament, including me." As he had learned to win at Oakmont -- his first professional victory -- in 1986 Nicklaus remembered how to win. "And that was unbelievably exciting, to be able to come down and be able to, at 46, control your emotions, control your golf club and golf ball enough to enable you to compete against the best in the world, which you hadn't competed well against for a couple of years. That was pretty thrilling. "So there are two totally different things. One is, you've got this young kid growing up and trying to figure out how to become a player. And the other one is, you've got this older guy who has forgotten how to become a player and is trying to remember again. It's totally opposite." One thing more, perhaps a comfort for Andy Zhang, perhaps not. Jack Nicklaus played his first Open at age 17. The greatest player in history shot 80-80. -- Dave Kindred Follow @davekindred !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

13

Jun
Wed

Quiros provides the Open its first highlight before it even begins

SAN FRANCISCO --  Alvaro Quiros couldn't see the ball land. He couldn't see it roll, and he couldn't see where it finally wound up.But almost immediately after hitting his tee shot on the par-4 7th, Quiros could hear something. The hole was cut 290 yards away, and Quiros had just been deliberating with his caddie between hitting a driver and a 3-wood on the drivable par 4. Turns out driver in his hand was a pretty good choice."The people on the grandstand behind the green started screaming and standing, so we thought we hit the flag," said Quiros, who is one of the longest hitters in the Open field. "Then (playing partner Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano) said, 'I think you holed it.' I said, 'I'm not going to hole it. I'm just trying to find the fairway, and now you tell me it's in the hole. Come on.' "But then as we walked to the green people in the crowd started to tell me, 'Congrats.' So once people started to tell me this sort of thing, that's when I realized we had holed it."" Related: The Greatest Shot of All Time? As Quiros later learned, his tee shot carried to the ridge bisecting the green, then took one hop before landing in the cup (footage of the shot, and the ensuing reaction can be seen here). The ace in his final tune-up before the start of the U.S. Open was Quiros' first on a par 4. Will it provide a springboard to more highlights this week? Quiros could only hope."It's just a practice round, but it's still a great shot," he said. "Sometimes the way to build up confidence is to hit a great shot."-- Sam Weinman Follow @samweinman !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

13

Jun
Wed

USGA names gold medal in honor of Jack Nicklaus

SAN FRANCISCO -- On the eve of the 112th U.S. Open, the United States Golf Association will announce that it is dedicating the gold medal presented each year to the U.S. Open champion in honor of Jack Nicklaus, Golf World has learned. A press conference is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. PDT at Olympic Club with Nicklaus, winner of a record-tying four U.S. Open titles, expected to be in attendance. The gold medal, to be officially named the Jack Nicklaus Medal, dates to the first U.S. Open in 1895 when it was presented to winner Horace Rawlins. The medal never has had a name, and its design has evolved over time. It now will incorporate a silhouette of the Golden Bear in a follow-through pose. "While every major championship is meaningful and memorable, I have always considered the U.S. Open the most important major championship to me," said Nicklaus, 72, of North Palm Beach, Fla. "The U.S. Open represents our national championship, and because I am an American there is a special connection to that major. The dedication of this medal, and to be associated with this great championship going forward, is among the most special recognitions I have ever received. Related: Jack Nicklaus' career highlights "Honestly, it's something that I haven't quite gotten my head around totally," added Nicklaus, winner of 18 professional majors and two U.S. Amateur titles. "To think about your name being attached to something like that for years to come is pretty overwhelming."

13

Jun
Wed

A Stanford standout's unusually busy U.S. Open debut

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Open is a hectic week for every player in the field, but Cameron Wilson's schedule is busier than most. On Wednesday, the Stanford sophomore has to move out of his dorm room down the road in Palo Alto. And on Tuesday night, he turned in a term paper on Islamic modernism in the 20th century. "I'm interested in the topic," Wilson said. "But not at this moment." Understandably so. There's enough to occupy his mind as it is. On Tuesday, Wilson played a practice round at Olympic Club with Tiger Woods and another former Cardinal Casey Martin, an experience that helped him get ready for his U.S. Open debut. Cameron walked alongside Woods on Tuesday. (Photo by Getty Images)"We didn't talk about Stanford a whole ton," said Wilson, who will be paired with Martin on Thursday and Friday. "We talked more about the golf course and preparing for the Open. "I'd never played with Casey but I've seen him a lot on the road, since he's the Oregon coach. I'm excited to play with him in the tournament. And Tiger had some good advice for playing this golf course. He was awesome and answered some of my questions and could not have been better." The 19-year-oldfrom Rowayton, Conn., earned his way into the Open by shooting 71-65 during his sectional qualifier at Canoe Brook Country Club. His mom, Myra Gelband, is a longtime journalist (and former researcher for Golf Digest's Dan Jenkins) who currently works on the communications committee for the USGA. "I'm going to try and watch him play," said Gelband. "It's wonderful to see him do something he loves in such a great setting. It's his first Open and it's new territory for me, because usually when I watch him play I'm just his mom, not someone whoworks at the USGA." Wilson, who started playing golf when he was two years old, has already built up an impressive resume. The lefty has played the U.S. Junior four times (2007-'10) and the U.S. Amateur three times (2009-'11), and he was named the 2009 Met Golf Association Player of the Year. "Playing in the Open is kind of like the next step for Cameron," says Gelband. "It's very gratifying for him." Golf isn't the only sport that claims Wilson's time. From November through the middle of March, he competes for the Stanford squash team, a sport that helps him stay well rounded and hones his already-keen sense of competition. His twin sister, McKenzie, is a sailor for Stanford. So how will Gelband feel on Thursday, watching her son play in his first U.S. Open? "It's new territory for me," she said, while smiling. "Ask me Thursday night." -- Ashley Mayo

13

Jun
Wed

57 years later, Jack Fleck is finally getting his due

SAN FRANCISCO -- Good for Jack Fleck, that's what I say. At 90, he is winning again. Not on the course, as he did on the demanding holes of the Olympic Club in 1955, when he was David to Ben Hogan's Goliath, beating the icon in one of golf's largest surprises at the U.S. Open. He isn't swinging the clubs now, but he doesn't have to. This is a triumph of perception, of people realizing what Fleck achieved those many Junes ago in a way that didn't happen then. When he denied Hogan a record fifth U.S. Open title, Fleck, in some ways, was denied himself. What Fleck accomplished at the 1955 U.S. Open was unexpected, but it wasn't a fluke. Fleck wasn't gifted the national title by a vaunted champion who felt sorry for him -- Fleck tied Hogan at the end of regulation when he knew what he had to do then beat him, 69-72, in an 18-hole playoff. On that weekend, the better golfer was Jack Fleck. As he said Tuesday at Olympic, "I out-Hoganed Hogan." The quality of Fleck's golf becomes abundantly clear in the two new books out on the subject, The Upset by Al Barkow and The Longest Shot by Neil Sagabiel. Fleck had worked hard to transform himself from an impatient golfer who pouted when things went sour to a calm player capable of succeeding against the man he long idolized on the sport's biggest stage.

13

Jun
Wed

A year after his major breakthrough, is McIlroy a changed man?

SAN FRANCISCO -- All but grown up, though still with much to learn about golf and life, a lot has changed in the 12 months since Rory McIlroy became U.S Open champion. One year on from that sensational and already iconic eight-shot victory at Congressional, the cute wee mop-topped Belfast boy is all but gone, replaced now by a fair facsimile of the mature man he will soon enough become. Not all of which is necessarily desirable or good, at least for those who yearn for true openness. Perhaps stung by the first real criticism of his professional career, the 23-year old Ulsterman is noticeably more careful in his public utterances, golf-related or otherwise. Where once there was a genuine kinship with a media that has covered his prodigious golfing feats since the age of six, there now exists a palpable wariness and even a growing suspicion of the (sometimes non-existent) hidden motive he imagines behind every question. He may not have anything to hide, but there are certainly areas of his ever-more jet set, Monte Carlo-based existence he'd rather not discuss. Increasingly and understandably then, McIlroy takes refuge in the dull platitude and cliche, a stark contrast with the refreshing honesty and language he brought to the microphone and tape recorder earlier in his remarkable career. Where once he went for the verbal carry over the corner or distant bunker, these days he more often than not plays safely down the fairway. In other words, his interviews contain a lot more pars, fewer birdies and hardly any eagles.

13

Jun
Wed

Assessing the amateurs' chances at Olympic Club

SAN FRANCISCO -- If history is any indication, it would be no surprise to see an amateur on the leader board this weekend at the U.S. Open.  To wit: three of the four previous times the USGA has brought the national championship to the Olympic Club, an amateur has finished inside the top 15 after 72 holes. Harvie Ward posted a T-7 performance here in 1955, Johnny Miller a T-8 in 1966, and Matt Kuchar a T-14 in 1998. This year's amalgam of amateurs might not be large in quantity -- eight amateurs is the fewest to compete in the Open since 2002 -- but it is long on quality. Leading the way are Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth, a pair of U.S. Walker Cup team members who are no strangers to the spotlight. Cantlay finished T-21 at last year's U.S. Open. (Photo: Getty Images)Cantlay claimed low amateur honors a year ago at Congressional CC, finishing T-21. It was the first of six made cuts in seven PGA Tour starts over the last year for the 20-year-old from Los Alamitos, Calif. A repeat performance at Olympic would make the current UCLA undergrad just the third golfer since World War II to claim the honor in back-to-back years, joining Jack Nicklaus (1960 & '61) and Phil Mickelson (1990 & '91). He would also claim the second leg of the 2012 amateur "triple crown," after earning low-am honors at the Masters in April. (He has a spot in the British Open field, provided he does not turn pro beforehand.)