Tiger’s Tale Doesn’t Have A Happy Ending

Even Tiger Woods doesn’t have free run at the Congressional Country Club.

The 21-year-old Masters champion, perhaps trying to avoid the huge galleries that follow him to distraction, showed up at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday to play the back nine in preparation for the U.S. Open. When he got to the 13th, he was ordered to stop because the course had not yet opened for practice.

Woods was “a little uptight” over the situation, according to one marshal, and left to work on his putting game at the practice green. He returned to the course at 7 a.m. and played No. 10, but had to skip Nos. 11 and 12 because they were being mowed.

He then played the last six holes, hitting the water twice with approach shots at the 17th.

Woods then stood for about five minutes at the bank, watching a snake that was near his ball. The reptile eventually swam away and Woods retrieved the ball, ignoring yet another Congressional rule posted on a nearby sign: “No fishing during golfing hours.”

Love story

Davis Love III was just a baby, so he had to rely on his father’s own explanation as to why Davis Love Jr. finished only 43rd at the 1964 U.S. Open, the last time the tournament was held at Congressional Country Club.

“You know, any player always embellishes their golf,” Love said. “But his story was that he played behind (winner) Ken Venturi, and it was so slow and so hot that it made it hard for him, so that was his excuse.”

By the way, Dad also came up with a good reason for finishing 31st at Augusta two months earlier.

“His excuse at the ‘64 Masters was that I was due to be born any day, and that’s what messed him up,” Love said. “Yeah, I never bought that one, either.”

Busy father

The father will be playing in his 41st consecutive U.S. Open and the 150th major championship of his legendary career. The son will be playing in his first Open and first major.

So it’s only natural that the father, Jack Nicklaus, expects to be more nervous for the third of his four sons in today’s opening round than he will be for himself?

“Isn’t a father always nervous for his son?” said the elder Nicklaus, a four-time Open champion.

It will mark the fifth time in Open history that a father and son have played in the same tournament. But it marks the first time in the Nicklaus family after numerous attempts by Gary Nicklaus and his three brothers to qualify.

“It’s a great thrill, because it’s my first U.S. Open,” said Gary Nicklaus, 28, who qualified for the Open in Orlando, Fla.. “Second, there’s a chance for me to play in a tournament that he has been so much a part of for so many years before he decides not to play in any more of these.”

Said Jack Nicklaus, who was given a USGA exemption for the fifth time, “Obviously we’ve always followed the kids and followed with every sport they’ve played. But when you get one to play in the U.S. Open that you’re playing in, that’s a little extra special and knowing that this is probably going to be my last regular U.S. Open that I’ll probably play in sequence, it’s very special.”

Signs of trouble

Talk about going the extra mile to host a golf tournament - Montgomery County is even changing one of its laws to make sure everything goes right at the U.S. Open.

The posh Washington, D.C., suburb currently has a regulation on the books requiring every pond deeper than 18 inches and wider than 20 feet be enclosed by a barrier fence to protect children and non-swimmers. No, golf courses aren’t excluded.

Worried that Tiger Woods would bank an iron approach off one of the signs on national television, the County Council is considering legislation that would allow golf courses make do with a warning sign erected at the entrance.

Of course, there’s a hitch. With committee hearings and such, it’ll be July before the bill moves through the glacial legislative process. Never mind, lawmakers say, the law will be made retroactive to early June, so the signs came before the players arrived this week.

Well-kept secret

He’s a former U.S. Amateur champion riding a hot streak. He’s won recently on the Tour and plays with a steely, steady demeanor. And he’s not Tiger Woods.

Justin Leonard, a relative golfing unknown despite his considerable accomplishments, says he has the game and the experience to contend in the U.S. Open. And he has another advantage: nobody seems to know it.

While the stampeding hordes searched for Woods and other big names over Congressional Country Club’s rolling acreage, Leonard completed a quiet practice round on the eve of the 97th U.S. Open. He did it in typical style, missing just one fairway all day - the kind of accuracy that will be crucial this weekend.