Grip on Sports: It may have been an historic day at Pebble Beach, but it wasn’t the U.S. Open history we expected
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Brooks Koepka gave it everything he had. He attacked Pebble Beach for four days, leaving the course each day with a score in the 60s. And yet he didn’t win the U.S. Open for the third consecutive time. Gary Woodland did. That’s darn impressive.
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• Going into Sunday, every man who ever shot four consecutive scores of 69 or better in the U.S. Open had won. Not anymore. That’s how well Woodland played.
And that’s what it took to deny Koepka a place in golf’s history books. (OK, he already is in there by winning four majors in eight starts, including back-to-back PGA and U.S. Open titles, but you know what I mean.)
There was Koepka, posting birdies on hole after hole to start, nearly making up all the ground between him and the 54-hole leader in the first five holes. But it was one of the easier holes, and one 4-iron from the fairway, that may have decided the championship.
On the par-5 sixth, Koepka pushed his approach shot right and was unable to chip close enough to make birdie. If he had – or had found the green with this second and made eagle – the final 12 holes probably would have played out differently.
Oh, there were still chances for either Koepka or Woodland, prime examples of golf’s current bomb-and-gouge culture inspired by Tiger Woods, to either run away or collapse, but neither did. And though both can hit any club, from driver to sand wedge, ungodly distances, it was there scrambling skills that allowed them to remain engaged with each other.
Both made mistakes on Pebble’s tough back nine. And both found miraculous ways to salvage the hole. Every time you thought either had put themselves in a spot that would ruin their day, boom, the Fox announcers were marveling at their recovery.
It made for an exciting Sunday, even if Woodland made sure it wasn’t historic – in the way we expected.
• Spokane’s Alex Prugh made a few appearances on Fox’s coverage, one for a great shot and one for, well, his athletic ability.
He made eight birdies en route to a final round 68, which tied him for 21st with such stars as Tiger Woods and Jason Day. But it was a double bogey on nine Fox honed in on.
Prugh faced a shot buried in the high grass around a bunker. When he took a hard stab at the ball with an awkward stance, the ball didn’t seem to move. But Prugh’s stance did, giving out. He was headed for what seemed to be an awkward fall into a steep bunker. But he was able, almost cat-like, to catch himself and land on his feet.
Even one of Fox’s announcers – I don’t know which one because so many of the voices sounded alike – marveled at his athleticism.
Though it was Father’s Day, my guess was Prugh got that from his mom, Susan.
• Pebble Beach is open to the public. If you or I wanted to, we could work a few months of overtime, save for a couple years or sell our car on e-Bay and play it someday. It’s possible. Hard, and expensive, but possible.
That’s not true of next year’s site, Winged Foot CC just outside of New York. Or most U.S. Open sites. They really aren’t open to most of us.
Torrey Pines, Bethpage, Chambers Bay, Pinehurst. Those are places anyone who is willing to pay the freight can play. It’s too bad there aren’t more courses like that in the rotation.
And why we are at it – mildly criticizing the site selection – the geographic representation has been pretty spotty over the years – though it is marginally getting better.
The Northeast and the Midwest seem to represent the U.S. to the USGA. A large majority of Opens have been played in those two regions. The South? Atlanta and Pinehurst, N.C., have combined to host four times in more than 100 years. The West? It’s been represented, what with Pebble and Torrey and the Olympic Club (and Los Angeles Country Club coming up soon) involved, though the West is more than California, last time I looked.
Chambers Bay, and the Northwest, was given a shot. But a series of missteps by the USGA and organizers sabotaged its appearance, and it may never return.
The Mountain West was well represented for years by Denver’s Cherry Hills, but that course, and the possibility of a 450-yard, mile-high drive, has disappeared from the rotation.
In reality, when it comes to the United States Open, about every three years it is within a couple hundred miles of the USGA’s New Jersey home, leaving the rest of the nation to fight for what’s left.
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WSU: It looks as if the Cougars’ running back depth has been supplemented for next season. Theo Lawson has the story of Deon McIntosh, a former Notre Dame player, who reportedly will be joining Washington State for the fall. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, we can pass along basketball news from Colorado and baseball news from Oregon State. Other than that, it is mid-June, so there is very little news.
Indians: Spokane scored six times in the sixth and defeated Vancouver 7-5 yesterday in Northwest League play. … Around the Northwest League, Tri-City pinned a loss on Everett and Hillsboro took two-of-three from Eugene.
Mariners: Mike Leake is pitching well. He did again yesterday, as the M’s finished up a successful three-game series at Oakland. Will his success bring Seattle more in a trade? … Austin Nola finally made it to the big leagues. … Gene Warnick has his Out of Right Field recap and will be suffering the indignity of having to watch me play golf this afternoon.
Seahawks: So just who will be on Seattle’s roster?
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• I’m receiving a belated Father’s Day gift today. No, my son isn’t paying for our golf. I’m getting something better: He’s giving me seven strokes a side and conceding all putts within 2-feet. In exchange, I won’t remind him all day of how much his mother and I have spent on him over the years. Seems fair. Until later …