On Our Mind Golf Blog

The governing bodies of golf and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem have proved to be more resolute in their decision making than whichever agency within our often inept federal government was in charge of the transition from analog to digital television.

Tuesday morning Finchem announced that there would be no delay in the implementation of a rule change outlined by The U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient, the organizations who are to golf what the Guardian Council is to Iran, that would alter allowable dimensions in grooves on most irons and all wedges (24˚ of loft or more), thus creating less spin on shots out of the rough and therefore placing more of a premium on driving accuracy.

Over the weekend Japanese teen sensation Ryo Ishikawa, who created a media frenzy during his appearances in the U.S. earlier this year at The Masters, Northern Trust Open, etc...won the Mizuno Open, his third career title on the Japan Golf Tour. The victory puts the 17-year-old into the field for next month's Open Championship at Turnberry.

Fellow teen stars Rory McIlroy and Danny Lee also earned their first professional victories overseas, winning the Dubai Desert Classic and Johnnie Walker Classic respectively. Even 22-year-old amateur Shane Lowry catapulted onto the world golf scene with a win at the 3 Irish Open this year.

At this point in her career, finally winning a professional golf tournament would be more of a relief for Michelle Wie than it would be a celebration. It would be cause to jump up and down, kick and scream and set off fireworks prior to the 4th of July for the LPGA Tour and the USGA.

Last month Wie failed to qualify for the upcoming U.S. Women's Open at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa., but the USGA does reserve a spot in the field for anyone who wins an LPGA co-sponsored event for the 52 week period prior to the U.S. Women's Open. 

Soon enough, Joe Everybody will be cramming into the back seat of his Chevy Cavalier and spending the night in the parking lot at Bethpage, hoping to be one of the select few heading to No. 1 tee at the Black Course come Monday morning. Consider the U.S. Open torch passed to Pebble Beach.

I’ve had a few days now to rest and recover from my trip to Long Island on Monday, and reflect on the happenings of U.S. Open week. 

President Obama passed on throwing out the first pitch on opening night at the new Nationals Park. The POTUS probably didn't want to be associated with a perennial loser (The Nationals) in the middle of a financial meltdown. The man was in search of good vibrations, and the D.C. baseball club has enough trouble with grade school level spelling.

But Obama has decided to finally take the mound. He'll do so at the MLB All-Star game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 14. He will be the fourth President to throw out the first pitch at the All-Star game, joining John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Ceremonial first pitches are as customary as trips to Camp David for U.S. Presidents. In fact, the first pitch tradition outdates the Presidential retreat by two decades. Every President since William Howard Taft in 1910 has thrown an first pitch at either Opening Day, the All-Star game or during a World Series. 

The towering grandstands surrounding Bethpage Black’s signature stretch of holes from No. 15 to 18 will be merely a memory by the time the first public golfers tee off Monday morning. That’s when the Black Course is schedule to re-open for daily-fee play despite the beating it took during U.S. Open week.

"Honestly, it’ll be all right," Superintendent of the Bethpage State Park golf course Craig Currier told New Jersey’s Star-Ledger. “We’re going to mow, we’ll put some holes in the green to get some air in them. Just give them a break for the week and keep the rollers off of them. Just let them dry out.” 

With his hands shaking and heart racing 29-year-old Lucas Glover sank a short par putt, which was anything but routine, considering the circumstances, to become the champion of the 109th U.S. Open contested over the waterlogged links of Bethpage Black. When Glover’s ball banked off the bottom of the cup just after 1 p.m. Monday it signaled an end to what will most likely go down as one of the oddest weeks of major championship golf ever played.

Patience was at a premium at Bethpage for players, tournament officials and spectators, who all waited out multiple weather delays throughout the week and did the best they could despite a rather ramshackle schedule. In the end, it was Glover’s patience that propelled him to a victory likely to define his career. 

On the eve of the 109th U.S. Open championship, it's tough to imagine a player not named Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson winning the tournament if you've been watching any of the preview programming put on by the likes of The Golf Channel and ESPN.

Obviously Lefty is the sentimental favorite and rightly so, and as someone who'll be in the gallery at Bethpage Black on Sunday I'd absolutely be thrilled to experience the emotions of a Mickelson march up 18 with victory in hand, but if I had to pick between the two, I'm taking Tiger all the way.

Repeat after me, the LPGA Tour is not the PGA Tour, not now nor will it be at any point for the forseeable future unless the American competitive sports landscape drastically changes. Even after Tiger Woods has moved on to the Champions Tour or accepts an offer from the 46th President of the United States to become a goodwill ambassador for our nation, the LPGA will not exceed the PGA in popularity, watchability or bankability.

With that said, I found the announcement earlier this week that the No. 2 Course at Pinehurst Resort in the Sandhills region of North Carolina would be the first ever venue to host both the Men's and Women's U.S. Open Championships in the same calendar year (2014) and would do so in consecutive weeks to be a bit disconcerting.

Update: The Allentown Morning Call is reporting that Michelle Wie was one of 75 players who failed to qualify for the Women's U.S. Open Monday, shooting 71-74 to finish with a 2-over 145. The necessary score to make it into a playoff for the last of the 30 spots available at Woodmont Country Club was 1-over 144.

Blair O'Neal managed to survive another elimination on the Golf Channel's Big Break: Prince Edward Island Monday evening, but wasn't so fortunate Monday afternoon. She struggled en route to an opening round of 80, and finished with a more respectable 75 but was never seriously in contention for a spot.

"It was really rough," she told the Washington Examiner, which was on hand to cover the event. "I really struggled on the first 18. It was like I wasn't even there. It was like I was on the outside, looking in."

Natalie Gulbis also failed to qualify during the proceedings at Woodmont.