by Gary Williams | Jun 12, 2023 | Blog
“Nobody ever wins the National Open. Somebody else just loses it.” The words of four-time U.S. Open champion Bobby Jones describing what it takes to win the national championship. It’s an event with a particular identity that for decades was associated with very certain things. But, like virtually every college football fan base, had developed an identity crisis. Ninety percent of college fans think their school should be competing for national championships when reality suggests maybe 10% can or do actually win “Nattys”. The U.S. Open was THE event when I was a kid. The Masters was beautiful and emerging as a brand globally in the 70’s. The PGA was always hot and simply seemed important, but you saw more of it than the other events week to week, and the Open Championship was on so early and for so little time that I couldn’t grasp how amazing it was until I started to gain some context. I knew exactly what the U.S. Open was and it’s time for it to be that again, unequivocally, starting this week at Los Angeles Country Club.
“You not only have to be good, but you have to have two horseshoes up your rear end. You’ve got to be lucky to win the U.S. Open.” Words glibly spoken by Sam Snead who never won the U.S. Open and was gutted by it finishing second on four occasions. Luck, resolve, patience, determination, guts, will, are all words associated with winning the U.S. Open. We don’t invoke phrases that are more closely associated with endurance examinations than we do the biggest event conducted by the United States Golf Association. I was 14 years old when my dad took me to the opening round of the 1980 U.S. Open at Baltusrol. We followed Tom Weiskopf because my dad knew I wouldn’t see any shots if we followed Nicklaus. I saw a 63 shot that day, of course Nicklaus shot 63 that day as well because that’s what he did to Weiskopf. On Tom’s best days Jack was usually just a little bit better or equally as good which meant more anguish for Weiskopf. I loved everything I saw that day including P.J. Boatwright, the executive director of the USGA. Yes, a man in a white oxford button down shirt with a regimental stripe tie and a bucket hat was cool to me. I thought he was golf’s ombudsman and felt that way for his entire career. The men in the blue blazers with the constipated looks on their faces were golf’s high court. They were the judge and jury of what was a proper major championship set up and their championship was the standard by which all golfers of the elite level should be measured one time annually.
‘The U.S. Open has never been exciting to watch. It has always been a sad tournament. There is no excitement, no enjoyment. It is all defensive golf, from the first tee to the last putt.” The words of Seve Ballesteros who never won a U.S. Open and whose closest finish was a 3rd place in 1987, five shots behind Scott Simpson. Simpson was a classic U.S. Open player of his time. He made 16 of his first 17 cuts in the U.S. Open and had a five-year stretch including his win where he was in the top 6 four times including a playoff loss to Payne Stewart in 1991. Plodding and patience was rewarded and simply not emotionally malfunctioning was supremely important. Seve would have been challenged in any era to win the U.S. Open but at his zenith he almost got it done because he was a genius as soon as he got off the teeing ground. Today’s player is wired for aggression and the plodder or U.S. Open specialist doesn’t really exist anymore. Lee Janzen is not walking through the clubhouse doors at LACC next week to contend. But, to me, it’s not about the player anymore, it’s about the venues and the set-up. For the last two decades the USGA has tried to be more benevolent, more inclusive of public golf courses as it relates to the host venue while also meandering through clumsy set up situations and potential rules infractions. While all of those things were transpiring the Masters, and Augusta National, was ascending to a place in the public’s consciousness that put them way out in front as the major with unequaled gravitas. While I’m very partial to the U.S. Open Championship as being the most charming and uplifting major to attend and watch, the Masters was taking digital distribution, the media experience, the modesty of concession prices, and the lore of the annual spring renewal to unmatched heights. So, where is the U.S. Open now?
“A difficult golf course eliminates a lot of players. The U.S. Open flag eliminates a lot of players. Some players weren’t meant to win the U.S. Open. Quite often, a lot of them know it.” Jack Nicklaus’ words personify the reputation the U.S. Open had firmly established when he won his first in 1962 and it was in place when he won his last in 1980. It’s not easy to not buckle under public criticism and the scrutiny of your top players and the USGA like all golf organizations have had to adapt as social media has allowed for more noise unchecked by the masses and the stars. Players don’t take on Augusta National on issues of set-up or “fairness”, it’s just not done, but it’s not like it’s not said privately. The USGA has been made vulnerable by their own missteps and the changing times, but one thing must happen for them to regain what was once theirs. Don’t apologize for your event being the hardest. Don’t run from the reputation of the set-up walking the line, embrace it. Don’t try again to go to new places for varying motivations when your rotation of big, brawny and ballsy U.S. Open venues have history on their side. Los Angeles Country Club is already booked for a return visit in 2039 and after this week I believe fans are going to be begging for it to return sooner. The USGA has the mind and skill of Gil Hanse as the true U.S. Open doctor who will not commit malpractice to the detriment of the championship or the hosting memberships of venues going forward including Merion, Oakmont, Winged Foot, and Oakland Hills. Present America’s great golf courses under the most demanding and exacting conditions. Be pragmatic with some interesting design features that give the best golf courses elasticity and variety. Straddle that line and if your set-up crosses it, own the mistake and move on. And most importantly, reclaim the steely refrain of the late Sandy Tatum who stated, “we’re not trying to humiliate the best players in the world, we are simply trying to identify who they are”. Finally, it’s Hollywood, entertain us.
by Gary Williams | May 12, 2023 | Blog
Budgets and expectations are generally separate and exclusive from each other but in golf they converge constantly. The budgeting of major championship victories for players is a frivolous exercise and those who participate invariably over budget once a player with real pedigree breaks through. Winning one usually raises our expectations for more and those who don’t get one early either are deemed as underachieving or destined for a short haul overall. Historically, great players usually didn’t wait long to break the seal on major championship victories, with a few exceptions, but today’s game presents a different approach to determining who and how many.
Jack Nicklaus’ first professional win was the U.S. Open in 1962 in a playoff over Arnold Palmer. Foreshadowing for one of the most absurd careers and major championship resumes the game will ever see. Tiger Woods won the Masters in 1997 by 12 shots in his first full season as a professional. Ushering in what I refer to as the 100-year flood of a career. Arnold Palmer won the U.S. Amateur in 1954 and in his ninth major championship start won the 1958 Masters. It took Ben Hogan a little longer, one because it took him a little longer to find his footing in professional golf (and World War II canceled three years of major championships golf) and most Americans weren’t even competing in the Open Championship at that time. Hogan would break through in the 1946 PGA Championship and his nine major victories in a condensed period will be hard pressed to be equaled by anyone in today’s game. More recently, Jordan Spieth captured his first major in his 8th professional start at the 2015 Masters and Justin Thomas won the 2017 PGA in his 10th major start. Conversely, Phil Mickelson had 22 wins and was 33 years of age before he finally broke through at the 2004 Masters and was historically one the most accomplished winners in PGA Tour history without a major when he finally crossed the line. Sergio Garcia was a victim, just ask him. Whether it was of the draw, dumb luck, his own petulance or trying to swim in the Tiger Woods riptide. He finally got his major in 2017, and like Greg Norman, Tom Weiskopf, and Fred Couples, his major victories seem much less than was expected. To say nothing for Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, or Doug Sanders. When we start to project, I think we hand out way too many, neglecting to factor in how fickle it all is and how history is our greatest guide and yet we don’t trust it to forecast the future.
Which brings us to the next major in the men’s game at Oak Hill for the 105th PGA Championship. Oak Hill has sneaky good history. Cary Middlecoff, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Curtis Strange all are in the Hall of Fame and won majors at Oak Hill. Shaun Micheel was an upset in one of the more upsetting major years in history in 2003 and Jason Dufner was the 21st ranked player in the world when he won the last major played there in 2013 at the PGA. Under the direction of Andrew Green, the East Course is being returned to many of the Donald Ross looks and design principles from years ago and I’m feeling a really good week for the club and the reception the course receives from the players. Since 2010 there have been seven players who have made the PGA their first major championship victory and there is a stable of players with similar accomplishments who are good enough to make Oak Hill their first.
Xander Schauffele has 23 major starts and has been in the fire late several times at different majors. He was the last line of defense to Francisco Molinari at the Open in 2018 and was in the heat at the Masters in 2019 and 2021. He has six top 5’s in majors and his wins have bold type with an Olympic gold medal, The Tour Championship, the Tournament of Champions and a World Golf Championship. He is as accomplished as any player without a major title.
Patrick Cantlay has lived around the top 10 in the world for several years and his overall production is just short of Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler. His major record is skimpy for the standards he lives by with only three top 10’s in 24 major starts. He has dubiously retreated in a few big moments late like the 2019 Masters, where he faded to a tie for 9th. With eight wins and tons of cash, Patrick needs more major moments late on Sundays to quiet a steady cynicism that is associated with his chances of winning one of the big four.
Tony Finau went years without winning and in the last 19 starts he has racked up four wins. If you assess those fields, they all lacked depth of top 20 players. That is not his fault but it’s the reality of the players who he’s beat in those weeks. He did go through world number one, Jon Rahm, in Mexico which is a notch and his major record in 27 starts is sturdy. Tony has top 5 in all four majors and finished in a tie for seventh in the Masters in April. Additionally, he has been one of the better Americans in the last three team competitions. Finau is going to win a major and Oak Hill could be the spot.
Cameron Young only has seven major starts in his young career, but he ran third at the 2022 PGA and was sensational in pushing Cam Smith to the line at the Open Championship. When he wins it’ll be the first of many and a major as his first makes complete sense. Add in the presence of Paul Tesori on his bag and he has a guy with many late Sunday tee times giving advice and pulling clubs.
Max Homa wins a lot now and with that comes a referendum on his major starts. In his 14 major starts in his career, he has yet to notch a top 10 finish, but last year’s PGA produced his best result, T13, and he knows people are making note of his results in these events now. Winning habitually and being on American teams means we keep score during major weeks. It’s time for Max to contend. He’s that good.
Viktor Hovland has deficiencies the closer he gets to the hole, but he is showing improvement. Major winners on average are going to miss 16 to 18 greens over the course of the week and Hovland will need to be more efficient around the greens, but he has the ball striking to stand tall with anyone in the game. 13 major starts have produced a couple top 10’s including a tie for fourth at the 2022 Open championship. Hovland is most certainly capable of showing major championship chops he just needs to be better than he’s been on and around the greens.
Players will tell you that more players than ever can win tour events. Less can win major championships but there is still a legit pool of players capable of breaking through next week. The reason why no player other than Tiger and Phil have gotten to five major titles or more in the last 35 years is because more can, and the wealth has been divided. If we are to see a first-time major winner at Oak Hill, I’ll ride with Tony Finau.
