Parity On The PGA; Miernicki Makes Pro Debut

Well, the golf world of writers had it right this time, right? On the eve of the 112th U.S. Open, the media had Webb Simpson as their favorite, didn’t they? Sure, Tiger was in the conversation but could anyone look past Webb’s breakout season in 2011? I mean, the guy had two wins, three runner-up finishes, and twelve top ten finishes. How could they not have him as the favorite?

Turns out, no one had Webb as their pick to win the U.S. Open. Except for, well, Webb Simpson. That’s exactly how the golf world has worked the past couple years. No one really knows who’s going to win each week. Parity was a term that was rarely used in the conversation. From 2000-2008, during Tiger’s dominance, players played for second and third place. Phil Mickelson won two Masters and one PGA Championship. Vijay Singh dethroned Tiger Woods as the number one player in the world. It was the Tiger, Phil, and Vijay show for many years.

Now, it’s the “who’s going to win this week?” show. There was more parody in a Weird Al Yankovich album than there was parity in golf. Dare I say, golf almost became–boring? Ok, maybe it wasn’t boring but it was missing some good ‘ol competition. Today, the competition is better than ever. Fields each week are deeper than before and guys like Webb Simpson, Johnson Wagner, George McNeill, and John Huh became a part of the conversation. Huh? In the last fifteen majors, there has been, yep, you guessed it, fifteen different winners. Could Weird Al write a parody on parity? 

All the aforementioned names have won this year on the PGA Tour. That’s right, they’ve won, and weren’t just weekend contenders. It’s tough to find parity in sports. Everybody wants it except for the teams and/or players that are winning. We forget how important parity is to each respective sport. Parity, is what makes teams and players better. Players will spend an extra hour on the range each day so they won’t fall behind their peers. Saturday at the U.S. Open, Woods played a guessing game on the greens at Olympic Club. Guess who was on the putting green until dark that night?

Tiger, of course, boosted ratings and brought more sponsors to the game. Prize money went through the proverbial roof, and golf was “cool” again. Just like baseball, chicks dig the long ball. Why else do you think Gary Woodland plays golf?

Parity has found its way back onto the PGA Tour and it isn’t going anywhere. Tiger may be back in the conversation, but he’s not entirely “back.” He needs to win a major before we go there. Keep the channel tuned and we’ll see where that saga goes.

From the never-ending saga that is Tiger Woods, to a new saga, local talent Daniel Miernicki tees it up this week in the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour. Son to PGA Director of Instruction at Twin Oaks, Paul Miernicki, Daniel looks to start off his virgin career with a good start. This will be his first official event as a pro. The Oregon Duck star was one stroke from qualifying for the U.S. Open, only to get beat by rival player from Oregon State, Nick Sherwood. Daniel’s coach, Casey Martin, also topped  him in the sectional qualifier. Coaches are so mean today.

Finding a lot of success during college, Miernicki faces a new battle on tour. A rookie with no status, he will look to sponsors exemptions to keep making starts and hopefully, making money. The equation is pretty simple: play well, make cuts, and keep your head on straight. Daniel kept his head during his college career winning five times and was ranked eighth in the nation with a scoring average of 70.70 as a senior.

Daniel will sport Nike at the Travelers Championship. He also hopes to follow in his fellow competitor, Patrick Cantlay’s, footsteps. Only a short year ago, Cantlay shot 60 in the second round to record the lowest round by an amateur. Cantlay also makes his pro debut this week in Hartford. I guess the Travelers Championship is a good place for college kids to make their pro debut. Miernicki hopes that history will repeat itself. So does his father.

 

 

Hit ’em straight!

Eddie

 

 

The U.S. Open: An Olympic Sized Challenge

It’s not too often that we talk about PGA touring professionals walking off the 18th green with their tail between their legs. Their heads hanging low. Their heads shaking in disbelief after a lost ball, just one foot off the fairway into the rough. It happens to us all. Even them. Especially this week. Weekend hackers love to see the pros on TV struggle just like they do. This is the one week where the average golfer can somewhat relate to the pain you see on the faces of PGA Tour players.

The golf universe has gathered at The Olympic Club in San Francisco for the 112th playing of the United States Open Golf Championship. All the big names are in the field and so are some no-namers. That’s right, Dennis Miller is playing in the U.S. Open. No, not the comedian. I’m speaking of the teaching pro and Director of Golf at Mill Creek MetroParks in Youngstown, Ohio. A lot of you may be asking the question: How did a teaching pro get into the U.S. Open? And my answer is easy: He qualified.

Barely.

Miller made a 20-foot birdie on the fourth extra hole to earn one of three spots available at the sectional qualifier in Columbus, Ohio. What made the putt so dramatic is that Miller didn’t even see the putt drop. Putting from just off the green, the ball made its way to the hole looking good the entire way. Until it actually got to the hole, and hung on the lip for a few seconds. Just long enough for Miller to look away in disbelief as his dream to play in the U.S. Open, was shattered. But it wasn’t. Just as Miller turned away, the ball hanging on the lip, finally dropped, sending him to his first U.S. Open.

The U.S. Open is tough and full of rough. There won’t be an even lie anywhere on the golf course. Fairways slope left to right on a right to left dogleg hole and right to left on a left to right dogleg hole. Player will have downhill approach shots hitting downwind into a straightforward green. Uphill approach shots with a hanging lie to a green that slopes severely back to front. Confusing? Try playing the course. There is only one fairway bunker on the entire course and its location on the sixth hole is quite devious. Players will need  a 295 yard carry to get over the bunker. The par 3 third hole has five bunkers surrounding the green. A daunting task sitting at 247 yards from par, players will count their blessings walking away with a three. Oh, I forgot, the stimpmeter will be set anywhere from 12-14. For those who have never heard of a stimpmeter, it’s a device that measures the speed of greens. I won’t bore you with how they measure it but I will tell you the greens are brutally fast at those numbers.

Add all that into the equation, plus major championship pressure, equals one heck of a test of golf. Always known as “golf’s toughest test,” the U.S. Open in past years has provided more drama than a Lindsay Lohan arrest. In 2006, Phil Mickelson was a self-proclaimed ‘idiot’ for double bogeying the 72nd hole, losing by one stroke. Not to mention, he had a one stroke lead on the tee box. That’s the Phil Mickelson we all know and love. In 2008, Tiger won on a broken leg and may very well have changed Rocco Mediate’s career path with one stroke of his putter. Poor Rocco.

What kind of drama awaits us this year? Well, I ask that rhetorically of course, but lets take a look at some pairings that we as the media, get all excited about. The USGA loves to play to the crowd. In the past few years, they have paired world No. 1, 2, and 3 together. The tradition continues this year with Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, and Lee Westwood teeing off at 1:29 PST. Fans won’t have to wait too long to get the marquee group of Woods, Mickelson, and Watson. The USGA was licking their chops when they brilliantly thought of that pairing.

Mickelson and Woods were paired together for the first and seconds rounds in the 2008 U.S. Open and we all know how that ended. Is this another omen? Another unique pairing is Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, and Graeme McDowell. You have two former U.S. Open winners(Furyk and McDowell) paired with one of the games best players yet to win a major. It seems like only yesterday that Garcia was literally and figuratively, chasing Tiger Woods down the fairways at Medinah in the 1999 PGA Championship. Garcia has since had a fantastic career, but still hungers for that elusive major championship.

Come Thursday, all 156 players in the field will start out at even par. All hope to stay there, most will not. Half the field will leave Friday evening wondering what could have been and why they hit 7 iron instead of 8. One more bounce to the left and one less putt might have got it done. More circles than squares on the scorecard, please. The dreaded double squares, and triangles can stay away. “Other” scores need not apply. A few fours and fives across the board will do just fine.

Par is not a good score. It’s a great score. This week, it just might win the 112th U.S. Open.

Hit ’em straight!

Eddie

A Memorable Memorial

Oops, he did it again, didn’t he? He captured all your hearts back with one shot, didn’t he? He made you wait a whole three years for a magical, suspenseful, hold-your-breath moment. Most devoted fans have probably been blue in the face waiting for that to happen. Well, y’all can exhale now because he finally gave you what you have wanted since Elin took a nine iron to his face.

Allegedly. Probably. Most likely.

Yep, Tiger Woods won again on Sunday and for a few holes it looked like he was going to slowly fade away like a rookie on the Nationwide Tour, trying to win for his first time. But he didn’t. He actually did the complete opposite of that. The old Tiger came out of the proverbial bag, and Woods showed us some of his old tricks. Apparently, Tiger likes to wait till, say, the 16th hole of tournaments to close the door on the tournament. For those who forget easily, I will remind you of what Vern Lundquist said way back in 2005 at The Masters: “In your life have you seen anything like that?”

Well, Vern, we saw it again on Sunday at The Memorial. In Jack’s house, of course. Tiger picked a perfect time to clutch up, and in my humble opinion, hit a shot that was tougher than what he had at The 2005 Masters. Hitting his tee shot over the green on the 215 yard par three, Woods was faced with an extremely difficult up and down for par. With the green running away from him and towards water, Woods had to land his ball on a dime. Woods has been known to chip in at The Memorial before, but this was no picnic. Or, I guess you could say it was. With lots of ants ruining his lunch, and clouds moving in, ready to pour down rain. But this time, it was perfect weather for the perfect storm.

Woods hit the perfect shot, quietly rolled down the hill and into the cup. BAM! Pandemonium struck and the town of Dublin had experienced a 2.9 tremble on the Richter scale. Tiger didn’t look back, parred the 17th and threw his nine iron to, well, nine feet for birdie on 18 to wrap up his second victory of the season. The intriguing thing about this victory, is that it comes two weeks before the next major. Well, Tiger won at Bay Hill, which was also two weeks before a major. He then went on to produce a club-throwing, scattered ball striking, tie for 40th.

Oh, Tiger, your timing couldn’t be more perfect. The U.S. Open is in two weeks! Will history repeat itself? Tiger always talks about, ‘peaking for the majors.’ Well, he better not peak too early. Olympic Club won’t take anything but near perfect driving accuracy and precision iron play. Last I checked, Tiger’s not the straightest driver of the golf ball. When asked if he’ll put a 2 iron in the bag, Woods replied, “absolutely.” Well, it better be absolutely straight. And long.

Olympic Club will play about 7,170 yards but will feel much longer than that. Golf’s toughest test will again make the pros feel like weekend hacks, scrounging around the course trying to find a par. Get ready for cliché statements from players who are just “trying to shoot around par.” Players who find themselves “around par,” will also find themselves near the lead on Sunday. That’s just how it goes during the U.S. Open.

For those youngsters and adults who are trying to find par themselves, “summer” is in full swing here in San Diego. Now I put summer in quotes because, let’s be honest, it’s always summer here. I laugh at myself every time I find myself checking the 10-day forecast. My point is simple: get out and golf! If you’re a newbie to the game, the JC Intro2Golf program is perfect for  you. Summer golf camps start next week at Oaks North. As an instructor, I love this time of year. All the kiddos come out in their stylish little outfits and display their innocent but boisterous personalities. It’s a lot of fun to see the future of golf and be able to be a part of molding these kids into future golf stars!

I hope to see you all out on the course this summer!

Hit ’em straight!

Eddie