Water nothing like casual
in drenching U.S. Open start
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Tiger Woods was 14-for-14 in fairways hit in the final round of the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago. On the strength of this awesome and uncharacteristic display of accuracy by Woods, the pundits awarded him the U.S. Open in advance. The U.S. Open opened Thursday, and Tiger Woods was 2-for-5 in fairways hit through the first six holes (one of them was a par-3 and doesn’t count in the fairway derby).
There isn’t really a great deal to be to be made of this point, except that it happened, and that he got no further. He and and everyone else got just a short way into the first round before a long and persistent rain dropped enough water on Bethpage Black to force officials to call play for the day.
Casual water? (Snort.) Hell, they were looking for casual ground.
For keepers of the trivia flame: Play was suspended at 10:15 a.m. and continued through the day, and despite the intentions of officials to get this ship under way, they finally ran up the flag at 1:55 p.m. Half the field -- 78 of the 156 -- had got started.
It was the first weather delay at a U.S. Open since 2004, at Shinnecock Hills (also on Long Island, just down the road). More rain is expected, and so if this Open is forced into an extra day Monday, it will be only the third time in history.
“It was wet and windy,” Woods said, in an abbreviated statement. “It was a slow day. We had to get in as many holes as we possibly could, and we played more holes than we thought. I knew it was going to be a tough day, and it was.”
He knew it was going to be a tough day at No. 1, where – his precision bombing at the Memorial notwithstanding – he airmailed his opening tee shot about 50 yards to the left, near the huge merchandise tent. Echoes of Phil Mickelson at Winged Foot, hitting a commercial tent with his tee shot at the 72nd. The difference, of course, is that Mickelson’s wildness cost him the 2006 U.S. Open, and Woods’ at Bethpage cost him nothing but a slight detour. He went over to the tent and proceeded to salvage a par out of that wild drive. Then at the par-4 fifth, he went wild in the other direction, to the right, then got himself bunkered, and finally two-putted for a double bogey-6. A birdie at No. 6 leaves him at 1 over and two off the lead coming out Friday morning. These are merely orientation points at this moment. Chances are very good that Jeff Brehaut, Johan Edfors, Andrew Parr, and Ryan Spears, all tied for the lead at 1 under at various stages, are not thinking of winning at the moment.
Brehaut, 46, currently a Nationwide Tour player and a tie for 17th in his only other U.S. Open appearance, in 2007, has his 1-under through 11 holes, the deepest any of the leaders has gone into long, drenched Bethpage Black.
“It played longer than even in the practice round,” Brehaut said. “I got a couple of good breaks when I drove it in the rough, where I could get a lie that I could handle.”
Even in the rain, the graduated rough, starting at about 3 ½ inches at the edges, was being negotiable. But the Black, at almost 7,500 yards, was still a load. Brehaut, who started at No. 10 and bogeyed, hit a 5-wood into the 11th, a 5-wood into the 12th, a 3-wood into the 490-yard 16th.
“I hit a 5-wood into 13,” said Brehaut, of the 605-yard par-5, “for my third shot.” And birdied.
“But I got a couple of balls up and down when I needed to,” he said, “and I found myself at the top of the leaderboard and seeing what Tiger goes through every day.”
The water came so fast and heavy that the guys running squeeges over the greens, trying to get the excess water off so the players could putt were overwhelmed.
U.S. Golf Association officials said that Bethpage Black drains well. So did Noah, at his home course. So play will resume Friday morning. Weather permitting, and no one will greet it more than Jeff Brehaut.
The highlight of Brehaut’s second U.S. Open so far? It came at No. 9, when he hit a bunker shot that trickled into the hole. He liked it so much, he dropped another ball and hit that one in, as well. In practice, of course.
“I signed about a half hour’s worth of autographs,” Brehaut said. “I told my wife I felt like I had just won the tournament.”
Weather willing, he’ll come back to No. 9 sometime Friday morning. The world awaits his next bunker shot.
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