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26.06
US Open:
Hvor vanskelig skal det
være?
Av: Asbjørn Ramnefjell
Her er hva som skjedde på den siste dagen for å redde hele
turneringen fra å bli en
fullstendig katastrofe.
Som TV-kommentator under US
Open tillot jeg meg å stille
spørsmål ved om banen rett
og slett var i forsvarlig
stand til å spille på. Jeg
var ikke alene. Problemene
med flaggplasseringene var
et omtridt tema. Det
TV-seerne ikke visste, var
noe av det som står i
artikkelen gjengitt under av
Gary Sheppard på The Wire.
Det 7. hullet var unfair før
vanningen tok til etter at
de første spillerne hatt
hatt urettferdige forhold.
Fra artikkelen under:
There was a serious
situation developing on the
seventh green. Among the
first few players to play
through the hole a triple
bogey and two double bogeys
had been recorded. The hole
location could not be
changed, so the only option
was to syringe -- another
expression for watering the
hole to help soften it
without making it slick.
De måtte flytte hullet på
det 11. hullet like før de
først spillerne kom dit.
(fra artikkelen under:
At the 11th's current
location, Meeks said that “a
third of the players would
putt it off the green.”
Selv etter fire flyttinger
karakteriserte spillerne
flaggplasseringen som
unfair. Da blir det litt
tullete at forståsegpåere i
Norge skal mene at det er
slik det skal være for å
gjøre det vanskelig. Det
skal ikke være så vanskelig
at det blir latterlig. Dette
er det dessverre mange som
ikke klarer å forstå.
På det 18. hullet:
With more than 200
spectators watching, Meeks
soon realized the original
hole would be too tough to
putt to.
Godt arbeid på søndag gjorde
US Open til en minnerik
opplevelse - helt på kanten
av det forsvarlige med
hensyn til banens
vanskelighetsgrad. Men
innenfor rammen.
Her er hele artikkelen til
Gary Sheppard:
Sunday, June 20: The final
round, 104th U.S. Open,
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
I awoke to a nearly
picture-perfect day with
deep, clear blue skies,
moderately gusty winds and
temperatures in the upper
50s. This was the best day
of the entire week and I
thought it would be a
fitting final day of the
U.S. Open.
At 8 a.m., I met Tom Meeks
as scheduled and we headed
out to begin placing tee
markers on the 10th hole.
Meeks showed me my first "inside
the ropes” fact: The tee box
markers change location on
each of the four rounds in a
very specific fashion.
Thursday through Sunday, the
tee markers are moved
progressively closer to the
front of the tee box on
even-numbered holes, while
moved progressively further
back in the tee box on
odd-numbered holes. After
taking the red U.S. Open
logoed ball markers from
their protective green felt
holders and carefully lining
them about 8 or 9 yards
apart, Meeks then took out
his white paint spray can
and marked the exact
location of the markers with
four tiny white dots,
indicating it was the fourth
day of marker locations. We
then hopped back on the cart
and drove down the
undulating 10th fairway
before coming to a stop just
before the steep rise to the
10th green.
Meeks and Mike Davis, USGA
director of competitions,
along with other USGA
officials, met on the
previous weekend to decide
on the hole locations for
each of the championship’s
four rounds and one extra in
case of an 18-hole Monday
playoff. Meeks and Davis not
only checked the hole
locations for S unday, but
were also marking with a red
dime-sized paint mark, the
locations of holes for a
possible Monday playoff.
Meeks also placed his spray
paint can on Sunday's
selected hole location and
then took a few test putts
from various locations on
the green to see what the
ball was going to do. Meeks
said he wanted to avoid a
location that would have the
ball accelerate toward the
hole and not have a chance
to stop.
When asked his thoughts on
the condition of the greens,
Meeks said they were in
great shape and were playing
“a few inches quicker than
Saturday.” I did not see any
so-called “dead areas” that
players later complained
about, but there was a
mosaic of colors from shades
of green to brown.
The greens are a combination
of bent grass and poa annua,
which is what tends to brown
because it cannot handle the
drought stress as well as
bent can. The green surfaces
were very firm and I was
barely making any
indentation with my running
shoes, at least none that I
could see. The surfaces
appeared to be very clean,
free of scuffmarks and
looked to be amazingly
smooth, practically polished
like a fine piece of my
grandmother’s antique
burled-walnut furniture.
Meeks continued to putt
toward the spray paint can
on the 10th and was
satisfied with the location.
He then summoned John Nunez
to cut the hole. Now it was
on to the 11th tee box.
Meeks again unwrapped two
tee markers and took an
approximate reading of where
he wanted to line up the
markers. He looked toward
the uphill green and
outstretched his arms. He
then pressed them into the
tee box, marked their
location with four shots of
paint and headed to the 11th
green.
Lee Trevino once called the
par-3 11th hole the "shortest
par-5 on the course." At 158
yards, it was the shortest
hole, one in which the green
slopes from back to front.
The wind was blowing from
the North-Northwest directly
over the top of the backside
of the green. The hole
location had been chosen for
the right front, but when
Meeks went thr ough his
putting routine his putts
were accelerating past the
can and running off the
front side toward the front
right bunker. He tried a few
more times and got the same
result. After moving the can
a few feet over to the right
front, Meeks got a result he
was satisfied with -- so it
seemed.
Despite the hole having been
cut, Meeks was not convinced
this was a fair location due
to the strong winds blowing
over the backside and down
toward the flag. He tried a
putt from the top of the
green and the ball began
trickling, then accelerating
and showing no signs of
slowing down. I chased after
the ball to prevent it from
running off the green and
into the bunker. Another
putt produced a similar
result. The hole, though,
had already been cut and the
crew had moved onto the
12th.
Meanwhile, another problem
was surfacing. On Meeks'
radiophone was Davis. There
was a serious situation
developing on the seventh
green. Among the first few
players to play through the
hole a triple bogey and two
double bogeys had been
recorded. The hole location
could not be changed, so the
only option was to syringe
-- another expression for
watering the hole to help
soften it without making it
slick.
Meeks saw the potential for
the same problem on the
11th, so he sought help from
Walter Driver,
vice-president of the USGA
and chairman of the
championship committee. He
also called Tim Moraghan,
director of USGA
Championship agronomy.
While waiting for Driver and
Moraghan to arrive, Meeks
said the USGA wants to make
it tough, but not to the
point where players have
little or no chance of being
able to slow the putt before
it reaches the hole. At the
11th's current location,
Meeks said that “a third of
the players would putt it
off the green.”
Driver attempted a few putts
and none held the green.
Driver then turned to Meeks
and said, “Let’s put the
hole right in the center of
the green and let the
players aim for the center.”
Meeks put his can dead
center in the middle of the
green, then Driver wa tched
as his 10-foot putt rolled 8
feet past the hole. He tried
again with even worse
results.
Finally, Meeks moved the
location to the back right
side, where the green was
relatively flat. Meeks'
putts came to a stop and
held. After about an hour on
the 11th green, Meeks
finally said “Let’s move it
boys and I’m sorry to make
you cut a new hole, but we
have to do it.”
He called the USGA office
and gave them the new
coordinates: “9 left, 9
right, 20.” This was now the
fourth hole location tried
that morning. By day's end
no player was criticizing
the final location as being
unfair.
Meeks made the call to move
the location slightly at the
12th and was then pleased
with the 13th and 14th
greens.
On one of the tee boxes,
Meeks said Shinnecock Hills
Golf Club actually owned the
flags and ball markers, not
the USGA. Meeks said the
USGA used to design plain
block-shaped tee markers and
those almost never got
stolen, but the current
“commemorative style” that
are printed with the
specific year's U.S. Open
logo were more prone to
disappearances.
As we reached the 15th green,
a spectator commented that
the hole location that Meeks
was test putting toward
appeared quite close to the
fringe. The fan asked why it
was so close to the edge of
the green and Meeks replied
with a smile: "They mow it
don’t they?” Meeks later
added that 4 feet was the
closest he could remember
hole locations being from
the edge of a green.
On the 16th green, the
location was set for the
right center and Meeks
needed only a few putts to
confirm that it was OK. Fans
applauded when Meeks'
15-foot putt came to rest
within an inch of the
intended hole.
Later in the day, Phil
Mickelson took a one-stroke
lead over Retief Goosen with
a birdie putt. Goosen later
birdied the hole, as well.
At the par-3 17th,
Saturday’s hole location had
been left front. Today, it
was planned to be right
front with a very slight
break going left to right
from the topside of the
green. Little did anyone
realize at the time that
this slight downhill break
would snatch the U.S. Open
away from Mickelson with a
three-putt double bogey from
within 6 feet of the hole.
The crowds were beginning to
swell. It was just after 11
a.m. and already the ninth
pairing had teed off on No.
1. At the 18th green, a
sizable number of fans were
in the grandstands and in an
assortment of fold-out
chairs ringing the roped off
area surrounding the green.
Meeks reached down to the
spot marked for the final
hole location on this
sweeping green and placed
his spray can right over the
tiny red circle. Walking
back behind the spot about
12 feet, he lined up his
putt and stroked it toward
the can. The ball gathered
speed, passed the can and
began rolling toward me near
the center of the green. The
ball kept rolling past me
and really began picking up
speed.
With more than 200
spectators watching, Meeks
soon realized the original
hole would be too tough to
putt to. A second location
did not work either, so he
went further back and to the
left about 4 yards in from
the left side fringe and 6
yards from the backside.
Meeks got his putts to stop
close, so finally he had a
hole location.
He radioed in the spot to
the USGA office, and
officials quickly made their
third revised hole location
sheet of the day and got
them out to the caddies and
media by just after 11:30
a.m. As the 18th hole was
being cut, Meets got a call
from Driver, who was at the
seventh hole. There was
trouble and Meeks was on his
way.
Meeks wanted the hole
locations to be a test for
the players, but also fair.
In my opinion, he
accomplished both goals.
-
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