Lucas Glover: Was this a one-shot deal a la Shaun Micheel/Ben Curtis/Todd Hamilton or a springboard to great things?
I’m not inclined to jump hard on either of those choices. Before yesterday, you could say Glover had had an underachieving career. He made a President’s Cup and barely missed the last Ryder, but had won only once and had done nothing in the last 18 months or so.
There’s nothing wrong with his game that I can see and there’s one thing very right about it- he might be the best driver of the ball in the world, and that’s usually big in majors, always in U.S. Opens.
On the other hand, this might be unfair, but I’m not inclined to give him quite 100% credit for this major, in terms of the intangible benefit going forward. This was probably the least chokable U.S. Open in memory, for a variety of mostly weather-related reasons. The golf course was long and tough, but not at all hard (as opposed to soft) and fast and scary.
Also, all the starting and stopping due to rain delays, while undoubtedly a pain in the ass, probably helped the less-experienced guys. If nobody’s completed the same number of holes at the end of a day, are you really “sleeping on the lead”? The whole thing was so, what’s the word… diffuse?… that I suspect it was easier to ignore the leaderboard and just go play.
Glover shot 73 Monday, three over. Given the position he was in with 18 holes left, with the only guy in his path the overmatched Ricky Barnes, any world-class pro could have done about what Glover did, sort of methodically, competently finish the deal off
Phil Mickelson: I heard somebody on TV call Phil, “Probably the most talented player in the world except Tiger Woods.”
You know what else he is? The most accomplished player in the world except Tiger Woods. Who is the most accomplished player in the history of the world.
Looking at Phil 10-15 years ago, you’d have thought the U.S. Open was the major he’d be least suited to. To say he is not a target-golf, point A-to-B-to-C-type player would be an understatement. Yet he’s the first guy to finish second in an Open five times.
I’m fully expecting the fresh-from-vacation Ruppie to come in here any minute and, assuming he can give the Phillies a rest, start ranting about how Mickelson gagged, etc. The truth is he’s always just been crazy-erratic, for good and bad. But his ability to push bad stuff aside, whether it’s the driver he just hit 75 yards off line or the 4-footer he just missed or his wife’s health issues, is remarkable even by great-golfer standards. He doesn’t get enough credit for that.
David Duval: Now here’s the week’s really interesting development. People have forgotten, understandably, how good this guy was.
At one point, beginning with his first win in October of 1997, he won 11 times in less than a year-and-a-half, including a Player’s Championship. There have been 3-4 59s shot on the PGA tour, but only one of them, Duval’s, came on a Sunday when he needed it to win by a shot. He dominated a British Open. He was actually the best player in the world for a while before the official rankings caught up.
He’s a Tiger-level talent, but incredibly different from Tiger as a person, in terms of mental/emotional makeup. This is golf’s Mickey Rourke. He was never going to be a 25-year career grinder. So he dropped off the grid for 5-6 years, fell in love with a woman and with being a husband and father, and now he’s back, at 38.
I promise you, Tiger doesn’t scare this dude. Duval’s never going to be No. 1, but he might be to Tiger as Trevino was to Nicklaus, which would be quite cool.
Eldrick: How many times in the last 6-7 years have you watched Tiger and thought, ‘My God, if he drove the ball in the fairway, he’d be 30 under par.’ That’s what I was thinking when Tiger was winning Memorial two weeks ago - “how come he’s not 30 under?”
Driving in golf is in some ways like serving in tennis. If you’re the clear-cut best player in the world while getting your first serves in 50 percent of the time, and you all of a sudden have a tournament when you get them in 95 percent of the time, you’re not just going to win. You’re going to annihilate people.
Tiger drove it the best he ever has in his life for 72 holes at Memorial and shot 12 under on a par-72 course with reachable par-fives. This should not have been seen as a reason to concede him the U.S. Open, except that people assume, somewhat understandably, that he’s superhuman.
Pre-surgery, Tiger’s short game was not only the best ever by light years. It was better than had previously been imagined possible. But until very recently, I suspect that Tiger hasn’t been able to practice normally for months and months. He actually is human, sort of, and his short game is just not at the same insane level. He can win now, and he can’t not contend, but it’s gonna take some time for him to be Superman again.
I still don’t think Hank Haney’s doing him any good.
