Don Hill has been named the new Elon men’s golf coach, and will replace Bill Morningstar, who retired this season after 41 years leading the Phoenix.
Hill spent the past two seasons as the associate men’s golf coach at South Carolina. He spent the previous eight years as an assistant men’s golf coach at North Carolina, and played the mini tours from 1999-2001.
“The opportunity to coach at Elon was very enticing and it is exciting to see all the growth that is taking place at the university,” Hill said. “I really believe we can build something special at Elon given the school, academics, community and facilities.”
Hill helped the Gamecocks to the NCAA postseason for the second consecutive year. In his time as North Carolina’s assistant coach, the Tar Heels won 10 tournaments, including the ACC Championship in 2006 and the UNCG Bridgestone Golf Collegiate in the fall of 2010.
Hill, a native of Mount Olive, N.C., played collegiately for North Carolina and graduated in 1999 with a degree in communications.
Elon is ranked No. 166 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.
Ernie Els flashed that easy smile when he saw a reporter walking toward the clubhouse at the TPC Sawgrass earlier this month.
''This must be great for you guys,'' he said through his laughter. ''Come out to the PGA Tour and every week they hand you another story.''
And he wasn't talking about Adam Scott winning the Masters.
The debate over anchored strokes and long putters. Deer antler spray. Rule 33-7. A player cleared of an anti-doping violation on a technicality, and then suing his own tour. Players hiring an attorney over a new rule related to the long putter.
And this was before the public spat between Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods took an ugly turn that brought overtures of racism back into golf.
''It's been quite a controversial year for golf,'' Lee Westwood said.
Woods already has won four times on the PGA Tour going into the Memorial, a tournament he already has won five times in his career. So when someone asked Westwood on Tuesday if there was a sense that the No. 1 player was on the verge of going on a big run, Westwood looked mildly perplexed.
''I think he's on one, isn't he?'' Westwood said. ''How many tournaments has he played this year? He's won more than 50 percent.''
But any talk of Woods is sure to include the illegal drop he took at the Masters, the two-shot penalty he received the next day, the incorrect scorecard with his signature on it and Augusta National invoking Rule 33-7, which gave it discretion to disregard the penalty of disqualification for the incorrect scorecard. That debate lost steam when Vijay Singh sued the tour the day before The Players Championship began at TPC Sawgrass, where the Fijian spent years honing a game that brought him nearly $70 million in earnings and a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Lawsuits against the tour are rare, but the details of this one were bizarre.
''Nobody has ever sued the tour for being cleared of getting a drug violation,'' Padraig Harrington said.
WADA warned against deer antler spray. Vijay Singh used deer antler spray. The tour proposed a six-month suspension. Singh appealed. WADA said deer antler spray was no longer the same concern. Singh was off the hook. And then Singh sued the tour.
The good news for PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was the lawsuit was largely forgotten three days later. The bad news for the tour was why it was forgotten.
Singh vs. PGA Tour felt like an undercard compared with Garcia vs. Woods.
The Spaniard threw a sucker punch during a rain delay by suggesting Woods was the cause of a commotion in their final group of the third round. Woods fired back by calling out Garcia for his constant complaining, which led Garcia to say Woods wasn't the nicest guy on tour. And with no interest by either side in a truce, Garcia tried to make a joke about having Woods over for fried chicken, and he wound up with egg on his face.
Garcia threw out the racial stereotype the same day that the Royal & Ancient Golf Club and U.S. Golf Association introduced Rule 14-1b, effective in 2016, that would ban the anchored stroke used for long putters - like the one Scott used when he won the Masters, or the one Els used at the British Open, and Webb Simpson in the U.S. Open, and the ones used by Tim Clark and Carl Pettersson their entire pro careers.
At least three players, including Scott, have retained a lawyer as they wait to see whether the PGA Tour goes along with the new rule. The tour met with its Player Advisory Council on Tuesday at Muirfield Village, the first step toward figuring out which direction it will go.
According to one PAC member at the meeting, there was passion on both sides of the debate, which was not surprising. And there was no consensus, also not surprising. This was only a conversation, and from all indications, no one called anyone names.
So much for golf's reputation as a genteel sport.
''Is it bad for golf?'' Nick Watney said Tuesday afternoon. ''It depends on your theory of publicity. If you had the Kardashian feeling that any publicity is good publicity, then it's good. If you're a purist in terms of golf, then it's bad. The lawsuits, the rule change, the little feud going on. My view is that it's bad. This is supposed to be a gentleman's game. We're different from a lot of other pro sports.''
This isn't the first time golf has gone way beyond birdies and bogeys.
There was the lawsuit involving Ping and the square grooves in the 1980s. There was Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, leading the breakaway from the PGA of America to start what is now the PGA Tour at the end of the 1960s. Imagine if Woods and Phil Mickelson did something like that today.
''It's not a perfect game,'' Curtis Strange said. ''Some people believe there's no such thing as bad press, but it seems like we're still having growing issues. We're learning how to handle doping issues, although nobody has learned to do that yet. I'm been reading about Lance Armstrong all day.''
It always seemed like some other sport's problems, and now some of those problems belong to golf.
''It's been great on the golf course - fantastic, really,'' Geoff Ogilvy said. ''Tiger has won four times. The Masters was amazing again. Any time golf is in the newspaper, it's a good thing for us. Obviously, the Sergio-Tiger thing wasn't good. But it has been a tumultuous year.''
And it's not anything Finchem can make go away with a wave of his hand. Considering that golf is a niche sport, maybe that's not the worst thing.
''Outside the ropes, golf is probably more interesting than it ever has been,'' Robert Garrigus said. ''I don't think it's all that bad if it makes our sport more interesting. There might be a few more people come out to the U.S. Open.''
That would be good for golf. Maybe not so much for Garcia.
A windblown rain fell through much of the practice round that Tiger Woods played at Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania in preparation for the U.S. Open, in temperatures that were a lot cooler than they likely will be in the middle of June.
But none of that seemed to bother Woods on Tuesday during his first time playing Merion.
"It was raining sideways and it was just an ugly day," Woods said Wednesday during a news conference for the Memorial Tournament, in which he is the defending champion. "We played it probably as long as it will ever be played.
"In June, obviously the weather won't be like that. It will be hotter. The ball will be flying. The clubs will be different. But the lines will be the same. It was nice to see and get an understanding of what I need to visualize and my prep, and get ready for that. I have a nice understanding of where my sight lines are going to be and where I need to land the ball."
Woods said Joe LaCava, his caddie, arrived Monday at Merion and surveyed the golf course with the assistance of Sean Palmer, the club's assistant golf professional.
"Joey scouted the golf course and got all the bracketing of where all the blind shots (are), where we need to keep it between," Woods said. "If you want to shade it to one side or the other, you want to get it down there farther, we've got to be on this side. He did a great job with Sean. It really helped out."
The Memorial will be Woods' last event before the Open, which begins June 13.
Presidents Cup: Davis Love III has been added as an assistant to U.S. Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples for this fall's team competition at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Jay Haas is also assisting Couples with the American team. The Presidents Cup will be played Oct. 3-6.
Hall of Fame: The only thing keeping Laura Davies out of the World Golf Hall of Fame is her stubborn desire to make it on merit. Now the 49-year-old star from England is starting to reconsider.
Davies wants to get in through the LPGA Tour's strict criteria of 27 points accumulated primarily through wins and majors. She has been stuck on 25 points since her last LPGA Tour win in 2001 in Rochester. She has played a limited LPGA Tour because Davies has supported the Ladies European Tour for nearly three decades, winning 45 times in the 307 events she has played.
U.S. Open qualifying: Matteo Manassero and Boo Weekley qualified for the U.S. Open by winning on separate tours. Manassero earned an exemption by winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, while Weekley's win at Colonial moved him into the top 60 in the world.
That means 78 players are exempt from qualifying, the highest number to earn exemptions since 80 players in 2006.
Golf: Tigers Woods likes what he sees at Merion - San Jose Mercury News
Max Homa took off his cap, wiped his brow and shook hands with his two playing partners on the 18th hole.
Not much of a celebration.
For Homa and his California teammates, there's more important work to do.
Winning a championship they all can savor.
Homa shot a 4-under 66 to win the individual title at the NCAA golf championship Thursday, and his steady play carried the Bears to the top seed heading into team match play.
"I'll probably celebrate for about 30 minutes, just hang out with my teammates, my best friends," he said. "Then I'll refocus on the real prize."
The Bears' senior leader birdied three of the first five holes, surging past second-round leader Jon Rahm of Arizona State, and didn't make a bogey on the Capital City Club's Crabapple course north of Atlanta.
Homa won the title by three strokes over Rahm and five others.
"This is the biggest accomplishment in my life, and it's not even close," Homa said. "Obviously, the team championship would be much better, but this feels very, very good."
Cal teammate Brandon Hagy was in the mix until a double-bogey at the par-3 15th. He wound up four shots back and gave Homa a big hug after they both were done.
"I'm so proud of Max," Hagy said. "He's a great player. He works so hard. He's definitely a deserving champion."
Coming into the championship as the nation's top-ranked team, the Bears lived up to their billing with a 16-under total. Host Georgia Tech was six strokes back as the top eight teams advanced to match play beginning Friday.
"I'm hoping we'll see Cal in the finals," Georgia Tech's Ollie Schniederjans said. "In match play, anything can happen."
Cal struggled on the closing five holes Wednesday, leaving the Bears one stroke behind Georgia Tech, but they were solid all the way around when it mattered. Michael Weaver shot a 69 and the two other scoring players, Hagy and Michael Kim, both finished at 70 to leave their team 5 under for the day.
The Bears entered the NCAAs as the overwhelming favorite after losing only two of 13 tournaments this season.
"We wanted to put in a good score," Hagy said. "We wanted to show everyone why we're No. 1."
Rahm, a freshman, opened the tournament with a dazzling 61 but couldn't keep it going. After sinking 10 birdies on Tuesday, he managed only one in the final round of stroke play for a 71 that left him among the runner-ups behind Homa, who posted a 9-under 201 on the 7,319-yard course.
Homa began the day two strokes back. A brilliant lob wedge at No. 2 set up a 4-foot birdie putt, a booming 3-wood at the par-5 fourth set up a two-putt from 50 feet for birdie, and a nifty chip from behind the green at the short par-4 fifth left him with a 5-footer for his third birdie in the opening run.
But the key hole may have been the eighth, where Homa rolled in a 40-footer to save par. After that, he was in control.
"That really settled me down," he said. "That really made me feel like everything was going to be all right."
Coming down the stretch, Homa knew he had a lead but didn't know how large it was. Finally, after putting his tee shot just off the right side of the 18th fairway, he asked coach Steve Desimone to check the scores. Learning he was comfortably in front, Homa knocked his second shot safely on the green to set up an easy two-putt par.
"When I got to 18, I asked where I stood," Homa said. "I wanted to have a number going into that shot."
UNLV was the only school to post a lower score on the day, putting up an 8-under total that pushed the Rebels into a four-team playoff for the final three spots in the team competition.
Defending national champion Texas and second-ranked Alabama tied for third, nine strokes behind Cal but easily good enough to advance. Illinois also moved on, another two shots back in fifth.
The last three spots were finally decided just before sundown. UNLV, Arizona State, New Mexico and Texas A&M finished 18 shots off the pace in a tie for sixth, forcing a playoff to eliminate one of them. The season ended for A&M when the Aggies made a couple of bogeys on the first round of extra holes.
The Friday quarterfinals will be Cal vs. Arizona State, Georgia Tech vs. UNLV, Alabama vs. New Mexico and Texas vs. Illinois. The winners advance to the semifinals the following day, with the championship match Sunday.
"When I came in as a freshman, I couldn't even imagine contending for a national championship," Homa said. "This gives me some extra confidence going into the summer, hopefully to compete in Walker Cup and then move on to my professional career."
Defending individual champion Thomas Pieters of Illinois closed with a 71 and wound up six strokes behind Homa. There hasn't been a repeat NCAA men's champion since Phil Mickelson in 1989 and 1990.
Cal Bears tops seeds at NCAA men's golf; Max Homa wins individual title - ESPN
Nobody said trying to win a national title would be easy. Yet for three of the four schools that claimed victories in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship Friday at Capital City Club's Crabapple Course, the process was more grueling than they had hoped.
"What was that the other day I said about this feeling like I was getting a root canal. You can magnify it now by about 10," joked California coach Steve Desimone after his No. 1-seeded squad squeaked out as 3-2 victory over No. 8-seed Arizona State. "I don't know if I have any roots left."
There was a familiarity between the Pac-12 foes, the two schools having competed against each other in seven tournaments during the 2012-13 season. In that sense, while the underdogs, ASU also knew what to expect from the team that's chasing not just a championship but the label of best college team ever. So it was that the Sun Devils managed to split the first four matches, 2-2.
The deciding point came down to a clash between Cal's Brandon Hagy and Arizona State's Jon Rahm, both of whom had top-10 finishes in the stroke-play competition. Hagy had a 1-up lead against Rahm on the 17th, and nearly closed out the match there before lipping out a four-foot par putt on the hole. On the par-4 18th, however, he hit his approach from 138 years with a gap wedge to three feet then had the putt conceded when Rahm missed a 15-foot birdie effort, ensuring Cal's dream season lived on for at least one more day.
Hagy's shot, however, wasn't the only clutch swing of the afternoon.
No. 2-seed Georgia Tech and No. 7-seed UNLV also sat tied 2-2 with one group on the course. UNLV senior Kevin Penner squared his match with a birdie on the 17th against Georgia Tech's Ollie Schniederjans, and the duo halved the 18th to force extra holes.
With the large partisan crowd following the Yellow Jacket sophomore to the first hole, Schniederjans found the fairway off the tee and then proceeded to hit the shot of the day—a lob wedge from 110 yards—that stopped two feet from the cup. Penner's approach was short and right of the hole, and he missed his chip to settle for par. Schniederjans tapped in the birdie, punctuated by a mighty roar, to secure his victory and a 3-2 team triumph.
"I knew it was down to that match," Schniederjans said. "All I could think about was the other times I'd been under that pressure and I do good. I was just super calm. I knew what I had to do. I make better swings under that kind of pressure. i don't know why. It feels good."
"The fun thing about coaching is just watching somebody do something cool," said Georgia Tech coach Bruce Heppler.
Both player and coach mentioned a similar moment that Schniederjans faced last fall at the U.S. Collegiate Championship when he hit shot to 2 1/2 feet on the 18th hole to set up an eagle that won the individual and team title for Tech.
"Back-slash, file save," Heppler joked about trying to rely on that positive memory for the future. "It's what you do when something is good. It's either that or back-slash, file delete. Make a choice. That's what you do with you good ones and bad ones.
Having survived close matches en route to the 2012 NCAA title, No. 4-seed Texas found itself on the wrong side of fate in its tilt with No. 5 seed Illinois, ending its quest at a repeat outside of Georgia. Illinois posted early wins from Thomas Detry and Charlie Danielson, then watched as Alex Burge, a sophomore who didn't break 80 in any round during the team's victory at the Fayetteville Regional, came through with an impressive 3-and-2 win over Cody Gribble to clinch a 3-2 team triumph and the school's best-ever finish at NCAAs
Illinois now faces California, a challenge that Illini coach Mike Small is looking forward to.
"It's going to be fun. There is no other word to describe it," Small said, noting how all five Cal players are ranked in the top 25 while his top player (2012 NCAA individual champion Thomas Pieters) is ranked 46th. "But you know what, it's golf, it's match play and we believe in ourselves and are going to enjoy ourselves and see what happens."
The only quarterfinal clash that lacked any real drama was No. 3 seed Alabama's 4-1 win over No. 7 New Mexico. Crimson Tide senior Scott Strohmeyer went 2-1 last year when his team lost in the finals to the Longhorns, and continued his match-play magic with a 4-and-3 victory over Benjamin Bauch. Teammates Justin Thomas, Bobby Wyatt and Cory Whitsett also won their matches as Alabama's quest to avenge its defeat in the championship match against Texas last year at Riviera CC continued.
Read More 3 of top 4 seeds advance to NCAA semis: Campus Insider: Golf Digest
“Could I interest you in joining me for a round of golf at my club on Saturday?” your new client asks at the end of your weekly meeting. Of course you accept. You love golf. But be careful.
Business golf is different from a round with your regular foursome. It can be a great opportunity to play a great course, but it can also jump up and bite you if you’re not careful.
Before the round, do a little homework. After setting the time to meet, find out the dress requirements at your client’s club. The best time to ask is when your client invites you; otherwise you can call the club’s pro shop to find out.
Be extra careful in picking your clothes. Clean golf shorts (no cargo shorts) or long pants, a collared golf shirt, cleaned and polished golf shoes, spare clothes for after the round, and for men, a blazer in your car just in case it’s required for the dining room.
Arrive at the appointed time or a few minutes early. As you turn off your car, turn off your smartphone as well. Many clubs have strict rules about cellphone use. If you have an app that lets you acquire yardage information, check with your client if it’s permissible to use before turning on the phone. If you can use the app, be sure your phone is on vibrate.
Even though you have been invited, it’s still good manners to offer to pay your greens fee. Ask your client about the club’s tipping policies. Come with small bills for tips or to cover a friendly bet.
On the course, take extra care to follow both the official and unwritten rules of the game.
■ Don’t assume a gimme; wait until your client says, “That’s good.”
■ Repair your divots.
■ Fix ball marks on greens.
■ Rake the bunker after you hit out of the sand.
■ Keep quiet when others are hitting.
■ Don’t hit out of turn.
■ Don’t swear or talk negatively about your game.
Finally, don’t try to talk business on the course. Business is better discussed — and deals more likely done — after the round. The real value of playing golf with a business associate is to forge a stronger relationship. Business might never get discussed, yet a successful outing can enhance opportunities in the future.
Finally, be sure to thank you client twice: first as you leave, and then in a note sent the next day.
How to excel at business golf - Business - The Boston Globe
Alabama won the NCAA Men's Golf Championship on Sunday with a convincing 4-1 win over Illinois.
It is the first-ever men's golf title for the Crimson Tide, who fell to Texas, 3-2, in last year's match-play finals.
"I'm really satisfied for these guys," said Alabama coach Jay Seawell. "You recruit them and I've known every one of these guys since they were 15 years old."
Bobby Wyatt kickstarted the impressive effort with a 6 & 5 rout of Thomas Detry in the first match at Capital City Club's Crabapple Course. Wyatt won the first seven holes of that showdown, but the next three matches proved more challenging for Alabama.
Trey Mullinax needed 18 holes to secure his 1-up victory over Charlie Danielson, 2-putting from inside 60 feet for par and the win at the last, while Scott Strohmeyer edged Brian Campbell, 3 & 2 with a 3-foot par make at the 16th.
Illinois, which was also seeking its first national title, earned its lone point when 2012 individual champion Thomas Pieters defeated Alabama's top- ranked golfer, Justin Thomas, 1-up.
The final match wasn't as close, however, as Cory Whitsett cruised to a 4 & 3 win over Alex Burge.
"I'm really satisfied for them," continued Seawell. "Last year was pretty hard -- just gut-wrenching. And for the way they handled the entire year, especially in the spring when they just kept saying, 'We want to do this, we want to do this,' really just makes this so satisfying."
Sam Saunders bogeyed his last hole on Monday evening to fall into a playoff for the eighth and final spot at the Rockville, Md., sectional with Harold Varner III and Matt Bettencourt.
Bettencourt won the playoff at the Woodmont Country Club. Then Varner beat Saunders for the first alternate spot. Merion will mark Bettencourt's fourth appearance in a U.S. Open. He finished in a tie for 10th at Bethpage in 2009.
-- Farrell Evans
Two will have playoff for final spot out of Florida
John Nieporte and 15-year-old David Snyder will play for the third spot out of the Bradenton, Fla., sectional at the Ritz-Carlton Members Golf Club on Tuesday.
Kevin Phelan, a University of North Florida player from Ireland, and John Hahn have already earned the other two spots to Merion out of Bradenton.
-- Farrell Evans
Two amateurs among three in from Georgia
Two of the three qualifiers out of the sectional in Georgia were amateurs.
Michael Kim, a Cal All-American, and Grayson Murray, an East Carolina freshman, advance to Merion with Ryan Nelson, who has played recently on the Web-com Tour and the NGA/Hooters Tour.
When my old pal the Sports Curmudgeon had some a few weeks ago, both he and I were upbraided by loyal linksters. As one snapped at me, "You don't know anything about golf."
Perhaps.
But I know all about golf propaganda.
Because major golf tournaments continue to maintain a 19th century pose and require golfers to keep their own score, instead of having a paid scorekeeper with a 21st century, electronic device — as is the case with every other big-time sport — golf loves to pretend that this somehow makes the sport more noble. The tiresome network shills can never stop boasting about how golf is a more honorable game than all the others.
But really, it's just silly. Is there anything more archaic than requiring the golfers — after a round that has dragged on for several hours, with every shot recorded on TV — to repair to some secret rendezvous where, I believe, there is an abacus, to make sure everybody can count to 71? Then they sign their scorecards like they were the Declaration of Independence.
Imagine: Sign here, Mr. LeBron James, to certify that you really did make the 36 points we all saw you duly score, on network television.
The primary contention that golfers alone keep their own scores is, itself, a shibboleth. Go to any club or public park and watch the tennis players, the handball players, the guys playing basketball. They all keep their own score, just like golfers do. And for that matter, you don't think it's more ethically challenging calling a cross-court shot your tennis opponent slugged into the corner than hitting your own stationary ball sitting there still on a tee?
The only difference between golf and every other sport is that golf alone ludicrously persists in having its professionals play by the same antiquated rules as weekend duffers. Oh, I've got a good idea! Let's get rid of linesmen and have Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray keep their own score at Wimbledon, to prove how honorable they are.
And oh, just for the record, no sport is more associated with gambling than golf is. Gambling is part of the human condition, no big deal. But it's also the case that where people bet, there's a greater temptation to cheat. Golf is the sport for the athletic angels among us? Please.
Look, golf may be a fine game. But nothing is more irritating than to hear this con that its players are pure and chivalrous while all other athletes are immoral scoundrels. Cut the PR folderol. I guarantee you that Diogenes didn't put away his lantern when he first stumbled onto a golf course.
Take Golf Out Of The Rough, Into The 21st Century : NPR
In the game of golf there is one only Jack, Mr. Nicklaus, but there is a man with a similar name that is just as famous as the Golden Bear who dabbles in the game.
Jack Nicholson, a reported 12 handicap, enjoys his country club days in Los Angeles when he isn't taking in Lakers games, and when you have all the money in the world to spend, you enjoy the game a little more.
But is $75,000 for a set of golf clubs even insane for a three-time Oscar winner? That's the word from Marketwatch, who reported that Nicholson spent the equivalent of an upscale country club membership on 14 clubs by the Japanese club manufacturer Honma.
From the report of what makes these clubs, ahem, worth it ...
Honma, a 54-year-old company, describes the clubs as the work of golf “artisans.” The company says more than 100 craftsmen are involved in the production of each piece. Some are busy polishing club heads to exact specifications — as Honma says on its website, variations of 1/100th of a millimeter “can make all the difference” in terms of how they affect a golfer’s performance.
I've reviewed plenty of golf clubs in my days and I'm pretty sure I've never thought to myself after taking one out for a range session, "Man, I like these clubs, but how many golf artisans worked on them?!"
Nicholson joins Donald Trump and Danny DeVito as owners of these nearly six-figure golf clubs, and while I'm sure they are beautiful to look at, I'm not sure how confident I'd be over a golf shot from the Arizona rocks if I knew that the 7-iron I was about to scuff up cost $5,357. I guess if that's the case you better just take a drop.
Davis Love III is busy still trying to play his way back into shape after back surgery in February. Playing with Brandt Snedeker and Dustin Johnson, Love did a bit better than just keep up.
Love, 49, shot a 4-under 66 for his best round of the year Thursday for a share of the lead after the first round of the St. Jude Classic, the final event before the U.S. Open next week at Merion (Pa.).
"I still hit some bad shots," said Love, who didn't play in March or April, and this is his fourth tournament back on the PGA Tour. "It's rust."
Stuart Appleby, Harris English, Nathan Green, Martin Flores and Glen Day also pushed their way into the lead.
Defending champion Johnson was 5 under through six holes, taking advantage of near perfect conditions at the TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn. But he finished with a 67 and was tied with 10 others including David Toms, a two-time winner here.
Snedeker opened with a 70, a stroke ahead of Phil Mickelson. Mickelson struggled on Nos. 15-17 with two bogeys and a double bogey on the par-5 16th where he went into a greenside bunker, into the rough and into another bunker before finally holing out. "This is great because it's a great test," he said.
Former Alameda resident Matt Bettencourt withdrew because of illness after shooting a 39 on the front nine.
LPGA Tour: Shanshan Feng will have to wait a day to begin defense of her LPGA Championship title. A steady rain punctuated by heavy downpours and an occasional bolt of lightning forced the postponement of the first round at Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y.
The tour's second major of the year now will begin Friday morning, the second round will be staged Saturday, and the players will attempt to complete 36 holes Sunday. But the forecast for Friday calls for heavy rain.
"The goal is to get in 72 holes, and Monday is still on the table," said lead rules official Sue Witters, referring to a possible Monday finish.
Champions Tour: Jeff Sluman birdied No. 17 en route to a 7-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Fred Couples at the Regions Tradition, the second of five tour majors. Sluman and Couples both had their only bogeys on No. 16 at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Ala.
Couples, the 1992 Masters winner, has had a whirlwind few weeks, visiting the White House recently as Presidents Cup captain, playing two rounds with Tiger Woods last week at the PGA Tour's Memorial and getting inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in May. He said his golf has been "fair" but called the rest of the year "truly fun."
Duffy Waldorf and Peter Senior shot 67, and Mark Calcavecchia, San Mateo's Michael Allen, David Frost and Corey Pavin had 68s. Two-time defending champion Tom Lehman was at 69. European Tour: Tom Lewis shot a 9-under 63 for a two-stroke lead over Joost Luiten at the Lyoness Open in Atzenbrugg, Austria.
Elsewhere: CBS Sports analyst and swing coach Peter Kostis says he is recovering from colon cancer. He's missed the last few tournaments to get treatment. He said in a statement released by CBS that the cancer was detected early during a regular physical and colonoscopy.
Golf: Davis Love III shares first-round lead at St. Jude Classic - San Jose Mercury News
My first interview with Tiger Woods was in the spring of 1996. He was a Stanford sophomore. I had followed him around the university's golf course during a tournament. I was impressed with the way he handled it when a spectator with alcohol on his breath walked up in midround to ask for an autograph.
"Afterward, please?" Woods said, more professionally and politely than you'd expect from a college kid.
Later, we sat inside a small room near the golf shop and I mentioned the incident to Woods, asking if he'd gotten too big for NCAA golf. Woods promised he wasn't going to turn pro soon, saying: "I haven't done everything I want to do in college -- I have a lot more growing to do." Six months later, Woods did join the PGA Tour. But he was right. He did have a lot more growing to do. His ups and downs have been well documented, on and off the course. But you can't deny three things:
1. He has been the most compelling American athlete of the past 15 years.
2. When his golf game is right, he is still the best show in town or on your television set.
3. It's still difficult at times to figure out whether to root for him or against him.
Now comes this week's U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club outside Philadelphia, which will provide Woods another chance to break his streak of 19 major championships without a victory. But even if you were turned off by Woods' bizarre "unintentional cheating" episode at the Masters, I say there is a reason to get behind him:
American golf needs him to win a major right now. Almost desperately. Perhaps it has escaped your attention that 10 of the past 14 major championships have been won by foreign players -- after 13 of the previous 23 had been won by U.S. golfers.
It's no coincidence that the star-spangled slump more or less began after Woods' last major championship victory, the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, and subsequent encounter with medical and fire hydrant issues. Woods has returned to become a force on tour, winning seven events over the past two years. But the major title drought continues to dog him. And the USA's golf slump rides along. (Don't even ask about the 2012 Ryder Cup.)
At the moment, only four of the top 10 names in the World Golf Rankings are Americans -- Woods, Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker and Phil Mickelson. But I don't expect the others to challenge at Merion. Mickelson finished second Sunday in Memphis but always seems to have one psych-out moment at every U.S. Open that undoes him. Kuchar owns no major titles. Snedeker won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am back in February and appeared on track for a big year but at last report was giving himself painful injections to work his way through a serious rib problem.
That leaves Woods. If any other American is going to contend this week, it will have to be some young pup who jumps up out of nowhere, the way that Webb Simpson did a year ago to win at the Olympic Club. I'm not counting on it happening two straight years.
Woods has shown in the past few months that he's got game to win another major. I discount his ugly 44 for nine holes at the Memorial tournament, his last appearance. My theory is that he was grooming his shots for Merion and became distracted. Merion is a short, compact course. It should set up well for Woods' cerebral shotmaking. It should also keep his driver in his bag -- and his driver has been his undoing at most recent majors.
And if Woods or another American doesn't win? It won't be the end of the world. But if it continues long term, we don't need to wonder what it will mean. Just take a gander at another sport that once riveted Americans' attention but no longer does -- men's tennis. The just-completed French Open was a terrific tournament with brilliant matches and storylines, won Sunday by Rafael Nadal of Spain, but America barely cared. In the latest ATP World Rankings, the top USA player on the list is Sam Querrey, rated 19th. (I pause here for you to ask: "Who?")
Woods probably isn't thinking nationalistic thoughts this week. But if he wants to prove once and for all that he's moved past his travails of the past five years as adroitly as he handled that drunk spectator at Stanford so long ago, then he needs to win at Merion. It will prove that at age 37, he has indeed grown up. And that American golf is back on track.
Mr. Woods, a golfing nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
Purdy: Tiger Woods needs to win U.S. Open, and American golf needs him to win, too - San Jose Mercury News
The U.S. Open week has gotten off to a soggy start at Merion Golf Club, and more rain is forecast through the first day of play on June 13.
As much as 5 inches of rain has soaked the 117-year-old course over a four-day period. Yesterday’s practice round at the course in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, was postponed three times due to rain and a tornado warning before play was canceled for the day in the late afternoon.
“It’s going to be very sloppy now,” Ernie Els, a two-time U.S. Open champion, told reporters. “You’re not going to see a firm U.S. Open this year. I don’t care if they get helicopters flying over the fairways, it’s not going to dry up.”
More than an inch of rain fell on the course yesterday, sending many of the tournament’s 175 maintenance workers onto the fairways with squeegees as players sought shelter. The deluge came after Tropical Storm Andrea dropped 3.5 inches of rain on the course on June 7. Additional rain was expected last night.
Forecasters said more rain was on the way. On-site meteorologist Jake Swick of Thor Guard Weather Services said storms were possible today and tomorrow, and there was a 60 percent chance of heavy rain -- at least a half-inch -- during the opening round. The sun is expected to return the following day, Swick said.
The U.S. Golf Association, which stages the event, closed the par-4 11th hole yesterday for the entire day. The hole sits in the lowest part of the East Course and the green is surrounded by a creek, putting it in danger of flooding.
“The green has managed to stay above water, which is a good thing,” Merion superintendent Matt Shaffer told reporters after play was called off. “Certainly it’s saturated.”
Sand Replaced
Maintenance crews spent most of the day trying to repair a rain-soaked sand bunker adjacent to the 11th green. Almost all of the sand was removed and then replaced with three tons of new sand, Shaffer said.
If the 11th hole isn’t playable during the tournament, the USGA has a plan that would allow the use of holes on Merion’s adjacent West Course. As of now, officials said there is no plan to use the other holes.
“We do think about worst-case scenarios, but we don’t anticipate that happening,” USGA Executive Director Mike Davis said.
While the 6,996-yard course will be wet, scoring conditions will be favorable, players said. The wet and soft green will enable shots to be hit closer to hole locations without players fearing their golf balls will roll too far. In turn, birdies could come in bunches.
‘It’s Frustrating’
“With it being a little soft, it becomes a little more simple than what it was,” Masters Tournament winner Adam Scott told reporters. “The ball is just going to stop where it lands. So if you’re accurate, you’ll be fine.”
Scott was one of many players who arrived in the Philadelphia area on June 7, just as the heaviest rain drenched the course. Scott said he had only been able to play 18 holes since arriving.
“I’ve seen the inside of the clubhouse a lot and restaurants,” he said. “I haven’t been able to get out much. I’ve been studying the course by the yardage book so far. It’s frustrating.”
U.S. Open Golf Week Gets Soggy Start at Merion, More Rain on Way - Bloomberg
The U.S. Open is just a day away, and with it predictions are abundant. Some think the top ranked golfer in the world, others like some guys down the list, and honestly, none of us really have any idea who will reign supreme on Sunday at Merion. With that confident sentence we give you our expert picks for the 2013 U.S. Open.
Jay Busbee -- Yasiel Puig. Why not? Dude's owning everything else these days. What, he's not eligible? Golf and its rules. All right, then I'll take Tiger Woods. Yes, I'm going straight chalk here, but in a tournament where everything is up for grabs, might as well go with the favored horse. If Woods' putter is working the way it ought to, he'll be fine, and Merion's short layout will minimize Woods' tendency to splay off the tee. It won't be easy, but it'll be No. 15.
Kevin Kaduk -- Over the past six or seven years, I made picking the Aussie to finally break through to his first major win into my own cottage industry. So why stop now? Adam Scott, the reigning Masters champion, has the game and confidence to shine in that star-studded threesome with Tiger and Rory and all the way through to the end of the weekend. He'd be the 13th man to win back-to-back majors and the first since Padraig Harrington won the British Open and PGA Championship in 2008.
Shane Bacon – I've spent months promising that my pick for this week would be Tiger Woods, which it should be, but I'm going off the map a little here and taking Matteo Manassero. The 20-year-old has the game to compete at the highest level and has improved his play at this event the last two years. On top of that, he won the biggest tournament of his life at the BMW Championship last month and followed it up with a T-4 at the Nordea Masters.
Eric Adelson – Patience, poise and putting will win this tournament. Luke Donald has all three. He's always in discussions about the best player without a major. He's changing that Sunday. Or Monday.
And now, your pick? Who wins it this week at Merion?
Phil Mickelson arrived at Merion Golf Club about four hours before his 7:11 a.m. tee time and still managed to shoot a 3-under 67 for the clubhouse lead at Thursday's opening round of the U.S. Open.
"I might have used just a little caffeine booster at the turn just to keep me sharp," Mickelson said. "But that was our ninth hole or so, and I just wanted to make sure I had enough energy."
Mickelson flew overnight from San Diego after watching his oldest daughter's eighth-grade graduation, where she was one of the featured speakers. At first, he was a little shaky. But after rolling a birdie putt 8 feet past his first hole and putting his tee shot in the rough at his second, he settled himself —helped by a little more sleep during a rain delay.
It was his lowest opening round since 1999 in a championship he's never won, even though he keeps coming close. He's been runner-up a record five times.
"If I'm able — and I believe I will — if I'm able to ultimately win a U.S. Open, I would say that it's great. ... But if I never get that win, then it would be a bit heart-breaking," Mickelson said.
By the time Mickelson tapped in a par to complete his round, the sun had replaced clouds, and putters had long replaced squeegees. Drenching storms caused a 3½-hour delay, halting play less than two hours after it began.
The rains returned while the marquee group of Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy were on the front nine, and play was stopped again at 6:11 p.m. for about 45 minutes.
Woods winced and shook his left arm after playing shots out of the rough on Nos. 1 and 5. The horn sounded before the three-time Open champion could finish the 5th hole, and he returned after the delay to complete a bogey. He also had a pair of 3-putts and was 2 over at the turn.
Scott was 2 under through nine, while McIlroy was 1 under. Lee Westwood was 3 under through 11, and defending champion Webb Simpson was 2 under through seven, but Mickelson and Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts (69) were the only players in the clubhouse under par.
Merion was as challenging as advertised, despite the onslaught of storms that softened the course during the past week. The slanting greens and heavy rough valued precision over power. Ian Poulter had quite the start, with only one par spaced among four birdies and three bogeys through nine holes on the way to a 71.
Sergio Garcia birdied the 102-yard par-3 13th, but that was an aberration in a terrible start for the Spaniard, who has spent the lead-up to the tournament trying to make amends with Woods. Garcia had a quadruple bogey, double bogey and a bogey in his first five holes, but he later went birdie-eagle on the front nine on the way to a 73.
Garcia was greeted with mild applause and a few audible boos when he was introduced at the start of his round. He is playing his first tournament in the U.S. since a recent exchange with Woods hit a low point when Garcia said he would serve fried chicken if Woods came to dinner during the Open. Garcia has since apologized for the remark. He shook hands with Woods on the practice range this week and left a note in Woods' locker. He was also noticeably friendly to the gallery during Wednesday's practice round, stopping several times to sign autographs.
Garcia said he hasn't heard from Woods about the note, and he acknowledged there were hecklers in his gallery.
"I think there were a couple here and there," he said. "But there was — I felt the people were very nice for the whole day. I think that they, almost all of them, were behind me and that was nice to see."
Cliff Kresge, a Floridian ranked No. 551 in the world, hit the first tee shot of the tournament at 6:45 a.m. The horn blew at 8:36 a.m., and thunder, lightning and downpours followed, sending everyone scurrying for cover.
Safety was a concern on a course that required fans to take long shuttle rides from remote parking lots. At a fan zone, where a replay of the limited action was on a jumbo screen, a worker used a microphone to implore an overflow crowd to move to the merchandise tent.
"We're not feeling safe having this many people in here," he told them. Many folks heeded his message and moved on.
Any major weather disruption to the championship would be a shame, given that the U.S. Open waited 32 years to return to the course where Olin Dutra overcame a serious stomach illness to win in 1934, where Ben Hogan hit the picture-perfect 1-iron approach to No. 18 before winning in a playoff in 1950, where Lee Trevino pulled a rubber snake out of his bag at the first hole of the playoff when he beat Jack Nicklaus for the title in 1971, and where David Graham became the first Australian to win the trophy in 1981.
Thought to be too small to host an Open anymore, Merion had been off the radar for so long that many of the top names in the field — including Woods — had never played it until recently. Organizers had to be creative with the placement of hospitality tents and parking lots on the club's relatively small footprint, and ticket sales were capped at 25,000 a day instead of the usual 40,000 or so for recent championships.
This week, those differences have been on display as the Stanley Cup final got under way in Chicago and the U.S. Open began just outside Philadelphia.
The Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins will end their series with hockey’s traditional handshake; Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia, two equally bitter rivals, began their week at the Merion Golf Club by, finally, shaking each other’s hand.
The only other similarity is that the Stanley Cup playoffs and the U.S. Open both go four rounds.
So why, then, does hockey have such a passion for golf, its polar opposite in play? Whenever players on Canadian NHL teams get a few days free in Florida or California during the regular season, they golf. Most NHLers play in the off-season, many – like Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson and the Calgary Flames’ Mike Cammalleri – extremely well.
Some retired hockey players – Dan Quinn, Grant Fuhr, Brett Hull – have even given the lesser professional golf circuits a go. Quinn is even caddying this week at Merion for South African Ernie Els, last year’s winner of the British Open. Scotty Bowman once raced off from coaching a Stanley Cup winner to volunteer as a score carrier at the Open. And if Slap Shot is the hockey favourite movie on long bus trips, then Happy Gilmore, with Adam Sandler as a hockey player gooning it up on the golf tour, must be a close second.
The only explanation is opposites attract: one game is individual, one team; one on ice, one too often in water; one polite, the other rude; one obsessed with fitness, the other so often contemptuous of it; one clean-shaven, one ridiculously scruffy these days.
Perhaps it’s just as well the two games make such strange bedfellows. One can only imagine the results if hockey were played more like golf, or golf more like hockey.
The crowd: Fans are expected to be so well behaved in golf that the Masters Tournament refuses even to call them fans, preferring “patrons.” Hockey’s only comparable to the golf course library demeanour is Scotiabank Place, where the Ottawa Senators so often play in silence. Golf, on the other hand, might be a lot more compelling if every hole in the U.S. Open were played as the 16th at TPC Scottsdale is during the Phoenix Open – where fans, many of them inebriated, are encouraged to trash-talk players and boo at will any shot on the par-three that comes up short.
Pace: Golf is a leisurely game – Mark Twain called it “a good walk spoiled” – but it does have a ruling for players who move too slow, as happened during the Masters to Tianlang Guan, the 14-year-old Chinese sensation who moves down a fairway as if he could use a walker. A penalty for unnecessary stalling in hockey would be welcomed by those fans who had to watch the Tampa Bay Lightning or New York Rangers in recent times.
Tattling: Golf has a rather bizarre record of allowing television viewers to call in and demand penalties be called on players – as happened to Tiger Woods for a drop in this year’s Masters and many years back to Craig Stadler for kneeling on a towel to swing so he wouldn’t dirty his pants. If hockey were to adopt this, the NHL would have to hire the entire India subcontinent to serve as the call centre.
Telling on yourself: Legendary golfer Bobby Jones called a penalty on himself in the 1925 U.S. Open when, out of sight of anyone (and no golf channel available), he accidentally touched his ball before swinging. “You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank,” he told reporters after. There are not enough reporters covering the Stanley Cup final should even a handful of players decide to own up to their cheating.
Boors: Hockey gets slammed regularly for its staged fights and for allowing the likes of Matt Cooke to lace up, but so far the game has yet to produce the total idiot who screams “IN THE NET!!” every time a player – even a defenceman in his own zone – takes a swing at the puck.
Scoring: At Merion, there was some early fear (unfounded, it turned out) that greens softened by heavy rains could lead to record lows. In the Stanley Cup, scoring fell from 5.26 goals a game in the first round to 4.75 in the second and 4.33 in the third.
Game 1 in the final, however, produced a welcome seven goals – the Blackhawks counting four, the Bruins only three.
But then, if you look at it from a golf perspective rather than hockey, that would mean Boston won, wouldn’t it?
MacGregor: Hockey and golf are forever intertwined despite being strange bedfellows - The Globe and Mail
As rain lashed Merion Golf Club last Monday, alarm rose with the water. Whitecaps lapped in the creek at the 11th hole! Trout swam in the flooded bunker! The course was more pillowy than Phil Mickelson! Time to bring out the octopus pants! Stay calm, said Jarrett Kling, a longtime member at Merion. He spoke confidently of subterranean drainage systems and speedy, undulating greens. He scoffed at predictions of anyone shooting 20 under par at the United States Open. He promised the tournament would be worthy of the Golf Channel, not the Weather Channel.
“Merion will be what it wants to be,” Kling assured.
And he was right. Merion menaced with its narrow fairways and sloping greens and thick rough that required a pith helmet and a safari guide. Yet while the course was mostly forbidding, it was also grudgingly forgiving at times, autocratic but occasionally democratizing.
Late Saturday, after Rory McIlroy shot a numbing 75, an acquaintance ran into McIlroy’s father, Gerry, on the course. “Merion won,” the acquaintance said in consolation. McIlroy smiled and shrugged.
Merion also humbled Tiger Woods and spawned the Twitter message of the week from the novelist and golf writer Dan Jenkins. After Woods shot a 76 on Saturday, Jenkins wondered whether Woods’s girlfriend, the champion skier Lindsey Vonn, had asked, “Did you, like, miss a gate on the course or something?”
Woods was the subject of countless rumors about his living arrangements during the Open, all entertaining, none necessarily reliant on the truth.
One rumor, debunked by a police officer assigned to Woods, had him installing a pool at his rental house. On Sunday, Joe DiTomo, a volunteer driver for the players, said that Woods reportedly grew upset with the house and moved into a hotel.
“I wouldn’t repeat it,” DiTomo said, “but I heard it from a nun on the way to church. I didn’t realize nuns followed golf.”
If Merion proved heartless to the favorites, it also showed reluctant compassion for others. After posting an 85 on Saturday, a score higher than the temperature, Shawn Stefani shot a hole in one Sunday on the 229-yard, par-3 17th. Until that moment, Stefani was best known for shooting deer.
His 4-iron missed the green entirely, landing in the rough to the left. At that point, Stefani was 20 over par, apparently wearing out the 1962 quarter, a gift from his girlfriend, that he used to mark his ball. But this time the ball trampolined onto the green and did an arcing, smiley-face roll about 50 feet into the cup.
It was the 43rd ace at a United States Open and the first at an Open played at Merion. A PGA Tour rookie, Stefani high-fived his caddie and did a few muscleman flexes. Then he ran and kissed the rough where his shot had bounced. The crowd erupted.
“We’re in Philly,” Stefani said. “I know they can be tough on you and they can love you forever.”
This weekend, much love was showered on LaRue Temple of north Philadelphia, a frayed neighborhood that could hardly be more strikingly different from the moneyed, Main Line environs of Merion.
Most pro golfers travel with their own caddies. But Michael Kim, a 19-year-old amateur from Cal-Berkeley, arrived without anyone to work his bag. Temple, who has caddied at Merion since 1997, happened to be in the parking lot Monday, taking his mother to the course for the first time.
“She wanted to see Tiger Woods,” Temple said.
The caddie master approached him. Suddenly, Temple no longer needed his tickets to get into the Open. His buddies in the crowd serenaded him with calls of “LaRue, LaRue.” For 12 holes on Saturday, Kim said with a laugh, Temple “was getting more cheers than I was.”
On the 15th hole on Saturday, two strokes off the lead, Kim allowed himself a brief but naïve moment to ask, “What if I won?”
Then he bogeyed 16 and 18 and double-bogeyed 17.
“This is Merion,” Temple said knowingly. “Merion stands up.”
Kim should not have felt too bad. On Friday, a frustrated Jason Dufner tossed his wedge into a creek. On Sunday, Dufner shot an impressive 67, tied for the best round of the day despite triple-bogeying No. 15 after his tee shot landed in somebody’s backyard.
Luke Donald entered the final round two shots off the lead, only to plunk a volunteer, apparently in the head. Then, with his bare right foot planted in a creek, Donald chipped into a bunker. Steve Stricker, one shot behind after three rounds, took an 8 count on No. 2 on Sunday, a triple bogey and a career high for a hole.
Mickelson, the third-round leader, wore gunslinger black on Sunday but misfired with three bogeys and two double bogeys. “Man,” he muttered to himself.
In the end, no one was under par. Justin Rose won, but the real victor was Merion.
When the dreaded nautical theme again became relevant with Sunday’s brief rain, at least one golfer came sartorially prepared. Billy Horschel showed up in blue pants adorned with white octopuses.
“What’s the story with that?” asked Brian Morgan of Palm Springs, Calif.
Don’t get Morgan wrong. He is not a man unaccustomed to adventuresome dressing. As he spoke Sunday, he wore a kilt, as he said he had done on the final day of each major tournament for about 40 years.
“Dressing up is great,” Morgan, a longtime golf photographer, said of Horschel’s pants, “but I don’t see them flying off the shelves anytime soon.”
His wife, Linda Morgan, laughed.
“I think they’re his pajamas and he forgot he was wearing them.”
World No. 1 Tiger Woods hadn’t won a major in five years heading into the 2013 U.S. Open, and he did nothing to change his fortunes on Merion Golf Club’s tough track this weekend, finishing with a 13-over 293 for the tournament.
With a final round of 74 on Sunday, Woods capped off a U.S. Open performance he’s not likely to forget, made worse by some missed opportunities, questionable putting and a course that absolutely devastated the field and yielded few rounds under par.
According to SportsCenter on Twitter, Woods' plus-13 finish made history for the wrong reason:
Tiger Woods at US Open Golf 2013: Day 4 Recap and Twitter Reaction | Bleacher Report
The names of the world's greatest golf venues roll off the tongue like a putt rolling toward the cup. Pebble Beach. St Andrews. Valderrama.
Then there are Vestmannaeyja and Porlakshafnar. Those names don't trip off the tongues of anyone except the hardy residents of Iceland. Surprisingly, this island in the frigid North Atlantic is one of the most golf-obsessed places on earth.
With 65 courses for a population of 322,000, Iceland has more courses per person - one for every 5,000 people - than any other country.
Though many are just nine holes, that's nearly twice as many courses per capita as Scotland, according to a 2007 survey by Golf Digest. The magazine said Scotland had the most courses per capita but it didn't count countries with fewer than 500,000 people.
About 10 percent of Iceland's population plays golf - a higher rate than the United States or Britain - making it the country's second most popular sport, after football.
In contrast to America and Britain, golf club membership in Iceland is still growing, albeit more slowly than before the country's banking bubble burst five years ago.
"We joke that if just three or four people are living near one another, they'll probably start a golf club," said Haukur Orn Birgisson, a young attorney who serves as vice chairman of the Icelandic Golf Union.
Indeed, some clubs have as few as 20 members, dedicated souls who will upkeep the course themselves.
Birgisson's club, Golfklubberinn Oddur, just outside Reykjavik, is among the country's largest, with 1,300 members. Like most clubs in Iceland it is open to the public as well as members, charging a guest fee of 6,900 Icelandic krona.
Iceland's golf season includes the annual Arctic Open tournament, scheduled this year for June 27 to 29. Open to amateurs and professionals alike, it's played at the Akureyri Golf Club in northern Iceland, which boasts of being "the most northerly 18-hole golf course" on earth.
LAVA BEDS, TERNS, AND WINDS
Golf is popular in Iceland despite the obvious drawbacks. The season lasts just four months, from mid-May to mid-September. Summer temperatures rarely venture above 15 degrees Celsius and even then occasional days of wicked winds and steady mist can keep all but the most foolhardy or dedicated off the course.
Call me both, because I played in exactly those conditions during a recent visit to Iceland. But I've played in even worse weather on past visits to Scotland. Iceland does offer unique advantages and challenges to golfers. Most notably, in June, July and August, golfers can play virtually 24 hours a day.
Golfklubburinn Keiler in suburban Reykjavik is booked solid all summer with starting times from 8am until 10pm. Playing under the midnight sun - as I discovered - can be surreal and sublime, with my first day starting time 10pm.
Another advantage: Iceland's cool, moist climate makes for lush, green fairways. Also, golf courses don't have trees to disrupt errant shots. Trees aren't native in Iceland.
Iceland does, however, have lava beds, volcanic rock from past eruptions. They dominate the rough on many courses and are filled with crevices that can swallow golf balls like a whale gulping down krill.
The lava beds also are nesting sites for Arctic terns, birds that migrate from pole to pole. Golfers hitting near a tern's nest will find themselves playing their next shot under aerial bombardment from the ill-tempered birds.
Formidable lava beds line the course on Heimaey Island, population 4,500, about three hours by car south east of Reykjavik. A lava flow from a 1973 volcanic eruption almost choked the harbour, but today cruise ships bring bird watchers, nature lovers and, yes, golfers.
The sheer cliffs, lava beds and sea vistas made it "the most dramatic course I have ever played", said Kimber Bilby, an American from Michigan who played the course recently in calm weather with her fiancé, Bob Prust, a physician. One of their favourites was the par three 17th hole, which requires a tee shot across a sea inlet and lava beds to reach the green.
On the day the couple played, most golfers on the course were local Heimaey residents, many of them children of high-school and even grade-school age.
"I was watching the kids practice their chipping and putting, and they were awfully good," said Prust. "It was obvious they had played the course many times."
As for why golf is so popular here, Birgisson cites the Icelandic character.
"We always seem to go 'all in,' and golf is no exception," he explained. "That mentality didn't serve us well leading up to the banking crisis, but it has taken us far with golf."
Iceland The World's Highest Golf Course To People... | Stuff.co.nz
Gregg Angelillo likes to joke that he can’t tell his wife, Marianne, when he’s out playing golf.
Angelillo doesn’t have to worry about hiding Wednesday’s performance in the 80th William Rice Hochster Memorial Tournament from his wife.
The 42-year-old Baltusrol Golf Club member finished first in the 36-hole amateur tournament at Quaker Ridge with a 5-over 145.
Angelillo, who was playing in the tournament for the fourth time, said he was honored and in a bit of disbelief that he was part of such a long and prestigious list of champions.
“You never want to say never in a million years you’d win this thing,” Angelillo said, “But I’m pretty amazed right now. I’m pretty happy about the way I played.”
After posting three bogeys on the first five holes Angelillo decided to play for par as opposed to chasing birdies.
“With that mindset I didn’t get frustrated,” Angelillo said. “I played the spots where I could make putts.”
Angelillo was only four shots back of leader Bradley Rock Jr. after the first round and remained in contention after the turn in the second.
A birdie on 17 gave Angelillo the lead, but after overshooting the green on 18, a solid up-and-down was needed to avoid a playoff with eventual runner-up Doug Kleeschulte, who finished one shot back at 146.
“When people start to gather around, you know something is going on,” Angelillo said of the crowd that gathered for his final two shots of the day. “The golf club doesn’t know nerves. It’s me that knows nerves. I just went and executed, and that’s it.”
Defending champion Cameron Young, a Sleepy Hollow Country Club member, did not participate due to a shoulder injury.
Hans Albertsson, a Winged Foot Golf Club member and Sleepy Hollow resident, posted the best score among locals. The 42-year-old finished eighth with a 149.
“They roll the red carpet out for us every year,” said Albertsson, who has held the course record, 64, since 2010. “You get two rounds on one of the best golf courses in America. It’s lots of fun.”
Zach Plutzik had the best finish among Quaker Ridge members. The Rye resident finished tied for 21stwith a 155. The tournament was the start of a new era for Plutzik, 23, who recently graduated from Yale, where he played golf.
“I feel like I’m moving past my college golf game,” Plutzik said. “This is the perfect kind of event to transition to Met-area amateur golf.”
For Angelillo, the tournament is an example of how amateur golf tournaments should be run.
“In some places they don’t want you there,” Angelillo said. “This place embraces us. They treat us like gold.”
Hill spent the past two seasons as the associate men’s golf coach at South Carolina. He spent the previous eight years as an assistant men’s golf coach at North Carolina, and played the mini tours from 1999-2001.
“The opportunity to coach at Elon was very enticing and it is exciting to see all the growth that is taking place at the university,” Hill said. “I really believe we can build something special at Elon given the school, academics, community and facilities.”
Hill helped the Gamecocks to the NCAA postseason for the second consecutive year. In his time as North Carolina’s assistant coach, the Tar Heels won 10 tournaments, including the ACC Championship in 2006 and the UNCG Bridgestone Golf Collegiate in the fall of 2010.
Hill, a native of Mount Olive, N.C., played collegiately for North Carolina and graduated in 1999 with a degree in communications.
Elon is ranked No. 166 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.
Elon tabs Hill to lead men's golf