By D.A. Weibring
As I was watching the U.S. Open on television this past week, it reminded me of when I played at Winged Foot in 1984 and how difficult a golf course it is. I think when the golf course was originally designed the membership wanted a very challenging golf course, and with a great many single-digit handicap members, no doubt the course lives up to their expectations. But, whether you build, or set up a golf course to be difficult, the challenge is always interesting to watch, especially in a U.S. Open.
When you set up a golf course, even Winged Foot, to challenge the best players in the world, some changes have to be made. For example, they converted two par 5's into par 4's, and added some challenging angles to make it interesting. As you might expect, you have to work the ball both ways, left to right, right to left to a 25 yard wide fairway, and Winged Foot has a number of those with some contour in the fairways. There are a couple of holes that are absolutely straight, which are also difficult to drive because there's nothing to work off of. But the difficulty is really a combination of length, angles and rough. I thought the USGA did a very good in layering back the rough from an intermediate cut to a couple inch cut up to 4 or 5. Many times in the past the best drivers were the most penalized even when they were only inches off the fairway.
The other distingishing design feature of Winged Foot is the old fashioned back to front contours on the greens. On television you can see how the greens were sort of built up with small entries on the front, bunkered severely on the sides, and then cross bunkered out there in case you put it in the rough. What really got my attention was the number of disasters that happened coming down the stretch. The incoming holes are very, very difficult; the rough was deep and the greens were slick around the edges. It's not that they were that fast, but they had severe contours, and in trying to get them to firm up they actually dried and crusted out. That's why you didn't see very many putts being made.
It was a fascinating Open for me because I knew a little bit of what was going on behind the scenes, like the preparation that Phil Mickelson had been going through. And, even though he came up short, he is really to be commended for his efforts, going in weeks early and playing numerous practice rounds and really using the advice of his team.
His coach, Rick Smith, a long-time instructor and swing coach, and Dave Pelz, a very close friend of mine, and who has helped me with my game, have advised Phil how to best use his abilities and his skills. It was Dave Pelz that suggested the unique two-driver set up that Phil had at Augusta. Dave encouraged Phil to evaluate the golf courses as to his strengths and weaknesses. He felt that length was a huge factor and he encouraged Phil to put a 47-inch driver (which is the maximum length allowed) in his bag in January, or February, and practice with it. And when it turned out that he could hit one right to left and the other left to right, Dave insisted that he use it in a tournament and he did in Atlanta and Augusta, both of which he won.
However, going into Winged Foot there was a different strategy. Dave recommended that Phil add a 64-degree wedge. To accommodate this he took one of his other wedges out of his bag and carried only one driver. In preparation for the Open, Dave and Phil walked every hole on the golf course looking for the best angles and where to play each shot based on Phil's strengths. Their pre-tournament strategy went back to the PGA title that he won at Baltusrol and how coming down the stretch he had left the ball on the left bank of the green and needed a critical pitch to win. Dave said Phil probably hit that particular pitch shot 40 or 50 times in preparation for last year's PGA, and so that's the kind of work that Dave, Dave's son, and Rick Smith did with Phil in preparation for the Open.
Dave has gotten Phil out of playing risk reward golf to playing the percentages. And, even though coming down the stretch Phil didn't strike the ball as well as he's capable of, especially his driver, he played within his game plan, and in most cases left it where he wanted to allowing him to lean on his short game. He had a bad break at 16 when his ball plugged, and didn't get it up and down, but his short game got him where he wanted to be on the 72nd hole.
Perhaps he hit driver on 18 rather than a fairway wood because he only had the four-wood in his bag, but in retrospect the four-wood still may have been the right choice. I really don't have that much of a problem with him hitting a driver because even when he did get into trouble, he got away with it the way he did on 17 when he hit it so wildly that it landed in a trash can. If you remember he got a free drop and played a brilliant shot on to the green.
When he tried that same thing on 18 he didn't have a clean lie. I didn't see the shot, but I know if Dave Pelz were standing there, he'd say to Phil you're one of the best wedge players in the world, let's get the ball on the fairway and put a wedge in your hand. The pin placement was accessible and he could play a wedge or a short club maybe not a chip shot, but a 80-100 yard shot, within 10-15 feet, and he's a great putter and have a chance to win outright. Worse case scenario is a playoff!
Unfortunately, Phil got away from playing the percentages and tried the spectacular shot and got caught. Trapped behind a tree he needed another spectacular shot and was unable to pull it off. Certainly, he is one of a handful of guys in the world who could even think about getting the ball over the tree, which he did on his second attempt, but he wound up buried in the trap again, and had no more miracles left in his bag.
I thought Colin Montgomerie played brilliantly all week, tee to green and perhaps deserved better. He made a great putt at 17, then drove it to the fairway on 18 and put himself right where he wanted to be. He changed clubs at the last moment, left the ball where he didn't want to be and doubled bogyed. Padraig Harrington was right there before making triple the day before and Jim Furyk had a par putt a tie, but it was not to be.
In the end, the guy who handled the adversity best and hung in there was Geoff Ogilvy. He chipped in at 17 for par then drove it perfectly on 18 into a sand divot on an uphill lie. With everything on the line he played a shot just short of the green then made a wonderful pitch and made the putt. Maybe he was under the radar a bit, but in the end Geoff Ogilvy showed the kind of character he has under fire; everybody else fell by the wayside and he won.
That's what happened at Winged Foot, and it's happened there before. After all, it's the U.S. Open and perhaps it's supposed to be that way. This is coming from a person who had a one shot lead with two holes to go in last year's U.S. Senior Open. I played a number of good shots in a row and then didn't make the putt. I had a flyer at the 18th hole and knocked it over the green. And even though Johnny Miller thought it was fairly easy chip shot, maybe Johnny forgot what that shot is really like in the heat of the moment. Anyway, I played a pretty good shot past the hole and missed a 12-foot putt for the Championship.
I not sure that anyone facing the pressures of the Open would describe it as fun, but that's what makes golf great, and that's the nature of major Championships… battling a golf course tests both your skill and character. I believe that Geoff Ogilvy said it best, "Winged Foot won, again."
