Have you ever heard I played in a US Open? (brag)

By request, I’m not just randomly starting (another) a brag thread.

First, my background in USGA events is brutal. I missed the US Junior by a hole once, that’s right, a hole. I was a few under through 16 and easily in when I hit a shot that came to rest about 2 feet short and right of a tiny little tree on 17 at Brookhaven CC in Dallas. I decided to completely commit to hitting the ball full with an 8 iron and not worry about the post impact, impact. When the 8 iron hit the tree it insta-snapped and the bottom foot of the club pinched off and flew a few feet. Ball on green, one hole to go and really can’t mess this up. Well, the way the club broke it turned the shaft into a dagger of some sort. I was sour it broke and as I was walking by it with my bag on my left shoulder I just bent over and hastily picked it up. I caught my right ankle with the shaft and it ripped me open a few inches. It hurt, but there was no chance I was quitting with one hole left. As I was over my putt on 17 the blood was flowing pretty good and there just happened to be a USGA official behind the green who insisted I head to the hospital. I told him I was a few under and going to finish 18 and then go. He exercised his right to disagree….he told me finishing wasn’t an option, period. I don’t really remember if I yelled and screamed or just accepted my fate and left…8 stitches. Fast forward a year and I found myself in a playoff to get in the US Am with my next door neighbor (literally next door), loser. Fast forward one more year…same qualifier, same playoff, same guy, same hole, same result.

Now it’s 1999 and I am a couple years into a decent mini-tour career. I did first stage of qualifying at Sherrill Park in Dallas. I believe I shot 70 and was in an 8 for 2 playoff to move on to regional qualifying. They split us into 2 groups and I was in the first one. I made par and one guy in my group made birdie. We then watched as all 4 in the group behind us hit it between 6 and 10 feet….all missed! The next hole is a par 5 and I hit a great drive and then (I think) a career 2 iron to 6 feet and made it for eagle. Next up was regional’s at Bear Lakes in West Palm Beach as I was playing the Golden Bear Tour that summer. The 36 hole qualifier was held on the day before the GBT was to start its first event so there weren’t many options if there was any rain since half the field or more were GBT players. IT DUMPED RAIN ALL DAY. The round was completely unplayable from the first hole on but they left us out there for 36 holes with no delays. My shirt was completely destroyed from the leather on the bag strap soaking through and staining every inch. I don’t remember what I shot, I think it was 70-68, but I do remember birdieing the last 3 holes to 100% lock it up. It’s a tough call for the best feeling of my career between that day, shooting a final round 65 to win my first Hooters event when I was on my last nickel, or driving out of the parking lot at second stage in 2008 after making it to Final’s. Those are my 3 career highlight rounds for sure.

1999 US Open at Pinehurst – I drove up to Pinehurst from West Palm Beach (much longer drive than expected) on Sunday. Monday morning I headed to the course and registered which takes forever for this event. You have to go through a line to get your free stuff, a line to sign about 10 different pictures, a line for media (they didn’t have too many questions for me!) and a line to sign up for your tee times for practice rounds. I had the chance and somehow didn’t sign up with Tiger. He, O’Meara and Cook were playing on Wednesday at 7 am and I didn’t want to go that early. I thought that it would wear me out too much because I wouldn’t know what to do the rest of the day but practice. I was an over-worker then and I would not have had the ability (or money) to just leave after the round and go to a movie or chill.

The practice rounds are really fun. As lame as this is but true, you sign thousands of autographs during the course of the practice rounds and it is really fun. It was like for that week you really belong on Tour and everyone thinks you are Tiger. I can assure you 50% of autographs I signed I could hear the kid turn to dad after and say “now who was that?” and the other 50% obviously didn’t know who I was or care to ask dad.

The course was brutal. The rough for a US Open was actually tame. However, with the way the greens are on Pinehurst #2 the 4-5 inch (I think) deep Bermuda rough is basically unplayable. You can’t control the ball at all and the greens are designed to effectively not be hit. Mike Nicklaus (Jack’s son) was on the Golden Bear Tour that year and Nick Malinowski was fishing buddies with him. Nick went to their house to fish the weekend before the Open and came home with a report straight from Jack’s mouth…“this is the first time ever that I am going to hit it in the middle of every green. I am not aiming at a SINGLE pin all week.” Well, if that’s Jack’s plan, it’s now my plan. I actually think I could almost hole by hole recall the tourney right now 11 years later but it would be unexciting describing back to back 79’s…actually, if you just reread my round 3 recap from the Q School thread you would just about have it. I will however give you the first 2 holes. First hole, stripe a 3 wood down middle and hit a 7 iron 12 feet and lip it out. I took that ball and went to the second tee and signed it with “Happy Father’s Day, Thanks for everything!” and handed it to my dad on the second tee. Pretty cool moment. I then pushed a drive on #2 and had a 5 iron from a flier lie to a pin tucked on the right behind a bunker. I thought of Jack’s words “middle of green” as I was behind the ball and was happily committed to that. Just left of bunker, land it on the upslope to the green, 2 putt from 40 feet and get out of here. As I addressed my ball the club was sitting behind it so perfectly that I knew I could take it right at it and make birdie….so I did. I landed it 2 feet from the hole! But, by the time my walking rules official had helped me with my drop from the grandstands that were 30 yards over the green I realized that maybe, just maybe, Jack knows something about US Opens. Well done, I dismissed the advice from the greatest major champion ever in under 30 minutes in my first major. Hard to argue against that mental game.

The rest of the week was pretty brutal. I had 36 putts each day and finished dead last in putting, by 4 total putts! One other funny thing to show how bad my chipping and putting was…immediately after my first round 79 I was talking to Nick on the phone to laugh about my second shot on #2. He tells me, “well you hit one green more than Tiger.” Me “really, what did he shoot?” 68. I hit more greens than him and he beat me by 11.

As I have mentioned before I was a lunatic on the course back in the day. I was pretty frustrated and after pushing a 3 wood right on #10 I buried my 3 wood in the tee box like an idiot. The rules official with my group walked with me for a second after that and asked me questions like “you’re a mini-tour guy right?” I felt like he was kind of bagging on me for not playing well and being out of my league which was pissing me off. That’s when he said “just so you know if anybody else buried a club in the tee it would be $10,000 and your next one will be too.” To which I replied with, smiling, “if the USGA makes me file for bankruptcy it won’t look good for you.” He responded with his own wry smile “all that mud on your shirt doesn’t make you look good.” Fair enough.