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      How Mike Whan Is Changing U.S. Golf

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      The new chief executive, who turned the L.P.G.A. into a thriving tour when he was its boss, is sprinting to advance the game.The United States Open is returning this week to the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., one of the five founding clubs of the United States Golf Association. It will be the club’s fourth U.S. Open. Its first, in 1913, when a 20-year-old amateur won, still lives in sports lore.The club has also hosted several United States Amateur and United States Women’s Amateur tournaments and a Ryder Cup. Founded in the 19th century, it has deep traditions.But this time around, the United States Golf Association, which chooses the clubs and organizes the U.S. Open and 13 other national championships each year, has at its helm a new chief executive who has cultivated a reputation for being the opposite of a traditionalist. The executive, Mike Whan, is a changemaker, in the parlance of the corporate marketing world he came up in.For 11 years before joining the U.S.G.A. last year, Whan was the commissioner of the L.P.G.A., taking it from a struggling U.S.-based entity to a thriving global tour with more events and more prize money.“He rebuilt the tour, and then reimagined its future, by bringing new events, new sponsors and a new value proposition around diversity and inclusion to the L.P.G.A.,” said Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, the L.P.G.A. Tour’s player president, when Whan stepped down. “He has that rare ability to get people of all ages and backgrounds excited and on board with his vision.”While the U.S.G.A. attracts criticism like any governing body, it has created a wildly lucrative event in the U.S. Open, the revenue from which funds most of the organization’s other championships and initiatives around turf grass and water conservation.Compared with the PGA Tour, the U.S.G.A. looks even better. The PGA Tour, whose playing privileges were long the goal of professional golfers, is fending off an attack on its status by the new Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, which has lured away many players.Add in one more factor: Interest in golf from recreational players is still riding a post-pandemic high. If it’s not broke, as the saying goes, what does Whan have to fix?“Change is in the process,” Whan said in an interview at Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania. “A 35-year-old Mike Whan would have changed everything. The 57-year-old Mike Whan says, ‘Where am I needed?’ I’m not needed on championship setup. That was Mike Davis’s specialty.”Davis was Whan’s predecessor, a 31-year veteran of the U.S.G.A. who served as its executive director and then chief executive. He pushed for changes to course setups and tried new things like different heights of rough and giving public courses, including Erin Hills in Wisconsin and Chambers Bay in Washington, a chance at hosting a U.S. Open.Davis was given credit for trying different approaches around the championships, some more successful than others, but also for investing in some of the less public research projects that the U.S.G.A. funds. But Davis was also criticized, for how he set up courses (too hard) and for how the association regulated equipment (not tightly enough).The U.S.G.A. plans to build a player pavilion at the Pebble Beach course, the first time it is making permanent improvements to a host site. Douglas Stringer/Icon Sportswire, via Getty Images“Their No. 1 job should be controlling the equipment,” said Alex Miceli, a longtime golf commentator, referring to the debate over the distance a pro can hit a ball. “The U.S.G.A. did a horrible job with that. It’s like the Federal Reserve saying, ‘Inflation is going to be transitory, inflation is going to be transitory, inflation is going to be transitory.’ Well, it isn’t.”Whan said in the interview that he had no interest in wading into the course setup debate. That’s the domain of John Bodenhamer, the association’s chief championships officer.“When I walked into a setup meeting, I said to John, ‘I’m not necessary here, and I might be a detriment,’” Whan said. “The only guidance I’ve given is once you have a plan or a strategy, don’t change it. Don’t let scores or the media change it. Athletes don’t want that. I know that from being the L.P.G.A. commissioner.”Yet when Whan came on board after last year’s U.S. Open, several senior U.S.G.A. executives left, with the chief commercial officer departing on Whan’s first day in charge and the chief brand officer leaving about a month later.Whan then did something that no association executive has done: He brought in a title sponsor for one of the organization’s marquee championships. The United States Women’s Open, which dates from 1946, is now the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by ProMedica. The partnership with the health care company nearly doubled the purse to $10 million. When the Australian golfer Minjee Lee won the championship this month, she took home a record $1.8 million first-place check.Whan said in the interview that his focus was on improving the important things the association did that no one saw.“On planes, I’d get the question, ‘What does the U.S.G.A. do?’” he said, pulling out a card with “U.S.G.A.” written down the side. “I came up with Unify, Showcase, Govern and Advance.”And for him the last one is a priority. “‘Advance’ was the big one that was missing,” he said. “We don’t want to preserve; we preserved croquet and that’s not good.”Big areas of investment are strategies to reduce water usage and to develop junior golfers that way other countries do.While Whan said he had no desire to tinker with the U.S. Open, he’s also not about to neglect the tournament that brings in around 75 percent of the organization’s revenue.“The key is not to take it for granted,” he said, drawing a comparison to professional bowling, which dominated weekend television time when he was a child, but has fallen off drastically. “If we take it for granted, there’s no reason we couldn’t end up like bowling.”He repeated an oft-told story about Jason Gore, a former PGA Tour player who is the senior director of player relations at the U.S.G.A. Where the players win their U.S. Opens matters, Gore told him.While the men’s side is sewed up with stern tests for the next decade, including Oakmont, Shinnecock Hills, Pebble Beach and Merion, Whan has made a push to have equally prestigious sites for the U.S. Women’s Open, with Riviera, Merion, Pinehurst and Pebble Beach on the roster.Securing these sites has come with U.S.G.A. investments. At Pinehurst, the association is building a second headquarters. At Pebble Beach, it is building a permanent player pavilion, which the course can use for other events. Taking a long-term view, the organization has done capital improvements to a host site; in the past it has put up and taken down structures.These initiatives are meant to make it easier for the U.S. Open, an immense logistical undertaking that ties up courses for months, to come back year after year. But it’s also to have sites host other events and work toward his goal of advancing other initiatives.“I don’t need U.S. Open partners,” Whan said. “I need partners in growing the game. We want to make sure these cathedrals of golf accept the responsibility to host not just the biggest and the most financially lucrative events.” More

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      At This U.S. Open Venue, the 17th Hole Is Known for Drama

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      The Country Club in Massachusetts is a founding U.S.G.A. venue, and that hole has always provided drama, including an amateur’s U.S. Open win in 1913.One of the most important venues in American golf began as a place to watch amateur horse racing. Founded in 1882, the Country Club in Brookline, Mass, the site of this week’s United States Open, is one of the oldest clubs in America and one of five founding clubs of the United States Golf Association. Yet none of that might have happened if not for the niece of one its members.Florence Boit was visiting Pau, France, in 1894 when “she came across an old course built by Scottish soldiers in the 1850s,” said Fred Waterman, the club historian. When she returned to the United States, she introduced the game to her uncle Laurence Curtis, a member of the club who would become the second president of the U.S.G.A.Soon after Curtis introduced the game, several members, despite never having seen a proper golf course, laid out six rudimentary holes on the club’s grounds. While none of those holes remain today, the rugged and rocky terrain the course sits on set its character.Built on rock outcroppings and winding through ridges formed by glaciers, the Country Club is a creation wholly of its time, with a layout and surface that is challenging to golfers of all skill levels, including the best in the world.Since 2007, Gil Hanse has been the consulting architect at the club, and he said that, unlike similar courses of that era that were “fit into the landscape, the holes of the Country Club seem to have been draped on top of the land that was there.”Part of the course’s charm are its small greens, unlike most in major championship golf. Hanse has worked with the club to expand its putting surfaces where he was able, but players this week will be aiming at smaller targets than usual.The Country Club has a long history of hosting U.S.G.A. championships, beginning with the 1902 United States Women’s Amateur. Including this year’s Open, it has hosted 16 U.S.G.A. championships, one in every decade except for the 2000s.Francis B. Ouimet, center, with Harry Vardon, left, and Ted Ray at the U.S. Open in 1913. Ouimet, an amateur, defeated Vardon and Ray in a playoff.Associated PressA famous championship played at the club was the 1913 U.S. Open, when Francis Ouimet, a 20-year-old amateur who grew up across the street, beat Ted Ray and Harry Vardon in a playoff victory. Ouimet’s win catapulted golf’s popularity in the United States. Waterman said that, in the 10 years after Ouimet’s victory, the United States went from having 340,000 golfers to 2.1 million.It wasn’t Ouimet’s amateur status alone that made him golf’s folk hero at the time. He caddied at the club and took up the game using balls he found around the course and his brother’s clubs. He would often hit balls in a pasture at his own makeshift course. Ouimet’s unlikely victory and humble origins were chronicled by the writer Mark Frost in his book “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”In the 1913 playoff, the three golfers came to the 17th hole with its green sitting only 275 yards away from Ouimet’s childhood home and Vardon down one. Ray was already out of contention. Vardon tried to cut the corner of the dogleg left hole, but came up short, his ball landing in a bunker that now bears his name.This allowed Ouimet to take a more conservative route right of the bunker. Unable to reach the green, Vardon splashed out and then shot a bogey, while Ouimet went on to birdie the hole and take a three-stroke lead. He breezed home from there.Ouimet, who died in 1967, had a distinguished amateur career, winning the 1914 United States Amateur. In 1951, he became the first non-Briton elected captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. He never turned pro.Fifty years later, when the U.S.G.A. returned to the club to honor Ouimet’s win, the 17th hole again proved pivotal. Arnold Palmer missed an 18-inch putt that put him two strokes behind the leader, Jacky Cupit.“Cupit didn’t know he had a two-stroke lead on Palmer, and he told me if he had, he would have hit an iron off the tee and played to the middle of the fairway,” Waterman said.Instead, thinking he needed to reach for more, Cupit hit a three-wood, landing in the long grass next to the Vardon bunker, but not in it. He made double bogey on the hole to tie with Palmer and Julius Boros. Cupit still had a chance when he arrived at the 18th green and the 72nd hole of the championship, but he missed a 15-footer “by one inch,” Waterman said. He and Palmer lost to Boros in the playoff.Justin Leonard was mobbed by the American team during the Ryder Cup in 1999 after sinking a birdie putt from over 40 feet on the 17th hole at the Country Club.Craig Jones /Allsport, via Getty ImagesThe three U.S. Opens played at the club have gone to a playoff, and the 17th has always provided the drama. “It’s a match-play hole in a stroke-play event,” Waterman said, causing the golfer to consider his opponent especially down the stretch rather than just allowing the golfer to play his own game.In the 1988 Open, Curtis Strange three-putted the green, forcing himself to fall back into a tie, but he won the playoff the next day for the first of his two consecutive U.S. Open wins. The 17th also provided the 1999 Ryder Cup with a frenzied celebration after Justin Leonard made a putt from over 40 feet to win the hole against José Maria Olazábal, causing the American team and its fans to flood the green.The Country Club has provided a lot of drama. Frost, the author, said he believed that something else was at work at the club.“The course is an enduring American classic perfectly designed for dramatic finishes,” he said, “but my more mystical side thinks Francis might have something to do with it.” More

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      At the U.S. Open, Saving the House That Built Golf

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      Francis Ouimet, an amateur who improbably won the 1913 U.S. Open at the Country Club, grew up across the street. Now his home will be given back to the game, and the course, that made him famous.BROOKLINE, Mass. — The small, 19th-century home with the golf course view is hardly noticeable to the hundreds of drivers whizzing by at 40 miles an hour on Clyde Street in the Boston suburb of Brookline. While the two-story house once stood like a sentry overlooking acres of cow pasture, the neighborhood is now replete with luxury housing, four-lane roads and a bustle worthy of a community just seven miles from downtown.The location does not look like a landmark to the birthplace of American golf. But it is, in ways both tangible and symbolic. This week, the site will be newly in the spotlight as the U.S. Open returns for a fourth time to the Country Club in Brookline.Neighbors of the Clyde Street property have recently noticed a flurry of activity at the residence as contractors’ vans filled the driveway daily for what is clearly a moneyed restoration project. In late April, two workers peeled back attic ceiling panels of the 1893 dwelling and then had to duck as a pair of antique golf clubs tumbled to the floor.“They’re Francis’s clubs!” one of the workers, Aldeir Filho, yelped. His colleague, Christian Herbet, dashed down the stairs to alert the crew of tradesman below.From the second floor, Herbet shouted: “We found Mr. Ouimet’s clubs.”The American golfer Francis DeSales Ouimet in 1913.George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)In 1913, Francis Ouimet, then a 20-year-old self-taught amateur golfer, left the second-floor bedroom he shared with his brother at 246 Clyde Street and crossed the street to the Country Club, where he defeated the world’s two most accomplished British professionals, Ted Ray and Harry Vardon, to win the U.S. Open.The stunning upset by Ouimet, the son of immigrants and a caddie at the club, was front-page news across the nation and has been credited with spawning explosive nationwide growth in the game. While there were only 350,000 American golfers in 1913, that number had swelled to 2.1 million less than 10 years later. The fame of Ouimet’s groundbreaking accomplishment — no amateur had ever won the U.S. Open and few golfers from working-class roots had ever played in championships — has endured for 109 years, no doubt helped by a popular 2005 movie, “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”The house that Ouimet’s father, Arthur, just happened to purchase across from the Country Club has often played a prominent factor in Francis Ouimet’s winsome story. The humble dwelling astride a tony country club came to represent the two worlds Ouimet daringly traversed when he walked down his unadorned wooden front steps and marched onto the club’s gilded grounds for the last 18 holes of the 1913 U.S. Open. About four hours later, he was carried from the last green on the shoulders of cheering fans. The duality of Ouimet’s life on either side of Clyde Street, including the cramped, meager confines of his upbringing, are a robust part of the narrative. There are, for example, 17 scenes depicting life in the Ouimet house in the 2005 movie.And yet, until recently, preserving or formally recognizing the home’s significance was never a priority. While the structure remained in the Ouimet family for 94 years, it changed ownership multiple times. The exterior and interior were altered and a tall white fence rose in the front yard to eclipse most of the ground floor from the road.The dining room of the Ouimet HouseAlex Gagne for The New York TimesAlex Gagne for The New York TimesAlex Gagne for The New York TimesAs housing prices in Brookline soared across the decades, some at the nearby club, which is a founding member of the United States Golf Association, worried what might happen if the property was bought and redeveloped. Years ago, for instance, what had been the family barn next to the Ouimet house was sold, rebuilt and turned into condominiums.“If you let that house be torn down,” Fred Waterman, the club historian, said of the Ouimet house in an interview last month, “you’ve allowed a very important part of American sports history to disappear.”Tom Hynes, a member of the Country Club who has a Boston real estate background that stretches to the 1960s, casually befriended the owners of the house, Jerome and Dedie Wieler, not long after they moved to the neighborhood in 1989. Hynes lives nearby and would see the Wielers walking their dog almost daily.“When you’re ready to sell your house,” Hynes told the couple, “I’m your buyer.”The Wielers answered that they were not selling and were curious why Hynes would want it. Hynes explained Ouimet’s history to the Wielers, who knew nothing of golf. But the Wielers were intrigued by a heartwarming story.“Someday, maybe 20 years from now, you might be selling and please let me know,” said Hynes, who added that he would remind the Wielers about once a year. “I just wanted the house returned to golf.”Late in 2020, the Wielers contacted Hynes, who set foot in the house at 246 Clyde Street for the first time and 30 minutes later had a handshake agreement to buy the property for $875,000.The actor Shia LaBeouf as Francis Ouimet in the 2005 movie “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” Entertainment Pictures / AlamyFrancis Ouimet, center, with the professional British golfers he beat to win the 1913 U.S. Open, Harry Vardon, left, and Ted Ray.Associated PressHynes set about trying to defray the purchase cost by raising money with the intent of donating the house to the club, which could use it for myriad activities, including staff and guest housing on the second floor. The decision was also made to restore the house to make it appear as it did when the Ouimets lived there in 1913.“When you walk into the house we want you to have the feeling of what it was like to have walked into the family’s home 109 years ago,” Waterman said.But first, there was much work to do. While the house was in good shape, it needed innumerable improvements to meet modern building codes. The cost of the restoration swelled. As Hynes, the nephew of a three-term Boston mayor who has brokered some of the city’s most sweeping real estate deals, said: “I started going around town with my tin cup out.”Hynes had a potent, almost divine ally in his fund-raising mission. It was as if Francis Ouimet was mystically assisting him. Ouimet, who died in 1967, remained a lifelong resident of the Boston area and continued to win golf championships as an amateur for many years after 1913. He also had a career in finance.In 1949, a Ouimet college scholarship program for caddies was created. Since then, the Ouimet Fund has awarded nearly $44 million to more than 6,300 men and women. The need-based scholarships can be worth as much as $80,000 across four years of study.As Hynes began to solicit help for his restoration, he occasionally was surprised to find donors who were unflinchingly generous with their money. They were Ouimet Scholars, now middle-aged, who believed they would have never attended college without the fund’s assistance.Fred Waterman, historian at the Country Club.Alex Gagne for The New York TimesTom Hynes, who bought the Ouimet house.Alex Gagne for The New York TimesThe Ouimet house’s living room has been restored.Alex Gagne for The New York TimesAdditionally, more than 40 members of the Country Club have contributed, most donating $25,000 each. The first phase of the renovation was finished last week.A tour of the 1,550-square foot, six-room Ouimet house these days is like stepping back in time since its appearance has been curated to match an early-20th-century style. The wallpaper, lighting, drapes and shades are vintage. The furnishings are faithful to the period: chairs, sofas and tables from the early 1900s presented to the club by an architect who heard about the renovation. Common rooms were small then, but add to the cozy, familial feel.Just inside the first-floor entry is an old, preserved wooden wall telephone, the kind with a crank on the side. It is rigged so visitors can lift the receiver and hear a recording of Ouimet describing his U.S. Open victory. He is joined on the audiotape by Eddie Lowery, who was Ouimet’s 10-year-old caddie. The two remained lifelong friends.Elsewhere on the first floor are mementos acknowledging what took place nearby in 1913, including newspaper clippings and photographs. The tall, imposing street-side fence has been removed to reveal newly planted sod with a border of perennials.The second phase, which will renovate the building’s exterior by adding new clapboard, windows and a cedar shingle roof, will not be complete until next year. After that, Hynes hopes to hand off the house to the club. Since the club, which has about 1,300 members, has yet to take possession of the Ouimet house, its president, Lyman Bullard, said there was no decision yet on access or its primary use.Hynes, who mentioned being sensitive to neighbors of a property in a residential area, does not envision the house being open to the public, or offering tours like a museum. But Waterman felt there might be a sense of obligation to share the house, and its history, in some way.A photo taken in 1900 shows Francis as a 7-year-old, next to his mother, Mary, and father, Arthur.Courtesy The Country ClubIn the movie “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” there is an early bit of foreshadowing: a scene of the young Francis Ouimet dutifully but surreptitiously practicing his putting at night after his parents had gone to bed. If that might be Hollywood mythmaking, there is no disputing the golf-centric, stirring view from Ouimet’s second-floor bedroom window. Across Clyde Street, Francis could see the Country Club’s pristine 17th hole. The vista now is altered by the decades-long growth of trees sprouting on the perimeter of the grounds. But standing at the bedroom window, with the house’s revitalized original flooring creaking underfoot, the manicured 17th hole is still plainly visible.Francis Ouimet’s boyhood dreams seem present, not distant.His impact on golf, even American sport, is alive in the spirit of his home.In 1913, the golf icon Gene Sarazen, then known as Eugenio Saraceni, was an 11-year old caddie in the New York suburbs. The son of Sicilian immigrants, he read about Ouimet’s stunning victory over the renowned British professionals. As Waterman noted, Sarazen said to himself at the time: “If he can do it, I can do it.”When Sarazen was 20, like Ouimet, he won the U.S. Open, the first of the seven major golf championships he won from 1922 to 1935.For Waterman and Hynes, one of their fondest hopes is that the Ouimet house, newly returned to golf, is not done influencing future U.S. Open champions. Hynes floated the possibility that one of the golfers in this year’s field might wish to stay in the house during the competition.Calling that “the ultimate thing,” Waterman added: “It would be a player who says, ‘I want to wake up in Francis Ouimet’s bedroom because he walked down the stairs and won the U.S. Open. Maybe that’s what will happen for me.’ ”Ouimet’s win at the U.S. Open made the front page of The New York Times, top left, on Sept. 21, 1913.The New York Times More

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      Phil Mickelson, Fresh From LIV Golf Series, Stays on Message at U.S. Open

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      “I’m grateful for all that the PGA Tour has given me, but I’m excited about this new opportunity as well,” Mickelson said of the Saudi-financed rebel golf start-up.BROOKLINE, Mass. — He was unwavering. He has made peace with his decision. For someone with a reputation as a gambler, on and off the golf course, Phil Mickelson played it as straight as a Ben Hogan 1-iron on Monday.Speaking to an overflow crowd of reporters at the Country Club, site of this week’s U.S. Open, Mickelson stayed on message throughout a 25-minute news conference. He reiterated his commitment to the LIV Golf Invitational Series, which he called “transformative.” He used the word “respect” more than 15 times, including three times in one sentence, to describe his feelings toward those who opposed his decision. He made no apologies.The players who have left the PGA Tour to play for the Saudi-backed LIV series and the players who have remained loyal to the PGA Tour began to gather on Monday for the U.S. Open and for the first time since Mickelson and the other players who jumped to LIV were suspended by Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner.Many of the golfers who chose to play in LIV’s inaugural event last week outside London resigned from the tour to avoid being suspended, but Mickelson did not, and he expressed hope that he could one day return to the tour, twice citing his lifetime membership to the organization.“I’ve earned that lifetime membership, so I believe that it should be my choice,” he said.The LIV series events are the richest tournaments in golf history — last week’s total purse was $25 million, with a $20 million pot for the individual event and $5 million more to split in team competition. Charl Schwartzel, 37, finished first in both the individual and team competitions, earning $4.75 million. The last-place finisher at each event is guaranteed $120,000. Mickelson finished in a five-way tie for 33rd place at 10 over par for the no-cut, 54-hole tournament. He received around $150,000.LIV Golf will hold its next event in the United States. It begins June 30 outside Portland, Ore., and is one of five U.S. events.Mickelson was paid a reported $200 million to take part in the series, which is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Dustin Johnson, the highest-ranked player to participate so far, was reportedly paid up to $150 million. The former Masters champion Patrick Reed and the 2020 U.S. Open champion, Bryson DeChambeau, are expected to officially join LIV Golf soon.The United States Golf Association, which runs the U.S. Open, allowed Mickelson and any of the other suspended players to participate in this week’s event provided they met the organization’s qualifying rules. Mickelson did. Other LIV players in the field include Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Kevin Na, Talor Gooch and Louis Oosthuizen.Mickelson facing numerous questions about choosing to play for the LIV Golf series.Ross Kinnaird/Getty ImagesBut as players descended on suburban Boston and the history-rich venue, Mickelson was the indisputable attraction on Monday. He had not held such a news conference in the United States in four months. He hasn’t spoken to Monahan since October. He had been out of touch over that span by design, to work on personal and family issues.One of the issues was his gambling.“I continued to work on some areas that I’m deficient of in my life. I mean, the obvious one is gambling,” he said. “I’ve been working on that for years, and I’m very happy with where I’m at with that. But I’ll have to continue to work on that the rest of my life.”Mickelson was asked numerous times about negative reactions from fans and fellow players about his decision. He said he had the “utmost respect” for players on the tour and that the friendships he had forged over his professional career will remain intact. He also stressed how much he had boosted the tour.“I feel good about the efforts I put in to try to give back to the game of golf as well as the tour,’’ he said. “I’m excited about the opportunity that LIV Golf presents for me and the game of golf going forward.”Mickelson said he planned to play in the rest of the LIV events as well as next month’s British Open at St. Andrews.“Anything other than that would be pure speculation,” he said. “I don’t know how this is all going to play out.” He added: “My preference is to be able to choose which path I would like, one or the other, or both.”A Quick Guide to the LIV Golf SeriesCard 1 of 6A new series. More

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      Jon Rahm Wins the U.S. Open, His First Major Championship

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      In his first tournament back after testing positive for the coronavirus, the Spaniard, 26, birded the final two holes to overtake Louis Oosthuizen and claim his first major title.SAN DIEGO — A golf ball hit by one of the leaders lodged in the limb of a tree. A shot by another contender settled next to an open case of beer. No one seemed able to keep his footing on the 13th tee, where the surface was as unpredictable as a carnival Tilt-A-Whirl. The reigning champion missed a hole in one by an inch.The final round of the 121st U.S. Open on Sunday did not lack for tension and theatrics. But Jon Rahm, who two weeks ago was forced to withdraw from a tournament in tears because he had tested positive for the coronavirus, found the resolve to birdie the final two holes at Torrey Pines Golf Course to win America’s national golf championship by one stroke.The victory was Rahm’s first in a major championship and made him the first Spaniard to win the event. On June 5, he was leading the Memorial Tournament in Ohio by a commanding six strokes when the coronavirus test kept him out of the final round. Informed of the result as he came off the 18th green, Rahm doubled over and left the area wiping his eyes.JON. RAHM.An UNREAL finish and he leads at the #USOpen! pic.twitter.com/Bdozxfkdmb— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 20, 2021
      On Sunday night after his U.S. Open victory, Rahm, 26, said that when he was cleared last week to return to the tour and play at Torrey Pines he felt that “the stars were aligning.”“I just had a good feeling knowing I was coming to San Diego,” said Rahm, who has often visited the area and who proposed to his wife, Kelley, at Torrey Pines. “Every time we come here, we’re happy. It had to happen this way, every part of the journey.”That included, Rahm said, what transpired at the Memorial Tournament.“I was never resentful for anything for any second, and I don’t blame anybody,” he said. “Unfortunately Covid is a reality. We have lost a lot of people. People said it wasn’t fair, but it was what had to be done. And all of it led to this moment.”Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa finished second at Torrey Pines, the sixth time he has been the runner-up in a major golf championship. Oosthuizen, 38, won the 2010 British Open, then placed second at the 2012 Masters, at the 2015 U.S. and British Opens and at the P.G.A. Championship in 2017 and in 2021, when Phil Mickelson won to become the oldest major champion.Rahm’s victory ended a streak of six consecutive American winners in the event. With about two hours left in Sunday’s championship, nearly 10 players had a chance to claim the title. However, in the final 45 minutes, the chase narrowed to Rahm and Oosthuizen.Rahm, who began the final round three strokes off the lead held by Oosthuizen, Russell Henley of the United States and Mackenzie Hughes of Canada, played his opening nine holes at two under par to jump up the leaderboard. Seven consecutive pars beginning on the 10th hole kept Rahm in contention. The streak included a pivotal par putt from 20 feet that he sank on the par-3 16th hole. Rahm, a passionate player who was once best known for his fits of temper instead of for his game, closed with a flourish.At the 17th hole, trailing Oosthuizen by a stroke, he wisely flew his tee shot to the right of the fairway, where there was ample room, then knocked his approach onto the green. Sizing up a 24-foot putt with at least six feet of left-to-right break, Rahm gently tapped the downhill putt, which curled into the hole for a birdie that put him in a tie for the lead at five under par.Rahm after a birdie putt on the 17th hole during the final round of the U.S. Open on Sunday. He also birdied No. 18.Erik S Lesser/EPA, via ShutterstockOn the par-5 18th hole, Rahm bombed his drive and had 223 yards to the green. His four-iron shot faded a bit, and the ball skittered into a bunker to the right of the green. Rahm made a gutsy decision to play his third shot away from the hole, flipping the ball to the right of the hole above the flagstick.From 18 feet, Rahm sank another curving putt, the ball slipping into the right edge of the hole. His emotions now welcome, the popular Rahm pumped his right fist repeatedly as fans enveloped him in raucous cheers. A four-under, final-round 67 had made Rahm the leader in the clubhouse.Oosthuizen had a chance to catch Rahm, but he pulled his tee shot at the 17th hole left into a ravine. The mistake led to a devastating bogey that ruined his opportunity to force a playoff, even with a birdie on the 18th hole.“The tee shot on 17 really cost me,” Oosthuizen said. “I’m second again. No, look, it’s frustrating. It’s disappointing.”Earlier Sunday afternoon, at about 2 p.m. Pacific time, it appeared that Bryson DeChambeau might successfully defend his 2020 U.S. Open title, as his tee shot on the 175-yard, par-3 eighth hole bounced onto the putting surface and tracked toward the hole until it stopped one inch from the lip.DeChambeau followed up the tap-in birdie with two pars, but his powerful drives began to drift right and into the rough. That led to bogeys at the 11th and 12th holes. On the par-5 13th tee, like many of his competitors, DeChambeau slipped as he pushed off his right foot. The drive was short and in the thick grass, as was his next shot. A third shot ended up in a bunker and his escape from the sand flew over the green until it came to rest next to a cardboard box of beer.By the time DeChambeau putted out on the hole, he had made a double-bogey 7. He shot 44 on the back nine and 77 for his final round.Minutes after DeChambeau’s near ace, Rory McIlroy missed a seven-foot birdie putt on the seventh hole that would have tied him with DeChambeau. It was the high-water mark of the tournament for McIlroy, who was seeking his first major championship since 2014. A bogey on the 11th hole and a disastrous double bogey on the 12th derailed his hopes, and he finished five strokes back at one under par.Hughes stayed in the hunt until a shot to the 11th green lodged in a tree, a mishap that resulted in a double bogey and sent him tumbling down the leaderboard.Celebrating on the 18th green Sunday evening, Rahm held his infant son, Kepa, in his arms, smiled and looked around at his parents and other members of his extended family.“Even though Father’s Day in Spain is a different day, I’m forcing him to celebrate it today,” he said, “and we’re going to have fun because there’s three generations of Rahms on this green right now. One of them doesn’t really know what’s going on, but I am glad he’s going to get to see it in the future and enjoy it.”Rahm hugged his father, Edorta Rahm and mother, Angela, after finishing his round.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images More

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      At the U.S. Open, a 48-Year-Old Is in the Hunt

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      The 48-year-old English golfer, whose first tour victory came last month, shared the lead after two rounds of the Open at Torrey Pines.SAN DIEGO — For 25 years, Richard Bland of England wondered if he might forever view his golf career with “the disappointment of slightly underachieving.”Lacking strong results, and sometimes even mediocre ones, Bland was kicked off the European tour several times. He never considered quitting and fought his way back from the sport’s minor leagues even as he got used to being one of the oldest players in each event. Then, out of the blue last month, after 477 tries, Bland, 48, won his first tour event, a victory that qualified him for a berth in the 2021 U.S. Open.When asked what he looked forward to about playing in America’s national golf championship, he mentioned “all the add-ons,” a reference to the freebies at elite golf events — use of a luxury courtesy car, welcome gifts, a spot in a sumptuous locker room alongside the best golfers on the planet.Bland did not mention one other possible perk: A chance to win the tournament and join the exclusive club of major golf champions. And yet on Friday, at the midpoint of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course, Bland’s name was atop the leaderboard, where he was tied with Russell Henley.In fact, Bland, who teed off early Friday morning, held the second-round lead for most of the day until Henley caught and passed him with a late charge. But on his final hole, Henley missed a five-foot par putt to finish with a one-under-par 70 that dropped him back to five under for the tournament.Matthew Wolff and Louis Oosthuizen were in third place, one stroke off the lead.While Bland’s Friday performance may have been a surprise, it was not a fluke. He shot 67 with seven birdies, and three bogeys. Coupled with a first-round 70, Bland now has two below-par rounds at the championship, heady scores in an event in which anything under par is often good enough to win.A month after Phil Mickelson won the P.G.A. Championship at 50 and four months after Tom Brady won the Super Bowl at 43, here comes the seasoned Bland, who actually has a gray beard.“This has been the year for us oldies,” Bland said with a wide grin Friday. “It’s nice to give the gym goers a run for their money.”To be clear, Bland was not mocking the modern, young golf pro who works out regularly.“It’s just a figure of speech,” he said, adding: “As we get older, everything kind of creaks in the morning and there’s a new ache to wake up to.”Bland, who is No. 115 in the men’s world rankings, conceded that Mickelson’s recent victory was an inspiration but said he was stunned to see how many viewed his May 16 win, at the British Masters, in the same way.Mickelson, whose world ranking was 115 before the P.G.A. Championship last month and who survived Friday’s cut with a 69 after a 75 in the first round, said of Bland: “To stay at it, work as long as he did and to have that breakthrough, is awesome. I’m really happy for him.”Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champion, sent warm congratulations via Twitter. Bland’s countryman Ian Poulter wrote: “Happy to see that the flame still burns. Hard work pays off.”Bland called the few days after his victory a blur, “with as much of the first 24 hours more hangover than anything.”But then he noticed that his social media accounts had exploded.“I wasn’t ready for messages from people all over the globe — Australia, South America, China, America,” he said. “All these people saying how inspired they were by it. That’s something I wasn’t expecting. I’m just a guy who’s won a golf tournament really, when you boil it down.”Bland shot 67 with seven birdies, and three bogeys, a performance that left him at five under par for the championship after two rounds.Harry How/Getty ImagesBland was underselling his perseverance, and the more he talked about his determination through recurring setbacks, the more he seemed to understand the deeper message being sent.“I think every kind of sportsman or sportswoman, they have that never-die or that never-quit attitude, no matter whether it’s golf or it’s tennis or it’s boxing, whatever it is,” he said. “The old saying is you get knocked down seven times, you get up eight. I’ve always had that kind of attitude that you just keep going. You never know in this game, you just keep going.”Bland poked fun at the uneven and circuitous path of his golf career.“Golf is all I know, and even if things got hard there for a while, what was I going to do?” he asked. “I wasn’t going to get an office job. To be honest, I’m not that intelligent. I’ve always been someone that can put my head down and work hard. And I always felt I had the game to compete on the European tour at the highest level. It just took a while to prove that, I guess.”Bland’s only other appearance in an American golf tournament came in 2009, when he accumulated enough standing in the European rankings to qualify for the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black on Long Island. He shot a nervous 77 in the first round but came back with a par 70 in the second. The rally was not enough to make the cut, but the experience may have served Bland well.On Friday, he did not shy away from talking about contending for the championship on Sunday in the final round at Torrey Pines.“I’ve been driving the ball very well for the last six weeks or so, and on this golf course that’s what you have to do to have any success,” Bland said. “If I keep doing what I’ve been doing, I feel like I can still be there on Sunday on the back nine when we finish.”Bland laughed.“I know that sounds unbelievable to some, maybe,” he said. “But that would be a proper dream come true.”Several top golfers rallied from disappointing first rounds to get back into contention on Friday, including Collin Morikawa, whose 67 left him at even par overall. Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas shot 69s to pull even with Morikawa, while Brooks Koepka slumped to a 73 to also settle at even par for the tournament. More

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      At the U.S. Open, Matthew Wolff Is Having Fun Again

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      The promising young golfer took two months off the PGA Tour when he stopped enjoying the game and was worried about his mental health. He says he’s thrilled to be back.SAN DIEGO — For Matthew Wolff, rock bottom came in April when he was at the Masters, perhaps golf’s most cherished event, and was utterly miserable.“The entire time there my head was down and I hated it,” said Wolff, 22, who a year ago was the PGA Tour’s breakout star with a string of top finishes that vaulted him to 12th in the world rankings. “I didn’t enjoy it and it was hard for me. The Masters was pretty much the turning point.”Emboldened by other professional athletes who have talked this year about concerns for their mental health and the outsize expectations of their jobs, Wolff decided that he had to walk away from golf for nearly two months.“Seeing all these other athletes coming out and being like mental health is such an important thing and whether it’s something that’s going on personally or you’re not playing well or you’re not enjoying it,” Wolff said on Thursday after shooting a one-under par 70 in the first round of the U.S. Open at the Torrey Pines Golf Course. “I just needed to take a break.”It was Wolff’s first tournament since missing the cut at the Zurich Classic in late April.Wolff called the comments of athletes like the tennis star Naomi Osaka, who has recently discussed her issues with anxiety and depression, a primary inspiration for his decision to take time off from competition, and also for returning to the course.“Mental health is a really big problem and we play a lot of golf or we play a lot of games and any professional athlete has to deal with a lot more stress and pressure than most people,” he said. “And it just kind of got to me. But I’ve been working on it. I’ve been learning and I think that’s all I can do. It’s probably something I’ll be doing for most of my career but I’m feeling a lot better.“It’s been a help to know that others are talking about the same things I am — and I’ve gotten a ton of support from the fans out there. People were yelling, ‘It’s good to see you back, Matt.’ And that was great.”Wolff was 11-over par through two rounds at this year’s Masters then signed an incorrect scorecard and was disqualified. A few weeks before that, he had shot a first-round 83 at the World Golf Championship-Workday tournament and promptly withdrew without citing an injury, which is highly uncommon for tour players. That exit followed a first-round 78 and another withdrawal from the Farmers Insurance Open. Since late last season, Wolff has played in 10 successive tournaments without finishing in the top 25.Moreover, Wolff’s countenance had changed from 2020, when he usually seemed to enjoy interacting with fans and his colleagues. This spring, Wolff played and behaved like someone who could not wait to get off the course.“I was in a pretty bad head space,” he said.But on Thursday, Wolff smiled easily even though his round was topsy-turvy. He was tied for the lead at one point at three-under par but slumped to one under a few holes later. Overall, Wolff had eight birdies, three bogeys and two double bogeys.“A lot of good and a lot of bad,” Wolff answered with a snicker when asked to describe his play. “But that’s OK. That’s golf and I’m having fun with it. That’s what I have to focus on.“Many millions of people would trade with me in a heartbeat. And I needed to just kind of get back and be like, ‘Dude, you live an unbelievable life, like you don’t always have to play good.’ I wanted to be too perfect. I wanted to always please the fans — maybe too much sometimes.”Wolff’s 70 on Thursday had him three strokes off the championship’s early leader, Russell Henley, who shot 67. With half the field still finishing rounds, Francesco Molinari and Rafa Cabrera-Bello trailed Henley by one stroke. Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele, two of the pretournament favorites, were one stroke behind them. Phil Mickelson struggled throughout his round with five bogeys and shot 75. Viktor Hovland, a contemporary of Wolff’s whose impressive play this year has had made him a major championship contender, shot 74. Justin Thomas, who won this year’s Players Championship, opened with a two-over par 73.Wolff, however, was not watching the scoreboard, even though he was the third-round leader at the 2020 U.S. Open and the eventual runner-up to Bryson DeChambeau.“Like it’s awesome that I played well today, I mean, I’m thrilled,” said Wolff, adding that he did not watch golf on television during his two-month layoff. “But no matter what happened today the score that I shot I, like I said, I just have been having fun and I haven’t had fun out here in quite awhile.” More

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      At the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, Tiger Woods Still Looms Large

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      The 2008 championship would be the last major tournament victory for Woods until the 2019 Masters. Rocco Mediate, the golfer he beat in an epic 19-hole playoff, remembers every putt.SAN DIEGO — Arms folded across his chest, Rocco Mediate stared at a small, square television to see if his life was about to change forevermore.Mediate stood in a low-slung nondescript area behind the 18th hole grandstand at the Torrey Pines Golf Course, a space so cramped he ducked his head to avoid wires hanging from the ceiling. He could not see the 18th green, where minutes earlier, he had made par to take a one-stroke lead in the fourth round of the 2008 United States Open.Mediate, ranked 158th in the world at the time, was trying to become the oldest man, at 45, to win the event. He paced nervously, cleats crackling on the bare concrete floor as the image of Tiger Woods appeared on TV.Woods, playing without an anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and with stress fractures in his left tibia, had a 12-foot birdie putt to tie Mediate and send the championship to an 18-hole playoff the next day.Usually garrulous, Mediate was silent as Woods stroked his putt, the ball taking hops across the bumpy surface, traveling at a hopscotch cadence that seemed certain to send the putt offline. But the golf ball tickled the edge of the hole and toppled in.“Of course he made it,” Mediate said with a chortle, turning to two nearby reporters. “He’s Tiger Woods.”Half grinning and half sighing, he looked away adding: “He’s Tiger Woods. Of course.”Mediate on the 10th tee in his playoff against Woods.Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesExcept it would not be that simple. What felt like the end of Mediate’s time in the spotlight turned out to be the beginning. And what felt like a renewal of triumphs for Woods instead was the high-water mark of his 11-year sprint to 14 major titles. Soon enough, for Woods, nothing would be the same again.As the U.S. Open returns to Torrey Pines for the first time since that tournament, when Woods eventually vanquished Mediate after 19 extra holes in a last-of-its-kind Monday playoff, the 2008 championship is a revered golf keepsake — when Woods was a shimmering Goliath at the peak of his powers and a rumpled David whose nickname was “Rock” almost overcame his fearsome rival.The memory, the last major title for Woods until he won the 2019 Masters, is particularly poignant this year because Woods can’t play in the event after sustaining severe leg injuries in a February car crash. Still in rehabilitation, Woods recently said his chief goal was to walk on his own.But 13 years ago Woods was at his best, and so was Mediate, and the two are eternally linked.“Great fight,” Woods, who looked exhausted, said to Mediate as the two hugged on the final green. “The best of my major championships.”Mediate, who was disappointed but happy, answered: “It was the most fun I’ve ever had playing golf with somebody, let alone against the greatest golfer in the world.”Five days earlier, the tournament had begun with Woods’s caddie, Steve Williams, imploring him to withdraw.Fourteen holes into his first round, Woods, whose shattered knee had prevented him from walking or playing golf for the previous six weeks, was one over par and spraying shots far and wide. “You’ve got many more years to win majors,” Williams said to Woods, who was 32. Woods cursed and said: “I’m winning the tournament.”Woods on the 18th hole during the final round where he made his legendary putt.Charles Baus/Icon Sportswire, via Getty ImagesAdam Scott and Phil Mickelson played the first two rounds of the 2008 championship with Woods and suspected there was more wrong with his knee than the “soreness” that Woods had blamed for his layoff.“Tiger looked more uncomfortable than I had ever seen him,” Scott said in an interview this month. “But I don’t know that the crowd noticed. They were going crazy with Tiger and Phil, two California kids, playing on a public golf course in their home state. It was pretty much mayhem out there.”After nine holes in the second round, Woods had slumped to three over par and was in danger of missing the cut, but he rallied to birdie five of the next nine holes, shooting a spectacular 30 on the second nine.“He flipped the switch and I remember thinking, ‘Here goes Tiger doing something special — something Tiger-esque — again,’” Scott said.Paired with Robert Karlsson in the third round, Woods often bent over in pain after tee shots and kept tumbling down the leaderboard. On the tee at the par-5 13th, his drive was so far right it came to rest near portable toilets that were far from the fairway.“Tiger was aiming way left off every tee and hitting big slices, because that’s how he kept from putting too much weight on his injured left knee on the downswing,” Karlsson said in an interview this month.Woods’s recovery flew to the back of the green, 65 feet from the hole atop a steep pitch. On the same devilish green that day, Mickelson had three-putted and spun three consecutive wedge shots off the green for a quadruple-bogey 9.Woods sank the 65-footer for an eagle. “Tiger-mania was full on at that point,” Karlsson said. “That was an impossible putt. Impossible.”The 15th hole was a dogleg left, and required a right-to-left draw off the tee, not the purposeful slice Woods had been hitting. Woods would have to put considerable weight on his damaged left knee. He told Karlsson and their caddies that after he swung they should just walk off the tee without him.“Tiger then hit this fantastic, piercing draw in the middle of the fairway, but he doubled over after it, leaning on his club to stay upright,” Karlsson said. “He was hyperventilating. He knew that swing was going to hurt like mad, but he committed to it anyway.”Woods played without an anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and with stress fractures in his left tibia.Charlie Riedel/Associated Press“We all walked off the tee quickly like he asked and when we got to the fairway, we looked back and he was still on the tee.”Consecutive pars and a lucky chip-in at the 17th hole for birdie — the ball clanged off the flagstick about a foot off the ground and fell into the hole — led to a 30-foot eagle putt on the 18th green that Woods converted for a round of 70. The surge gave him the tournament lead at three under par, two strokes ahead of Mediate, who was in third place.Walking the 18th hole, Karlsson asked Williams if he thought Woods would be able to play in Sunday’s final round. “Stevie said he thought it was 50-50,” Karlsson said.Woods made it to Sunday but was three over par for the first two holes. Mediate shot 71 to take the lead by one stroke. Woods steadily rescued par after par to stay in contention and at the par-5 final hole hit a magnificent third shot from the rough to set up the birdie attempt that would send the championship to a playoff after 72 holes.In the last 13 years, Mediate has watched a replay of the putt hundreds of times. “No one else makes that putt,” he said. “No one.”Scott has often been asked by young golfers what it was like to play with Woods in his prime. He cites the last putt of the fourth round at Torrey Pines in 2008.“The young guys can’t quite understand why we all say he was so much better than everybody else,” Scott said. “That putt, while it’s not the longest he ever made, pretty much sums what had happened for 10 years.”The following day, in the 18-hole playoff, it was Mediate who fell behind by three strokes after 10 holes, but he was buoyed by a crowd drawn to his everyman status.The massive crowd looking on during the playoff round.Chris WIlliams/Icon Sportswire, via Getty Images“Go get ’em, Rock,” fans called out after his tee shots.Mediate, a good but not great PGA Tour player for more than two decades, fought back with three consecutive birdies to take a one-stroke lead. As he did the previous day, Woods birdied the 18th hole, while Mediate made par to send the playoff to sudden death extra holes.At that moment, the PGA Tour pro Kevin Streelman was on a plane taking golfers and their families to Connecticut, where the Travelers Championship would be played that week. In the air, everyone watched the playoff on television, and the jet landed as Woods and Mediate were headed to a 19th hole. There were courtesy cars on the tarmac waiting to drive the players to their hotels. No one got off the aircraft.Every Cinderella story has a midnight and Mediate’s tee shot on par-4 No. 7 found a bunker. His approach shot missed the green, and a pitch from the rough was well short of the hole. Woods made a routine par, and Mediate missed a lengthy par putt.Woods walked toward Mediate to shake his hand, and Mediate embraced Woods in a hug.Mediate hugged Woods after he lost. “Great fight,” Woods said to Mediate.Chris WIlliams/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesTwo days later, Woods announced he would have season-ending surgery on his left leg. He returned in 2009 and stormed to six tour event victories but failed to win a major championship for the first year since 2004. And his year would worsen. The day after Thanksgiving, Woods had a car accident that led to revelations about his serial marital infidelities. For the next nine years, Woods, who won 14 of the 50 majors he played from 1997 to 2009, entered 24 majors and won none.Mediate, who watched the last putt of Woods’s fourth round in 2008 wondering if he was about to get a life-altering victory, was himself changed by his defeat at the U.S. Open.“I still get questions about it every single day,” Mediate said. “And my wife will go, ‘What?’ And I say that’s the way it is — they’re asking me a question about something they saw that meant something to them. It wasn’t like Joe’s Open, it was the United States Open. And it was a hell of a battle.” More