Reehoorn: U.S. Open Blog, Day 5
June 15, 2007
Jon Reehoorn, assistant coach for the Husky men's golf team, is caddying for Alex Prugh at the 2007 U.S. Open at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. Reehoorn will be writing daily reports from the experience back east, exclusively for GoHuskies.com. Here is Reehoorn's final entry from Friday.
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U.S. Open Blog, Day 5
Alex shot 81 today, one better than yesterday, but it could have been so much better. He played so much better than yesterday, unforunately the score does not show it. While he made the turn at 4 over it could have easily been closer to par if it was not for three 3 putts. The greens are so fast and severe you can never catch your breath to take a break. I've never seen players have to work so hard to just make a 3 foot putt.
Even after the three putts, Alex was playing steady and made a great par save on #2 and an outstanding par out of the right rough on #3, the church pew hole. Then came #4. If you were following online today or have checked out his scorecard I am sure you are wondering how the heck he made a 10!
I feel as if the 10 was my fault. Going into the week Alex told me he was glad I was on the bag because he knew I would stop him from doing anything stupid. I had the chance, but I went along with what Alex wanted to do.
The 4th hole, a 600 yard par 5 dogleg right, is a difficult driving hole with the wind going with the dogleg from left to right. He pushed his tee shot to the right about 30 yards right of the fairway and he found one of the lateral hazard ditches that are all over the course. The ditch is filled with long whispy grass and he had the option to take a drop or try and play it out. We talked about his options, but he felt it would be easier to play out of the ditch and try to hit it 20 yards into the 5th fairway instead of taking his two club lengths and dropping it in 8 inch deep rough that he would have to hack out of anyway. By hitting it in the other fairway he would have had a chance to go at the green in 3. So I went with his thinking and then the fun began. He took one swing and the ball went straight up into the air and back into the ditch. Now with what we thought was a better lie, Alex decided to hack it out again, only the ball went straight down into the ground. If you saw he highlights of Phil Mickelson on #18 today, you know exactly what happened to Alex. This time we decided to take a drop and hack out of the rough, and then five shots later we had a ten.
As we were walking down the 5 the fairway after Alex hit a great tee shot, I said to him, maybe now you will have a chance to be on TV. He laughed and said yeah, for all the wrong reasons. He took it all in stride and really hit the ball well the rest of the way. Further down the fairway, he even said this was a lot of fun and that he wished he could play this type of golf course all the time.
For a golfer with a 10 handicap, breaking 100 would be an adventure. On Tuesday, when we were walking with Johnny Miller, he said, "if all courses were like this in the US, not many people would play golf." I think he is right. I think some of the pros are even considering giving up the game after today.
As we were sitting in the player hospitality area eating lunch, Tom Pernice Jr. asked Pat Perez if he had played today or was yet to play. Perez responded, "I'm thinking about it." After sitting there watching the TV coverage prior to his 2:30 start this afteroon, Perez was not sure if he wanted to put himself through the torture he was about to endure. The anguish I saw on players faces after their rounds today, including Vijah Singh, was pretty refreshing. When Adam Scott shoots 82 and major champion Rich Beem shoots 85 you know the course can not be too easy.
While Alex did not play as well as he would have liked this week it was a great experience. I hope you had fun following our experience at Oakmont CC and had the opportunity to see Ian Poulter on TV. He showed up on the practice green this morning with a pink sweater, pink pants, pink visor, and pink shoes. Even the spikes on the bottom of his shoes were pink!
What a week! Alex and I are literally about to take off from Pittsburgh so I better send this email, turn off my blackberry, and get home to Seattle to watch the pros have some serious fun his weekend. The course is on the verge of being ridiculous!
