PEBBLE BEACH – The Tiger tracks were still fresh, almost fresh enough to touch. The grandstands, the power lines, and the matted grass offered evidence that what we saw at the Pebble Beach Golf Links this weekend really did happen. Somebody must have used those portable restrooms. Somebody had to stand in those TV towers. Maybe Tiger Woods really did shoot 12-under-par in a tournament where the next best score was 3-over.
The legend of what Woods did in the 100th U.S. Open was only 15-hours-old. But it wasn’t too soon for the piece of history to be experience and retold in a more personal fashion.
From now on when anyone plays Pebble Beach, whether it be a paying customer or a fortunate freebie, those swinging the clubs will think of Woods and what he did here in ravaging a storied course.
I was among the first group of imitators yesterday thanks to a media raffle that put me on the course only hours after Woods shot a 4-under 67 to win by 15 strokes. I would stand in the tee-boxes he stood in, see the fairways as he saw them, and walk the greens he read to perfection.
Is he that good? Or was everyone else that bad? And what makes this course so tough anyway? I would find out for myself.
The tee-time was 7:50 a.m. The weather was perfect. The course still menacing. This was my first experience playing Pebble. I saw Tom Watson’s chip-in on 17 in ’82 and Tom Kite win in ’92, but at $315 for a regular green fee, it was going to take divine intervention to get me on. Thank goodness for perks of the business.
I must admit, mowing had already begun around the greens where the rough was ankle deep Sunday. But the fairway rough still guarded the tight fairways like barbed wire around a jail. If the ball landed in there, it was time for the wedge. It’s easier to escape from jail than USGA rough.
The greens weren’t as slick yesterday morning, but the pin placements were the same as Sunday’s, offering the ideal set-up for the recreation of Tiger’s final round.
To match his final 18 holes, I would have had to make pars on all nine holes on the front. A double-bogey on the par-4 first hole took care of that notion. Bogies at the second and third holes despite good drives, had me wondering how ugly this was going to get.
Then I thought about Ernie Els. If he could ignore being overmatched and overlooked as he played with Woods Sunday, I could do more than just enjoy the walk.
Certainly, Woods must have blocked out the gorgeous scenery that lines Pebble Beach. Stare too long at the waves crashing against the seawall or the boats surrounding a school of fish, and the last thing you’re thinking about is your next shot.
A par on the par-4 fourth hole helped get me back on track, a 3-wood and wedge got me there in regulation. But after bogies on five and six, I came to the famed par-3, 7th hole needing a lift.
Roy, my caddie, judged the distance at 86 yards, so I grabbed my 52-degree wedge and took one of those swings you’ll remember for a lifetime. My 7-iron on the 12th hole at Augusta National went long and into the bushes. But the A-wedge on the 7th hole at Pebble Beach softly landed 10-feet to the side of the cup. Nothing better than seeing your ball, by the pin, on the green surrounded by the ocean.
Birdie would have been nice, but the two-putt for par was fine. Remember, par is good at the U.S. Open.
I followed that with a par-4 on the eighth hole, perhaps my best of the day. A 3-wood down the middle was followed by a 6-iron that landed 15-feet from the cup for a two-putt par. A double-bogey on the ninth hole, thanks to chipping from one rough to the other, had me at 8-over after nine.
Somehow my driver didn’t make the turn with me as I spent most of the back nine in the rough wondering when the mowers were going to arrive. A par on the par-3, 12th hole provided my only satisfaction amid bogies and double-bogies, which had me 7-over on the back after six holes. But sand saves out of the right bunker on the 16th and the front bunker on 17 (much
like Woods on Sunday) produced two straight pars.
I should have closed out with three straight pars, but a three-putt on the 18th green left me 8-over on the back for a16-over-par 88 for the round. Considering I’m a 14-handicap, it was a good round, putting my net score at 74. That was better than the tournament average of 75.3, though my tee boxes weren’t quite as far back.
Walking up the 18th fairway, I thought of Jack Nicklaus and his long shot to reach the green in two on Friday. It was perhaps his last great shot in a U.S. Open. Then I thought of Woods and how he must have felt, carrying a 15-stroke lead to the final green. Invincible might be appropriate.
History was made at Pebble Beach Sunday. History still fresh enough to touch.
