9:30 AM Arrival at the course. We tried to get there a little early to beat some of the crowds, but we certainly weren't alone. It was in between the finish of the delayed 2nd round and the 1st 3rd round tee time at 10:00, which did mean that we had free reign of the course for a little while. The main entrance was along the 17th fairway, and from there we walked down to 18 and were able to cross the 18th fairway at about 125 yards out from the hole. Standing in the middle of the fairway looking at that peninsula green (with the pin tucked way back left) was awe inspiring. I honestly think it might have been easier to putt it down that steep hill to the green then it would have been to try to stuff a wedge in there.
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| View down the 18th fairway to the peninsula green. |
From there we walked up to the mammoth clubhouse and stood looking out over the par-3 10th hole, which is about as intimidating a shot as I've ever seen. We'll get back to 10 later.
10:10 AM The 2nd group on the 1st tee was Bubba Watson and Robert Karlsson. Karlsson looks like he could be a linebacker in the NFL; Bubba looks like he could be working at Bass Pro Shops. They both hit the ball a mile. We followed them around for 3 holes, then waited on the 4th tee for Anthony Kim and Luke Donald to come up, then bounced over to the 6th green to see the same sets of players come through there. The 6th was a great risk-reward hole (as the USGA kept telling us), and we saw everything from birdie to double bogey in just 4 or 5 groups.
11:45 AM It was hot and steamy at this point, so we headed for the refreshment stand and grabbed some lunch and drinks (and I had an ice cream, probably my best decision of the day). We stood in the shade by the 7th tee to watch a few groups hit, and then headed back up the hill toward the 1st tee and putting green.
12:15 PM We decided to take a break from standing and went over to the driving range to watch some players hit for a while. It was actually fascinating seeing the routines that different players went through. Highlight players were Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer (both of whom hit the ball with a very low, boring trajectory), Lee Westwood, Ryo Ishikawa, and my brother's look-alike, Steve Stricker. (It's incredible. From behind they're identical. Kevin said we could kidnap Stricker and have my brother come out wearing the same outfit, and it would be 2-3 holes before anyone noticed. Assuming nobody watched him swing, that is.) Dohoon Kim hit balls for almost a full hour (actually, it was probably more than that; we left after about an hour), and he didn't hit a single one to the left. And Brian Gay hit two shots that were not exactly on line. Two.
1:15 PM We returned to the 10th tee. The USGA had moved the tee box up to one of the more forward tee areas, which did make the hole a little easier than it could have been, but it still is a beast. Because of it's proximity to the clubhouse and the number of people that can pack in close to the tee there's a lot more interplay between the players and the crowd than there is on most of the rest of the course. The first twosome we saw hit from there was Sangmoon Bae and Kenichi Kuboya; in the middle of one of their back-swings somebody dropped a plastic cup on the pavement and raised a cackle from the crowd -- and despite that both of those guys knocked it stiff. Next up were Dustin Johnson and Matteo Manassero, and again they both knocked it stiff. So either the hole isn't as hard as it looked, or those guys are in fact good.
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| Sergio tees off the 10th (we were in the 18th grandstand). |
1:30 PM From 10 we decided to bounce over to the 12th green to sit in the grandstand and watch a bunch of groups come through. We ended up staying there for close to 2 hours. The pin position was almost impossible: back right just over a little ridge, which left essentially a double-breaking putt from almost every angle except behind the hole (which almost nobody got to). I think we saw 3 one-putts the entire time, and none of those were for birdie; there were plenty of three-putts. From the vantage point we could also see the par-3 13th which had an equally treacherous pin placement -- right at the front pinched between two bunkers on a severe downhill slope. We only saw one birdie there, and that came from amateur Brad Benjamin (who unbelievably plays left-handed but putts right handed).
3:30 PM We decided to follow the Lucas Glover-Rory Sabbatini group up 13 and 14, and then found ourselves at what would become our favorite spot on the course: the 12th tee. Because the spot was pretty far out on the course without any grandstand it was sparsely populated with other fans, which meant we could stand right on the rope within 15-20 feet of the players teeing off. The 12th tee used for the tournament was actually one of the 15th hole tee boxes, and so naturally the 15th tee was just up a little way from us and we could see straight down the 15th fairway. Plus the 14th green was right behind us. Seeing 3 holes at once and being able to watch the pros rip driver from 15 feet away? I'd sign up for that every time. From a golf fan standpoint the highlight was when Phil Mickelson came through; he's not as "big" as he looks on TV (though Lee Westwood is). Phil was even par for the day when he teed off 12; he finished his round +7. You can do the math there. After Mickelson's group went through we followed Brian Gay and Dohoon Kim down the 15th and watched them tee off on 16 (where Kim hit a draw!) before heading across the 16th and behind 17 to get over to the 18th.
5:30 PM After getting some refreshments we perched ourselves in the 18th green grandstand. As compared to the 2nd round pin placement we had seen early in the morning (back left, similar to the 4th round), the 3rd round had a much more friendly front left spot, and players were mostly able to take dead aim at it. Despite that we only saw one birdie as everyone consistently over-read the break from the high side. From that spot we could also see the 10th green (though not really the tee), and it was amazingly picturesque, with the master leaderboard in the background and reflecting down in the water below. Mickelson finished up (with an adventurous right rough drive - left nearly-in-the-water approach, and then patented "only Mickelson" up-and-down for par) at just about the same time that the leaders (Rory McIlroy and Y.E. Yang) hit their tee shots on 10, and obviously we wanted to see the leaders on the back side so we quickly made our way back out to our favorite spot, the 12th tee.
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| Rory hits his tee shot on 12. |
7:00 PM A "quick" detour to the merchandise tent along the 17th fairway (at the main entrance) turned into a 30 minute fiasco since it was (a) chaotic, (b) the shirts had already been picked over and were almost all either smalls or XXL (maybe that was Sergio's issue?), and (c) when I did get a shirt it of course had no price tag and caused a delay at the register.
7:30 PM We made it back out to the course in time to beat the crowd to the 18th tee to see Rory and Yang hit their tee shots; and yes, again, Rory's ball was well past everyone else we had seen all day with the possible exception of Harrington. We followed him down on the interior side of the 18th fairway and again had a prime view of his approach down to the middle of the green and easy 2-putt for par and an 8 shot lead heading into Sunday.
8:00 PM We boarded the shuttle bus and left Congressional and the US Open behind. It was truly an awesome experience. Our legs were exhausted by the end, probably having walked 10+ miles up and down the steep hills. I will always be able to say I witnessed history when McIlroy torched the field (and the USGA) in his record setting performance. Just awesome.
[*All the images here were taken from http://www.usopen.com/.]
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