The U.S. Open, No Laughing Matter
The U.S. Open Championship is a big deal, especially to the USGA who has been accused of being stuffy and with no sense of humor. Lee Trevino once said something to the effect that when he retired he wanted to join the USGA committee and get a blue sport coat and a case of dandruff.
Having met many of the working staff for the USGA, they are really a bundle of laughs, very professional and they love the game. But the time they get to cut-up a bit is with the first round pairings for the U.S. Open.
Here are a couple of examples for the 2007 version of “Thursday Morning Live…”
Many of us get confused with Appleby and Allenby…are they the same guy, is there a misspelling? Well, they are certainly two distinct people, and they are paired together this year. Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby, along with Scott Verplank.
Here is a good one…if you are from Spain and want to catch all the action. Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and Pablo Martin, all from Spain, all together…play away Senor.
Here’s the traditional grouping, U.S. Open defending champ Geoff Ogilvy, British Open Champ Tiger Woods and U.S. Amateur Champ, Richie Ramsay. Tiger usually adds an “ie” to the ends of names, “Stevie, Markie, he’ll surely call Ogilvy Geoffie, but what will he call Richie..Richieie, yikes.
But here is the corker for this year, and I can see the mania in Japan. Bubba Watson, Boo Weekley and Nobuhiro Masuda, they must call him “Nobu” don’t they…so we have Boo, Bubba and Nobu…wow…wish I was on the first tee to see Nobu-San meet Bubba-San and Boo-San.
Congrats to the USGA for showing their lighter side…that is likely not what will be said about how tough the course plays.
Congratulations to the qualifiers this week for the U.S. Senior Open, including Bob Ford, the host pro for the U.S. Open. You can see who made it at USGA.org or for the Northern California players go to NCGA.org.
