Flash: China Claims First U.S. Open Trophy!

You thought Rory McIlroy had the trophy, but it turns out our good friends in China--well, our partners--have decided they'd like to keep it. Bernie McGuire reports on Chinese authorities seizing the cup first handed to Horace Rawlins in 1895.

The United States Golf Association (USGA), who administer the U.S. Open, along with management giant International Management Group (IMG) and McIlroy’s Dublin-based Horizon Sports have been working feverously to have the trophy returned.

The U.S. Trophy was despatched by McIlroy’s previously management company, International Sports Management (ISM) to TNT Transport for shipping to Shanghai for the Shanghai Masters that McIlroy won in a play-off from American Anthony Kim.

However that is the last time anyone has laid eyes on the trophy.

“ISM shipped the trophy out in its special protective box to Shanghai and the Lake Maclaren Shanghai Masters but there was no one present at the course to receive it so it was taken back to the shipping agents depot,” said Horizon Sports Conor Ridge.

Chubby must really miss this drama.

Meanwhile, Brian Keogh explains that Rory is, shocker of all shockers, burned out from his 10-week, five country season ending cash grab. In between were three days of intravenous fluids during the vacation portion. And there's still a trip to Dubai followed by a return to Asia.

“There are only a few more rounds left this season and I am going to try and give it my all in every single one of them,” he added. “It’s a hard season and that is why it is so important to take your breaks at the right time and make sure you are fresh for every event you play.

“This 10-week run I have been on so far definitely hasn’t helped me be fresh for every single event. But it is something that I wanted to do and something I will learn from and probably something that I won’t do again.  
“I think maybe two or three weeks in a row is my limit and then a couple of weeks off. But you learn every year about these things and I will make sure I don’t have such a stress like this next year.

“I got sick for a few days and it was touch and go whether I was going to play in the World Cup, but I played and I felt fine. But I feel like this week it might be catching up with me again but no big deal. I will give it my all these next two days and see what happens.”

No doubt his new manager was listening attentively to every word.

"Taxpayers Left To Pay U.S Open Tab?"

Delia Gonçalves of WUSA TV reports on Montgomery County wanting more money from the USGA for unanticipated overtime pay from this year's U.S. Open at Congressional.

The overall cost of Police and Fire overtime was $747,560 but the US Golf Association only reimbursed the county 10% leaving a balance of $678,265.

"I thought it was a fair deal, was it the best deal? We'll never know the answer to that," said the county's Chief Administrative Officer Tom Street.

"Other jurisdictions (who held prior U.S. Opens) had a better percentage," said Committee Chair Phil Andrews, "that's a whole lot of money and we're in a tough economic time.  We need to get a better reimbursement rate because that money could have gone to some valuable programs."

"The U.S. Open was just a factory to take your money."

Aaron McFarling in the Roanoke Times walks around the property Friday and lists all of the ways the Greenbrier Classic excels. While I giggle at the references to the Old White Guys TPC playing "too easy" last year (wasn't it also one of the most exciting events of the year?), this little note about the fan experience caught my eye:

Wade Kennedy is among them. He's 46, a Virginia Tech grad and a devoted golf fan. This summer, he attended the U.S. Open at Congressional.

He likes this better.

"The U.S. Open was just a factory to take your money," said Kennedy, who brought his entire family from Richmond to this event. "The hospitality and the friendliness of the tournament staff here is second to none. They make you feel comfortable, and you enjoy yourself because of that."

Hospitality was one of the many things Greenbrier officials had right the first time around. Good to know they haven't lost it.

"It's just what I think the game really needs right now, someone that's going to set an example that says you can play fast and win at the highest level."

Nice catch by Jonathan Wall at Yahoo regarding Rory McIlroy, fast play and Jim Nantz, with one caveat:

His dominating performance at the U.S. Open has been talked in the ground, so much so that CBS's Jim Nantz decided to point out something else besides McIlroy's demeanor and swing that kids should take note of.

"One thing I really enjoyed last week while watching Rory McIlroy's incredible performance at the U.S. Open was how fast a player he is," Nantz said. "Here's a guy that's going to be a superstar and a lot of people are going to try and model things after him ... especially kids watching him play. It's just what I think the game really needs right now, someone that's going to set an example that says you can play fast and win at the highest level."

The caveat: Nantz mentioned this as Johnson Wagner was preparing what one could only surmise was the last shot of his life. It was agony and credit to Nantz for showing no hesitation in sharing his thoughts on Rory, without calling out Wagner. That's for us bloggers to do!

Battle Of The Macs: Rory and John To Have Tennis "Knock-up"

An unbylined Belfast Telegraph story on the latest thrill from Rory's post-U.S. Open victory tour.

Fun loving US Open champion Rory McIlroy will today celebrate a career high golf ranking of third in the world - by having a "knock-up" with tennis legend John McEnroe at Wimbledon.

McEnroe, still famous for his 'You cannot be serious' Wimbledon rant 30 years ago, threw down the challenge to tennis fan Rory via social network site Twitter.

McIlroy has been on a week long party with friends and pop stars Olly Murs and JLS since his sensational victory at Congressional Golf Club last weekend.

Beman: "The advances in technology have greatly reduced the advantage of the physically superior."

Good to see Deane Beman continuing to shine a light on the technology debate as he battles with Golf World's E. Michael Johnson in this week's issue.

Responding to a question about the growing divide between amateur and pro game and why everyday courses should not be impacted:

Beman: You would think that, but fact is people who are on club golf committees see these longer courses. For the most part, they're better players and they become infatuated with all of it and push for a new tee box here or another 30 yards there. It's not good for the game. It's not a good use of land. It's not a good use of resources, and it does little but make the game too hard and too slow.

GW: Which is why some have called for more equipment rollbacks. But why should manufacturers have to adjust because people can't keep their egos in check?

Beman: Because when you have 523-yard par 4s it's really not golf.

GW: But golf is a sport where physical superiority should count for something.

Beman: That's my point. The advances in technology have greatly reduced the advantage of the physically superior. And those with more talent too. Everyone hits it long enough now. Working the ball is a lost art.

Jack [Nicklaus] hit it farther than just about everyone. That was an advantage for him. Now the longest of hitters don't get that big a benefit. Three hundred yards when everyone else is at 260 is useful. Hitting it 320 when the rest are at 290 is not nearly as much so because both players are still hitting a short iron in.

Rory: My Win Not As Impressive As Tiger In 2000

Chris Fedor with a nice summary of Rory's appearance on the Dan Patrick Show that has been talked about quite a bit by those who heard it.  On whether if he thinks his performance at the U.S. Open was as good as Tiger’s in 2000:

“No I don’t think it’s as impressive. Tiger was the only person under par in that field that week and I think there was 20 people under par at Congressional. The golf course was scorable and I was able to score a little lower than the rest of the guys but what Tiger did in Pebble to win by 15 shots was ridiculous. The performance I put in last week was good, it was great, but definitely not quite up there with what Tiger did in 2000.”

And on playing the PGA Tour full time:

“I tried it out last year and it didn’t quite work out for me. I love playing in the states, I love going over there, and I love spending time there, but I’m never going to leave the European Tour, it’s my home tour, and it’s a tour that gave me my opportunities at the start of my career. It’s tough to play both tours, I’d like to play a little bit more in the states, but it’s just tough with everything else that’s going on around the world. Hopefully I can make a few more appearances over there, but I don’t think I will join in the next couple of years anyway. It doesn’t mean to say that I will never join the tour again, but just at this moment in time, I think the schedule I have right now it works pretty well and we’ll just have to wait and see.”

"The entire sport of golf likely will be faced with a fork-in-the-road decision in charting its future."

Jim Achenbach assesses the U.S. Open at Congressional and concludes that the "gulf" between regular golfers and the professionals has "grown dramatically" in recent years with the need for a resolution appearing more evident than ever.

Several technological developments have aided golfers with high swing speeds much more than golfers with slower speeds. On the 2011 PGA Tour, 37 golfers are averaging more than 295 yards in driving distance. The longest hitters, if not constrained by accuracy concerns, can crank 340-yard drives at will.

So golf courses for the pros are growing longer. Meanwhile, the USGA is teaming up with the PGA of America on a new program called Tee It Forward, telling ordinary golfers that they will have more fun if they play shorter courses.

To amateurs who watch the pros in person or on television, such a suggestion doesn’t make much sense. The entire sport of golf likely will be faced with a fork-in-the-road decision in charting its future.

On this front, it sounds like Taylor Made is continuing to move toward wanting bifurcation of the rules to innovate for the everyday golfer, even though there is nothing stopping them from doing so now. Ryan Ballengee reports on Hank Haney's introductory teleconference to announce his signing as a Taylor Made fanboy.

In a call announcing his deal with TaylorMade, Haney said he thought equipment makers could have a bigger impact on the enjoyment factor of the game than instructors. Naturally, then, he would like to see the governing bodies of the game de-regulate equipment rules for the amateur.

(I fully support bifurcation of the Rules of Golf in a formal capacity – not just an unspoken understanding.)

“I wish the equipment manufacturers could be as innovative as they could be so they could make the game easier and more enjoyable.”

SI's Cover This Week...

Miraculously, there was no NFL Mid-Summer Arrest Report Issue to run, so Sports Illustrated managed to squeeze in the rare golf cover. Pretty cool shot. (I'm not sure who the photographer is, but likely Vuich or Beck.) **It's a Fred Vuich shot!

"Exit Poll"

As promised, here is my Golf World review from Congressional looking at the various elements playing into the setup, soft conditions and low scoring.

"Doctor's orders."

Tiger is out of the AT&T National but is still going to appear at the event next week, reports Doug Ferguson.

Woods is scheduled to be at Aronimink next week, to sign the "We Salute Our Heroes" tribute wall in which fans can write personal messages to the U.S. military. He has a news conference Tuesday afternoon, and is expected to take part in the military opening ceremony on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ron Sirak contrasts McIlroy with Tiger after last week's U.S. Open.

When it came time for McIlroy to face the media -- never one of Tiger's favorite chores -- that humility was captivating. With the trophy sitting next to him, Rory took out his cell phone and snapped a photo. "I have to tweet it," he said. "I've waited all week to do this." After the Masters, McIlroy tweeted a photo of him smiling next to Charl Schwartzel, who had on the green jacket Rory could have been wearing. It was a gracious gesture.

After taking his trophy shot Sunday, McIlroy turned his camera toward the hundreds of writers in the room and snapped a photo. In nearly 15 years as a pro, nothing close to that spontaneous ever occurred with Woods. Right now, Tiger has 14 majors and Rory has 13 fewer. But McIlroy is also 13 years younger and has connected with the public in a very special way.

The Congressional Low Scoring Panic

I see Golf Digest readers are in a tizzy over the U.S. Open low scoring this year and I've seen some correspondences from the blue blazer world lamenting this year's setup and forgiving course conditions.

In this week's Golf World I explain what was going on with the course and why some of the conditions remained soft. But before you have the chance to read that story, let's consider a few things.

First, Andy North sums up the silly kvetching about Congressional's setup in these comments to Doug Ferguson.

"Everybody knew those greens were going to be soft. My argument was, 'Why don't we have more rough? Why do we play the ladies' tees on half the holes?' Those were kind of things us angry old men were discussing," North said. "What has always set our championship apart from the other majors was the mental gymnastics you had to go through just to survive."

It's fascinating how the concept of varying tees with corresponding hole locations is blamed for the low scoring and the sense that the setup was not up to USGA standards. I'd put the fact that Congressional didn't play to its max yardage everyday a distant 9th on the list of reasons for the low scoring and simpler test. Here goes, in order:

1. Congressional was in immaculate condition. Mike Giuffre and crew had the fairways absolutely perfect, the greens looked lousy early in the week but perked up after Thursday's rain, and you only saw putts hop in the evening hours. The greens could not have been more different than last year's bumpy poa at Pebble, nor could they have been more conducive to making putts.

2. The greens were receptive to all shots, including from the rough. Why? A variety of reasons, most likely attributable to their newness and the USGA's decision to not lower cuts and strain them to pick up a few inches of Stimpmeter reading speed. Sub-Air can not impact the turf on top, just moisture that reaches the bottom of the USGA green. Moisture stayed at the surface for whatever reason and kept them soft.

3. The greens have very little contour and slope, require little local knowledge and make putting quite easy for today's players.

4. Players today hit the ball ridiculous distances with equipment that allows them to swing freely. Just as the USGA and PGA of America stated in their Tee It Forward campaign (but noticeably absent from the NBC graphic during this year's telecast), a course at 7600-7900 yards is the distance you would put more mid and long irons into their hands. Congressional, even from the tips, is too short to test today's players in a manner comparable to Open's from eras when equipment was in sync with architecture.

5. After Thursday, there was almost no wind whatsoever. No wind and today's players have one less thing to worry about.

6. The temperatures were warm and today's players drive it a mile in hot weather. Scoring is always good in hot weather.

7. The Blue Course design features almost no strategy, does little to make player uncomfortable and only posed significant danger in three places: the 10th, 11th and 18th holes. With little to think about and fear, today's players are quite proficient at scoring.

8. The bunkers had no bite. Mike Davis said that all spring, Congressional has struggled with the bunkers being too soft. With no rain 18 days prior to the event, steps were taken to firm them up enough. During the practice rounds they appeared just right, soft but balls were not plugging. But when the rains came, they firmed up and the lower cut around them went from sending balls to tough lies to more typical modern day manicured bunkers.

9. Congressional did not play to its maximum yardage. Had it been stretched to the max, I'm thinking the scoring average would have been impacted by at least .2 shots a day.

All of that said, the course produced a worthy champion who likely would have won had the conditions not gone so soft. I believe it would have been closer but ultimately, McIlroy was not going to be beat.