I spent a good three months worrying about all the possible disasters that could derail this experiment, including versions of the one that happened. Some days I preemptively cursed the editors who dreamed up the concept: How can a professional caddie help an average player like me, a guy who has broken 80 once in Read more…
Editor’s Note: This story was first published in June 2022. “Illusion never changed, into something real I’m wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn.” —Aussie singer Natalie Imbruglia, presumably singing about Rory McIlroy Dear Rory, I can’t take this anymore. I’m happy for Matt Fitzpatrick, and I know you are too, Read more…
PINEHURST, N.C. — When Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay greeted each other with a quick fist bump and the very briefest of pleasantries on the first tee Sunday as they began their final rounds of the 2024 U.S. Open, I had the thought that they might not exchange another word until the very end of Read more…
PINEHURST, N.C. — On the shelf running the length of the western wall at Agora Bakery and Cafe in the Village of Pinehurst, while you wait in line to order breakfast, you can peruse or even buy catch purses, stationery, china, bottles of honey or gourmet coffee. Yet my gaze settled on a postcard of Read more…
When you come to the final hole needing a hole-in-one to make the cut at the US Open, you come to the final hole without a prayer. There’s no chance you’re going to walk off with an ace, right?
PINEHURST, N.C. — Back in 2021, I contacted Rick Gehman with an idea for a project, and it began with a question: What part of the golf game matters most for PGA Tour success? What we found is that the answer is the approach shot. From a variety of metrics, iron play mattered more than Read more…
PINEHURST, N.C.‚— There was a heartbreaking video that emerged Friday morning featuring an innocent youth—at least I think he’s innocent—carrying out an egregious order at the behest of some heartless superior. It would be cruel and unusual to make you bear witness again by embedding it here, but in short—I hope you’re sitting down—he was Read more…
PINEHURST, N.C. — It’s been 25 years, and Roger Maltbie, Dan Hicks, and lead producer Tommy Roy still work at NBC. They’re back at Pinehurst to call the 2024 U.S. Open, just as they did at the first Pinehurst Open in 1999. Joining them is Jim “Bones” Mackay, now an NBC analyst, who caddied for Read more…
McIlroy’s 65 is the kind of score that Pinehurst may not yield again in the three days remaining, and that puts him squarely in contention – yet again – to do what he hasn’t done in a decade and win another major.
PINEHURST, N.C. — In the year when Willie Mack III lived out of his Ford Mustang, his dad knew where he was every night. Most of the time, the accommodations were a hotel parking lot, squeezed between two other cars since it made it harder for staff to find him and kick him out. But Read more…
PINEHURST, N.C. — If you ever catch yourself enthralled with the statue known as Putter Boy, which stands outside the clubhouse at Pinehurst Resort, and whose image bedecks the marketing material for this week’s U.S. Open, you can thank Frank Presbrey. James Walker Tufts may have bought up the “ravaged timberland” that became the resort Read more…
PINEHURST, N.C. — In the heyday of Tiger Woods—and for a long time after that heyday—there was one constant you could rely on when he played in major championships: All the other players would be asked about him. Whether they were happy to sing his praises, irritated at how he stole focus or just accepting Read more…
In his press conference at Pinehurst overnight (Australian time), McIlroy told the gathered media that he may be on the verge of a breakthrough, having gone winless in majors since the 2014 PGA at Valhalla.
PINEHURST, N.C. — On Saturday at LIV Houston, Jon Rahm got a shot in his left foot designed to numb the pain he was experiencing, with the idea that it would last his entire round. Instead, he was wincing in pain by the second hole and had to withdraw after six holes. Tuesday at Pinehurst, Read more…
It’s a busy world! You don’t have time for anything! There are people to see, work to be done, money to be made. Maybe, maybe, you’ve got time for a single sentence, at a stretch. If that’s you, or even if you’ve got plenty of time but your attention span is fried, this post is Read more…
In 1924, at the height of his powers, the diminutive English pro Cyril Walker beat all comers to win the 1924 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills. But it’s not just that he beat all comers; he beat Bobby Jones, the most famous golfer in the world, in a final-round duel. It was a model of Read more…
As the final round looms, one of the three main contenders is a two-time major winner who seems to have ice running through her veins, another is a child star whose success on the professional circuit seems inevitable, and the last is a 31-year-old who had so little confidence in her game that she expected to shoot 80 and miss the cut, hates pressure and doesn’t think she handles it very well, seems dead tired from the hard walk at Lancaster Country Club, and has been coping with the fear of a ghost.
Australian Golf Digest
