The Path to Open Glory Clears … Or Does It?

By Vic Williams | Posted June 21, 2009
Photos by Joann Dost

Once there was a rainstorm, and another, and another, and somewhere in between all the rain, doing its best to dance to a conclusion between the drops, a golf tournament broke out. A very big and important golf tournament. Some would say the biggest of them all.

And this particular edition of that large tournament was played on a larger course than most, in front of larger crowds from America's largest metropolitan area, and with it came very large expectations — that the world's greatest golfer would win again, or perhaps the world's second greatest golfer would finally break through for his thousands of inexplicably adoring fans.

But, as I said, a golf tournament finally broke out, and it took until halfway through Sunday for it all to begin to make sense. Just not in the way most anybody expected.

A guy named Ricky Barnes is still leading by the slimmest of margins over another guy named Lucas Glover. Either is perfectly capable of pulling off a surprising (but by no means unprecendented) victory at the 109th U.S. Open. This tournament, being as tough on the wits and abilities of the world's top players as any major, has a habit of crowning one-off champions, even more so than the British Open. As Clint Eastwood once said in "Unforgiven," deserve has nothing to do with it; whoever ends up with fewer strokes expended across 72 holes than anyone else wins, even if those 72 holes are played in spurts and starts across five or six days — six holes here, three holes there, 29 holes over there.

Still, neither Barnes nor Glover, who will likely finish this marathon together somewhere around 1 p.m. Eastern time Monday and have separated themselves from the rest of the pack by five shots, are by no means the presumptive winners. Beloved Prince Phil has a helluva shot, especially if hits putts start dropping. King Tiger, not so much, and he knows it, although his sunset birdie at No. 7 brought new life to his eyes. But he's running out of holes and realizes the putts he needed to make have come and gone. And he remains outside my own "six-shot rule" with 11 holes to go on his scorecard; it seems a half dozen strokes can be made up, and have been in the past, but seven or more is unlikely. Don't ask me why, that's just the way it is. A third of a stroke a hole over 18 holes, yes; one iota more than that, sorry. So Tiger's out, much as it pains me to say so.

So beyond the co-leaders at 7-under par, we're down to Phil, fellow Californian Hunter Mahan, former lost soul (and world No. 1) David Duval and English match-play master Ross Fisher, all at 2-under, with Mike Weir at 1-under.

I'm rooting for Duval, which would be the biggest golf story of the year by far, perhaps one of the greatest of all-time. I have no problem saying that. Phil would be the ballistic crowd-pleaser, Weir the second major-winning "OK, that makes sense enough" choice, and Mahan and Fisher are both gamers who can't be discounted. Heck, I'll throw the big-hitting Glover into that camp, too.

But the one big wild card remains Barnes, who at the turn earlier Sunday had a six-shot cushion and looked like he was destiny's child. Then reality and nerves set in, and his swing started to look all crooked and tight, and much-needed par putts slid by the hole with an almost audible "I don't think so, chief" hiss. The harried but amazingly efficient USGA calling a hastily glued-together final-round's first stanza because of darkness couldn't happen fast enough for the 28-year-old former golden boy, and he has all night to right his ship. I'm seriously doubting that will happen. He will fade — he's already started to fade — the door will open and the one of the strangest Opens in memory will end with some sort of drama fit for Broadway, or at least the 'burb of Bethpage.

I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. So are the players in this drama, but at least they get paid, and paid well, to get beaten up by the rain and endure the sucker-punches of U.S. Open history.

Vic Williams is editor and publishing partner of Fairways + Greens, a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to golf, travel and lifestyle for the West and beyond. He has written thousands of stories on golf and will cover every facet of the game right here, primarily travel but also the major tours, equipment, personalities and more. Contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it