Tough rough
U.S. Open conditions may rob drama from a major
The alarm was sounded loud and clear by LeBron James not long after the NBA Finals ended, and every other player, coach and general manager around the league who did not end this season drenched in champagne surely agreed with what he was saying.
The Golden are a problem.
And they’re probably going to stay that way.
There will be one question inevitably asked this off-season by most of the 29 other teams in the NBA whose fingers didn’t get to smudge the golden surface of the Larry O’Brien Trophy this year. That question will not have a good answer for many, if any. Basketball’s off-season is here, a draft and free agency loom, and for the second time in three years everyone is chasing the Warriors.
Good luck, everybody. You’re going to need it. State Warriors
Remember last year, when Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson played a round for the ages, trading birdies and spectacular shots until Stenson finally came away with the British Open title?
The U.S. Open won’t be like that.
First off, barring a long rain delay on Thursday, Mickelson will be absent, attending his daughter’s high school graduation in California.
And though Erin Hills, at first glance, may look like the sort of British links course Mickelson and Stenson tore up last summer, Stenson will be the first to tell you it most certainly isn’t.
“Golf at the U.S. Open has always been a bit harder than at the (British) Open or any of the other ones,” Stenson said. So true.
In the closing round at Royal Troon, Mickelson and Stenson combined for 14 birdies, an eagle and 19 pars, and Stenson won by three shots with a closing score of 20-under par. A few weeks later, at the PGA Championship, Jimmy Walker made a key birdie on No. 17 to outlast Jason Day, who, playing one hole ahead, kept pressure on Walker by making eagle on 18. Walker shot 14 under to win by one. And at this year’s first major, the Masters, Sergio Garcia beat Justin Rose in a playoff to close out a riveting day of golf. Garcia
“They’re going to be here for a while,” James said, his words coming as the Warriors’ celebration was still going in earnest. “Pretty much all their big-name guys are in their 20s, and they don’t show any signs of slowing down.”
Boston has the No. 1 pick in the draft to add to a team that went to the Eastern Conference finals this season. Miami will have around $37 million in spending money once Chris Bosh comes off the books. James will try and lure more help to come to Cleveland. Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Gordon Hayward, Paul George and Blake Griffin may all be changing addresses. The Knicks have openly been begging Carmelo Anthony to seek a trade elsewhere.
No, quiet will not happen in July 2017.
It’s unclear if any of this summer’s
and Rose tied at 9 under in regulation.
The last two U.S. Opens, meanwhile, have been most notable for Dustin Johnson’s three-putt on the 18th green at a baked-out Chambers Bay, then Johnson’s three-shot win last year at Oakmont despite a scoring/rules dust-up that left him playing the final seven holes without knowing the exact size of his lead.
During the last five years, the average winning score of the other three majors has been 12.2 shots below par. At the U.S. Open during the same period: 3.1 under.
“The U.S. Open, you normally play on golf courses that are tricked up just to the limits, sometimes over the limits and sometimes just underneath,” moves will matter come June 2018.
The Warriors might be that far ahead of the field already.
“There’s going to be a lot of teams that’s trying to figure out ways to put personnel together to try and match that if they’re able to actually face them in a playoff series, both Eastern Conference and Western Conference,” James said. “Because they’re built for ... from my eyes, they’re built to last a few years.”
Technically, the Warriors have some work to do in order to remain the Warriors.
Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Zaza Pachulia, David West and JaVale McGee will be among many Golden State players in the free-agent waters, and Kevin Durant will likely join them. Even though it will cost the Warriors big money – remember, Curry is in line for an enormous raise and made only $12 million this season – it’s more than possible for them to keep their core intact. Tom Lewis hits out of some rough in a trap on the first hole during at Erin Hills Golf Course in Erin, Wis., in 2011.
Stenson said.
Much has been made about the creation of Erin Hills, built on a 650-acre tract of Wisconsin farmland that was, according to USGA executive director Mike Davis, simply screaming to have a golf course built on it. It was developed specifically with the idea of hosting a U.S. Open.
It’s huge, the longest U.S. Open course ever, at more than 7,741 yards (with room to make it even longer). Some fairways are almost wide enough to land a Boeing 767 airliner.
“You could fit 2 1/2 fairways at Winged Foot into the No. 10 fairway here,” Davis said.
But when the USGA gives, it almost always finds other places to take away.
Already this week, some players
There also are some other matters of business around the league to clear up this season.
Many players have opt-in decisions coming before the July 1 shopping spree opens. Some of those decisions could affect what happens on draft night, when Markelle Fultz will likely go to the Celtics with the No. 1 overall pick. And there is still all the awards that need to be handed out, like settling the Russell Westbrook versus James Harden race for MVP.
There hasn’t been a coaching change in more than a year, which is an incredibly rare occurrence for the league. But some front offices have undergone recent overhauls, and more of that could be on the way.
No team had a winning record against Golden State this season – five were .500 against the Warriors – and 16 of the 29 other teams in the league didn’t beat them even once.
Again, good luck, everybody else.
were complaining about the depth and stickiness of the rough. That tall, hay-like grass lingering just outside those massive fairways? It’s fescue, but not all of it is the typically wispy stuff you see on the edges of British Open courses. The mist floating into the vegetation from the irrigation systems at Erin Hills has made some of it healthier than expected.
Meanwhile, author Ron Whitten, who helped design the course, said among his proudest achievements are the bunkers, most of which don’t have flat lies and aren’t nearly as well-manicured or maintained as what these players face on a weekly basis. There are 138 of them covering what will be the first par-72 test at a U.S. Open since Pebble Beach in 1992.
“I’m surprised more players aren’t complaining about the bunkers,” Whitten said.
Stephen Curry tucked a celebratory cigar into his right sock for safekeeping as he handled all of his post-championship obligations.
He was still wearing his sweaty uniform, ankle braces, kneepads and game shoes but, oh, there would be more partying. Perhaps all summer long.
And if he and the rest of the Warriors have their way, the party will last for years to come.
Curry, Kevin Durant and their teammates are determined to build a dynasty together – and they might just be well on their way.
LeBron James believes so after Golden State won its second title in three years on Monday. It came after the Warriors won their fabulous first one with, and for, Durant.
“We’re obviously just getting started,” Curry said after the title-clinching Game 5. “This is something that we want to continue to do, but for us to have these conversations that we had almost a year ago and now being in this position, worth every shot we took in practice, fighting through injuries that he had this year, and it’s an unbelievable feeling.”
The second NBA championship feels drastically different for Curry, because this one was a comeback from a heartbreaking missed opportunity last year against James and the Cavaliers when the Warriors knew they should have won it all but squandered a 3-1 lead.
As a raucous crowd cheered at Oracle Arena, Curry watched freshly crowned Finals MVP Durant capturing his first ring in his 10th NBA season.
“It’s different just because of what happened last year to be honest,” Curry said. “We went through, for lack of a better term, basketball hell in that sense of just being so close to getting the job done and not realizing that goal and having to think about that for an entire year and compartmentalize and just try to keep the right perspective about this season and learn the lessons that we learned.”
Coach Steve Kerr cried. Golden State general manager Bob Myers also was moved to tears, given Kerr’s courageous Finals comeback from an 11game absence while dealing with complications from back surgery following the 2015 title run.
Kerr still found time to crack a joke on the stage afterward: “Well, we had very little talent, actually, it was mostly coaching.”
Later, he was straightforward and serious: “We were heartbroken last year, but this year was our turn.”
Myers realizes adding Durant might not have worked so well with anyone but the Warriors.
“Our team embraced him. Some teams wouldn’t embrace a guy who came into a situation like ours. It looks like it was easy, but guys like Steph Curry welcoming him and kind of let him shine – it worked out like it should,” Myers said. “If you want to win, it doesn’t matter. It’s not about who scored what. It’s about winning. I think he knew that. He won a championship, and then we were close and didn’t win one. So you have a clear sense of what matters when you go through that stuff.”
Now, the Warriors will face a frenzy of free-agent moves this summer to try to keep as many stars and brilliant backups as possible around for another run in 2018.
Owner Joe Lacob will be pulling out his pocketbook to potentially give Curry a $200-million deal.
“We were heartbroken last year, but this year was our turn.” Warriors coach Steve Kerr