THE WAIT IS STARTING TO GRATE
McIlroy knows four years is too long without a Major
IN THE final round of the 2004 US Open at Shinnecock Hills, Kevin Stadler’s two-foot putt for par lipped out and rolled off the seventh green into a bunker.
Belatedly, the USGA halted play and the sun-baked surfaces were syringed but there was no way the tournament overseers could douse the flak.
The average score that Sunday was almost 79, and Jerry Kelly, who took 81, let rip at the USGA for refusing to water the greens earlier.
‘They’re not respecting the game, they’re not respecting the golf course. If they were smart they’d realise they look stupid. This isn’t golf,’ said Kelly.
This week, the US Open returns to the Long Island retreat known as the Hamptons. It is a place of whitecollar wealth and gated communities.
The New York Times has gushed of ‘the beautiful villages clustering around Southampton, the incomparable Shinnecock Hills, which combine to make as close an approach t o Eden as possible.
‘Society is here represented during the summer by its choicest spirits. Well-bred men and women find a congenial atmosphere, refined attractions and innumerable charms about these quaint old villages.’ The tribute was penned in 1893, three years before Scot Jim Foulis won the first US Open played on the hallowed turf which the native Indians still dispute as their own. Because of its lack of length, location, and dearth of facilities, Shinnecock didn’t stage another US Open until Ray Floyd’s 1986 win. But by the time Corey Pavin played the shot of his career to the final green to seal the deal in 1995, Shinnecock was back on the USGA roster. Retief Goosen was triumphant in 2004 and a sixth US Open will return in 2026.
Before that, the 118th US Open champion will be crowned at a par 70 course held in high regard by the professionals and one where the USGA have learnt from their mistakes of the past.
There will be no repeat of the Shinnecock shenanigans of 2004.
While not a links in the strictest sense, Shinnecock Hills is flanked by the New York Bight to the south and Great Peconic Bay to the north.
Like an Irish links, it is virtually treeless, invariably breezy and demands more from players around the greens than it does off the tee.
No hole is more revered than the short seventh, known as The Redan after the design of the Russian fortresses in the Crimean War, with its slants and tilt to repel borders.
It fulfilled that role in 2004 where Goosen was the only player in the top 10 to register four pars there while Phil Mickelson, who lost by two strokes, was three over.
So, what odds an Irish win this week? Based on rankings, Rory McIlroy (six), Shane Lowry (84) and Graeme McDowell (166) will not be the first names scribbled on betting slips. The USGA doesn’t think so anyway, as its website is adorned by Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas.
Six-time runner-up Mickelson and 2015 champions Jordan Spieth are playing with McIlroy in rounds one and two.
It is seven years since McIlroy blew everyone away at Congressional to win his first major. He has added three more but has been stuck on four since the summer of 2014 and it’s beginning to grate.
This is his first major in his 30th year and it’s time he ticked off another to take a step nearer Nick Faldo (six majors) as the most successful European player of the modern era.
Since his record-breaking feats in 2011, McIlroy has only one top-ten finish in the US Open, at Chambers Bay in 2015 where he catapulted into the frame on Sunday before running out of juice.
He is overdue another major and on current form — ranked fourth in driving distance (314 yards) and eighth in putts per round (28.1 putts) — is a serious contender.
So far in 2018, McIlroy has chalked up a PGA Tour win, and had a couple of seconds, at the Dubai Desert Classic and PGA Championship.
A month ago, McDowell wouldn’t have been on anyone’s radar but since his appointment as a vice-captain for Europe at the Ryder Cup, he has found a spark.
A top-12 finish at the PGA at Wentworth was followed by fourth place at the Italian Open. Five of his last eight rounds have been between 64 and 68 and he will tee up on Thursday with a spring that befits a former US Open champion.
So too will Lowry after he led the qualifying in Columbus, Ohio, last Monday to secure a fifth straight US Open involvement.
While it took Lowry time to shrug off the ogres of Oakmont, he thrives on courses like Shinnecock where there is a premium on creativity around the greens.
After booking his Long Island ticket, Lowry said ‘it means everything.’ Winning this week would mean even more.
He is ranked fourth in driving distance and eighth in putts per round