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Open needs a wind that's called pariah

Shaun Powell

June 19, 2004

After 113 years, she still has her curves and stays perfectly manicured and looks good for her age. So many folks have complimented her for holding up so well for so long.

But who would've thought this elegant and classy lady would suddenly make herself this easy to get? Sadly and strangely, that's the case after two rounds of the U.S. Open.

Shinnecock Hills, one of our most revered and toughest golf courses, is losing the fight against the field. Everybody whose name isn't David Duval is enjoying himself. Players are finding few if any obstacles as they hum and happily dance their way around what's traditionally an unmerciful and unforgiving course. That's mainly because she's missing the same kind of stiff, skirt-kicking wind that helped make Marilyn Monroe a star.

Why did the golf gods choose this week to inhale and therefore keep the infamous ocean breezes from raking across the course?

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The U.S. Open is special and unique because it's always played on the most challenging course a golfer will see during the year. This tournament attracts the best and demands their best. Basically, the U.S. Open prides itself on making golf as frustrating and excruciatingly painful as possible. That's what people figured would happen this week.

Nobody saw this coming when the tournament returned to the Hamptons. Thirty-six holes into the tournament, you expected plenty of cursing, broken shafts, hanging heads, soaring scores and stray golf balls landing in Billy Joel's hot tub.

You did not envision former champion Corey Pavin playing better than he did in 1995.

And yet the symbol of Shinnecock right now is Pavin, who lost his grip on his golf game and spent the last nine years mostly missing cuts and making chump change, only to miraculously reinvent himself this week. Pavin is just four shots off the lead and one of 11 players under par right now. Amazing.

When he won it in '95 at Shinnecock, Pavin shot even par. And when Raymond Floyd won the '86 tournament at Shinnecock, he was 1 under.

That was back when Shinnecock sent golfers to their knees, begging for mercy and hoping to break even. Now the rounds are feeling and looking a lot like they did last year at Olympia Fields, which came under major criticism initially for playing like Disney World.

The good news is Olympia Fields took the comments personally and finally toughened up for the weekend. So there's still hope for Shinnecock Saturday and Sunday, especially if the breeze finally makes a late yet welcome arrival at the tournament.

"It's playing as easy as it can," said Tom Kite, who made his first U.S. Open cut in three years. "And that's mainly because there's no wind. I don't think you'll see it any easier than it is now."

Some players are happy that the course is manageable and the winds have stayed away. Pavin, for one. Fred Funk, for another. Funk hasn't won a major but is just two shots off the lead and has given himself a better-than-average chance of doing something special.

"This one is definitely where anybody can play well if you're keeping the ball in play," Funk said. "It plays different than from what I remembered in '86 and '95. I thought it played longer and had the rough around the greens then, too."

Other players aren't so thrilled. Vijay Singh, for one. Sergio Garcia, for another. Garcia is 2 under but isn't happy having so much company around him. He suspects a handful of players are clearly benefiting from the balmy and mostly beautiful conditions.

"I think I would like to see the wind come up," he said. "I think that's the way they meant it to be played. I'd love to see it come up. It would separate everybody. It would separate the guys who are hitting the ball extremely well from the ones who are struggling a little bit."

In other words, the men from the boys.

So yes, Shinnecock needs some wind about as badly as Tiger Woods needs some birdies. This tournament and this course shouldn't see so many players finding the fairways and landing approach shots a few feet from the cup and making easy par putts. This tournament and this course should see the wind sending hats flying in the air as if it were graduation day.

Bring on the wind. Bring on the frustration. Bring on an Atlantic Ocean gust from the south and a Peconic Bay blast from the north. Give an old and proud lady her teeth back, because right now, she's being fitted for dentures.