George Willis

George Willis

Golf

Compelling Open would help game

PINEHURST, N.C. — Let’s face it. The golf season has been pretty much a dud this year. Bubba Watson is trying his best to be the face of the sport, a job he really doesn’t want. But winning his second Masters and finishing third at the Memorial isn’t exactly going to move the needle in a sports world that has been focused on Donald Sterling, the NBA playoffs, hockey and a potential Triple Crown winner.

It’s June and it really doesn’t feel like the golf season is being taken seriously. That’s why the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst needs the kind of dramatic finish like it had in 1999 and nearly had in 2005. Fans talked for days about the finish of those two tournaments.

First Payne Stewart beat Phil Mickelson on the final hole in ’99, and then Mike Campbell of New Zealand outlasted a hard-charging Tiger Woods in ’05. In retrospect, those seem like the good old days when Woods began his chase of Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors and Mickelson became a real rival.

Much of golf’s swagger is missing this year. Woods and his 14 major championships have been sidelined because of back surgery, and Mickelson hasn’t had a top 10 finish this season.

What golf can’t afford at this year’s U.S. Open is another snoozer like the Masters where Watson captured his second green jacket without much of a challenge in the final round from anyone on the back nine. For a moment it looked like 20-yeard Jordan Spieth might be the next big thing but he wilted heading to Amen Corner.

Watson needed to shoot only an even par 36 on the back nine to claim his second green jacket in three years. It was a quiet contrast to previous Masters where roars would echo around Augusta National as Woods, Mickelson and Nicklaus or Arnie before them gave chase. The excitement of a Masters normally feeds into the U.S. Open, but not this year.

The star of the 114th U.S. Open is not a player, but the golf course. Pinehurst 2 has the mix of history, having hosted two previous U.S. Open, and a freshness because of the $2.5 million restoration that removed the turf rough and replaced it with sand waste, wiry grass and pine straw.

“The fact that they have added and removed and changed and restored this golf course to what Donald Ross had in mind in the 30s and 40s is going to be an aesthetic delight,” said Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.

But once the competition begins it will be up to the players to generate the kind of excitement in a major championship that can last the summer. The U.S. Open usually doesn’t disappointment. Last year, Mickelson was leading going into the final round and looking like he would win his first U.S. Open. He wound up shooting 74 and finishing second for a sixth time as Justin Rose became the first Englishman to win the tournament since Tony Jacklin in 1970. In 2011, Rory McIlroy captured his first major with a dominating performance at Congressional.

There are plenty of story lines that could develop into the kind of drama that can make this a special weekend. Mickelson could finally break through or McIlroy could reassert his status by winning his third major. Maybe Spieth gets it done and stamps himself as worthy of being called the next big thing. Or maybe Bubba bags another major.

Without the rough, the U.S. Open will have a different look though count on the final score being close to par. Still, there needs to be a Sunday duel or a tear-jerking finish to make golf interesting again.

Or we could simply wait until Tiger gets back.