Opinion & Analysis
U.S. Open: Stars miss the cut, “Old Tiger” and braces

By Pete Pappas
GolfWRX Staff Writer
If the history of U.S. Open competition tells us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected.
And through the first two days at The Olympic Club in San Francisco there was plenty of intrigue, surprise, and downright marvel — of both the spectacular and horrifying kind.
Luke Donald? What’s the excuse this time “Mr. I’m World No. 1 But Never Won A Major” (11-over). Donald’s the best player to never win a major many people say (including yours truly). I’m beginning to wonder if I belong in that camp anymore.
Couldn’t we even get a Rocco Mediate impression from you this week?
And how about Rory McIlroy? Well, at least he can spend more quality time with girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki (10-over).
Please tell me, really, please, please tell me those of you who are the most die-hard McIlroy fans can finally admit your young Irishman phenomenon is officially in a (euphemism) “slump” (four missed cuts in his last five events)?
Before the Open began McIlroy said, “I feel like I’m well prepared going into the U.S. Open.”
Hey, it doesn’t mean the Emerald Isle champion will only end up with as many career U.S. Open wins as Fred Daly, OK? But there’s obviously a bit of a problem here for Rors.
2012 Masters champion Bubba Watson? At least he showed some fight the final few holes on Friday. But Bubba’s game was far from “awesome” this time around (nine-over). I’m not sure Watson liked being on “The Letterman Show” anyway.
The world’s No. 1, No. 2, and No. 5 respectively all missed the cut. And quite frankly they did so in embarrassing fashion. Olympic chewed them up and spit them out.
A cumulative 30-over among them is not what you’d expect from three of the top five players in the world (and Donald and McIlroy were actually favorites to win only behind Woods and Lee Westwood).
Player of the month for May Ricky Fowler snuck in by a whisker with cut line movement at the 11th hour of Friday evening play, finishing right on the cut line at eight-over after a performance that included three bogeys and two double-bogeys.
Maybe Rickie is saving “Go Time” for the weekend. We’ll see.
Love you Ricky but it’s going to take me awhile to get used to that “Sing Sing Correctional Facility” prison orange jumpsuit you wear on Sundays.
And I “mustache” you, do you really think the orange cone look is a good one? On the other hand that exploding oranges commercial of yours is sorta cool.
32-year-old Sergio Garcia went “El Loco” on Friday after a bad tee shot by on the par 3 No. 3 caused “El Nino” to smash a tee-box microphone.
You may not be good enough to win a major (in your own words after this years Masters) Sergio, but this latest impressive display of emotion might hook you up with a sweet Gerber’s Baby Food endorsement.
The enigmatic Spaniard is just five shots off the lead heading into Saturday.
Quick someone send Garcia a Tony Robbins “Awaken The Giant Within” e-book to his Kindle. You’re not out of it (yet) Sergio.
Phil Mickelson, who celebrates his 42d birthday on Saturday, came back from the dead after an opening day six-over 76 on Thursday — his highest first round score in 22 U.S. Open starts. Lefty recorded two birdies on Friday however to finish seven-over, eight shots back. The biggest being his clutch slow rolling putt at No. 18 that pumped a little life back into the tired-looking Hall Of Fame and four-time major winner. But yes Mickelson came that close to being yet another big name cut line casualty like the other Open favorites.
And oh by the way?
How about a vintage performance from one Mr. Tiger Eldrick Woods playing his way into a three-way tie for the lead at one-under with two other major champions, “Mr. Five Hour Energy” Jim Furyk and 45 year-old David Toms.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a U.S. Open.
It’s way too early, let me repeat, WAY TOO EARLY to say this is Tiger’s tournament to win. And a bit disrespectful to the other champions Furyk and Toms to say so as well.
“I just hung in there,” the 45-year old Toms said. The oldest player to ever win the U.S. Open was coincidentally also 45 years-old. Hale Irwin did it back in 1990. A good omen?
“I expect to be in control of my emotions and be into every shot,” said Toms.
Even if you don’t win David you’re less than five years from dominating on the Champions Tour. Silver lining – all I’m saying.
“Set up the way it is, it’s draining,” Furyk said of the course design. “[But] today I feel good about the score.”
If Furyk somehow wins this thing I promise to stop sneering at those “Five Hour Energy” commercials.
But Jim it shouldn’t be draining if you’re drinking your “Fire Hour Energy” right?
Back to Tiger.
This was a different looking Woods than maybe I’ve seen anytime all year. Three consecutive bogeys on No. 5, No. 6, and No. 7 could have easily rattled him. He’s been derailed by far less sinister things this season.
This time Woods kept his composure, his focus.
In fact he had a steely-eyed focus I don’t recall him having anytime this season, even in victories earlier this season at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and more recently at The Memorial.
Tiger understands the sadistic challenge Olympic presents and the reality of those consequences as it relates to the state of his game.
“It’s so difficult. That golf course is some kind of fast,” Woods said. “[But] I understand what I’m doing. I like my game plan.”
This was a different sounding Tiger to me as well.
Still confident. Maybe even still cocky. But most importantly maybe finally accepting (or realizing) that perfection isn’t necessary to win. That’s an old-school Tiger belief. A thing of the past.
Tiger sounds and looks like a player who still believes he’s better than anyone else on the planet, but also like a player who understands the way he wins now is and will be different than the way he used to win.
Breathing down Woods’ neck is 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell. And listening to G-Mac after the second round you’d think he was the tournament leader.
“I’m happy to be where I am. I think I played some really nice golf the last two days,” McDowell said.
McDowell is actually two shots back at one-over tied with three other players, John Peterson, Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, and first round leader Michael Thompson.
“If you had offered me one-over on the first tee Thursday I would probably have snapped your arm off for it,” McDowell said after Friday’s round. “It’s tough to have fun out there … [but you] have to respect the word par.”
A host of other winners this season including Matt Kuchar, and two-time winners Hunter Mahan and Jason Dufner are all in position to strike at three-over.
Steve Stricker and Justin Rose are at plus-four, and Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter at plus-five also are in the mix.
And of course there’s the 17-year-old high school amateur Beau Hossler attempting to become the first amateur to win the U.S. Open since Francis Ouimet did it in 1913.
A birdie to start the day gave Hossler the U.S. Open lead (albeit a short-lived one).
“My goal is to be the low amateur,” Hossler said afterwards.
If golf doesn’t work out for Hossler I’m pretty sure he might have a career on the World Poker Tour because his poker face is champion.
Low-am? The kid showed a volcanic passion with a fist pump of his own after a chip in on No. 7. He knows he can win this thing. And he wants to win this thing. Hossler is tied for fourth place along with Kuchar, Mahan, and Dufner.
NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller said this week of the first six holes at Olympic, “I’ve never seen a tougher opening stretch of holes anywhere in the history of major championships.” And it’s going to be even tougher come Saturday and Sunday. Here are a couple of things to think about as the weekend takes off.
Tiger has won eight of nine majors when he’s held the 36-hole lead. On the surface that seems to be a bit of history that you can bank on.
Olympic is called the “Graveyard of Legends” because in each of the previous four times the U.S. Open was held here the heavily favorite big name players lost. And each of the previous four Open winners at Olympic trailed after 54 holes. In 1998 Lee Janzen defeated Payne Stewart making up seven strokes with four birdies and no bogeys in the final 15 holes to record the largest come from behind victory after 54 holes in 25 years. Tom Watson lost to Scott Simpson in 1987 after Simpson overcame Watson with birdies on No. 14, No. 15, and No. 16. Billy Casper defeated Arnold Palmer in 1966 after Palmer lost a seven shot lead with none holes to play forcing a playoff. And in the playoff Casper again erased a deficit, this time a Palmer two shot lead after nine holes to earn the upset victory.
And finally in perhaps the most famous event at Olympic in 1955 Ben Hogan lost his lead in the final four holes and unknown Jack Fleck went on to defeat Hogan in a playoff (ironically Fleck used clubs Hogan gave him).
“Hold a U.S. Open at Olympic and the wrong guy will win it every time,” famed golf writer Dan Jenkins once wrote.
So there you have it. Woods “36-hole lead” history versus Olympic’s “Graveyard of Legends” history.
One thing is certain. History will repeat itself.
You can follow Pete on Twitter @TheGreekGrind
Opinion & Analysis
The 2 primary challenges golf equipment companies face

As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Podcasts
Fore Love of Golf: Introducing a new club concept

Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Opinion & Analysis
On Scottie Scheffler wondering ‘What’s the point of winning?’

Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.
Pete
Jun 17, 2012 at 7:41 pm
Thanks very much for your feedback jjames.
Yes it was mean read “first amateur to win” Francis Ouimet. Too late to edit that but appreciate your keen eye!
~ The Greek
jjames
Jun 16, 2012 at 3:54 pm
“And of course there’s the 17-year-old high school amateur Beau Hossler attempting to become the first amateur to win the U.S. Open since Francis Ouimet did it in 1913.”
The last amateur to win the open was Johnny Goodman in 1933. With a few between.