2009 U.S. Open: Bethpage Black

For those of you that follow golf, I have to say, the Black course seems absolutely brutal! After last year's Open, I went into the lottery for tickets to this year's event. I figured I'd go for the Wednesday practice round and the Saturday regulation round. Sunday is not only Father's Day, but also Ryan's 3rd birthday.....so family time will be spent by all! AND both are families are players so there will be no argument over turning on the TV that afternoon. :-) BUT, I digress....

So we went yesterday and besides the forecast for clear skies, we could not bring cell phones or BBs, so it actually felt like a vacation! With rain the last 12 of 15 days, the course was fairly dried out, but there were patches of just 'wet'. With today's rain cancellation, I don't know how all that water is going to soak in enough to make it playable. But, they are pros and the purse is $7.5 million - thems alot of clams on the table! BUT, I digress again....

Bethpage Black - the infamous course an old friend used to sit in his car on weekend mornings in order to get a tee-time (that was before the 2002 US Open was held here - and now there are so many people vying for times, I don't think camping out for 2 days would do the trick). Here are teh Black stats: 7,426 yards with a rating of 78.2 and a slope of 152, and a par of 70 ....thats right - 70 (the pros are playing to these specs). The Black course is a monster with good reason. The 13th hole is 605 yards....three of the par 3s are more than 200 yards. Now, I'd have the 'ladies tee' advantage, but with the tee distance to the fairway and the fescue leading up to it? I'd lose a dozen balls just trying to hit my tee shots.

As for yesterday, we did see some big golf names - Veejay Singh, Jimenez, Westwood, Weekly, Cink, Anthony Kim (who was playing alone and walked with an entourage of 10 people including 2 state troopers - WHO is he again??), and my new pro-favorite, Ernie Els. Why? Ernie was super crowd friendly, he gave autographs with a smile, wasn't so serious in playing with his pairing of Swartzel (Ernie putted in one of Swartzel's misses), and played good golf!

A co-worker has a pool where I need to pick 4 golfers and a tie-breaker score. For the record, my picks are Woods, Michelson, Furyk, and Els....I waivered on Furyk with Mediate (bc I just adore Rocco's down-to-earth attitude and he has a great smile), but went with Jim at the end of the day. I'll likely regret this decision. I have alot of respect for the pro golfers - and jealousy bc I'd love to have that life - AND I think that after this tournament on the Black course, the pros will give it alot of respect as well - not only because it is a hard course, but also because it is the only truly PUBLIC golf course that is played in a USGA event (the fee for a resident during the week is $50 and on weekends $60).

NOW, if only the rain would stop!!!!!