Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

This weekend in golf is all about the USGA Open, which will return to the "home of American golf", Pinehurst no.2. The course with possibly the most demanding greens in the world, once memorably described by Johnny Miller as like trying to land the ball on the roof of a VW Beetle.

In 1999, Payne Stewart won here after holing two memorable putts on the closing holes across those greens, to dash the hopes of runner-up Phil Mickelson, who led until the 71st green. Stewart would graciously announce in his winner's speech that Mickelson was "sure to win (a US Open) someday", but sadly never got to find out as he died in a freak plane accident four months later. Even had Payne lived, of course, he would still not have seen his prediction come to pass - Mickelson has now been runner-up at the US Open six times, including last year where he fell short of Justin Rose. It's probably one of the biggest hoodoos in world sport, alongside Benfica in European finals, and is all the more glaring because Mickelson now needs just that one win to become only the sixth player to complete a career Grand Slam, after Sarazen, Hogan, Player, Nicklaus and Woods.

Woods himself is not competing this year, which opens this year's field up - the favourites in his absence will be Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy and Bubba Watson, all temptingly priced at around 12-1. Mickelson's not a bad shout at 16-1, and so too Sergio Garcia at 33-1. The two wunderkinder in the field, Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama, will surely not hold it together under the test of a US Open, especially one around a course like this. But then they (and I) said that about McIlroy three years ago...

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

There's been some warm balls going on in the draw. Placing reigning Open champions Rose, Mickelson and the US Amateur champion together is what they normally do, but McIlroy and McDowell have been drawn to play together too, and so too have 3 of the Aussies.

[Outside Agent]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

Of all the majors, the US Open is the one which I have varying recollections. That's down to every second one falling during an international football tournament. There's many Opens over the last twenty years of which I can recall very little - Ernie Els victory at Oakmont in 1994; Lee Janzen's win at Olympic in 1998; Tiger Woods victory at Bethpage in 2002. There's a theme here. The late kick-offs this time round won't help matters.

Anyway, some great US Open memories for me:

Watching Tom Kite win his first and only major at Pebble Beach in 1992. The little-known Gil Morgan had made history on the Friday by becoming the first golfer to ever reach ten under par in the US Open. He did drop a few shots before the end of the second round, and on the Saturday morning my Dad reckoned there was value to be had backing someone from the chasing pack whose prices were all long due to Morgan's lead. So he backed Tom Kite at 40/1, and cashed in. I still recall Jeff Sluman getting a stunning birdie on 18 to put pressure on Kite but he held his nerve. If I recall correctly, Kite won on -3, with Sluman (-1) the only other player under par. At one point on the Friday, Morgan was at -11. That last Sunday was my Dad's 40th birthday, Germany beat Sweden 3-2 in the Semi-Final of the Euros and my sister went to see Nirvana who played the Point in Dublin that night. Great times.

I watched Geoff Ogilvy's win at Winged Foot in 2006 whilst in a bar in Dusseldorf during my two-week tour of Germany for the WC. It was a four-horse race and I wanted any one of the other three to win - Montgomery, Harrington & Mickleson.

Jim Furyk at Olympia in 2003, Michael Campbell the last time at Pinehurst 2005, Angel Cabrera at Oakmont in 2007 were all viewed whilst in varying states of drunkenness, as the final round was played on the day of a Dublin GAA match, which was, back then, always followed by a serious drinking session.

Tiger Woods and his wounded knee winning at Torrey Pines in 2008 was the last Open I watched in its entirety. Including the 18 hole play-off with Rocco Mediate on the Monday. I leapt off the couch when Woods sank that putt to force the play-off. I watched that play-off instead of the Germany v Austria match from the Euros. The first half of Argentina v Bosnia will have to be skipped this Sunday.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

I remember watching highlights of the 1980 US Open, the one where Jack Nicklaus edged out Isao Aoki, the following Saturday, on Grandstand. It had taken the BBC six days to get the tape of edited highlights across the Atlantic.

Nowadays it's on Sky, so the BBC will get to show brief highlights on breakfast news the following morning.

That's amazing progress, really, in 34 years.

[Hofzinser]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

I've got a couple of quid each way on Webb Simpson for this one. I usually back about five players, but not this time round, because World Cup.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

Simpson could be a shrewd bet, yes. Champion two years ago, and had done little this year until finishing 3rd on tour last week. There have definitely been some "US Open players" over the years, Hale Irwin, Lee Janzen and Retief Goosen for example, and so too Simpson's namesake Scott (who won one and lost another in a playoff in a career where he did virtually nothing else). I'm assuming Geoff Ogilvy's in the field somewhere, he could be a decent long-odds each-way bet on the same basis.

[Hofzinser]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

Also in Simpson's favour, Pinehurst is right down the road from where he grew up, and from where he currently lives - it's basically his home venue.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

Martin Kaymer. Well I never saw him coming (obviously).

[hank williams]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

Crazy leaderboard.

-10: Kaymer (F)
-2: Koepka (F), D Johnson (F), de Jonge (F), Bradley (F), Na (3), Kuchar (3*), McDowell (2*)

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

You know what? I don't think he'll hang on. Not that I've anything aganist him, I think he's a fantastic player. But an eight-shot lead at this stage is just so beautifully fragile it just has to be broken in the end, like a chandelier.

[Gangster Octopus]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

Is Kaymer's playing partner from Guantanamo?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

Rickie Fowler? No, he grew up in California (insert own joke here). He's long been expected to make the step up to major winner (especially by me), but last night is the closest he's got so far. He's 25 now, don't know if he'll still be wearing the bright orange outfits when he gets to 30 (although Poulter still turns up looking up Paddington Bear).

Well done to Kaymer, there were a couple of potential "here comes the collapse" moments over the weekend, but he bounced straight back from them. I think he'll go on from this to win even more majors. Maybe even next month's Open, although the key to even getting close to that double seems to be calming down enough after winning the USGA one, something I'm not sure Graeme McDowell has ever done.

[Logan Mountstuart]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

Martin Kaymer is now officially one of the coolest people in sport.

But the real story is Erik Compton, of course. 3rd heart, 3rd place. Bloody Hell.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Pinehurst - Phil's last best chance?

Compton's best achievements to date (apart from surviving heart surgery) had been winning a couple of minor events on the secondary Mexican and Canadian tours, years ago. Needless to say him rolling up and winning this would have been extraordinary not just because of his particular back story, but for any qualifier to pull in and come from 340th in the world or whatever and win the US Open.