Moving Day

Saturday of the U.S. Open is known as "Moving Day," because it is the day each player attempts to make his charge so that he will be in the best possible position to win on Sunday. If you're not within striking distance by the end of the day Saturday, then you won't be in contention for the Championship Sunday. It will be interesting to see who makes a charge today to position themselves within reach of the Title tomorrow.

I spent much of Thursday and Friday of the Open following Kansas Citian Tom Watson. Watson, at 60, was older than the combined ages of his playing partners Rory McIlroy (21) and Ryo Ishikawa (18).   Watson quipped Thursday on the 1st (10th) tee: "I'm playing with my grandkids here." He then asked them good naturedly "How many U.S. Open's have you played in?" This brought a few laughs as Watson reminded the gallery he'd played in 32. If I hadn't heard him say it I would have thought he was trying to get inside the young guys' heads. I think it was his way of settling them down a bit and saying "hey, it's no big deal, go out there and have fun."

Watson seemed to enjoy playing with the youngsters and was reported to be very impressed with Ishikawa and even said that he reminded him of himself at 18. Ishikawa put on a display for the living legend Watson as the Japanese teenager shot a one under 141 over the first two rounds tying him for second place.  McIroy struggled both days shooting 75-77 and missed the cut at +10.

One of the reasons I followed Watson Friday was that I thought it might be his last U.S. Open and would likelly be the last opportunity I would have to see him play competitively. However, Watson's even par round of 71 was just good enough to keep him above the cut line and keep him at Pebble Beach over the weekend. So...we'll have an opportunity to follow him some more.  Players making the cut had to be in the top 60 (plus ties) or within 10 strokes of the leader. Watson's +7 was exactly 10 shots behind leader Graeme McDowell who is at -3.

Watson's round included three birdies and three bogeys. His putter failed him on the bogeys and also kept him from grabbing a couple other birdies when his play tee-to-green put him in position to do so.  A particularly impressive birdie came on the 495 yard par 4 10th hole. Watson's 3 was well below the average score of 4.375 for the field on that hole.