A past Shinnecock winner surveys the scene
SOUTHAMPTON, NEW YORK | Long after the fog had lifted to reveal a lowering sky punctuated occasionally by patches of blue, Retief Goosen settled in his seat in a hospitality unit overlooking the 17th hole at Shinnecock Hills. As he cast his mind back to the 2004 U.S. Open at the highly regarded course far out on the east end of Long Island, a smile spread slowly over his suntanned face. Little wonder. That was the year he won his second U.S. Open, three years after his first, at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2004 Goosen held a clear lead after 54 holes with Ernie Els, his countryman, and Phil Mickelson two strokes behind. Els double-bogeyed the first hole and never got back into contention. Mickelson took the lead on the 16th only to three-putt the 17th from 5 feet for a double bogey. “Phil made a mistake, I didn’t. Lucky for me,” Goosen, 57, said. “It’s great coming back to a place where you have always won,” Goosen continued. “I would have loved to have been inside the ropes today and I did think about trying to qualify but then I thought, ‘No, I’ve done that.’” He looked out of the window down onto the fourth green which, even from his eyrie of perhaps 30 feet above ground, still looked enormous and forbidding. Moments earlier Rory McIlroy had recovered from an off-line second shot that ended 25 yards to the right of the putting surface to scramble for a par. One playing partner, Tommy Fleetwood, clad all in brown, holed on this green for a birdie. By now the flags were fluttering in a strong wind that had blown away all traces of the fog that caused the start of the first day’s play to be delayed by […]
