Green Reading

Kristy paired with pair of Asian players at Open

Conway native Kristy McPherson isn't averse to chatting during a competitive round of golf, so she might have a number of conversations with her caddie in the first two rounds of the U.S. Women's Open Thursday and Friday (July 9-10) at the 6,740-yard, par-71 Old Course at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa. McPherson is paired with Yuri Fudoh of Japan and Hee-Won Han of Korea in the opening two rounds. The group goes off the first tee Thursday at 1:36 p.m. and the 10th tee Friday at 8:06 a.m. If McPherson makes the cut this week (she's even par for the tournament through 11 holes of her second round and a couple shots shy of the projected cut line) she will likely surpass $1 million in earnings in her three-year LPGA Tour career. McPherson enters the final round $735 shy of the $1 million mark. McPherson is playing in her first U.S. Women's Open but has built an impressive track record in majors this year. She tied for second in the Kraft Nabisco Championship and tied for fifth in the McDonald's LPGA Championship.

Finchem stands pat on square groove change

PGA Tour players should start looking more like average amateurs when hitting out of the rough again next year, rather than spinning balls back 10 feet out of the spinach. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announced Tuesday that Tour players will, as planned, begin using smaller-groove irons and wedges beginning Jan. 1, despite recent calls to delay implementing the new rule for one year. The PGA Tour 's Policy Board was expected to vote on the matter, but it unexpectedly deferred the decision to Finchem. Some players and equipment companies had increasingly complained that they need more time to switch to the new grooves.
Meeting the established timetable may pose some challenges, but at this point in the game, it will be unfair to change policy at this late juncture. Several companies have already altered their manufacturing plans in anticipation of the change, and they should be rewarded rather than punished. It's a PGA Tour decision, and amateurs can still take advantage of square-grooved clubs in tournaments.

LPGA reeling with lost tourneys, sponsors

The LPGA Tour announced Tuesday that the Kapalua LPGA Classic, slated for Oct. 15-18, has been canceled due to the lack of a title sponsor. That's another development in a disturbing trend for the LPGA, which has had a slight drop in average purses and has had several sponsors pull out of or not renew contracts. One of the tour's majors, the McDonald's LPGA Championship, will be known as the LPGA Championship next year unless a sponsor is found to replace McDonald's. And the tournament must find another site as well. The LPGA has lost seven tournaments since 2007 and six more are sponsorless, including this year's China LPGA, an IMG-run event scheduled for the week after the now-defunct Kapalua.
The tour has a number of up-and-coming stars but the economy is hitting it hard. Hawaii hosted three LPGA events in 2008 and may not host any next year. Florida had three events but is in jeopardy of not having any next year, and another golf hotbed, Arizona, had one but may also be without one in 2009. That's a tough trifecta of tournament-less states.
Said LPGA deputy commissioner Libba Galloway in a statement: ``We are extremely disappointed with (Kapalua Land Co.s) decision not to conduct the October 2009 event. We will vigorously enforce all our legal rights under the contract due to this breach.'' Kapalua ran the tournament without a title sponsor in 2008 and was contracted to stage a tournament through 2012. Morgan Pressel represents Kapalua on tour and won the inaugural Kapalua event last fall.

Dustin withdraws from Travelers, says no cause for alarm

Myrtle Beach resident Dustin Johnson shot 68 in the first round of the Travelers Championship on Thursday before withdrawing. Johnson said he has a sore left wrist that bothered him quite a bit at Bethpage Black last week, but he doesn't believe it's anything serious. It has been diagnosed as a mild sprain and doctors told him it requires rest. He plans to skip the next two events _ Tiger Woods' $6 million AT&T National at Congressional Country Club and the $4.3 million John Deere Classic at the TPC Deere Run in Illinois _ before returning to action in the British Open at Turnberry from July 16-19.
Johnson is 13th in the FedExCup standings. He has three top-10s this year, including a win at the rain-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach and a tie for fourth at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. He has top-40 finishes in the season's first two majors and has finished in the top 50 in his three three career majors.

Glover and Barnes familiar with Strand layouts

Both U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and the man he overcame in the final round Monday to win the title, Ricky Barnes, have both played competitively on the Grand Strand.
Glover, a Clemson grad from Greenville, was a champion at Myrtle Beach National Golf Club long before he tamed Bethpage Black. Glover won the George Holliday Memorial Junior, held annually on Thanksgiving weekend, in 1992. He won the annual Thanksgiving weekend event after he had just turned 13 _ I know because we share the same birthday of November 12.
When Barnes was the reigning U.S. Amateur champion in 2002, he competed as a member of the University of Arizona in the inaugural Hooters Collegiate Match Play Championship at Barefoot Resort's Dye Club.
Though he sat out the first round because of a severe cold, as well as aching muscles and difficulty swallowing due to the flu, Barnes helped the Wildcats reach the semifinals before they lost to Clemson. In addition to Barnes, the tournament featured the top 16 teams from the 2002 NCAA Championships as well as 2002 NCAA medalist Troy Matteson of Georgia Tech, SEC Player of the Year Camilo Villegas of Florida, Independent Golfer of the Year Oliver Wilson of Augusta State and 18 Ping All-Americans.

Johnson has quick turnaround

Dustin Johnson is entered in this week's Travelers Championship, so like a number of players who made the cut in the 109th U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, he'll be making a quick turnaround. Johnson had to finish his final round of the Open on Monday morning before heading to the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn. Luckily, Johnson played last year in the middle of a three-week stretch of tournaments so he's familiar with the course.
Johnson tied for 34th last year at the Travelers, opening with a 4-under-par 66 a few days after the final round of the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, and finished at 8-under 272 following rounds of 70, 67 and 69.
Johnson tied for 40th Monday at Bethpage Black with a 2-over 72 in the final round for a 9-over 289 total. Following a third-round 76, Johnson made only seven pars in the second round. He began the final round with a bogey on the 10th and also bogeyed the 12th, but he birdied holes 11, 13 and 14 to make the turn at 1 under for the round. On his second nine, he bogeyed 1, 3 and 5, double-bogeyed the seventh and made birdies on the fourth and eighth holes.

Byrd garners second All-America selection

Recent Coastal Carolina graduate Zack Byrd of Calabash, N.C., earned his second All-America honor, as he was named to Golfweek magazine's Third Team All-America squad. He previously was named a Third Team Division I Ping All-American by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Byrd was a unanimous Big South Conference Golfer of the Year selection by the league's head coaches after leading the Big South with a scoring average of 72.03 and winning the conference championship for the second time. Byrd returned from a knee injury last season to post four runner-up finishes and six top-10s.

Johnson moves up leaderboard Saturday morning

Dustin Johnson had only six holes to play Saturday morning to complete his second round in the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, and he made the most of them. Johnson had birdied his final hole _ the 12th _ in near darkness Friday evening to improve to 3-over par for tournament. Saturday, he birdied the 479-yard par-4 16th hole and the 207-yard par-3 17th hole and made par on the other four holes he played to shoot a 1-under 69 in the second round and improve to 1 over for the tournament. Johnson was tied for 24th as most players in the second wave Saturday were nearing the completion of their second rounds.

Dustin 3 over with six to play in second round

Dustin Johnson opened the U.S. Open with a 2-over-par 72 at the Bethpage Black course that had him tied for 40th at the time he finished the first round. Johnson began the tournament with a bogey on the 10th hole _ his partners Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy also bogeyed the hole _ then birdied the par-4 11th, bogeyed the par-5 13th and birdied the par-3 14th to get back to even par. Johnson bogeyed the par-3 17th, and par-4 fifth and seventh holes before closing with a birdie on the par-4 ninth.
Johnson also birdied the final hole he played in the second round Friday. He birdied the first hole, bogeyed the fifth and double bogeyed the ninth before making birdie on the 12th as play was called for darkness, leaving him at 3 over for the tournament with six holes to play in the second round Saturday morning.

Dustin's times rearranged

Because of the washout of most of the first round Thursday of the U.S. Open at the Bethpage Black course, Dustin Johnson now has two tee times scheduled for Friday. He is scheduled to tee off in the first round off the 10th tee at 10:44 a.m., then has a 4:44 p.m. tee time for the second round off the first tee. Johnson is paired with Rory McIlroy and Anthony Kim.