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What's The Difference Between The U.S. Open And Masters?

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 15, 2008

Updated: 06/15/2008 12:11 am

Mind Game

After stepping in a hole while playing a casual round of golf near his residence in St. Simons Island, Ga., in September, Davis Love III had surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left ankle and was sidelined four months.

His streak of 50 consecutive major championship appearances ended when he did not qualify for the Masters. To get into this week's U.S. Open, he was forced to earn his spot through the qualifying process like some garden-variety golf pro.

But he's hanging tough this week at Torrey Pines, showing good improvement on and off the golf course.

"I've had some really good help from therapists and trainers to get back to where I could at least start playing," Love said. "Once you get physically healthy then you have to get the brain healthy. And there's very few people that seem to be able to help you with that."

A few fans saw a lot more action than they might have expected late Friday afternoon as second-round play was finishing. Something of a wrestling match ensued near the ninth tee between Adam Scott's caddie, Tony Navarro, and a fan who apparently was heckling the player and Navarro.

As the day's premier grouping of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Scott walked down its final fairway, unaware of the altercation, the two men grappled on the ground before security personnel and marshals broke up the fight. The fan and his father were taken away in handcuffs by police.

"An unfortunate incident," said Jim Hyler, chairman of the U.S. Golf Association's championship committee who was following the group at the time.

The fans were arrested for - here's a real surprise - public drunkenness. They were identified as Thomas W. Campbell, 62, and Thomas J. Campbell, 37, both local residents.

According to local reports, after hearing verbal abuse directed at Scott and himself, Navarro went under the spectator ropes - golf bag still on his shoulder - to confront the heckler, and eventually head-butted the younger Campbell. As the two men rolled on the ground, Mickelson's caddie, Jim "Bones" Mackay, ran into the fray yelling, "Where are the cops?"

After the two spectators were taken away, the younger Campbell's 7-year-old son was also taken into custody and later picked up by a family member, according to reports.

Must have been a Father's Day weekend family outing.

Appleby Getting Better

Stuart Appleby has yet to prove himself a final-round factor in a major championship, but he has been putting himself more and more in the mix the last few years.

"Not regularly enough," he said.

But does he feel more comfortable in the role of contender?

"Majors are not a comfortable zone," he said. "They're not comfortable. They're not supposed to be comfortable. That's sort of why there's only four of them a year, and they're always on testing golf courses.

"Do I think that I am more comfortable? Yeah, I guess I might be. I think as you get older, you got to find a way to be more comfortable in positions always trying to put you off balance. There's a lot of mental skill, too. And that's probably the one that you're trying to control the most."

Speeding Along

Tampa resident Ryuji Imada and Anthony Kim of Dallas were the first group off Saturday morning. They didn't waste any time.

The twosome played in three hours, 15 minutes - 48 minutes ahead of the scheduled pace of play. Both players shot 70 and are 6 over through 54 holes.

"We really didn't try to play fast," Imada said. "I actually took a lot of time on a lot of shots. I've done 1:50 before. So we're not slow players. Some players take a lot of time in golf. The slow pace of play has become an issue on the PGA Tour.

"The last two days, it probably took us five hours and 30 minutes. It's a grind out there. But today was a great day."

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