First of all, as a fan of golf, I want to share my excitement about what we all just witnessed here at Oakmont. Congratulations to Angel Cabrera for an incredible win and one of the "gutsiest" performances we've seen in a long time. There were only eight rounds shot under par all week, and Angel had two of them. He is a deserving champion.
I'm sure not too many people had Angel in their pools at the start of the week. I'd venture that most had one (or both) of the guys that finished tied for second - Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods. This week's "A Lesson Learned" will take something from those guys, as to how they were able to put themselves in position to win and why they didn't quite get it done this time.
First of all, Jim Furyk was my early pick to win this tournament. He is a local product and definitely had the fan support behind him. He hits the ball straight, he's a tenacious competitor, he's a great putter, and he's very methodical and smart in his planning. These are all perfect traits for a U.S. Open champion.
When Jim stood on the 17th tee, he was tied for the lead. Angel had just bogeyed the hole, a short uphill par 4 and all Furyk had to do was par in to most likely be tied, or perhaps make a birdie on 17 to take the outright lead.
Instead of playing percentages, Furyk decided to hit a driver and he ended up pulling it a little left into very deep rough. When you're in rough six to eight inches deep, you have no control over your golf ball. You can't control its distance, it's trajectory, or its spin. In other words, you're in a world of trouble. From there, Jim struggled to get it on the green and ultimately ended up with a crippling bogey.
Most people, even the best players in the world, are going to lose shots if they end up left of that green -- and that's why it would be best to take it out of play.
About 70 yards back, in the fairway, is the flattest spot on that hole. Recently, I filmed an instruction piece about the 17th hole, and pointed out the optimal place to hit your second shot from - and it was about 70 yards away. I hit my approach shot to four feet. For TOUR players, a 70 yard pitch shot leaves them salivating for birdies. To get to that position would take them a long iron perhaps from the tee, maybe even a mid-iron. It makes birdie very possible, and a par virtually a certainty. A driver brings bogeys and worse into play.
But the USGA officials knew that by moving the tees up, they would bait the players into deviating from their game plans and pulling out their drivers. Of the top three players, none of them made a birdie on the hole, and only Tiger made a par - after scrambling from the bunker and then a tough lie in the rough.
So this week's lesson centers on playing to your strengths and eliminating the danger on a hole. Give yourself a chance to reach your goals. If Cabrera makes a par, the complexion of the tournament changes dramatically. He didn't but he still did enough to win. If Furyk makes a par, I'd say we're all talking about U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk by Monday evening.
I'm a great admirer of Jim Furyk and I know he's disappointed that he had a chance to win this year and it didn't work out. He's obviously got the game to contend in many more. But hitting driver on 17 effectively cost him the title. The lesson then is to play to your strengths and eliminate the trouble from the tee - especially in pressure situations. A par is a great score at any U.S. Open. By missing his target by a mere 30 feet, Furyk ended up in six to eight inches of rough and had no shot at the pin.
Also, one quick note about Tiger. I was at the range when he appeared for the final round. He was the last competitor to arrive at the range, he came out in the red custom fit mock-tee that looked like it had been painted on to his very chiseled physique, and he grabbed the spot on the range which is where I teach, an elevated area on the far left side. It was the entrance of royalty or a rock star - the only thing missing were spotlights and fireworks. The crowd went nuts and even the players did a double take.
I do not believe that this was mere happenstance. I think Tiger's emergence sent a message and it seemed to be received by the players on the range at the time. I'm not saying Aaron Baddeley's triple bogey on the first hole was a by-product of being intimidated, but I'm not saying it wasn't. Tiger commands a presence that I've never witnessed before - even among the best players in the world. Tiger makes a point with everything he does, he was the last man at the range and the last one to arrive at the first tee. It's as if to say, the tournament doesn't start until I say it does.
I'm not exactly sure what the lesson for golfers is in this spectacle, but for everyone that was there and witnessed it, it is something we will remember forever. Simply awesome.
I'm very proud to be associated with Oakmont Country Club and I'm excited that the course lived up to its reputation as a stern test of golf - fair but tough. We all witnessed some of the greatest golf shots that we've ever seen, and some players who are not accustomed to struggling, watching their scores head north instead of south. But the end result was exactly what we had all been working towards for many years - a classic U.S. Open. And thanks to Angel, Tiger, Jim and a host of others, we got just that. Thank you to everyone.
Eric Johnson is the Director of Golf Instruction at Oakmont Country Club, the site of the 2007 U.S. Open, and was the 2005 PGA Tri-State Section Teacher of the Year. Formerly the Director of Instruction at The Breakers Palm Beach, Eric was also a lead instructor for the PGA of America Golf Schools and frequently lectures to other PGA Professionals at educational seminars throughout the country. He can be reached at ekjpga96@yahoo.com.
