U. S. Open: Mickelson runner-up again, tied with Duval and Barnes
Time off pays off in big way
Seven weeks away from golf aided winner AT THE U. S. OPEN
FARMINGDALE—Golf can be a maddening and frustrating game. You don’t have to be a PGA Tour veteran to understand. Sometimes, it reaches the point where you can’t take it anymore. You feel like tossing the clubs in the closet and walking away.
Lucas Glover knows the feeling. About a year ago, he and golf were ready for a trial separation. Glover had been one of the rising young stars on the Tour. He had won more than $2 million in 2005 and ’06. In ’07, Jack Nicklaus had chosen him for the Presidents Cup team. It looked like his career was taking off.
Then last year, he hit a wall. Older players had warned him there would come a day when he realized how tough pro golf could be. Now he knew. He practiced as hard as ever. But his play faltered. He made cuts, but he wasn’t contending. He fell to 105th on the money list. Emotionally and physically, he was spent.
So Glover stopped playing for seven weeks. He went home to Greenville, S. C., and forgot about golf. He ate dinner every night with his wife, Jennifer. He read murder mysteries. He took a trip to see his alma mater, Clemson, play in the Gator Bowl.
“It was the best thing I ever did, career-wise,” Glover said Monday. “I knew I had my card for this year. I knew I had a job. I was not playing well enough to be happy on the golf course. I was taking it home. I wasn’t myself.”
Once he got away, Glover realized he had been too hard on himself. It was OK to have high standards. But he was letting misfortune get the better of him. That’s no way to succeed in golf, where the best players put failure quickly behind them.
Late last fall, Glover went back to work. He worked on his bunker play, putting and patience. And when he rejoined the Tour in January, he felt fresher than ever. Glover, 29, had one major goal, to do better in majors. If he was one of the promising young guys on Tour, he needed to prove it on the biggest stage.
It all came together here at the U. S. Open. Glover played the best golf of his life to put himself into position to win at Bethpage Black. Then, on a dramatic Monday, he held it together over a fretful final round to win the Open title by two strokes over Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Ricky Barnes.
Finally, after a week of rain and delays, Bethpage got the drama it had been waiting for. Mickelson led a charge at the third-round leaders, Glover and Barnes. Urged on by the ecstatic New York crowds, Mickelson surged into a tie for the lead with four holes to play. Briefly, Duval slipped into a tie, too.
This wet and dreary 109th Open was suddenly turning into a fairy tale. But as soon as he relinquished the lead, Glover took it right back. The lessons he learned during his sabbatical served him well. He heard the roars for Mickelson, and calmly answered them.
Glover admits he was nervous. But he never let his emotions get the best of him. He had bogeyed the par-4 15th. Duval, one group ahead, had birdied three in a row. Glover told himself he had to birdie the 16th, a 490-yard par-4 he had birdied twice in the Open.
Glover also felt confident. He drove into the right fairway, 173 yards from the pin. “It suited my eye,” he said, “and it fit my ball flight.” He struck a full 8-iron, his best shot of the day. It landed 5 feet from the hole, leaving him a straight downhill putt.
“The putt was all you could ever ask for under pressure,” he said. “I didn’t have to do anything but get it started. Get it started on line and you make it. I did.”
He was back at 4-under, in the lead. Mickelson, falling apart again with an Open in his grasp, bogeyed the 17th. Duval bogeyed right behind him. Glover was two shots in the clear again. Two routine pars later and the Open was his.
It was amazing how quickly the drama evaporated. For a few exhilirating moments, it seemed Mickelson was about to pull off one of the greatest wins in golf history. He was searching for a first U. S. Open title, hoping to bring the silver trophy to the bedside of his ailing wife, Amy.
But Mickelson wasn’t up to it. He made a ghastly three-putt on 15 for bogey. He missed a makeable par putt on 17. On 18, after driving to within 25 yards of the green, he sailed his approach 30 feet past the pin and made par. Three fairly easy finishing holes and Lefty played them in 1-over.
Glover has nothing to apologize for. Mickelson didn’t grab the title, but he didn’t kick it away, as he had in ’06. When his nerves were tested, Glover made birdie. He won his Open, a title he began preparing for when he walked away from golf nine months ago.
It seems weeks ago that Glover began the Open with a double bogey. He put it quickly behind. He did the same thing Sunday after a brutal three-hole stretch.
“Two years ago, if I’d had that stretch at six, seven and eight, no chance would I be sitting here,” Glover said. “No chance. But I’ve worked on it. My attitude’s better. Something bad happens, I let it go. I doubled the first hole this week, didn’t slam a club. Didn’t do anything. I walked to the second tee and said, “Hey, it’s the U. S. Open. It’s going to be a long week.”
Boy, was it long. Glover barely had the energy to hug his caddie after two-putting the 18th for the win. “Mentally,” he said, “I was done.”
Media and USGA officials were falling to their knees, thanking the heavens for sparing us an 18-hole playoff.
It was worth the wait for Glover, a Southerner who roots for the Yankees and has the complete Seinfeld collection. It took most of his 20s (he turns 30 in November) to learn a simple truth: Golf is punishing enough without you adding to the torment.
“There’s nothing guaranteed in this game,” Glover said. “We all know that. But there’s early bloomers, there’s late bloomers and there’s always-bloomers, in Tiger’s case. I’ve had a nice career. I haven’t won many tournaments, but I’ve played well. Maybe this will be the springboard. Who knows?”
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