Casey's Driving: The longest drive measured at the U.S. Open, a
373-yarder at the Olympic Club's 437-yard par-4 6th hole, was by
Casey Martin (below). He ended the Open with a 291.3-yard
average, second only to John Daly's 295.6, and by finishing 23rd
made $34,043, more than half his Nike tour earnings for the
year.
Martin had the Open's longest drive, a 373-yarder on the 6th hole.
(John Burgess)
|
Double the Bet: Jack Nicklaus won a $15 bet with Arnold Palmer
during a practice round for the 1962 Open. In practice last week
Martin's birdie at the 18th hole beat Tiger Woods out of $30.
"And he will pay it," Martin said.
Royal Flush: Inspired, perhaps, by the million-dollar bathrooms
unveiled at this year's Masters, the USGA rolled out its own
posh privies at the Open. Air-conditioned rest rooms for guests
in the $135,000-per-tent Olympic Village featured brass
washbasins, gilt-framed Renoir prints, electric shoe-polishers,
complimentary body lotion and Rainforest Mint mouthwash.
Open Scopin': Souvenirs ranged from $2 ball markers to $275
portraits of the course, but the hottest items in the
merchandise tent were the $12 Beanie Baby-style teddy bears
stamped with the Open logo. All 1,000 were gone three days
before play began. The best-connected salesman in the tent was
Phil Mickelson Sr., 62, the golfer's dad. He was selling deluxe
$59 periscopes called Sportscopes. "One guy told me he'd use his
to watch his neighbor walk around without her clothes on," said
Phil pere.
Rotary Club: Private jets are passe. Nick Price has joined Greg
Norman, Arnold Palmer and others who helicopter to and from
their golf outings. Price recently bought a Bell 407 chopper
from Bell Textron Inc.
Foul-Weather Friendly's: While the world watched the men in San
Francisco, the LPGA staged a wet Friendly's Classic in Agawam,
Mass., where Amy Fruhwirth scored a two-shot win over Charlotta
Sorenstam and Kim Saiki. Sorenstam revealed that a sponsor's
exemption to the 1996 Friendly's had saved her life. She was
ticketed on TWA Flight 800, which crashed off Long Island,
killing all 230 aboard, until a last-minute invitation from the
Friendly's changed her plans.
Bowing Out: Missie Berteotti and Jill Briles-Hinton are so close
that Briles-Hinton's two-year-old son, Robert, is nicknamed Bert
in tribute to Berteotti. Still, Briles-Hinton eliminated her pal
on the seventh playoff hole in qualifying for the U.S. Women's
Open last week at Blue Hill Country Club in Canton, Mass. "The
Open will be my last tournament," said Briles-Hinton, who is
leaving the LPGA tour to coach the women's team at Florida. The
job will give her more time with Bert, who suffers from epilepsy.
Laughing Grass: Descriptions of the rough at Olympic sounded
like a casting call for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Tom
Watson called it "clingy," Tiger Woods "clumpy," club
superintendent John Fleming "snarly" and Johnny Miller "tangly."
The stuff made everybody grumpy. "I don't think it's proper,"
said Tim Moraghan of the USGA, "when it begins to make fun of
the best players in the universe."
Tell us what you think. Sound off on the CNN/SI Message Boards.
Issue date: June 29, 1998
|
|
|
