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 U.S. Open Notebook 'The King' treated like commoner at S.F. restaurant
Posted: Thursday June 18, 1998 02:39 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Arnold Palmer may be one of golf's greatest players, but that apparently wasn't good enough to get him a table at the venerable Tadich Grill in downtown San Francisco just before the U.S. Open. Palmer was with four friends Tuesday night when he decided to have a drink at the Gold Coast Restaurant next door while waiting to be seated at the famous seafood restaurant. He waited and waited and waited -- two hours in all. Then he got fed up. "He didn't have any pull next door," said Jim Brandt, owner of the Gold Coast Restaurant. "I don't know whether they didn't recognize him or whether they just like to snub celebrities." Brandt, who said the city's restaurants were unusually busy for a weekday night because of the U.S. Open crowd, persuaded Palmer to eat at the Gold Coast, where the golfer ordered a New York steak. "He was steaming," Brandt said. "He said, `I hope you can put those guys out of business next door.'" Tadich Grill manager Mike Buich said reservations are not accepted and customers are treated equally, pro golfers or not. "It's just first come, first served," he said.
Age no factorA few years ago, the talk in golf was all about Europeans dominating the major championships. Then the American players took over.Last year, with Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard and Ernie Els winning majors, the focus was on the youngsters. This year, with Jack Nicklaus playing so well at the Masters and Tom Watson winning a PGA Tour event, the spotlight is on the older generation as the U.S. Open begins. But players said that's just an indication that age, nationality and similar factors are not important on the golf course. "Things kind of go in cycles," Tom Lehman said Wednesday. "Great players are great players, period, no matter how old you are." Mark O'Meara, 41, who won this year's Masters, said all the emphasis on age is misleading. "I think that it is nice to have a good mix," he said. "The golf ball is sitting out there on the ground. It really doesn't know how old you are. It doesn't know if you are 20 of 30 or 50 or 60 or 70. It just kind of sits there waiting to be struck." Leonard, who turned 26 on Monday, agreed that "age is not as big a factor as some people make it out to be." "I don't look at anybody as a young guy or an old guy," he said. "Sure, the difference between a 15-year-old and a 30-year-old is a big difference, but once you are a professional on the PGA Tour, I don't think it is as great a factor as people give it."
Thrifty DuvalDavid Duval set a record by making $881,000 as a PGA Tour rookie in 1995, and he hasn't stopped making the big bucks since.In his first two years, he earned $1.85 million -- another record -- and he has earned $1.46 million while winning five tour events since October. But Duval hasn't let all the money change his lifestyle. "I am just not really a spendthrift. The things that I kind of get excited about are everyday things like new tennis shoes," he said Wednesday. "I am pretty simple, jeans and T-shirt, and I don't spend a lot on dress shoes because I don't have but a couple of suits." Duval has ordered a boat, admitting "maybe that isn't thrifty, maybe that is getting wild and crazy with my money." And he did buy a Porsche a year and a half ago. "It is funny, kind of -- I have put about 2,500 miles on it," he said. "I have got a truck at home I drive."
Fear of fogThe Olympic Club course that is playing host to the U.S. Open has been bathed in sunshine for the past few days, relieving fears that months of El Nino's rains would make the course sloppy.The nice weather is a welcome change for the San Francisco Bay area, which had 110 consecutive days of measurable rainfall through May 12. But course superintendent John Fleming, who grew up in San Francisco and understands its quirky weather, said it's never possible to be fully confident at a course just a half-mile from the Pacific Ocean. "If we have an impact, weatherwise, as a native son that has lived here all my life, that impact will be from fog and not from rain," Fleming said. Fleming, who has been tending to The Olympic Club course since 1972, remembers times when the morning fog was so thick that people standing a few feet apart couldn't see each other. But he said such fog is not likely this week. "If there is any concern weather-wise about what could come in here, I would think it would be fog," he said. "Speaking historically, when you get three, four, five days of nice weather like we have had, I can't see a big, big fog problem, either." Divots While Colin Montgomerie was given the most votes as favorite to win the U.S. Open in an informal survey of reporters covering the tournament, only one predicted Tiger Woods would be the winner. That falls in line with the predictions of several of Woods' peers, including Ernie Els, who have said The Olympic Club course is not suited to Woods' talents.
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Justin Leonard is one of the youngsters gunning for the U.S Open title this year 
