Where was the windmill?

Daly not alone in saying 18th pin placement 'absolutely stupid'

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Posted: Friday June 19, 1998 10:46 PM

Daly pulled out a par on 18 but said "We work too hard out there. People on TV have got to think, `These guys are idiots.'" (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- As the first group came to the 18th green Friday in the second round of the U.S. Open, two USGA officials stood on carts from 200 yards away and watched them putt.

They were hopeful the back left pin placement on a green that slopes severely to the front was fair.

Payne Stewart could have given a pretty good assessment.

"I don't think I was the only one who spoke to his USGA rules official about that," Stewart said.

Stewart had an 8-foot birdie putt that would have given him a 69 and a three-stroke lead. His right-to-left putt curled under the hole, and the ball didn't stop rolling until it was 25 feet away.

He wound up with a bogey, and at 3 under goes into the weekend with a one-stroke lead.

And Stewart wasn't the only one who cursed the hole position on No. 18. Davis Love III had a 6-foot birdie putt above the hole. As soon as it left the blade, he started walking to the collection area toward the front of the green.

"If they want to have a major, we can go to Disney World and play putt-putt," said John Daly, who had a 75 but considered himself fortunate to walk off the 18th with a par.

"Thank God our tour doesn't do that," Daly said. "That was absolutely stupid. We work too hard out there. People on TV have got to think, `These guys are idiots.'"

Ironically, the USGA had considered cutting the hole in that spot during the first round, but decided it was too difficult and changed it about two hours into the round, before the first group got there.

"Checking the hole location, the ball would not stay up on the back left quadrant, so that wasn't particularly fair," Tom Moraghan, who's in charge of course setup, had said Thursday.

There was more concern Friday morning. About 30 minutes before the first group came through, officials watered the green to keep it soft.

The USGA officials peered through binoculars as Omar Uresti's 25-foot birdie putt from the middle of the green rolled 4 feet above the hole.

"He could be right back where he started if he misses this," one official said to another.

Uresti made the putt for par.

Stewart wasn't so lucky, and now has less room for error.

He said he was flipping channels in the morning and saw the Putt-Putt championship on television. One reporter's question perhaps summed it up.

"If you had made that putt, would you have gotten a free round?"

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