Joining the 59 club

The question of the week: If high school kids are shooting 59, can Armageddon be far behind? On second thought, don't answer that.

You may have heard about Jake Grodzinsky, 17, a high school junior from Cornville, Ariz., who posted a 59 on a par-70 muni track during a tournament last week in Snowflake, Ariz. (I know what you're thinking: Cornville, Snowflake? Is this some kind of Sidd Finch hoax? Did Clark Kent from Smallville finish second? Honest, it's real.) Grodzinsky's score was (duh!) the lowest in Arizona prep golf history. He had 11 pars, four birdies, two eagles and a double eagle. He was a state champ last year as a sophomore in the small-schools division (you think Cornville sounds like it's got skyscrapers and traffic jams?). Grodzinsky's dad, Alan, said his son has his eye on Duke or Stanford as his college destination. Alan is a 4-handicapper, and the Sunday before Jake shot 59, Alan beat Jake by two strokes at Verde Santa Fe. Jake's mother runs an Indian jewelry store in Sedona.

About his round: Jake chipped in for eagle on the first hole and the longest putt he had was a 25-footer for eagle at the 15th, which he made.

Here's a little Q&A with Kid 59:

GVS: When did you know something special was happening?
JG: Probably after the double eagle at the fourth hole. I had 210 yards and hit a 5-iron. I was 5 under through four holes; I'd never had a start like that. Never. I had 25 putts for the round, but the last one on the last hole -- a 3-footer -- was probably the hardest because I knew what it would mean. Probably the best I've ever putted. I shot 70 the first day and won the tournament by 12.

GVS: What's been the reaction to the 59?
JG: Immediately, it was disbelief. Since then, I've been getting a lot of attention from everybody -- and now Sports Illustrated. I can't believe it, truthfully. I mean, it was just a high school event. One of my teammates called later and said, "Hey, you were mentioned on The Golf Channel, they showed your photo." I was like, "No way, man." But, yeah, I was on it.

GVS: How did you celebrate?
JG: It was kind of weird. All my teammates congratulated me, but we had to leave right away because it was a three-hour car ride back home. My dad was watching, he called my mom and I don't think she understood what I'd done. I guess everyone was just too blown away to celebrate. Me, too. The only celebration was on the last hole when I made that 3-footer for the 59. I was nervous and I did a little fist pump, although I didn't scream or anything.

GVS: What's been the best thing related to shooting 59?
JG: Really, just knowing I can go that low. I'm not expecting to shoot a 58, so this was really cool. If it never happens again, OK, I did it once.

GVS: How many rounds of golf do you play a week?
JG: In the summer, four or five a week. During the school year, probably a couple times a week, although I practice every day. Full 18s are just for the weekend, though.

GVS: Was your first cousin, PGA Tour player Jonathan Kaye, a big influence?
JG: He's called me a lot and he's hooked me up with a lot of clubs and balls and gloves, stuff like that. He shot 58 once at Encanto Municipal -- I guess he's Mr. Encanto. He called my dad and said everyone has been mentioning my 59 to him because of The Golf Channel.

GVS: Now that you've shot 59, do you have any other goals in golf?
JG: My goals haven't changed. I want to do well in upcoming tournaments, get a college scholarship and someday play the pro tour -- if I'm good enough. But right now, just concentrate on what's in front of me.

GVS: What do you like besides golf?
JG: The Sopranos is the best show ever; I'm a religious watcher. I'm a pretty good student -- 3.85 GPA. I'm a big Diamondbacks fan. I snowboard, but I don't play any team sports. Golf is where it's at.

GVS: Has the 59 changed your life?
JG: The attention has been incredible, although I'm still in high school and I don't expect to be on TV beyond this. But for the moment, yeah, it has changed.

The King lives

Three days after his last Masters round, Arnold Palmer was back on a golf course for a grand-opening ceremony at RiverTowne Country Club, a Palmer design in Mount Pleasant, S.C., near Charleston. Palmer played the back nine, shot even par with one birdie, and told a bigger-than-expected crowd of about 250 during a clinic, "From the turnout this morning, you'd think that I won the Masters -- not just retired from it."

RiverTowne Country Club general manager Chad Leonard got to serve as caddie. Ed Seay, Palmer's top design chief, drove the cart. Leonard rode on the back and provided yardages. "It was fun," Leonard said. "He actually hit it really well. I was thoroughly impressed. You can see why he is the King. He really is amazing."

Palmer, 72, didn't play from the tips, but played the next longest set of tees, which would've measured 6,700 yards if he'd gone all 18. He birdied the 18th with driver, 3-wood just short, and a pitch to three feet. Palmer brought a caddie bib with his name on the back, signed it and gave it to Leonard.

I asked Leonard where the ball that Palmer used for the round was. "In my pocket," he answered. Really? "Heck, yeah. I was the caddie. I was the first one to get to it," he said. "My son has already got it on his wall."

Mailbag

And now a word from our sponsor. No, wait, I don't have one. Hell, let's go to the Mailbag, then.

With all the talk about distance and obsolete courses, has anyone considered letting the fairways grow a little bit? I know this would go against the trend of every course being obsessed with appearing to be an Eden-like garden. But I watch drives bounce along as if they'd landed on Main Street. Also, a smidge more turf would give the pros a bit less spin on their approaches. I believe fairways are usually cut to half an inch. Do you think anybody would honestly consider moving the mowers up to maybe five-eighths? Or even nine-sixteenths?
—John, Cincinnati

Despite living in Cincy, John, you're on the money. One reason Augusta National plays as short as it does, normally, is that players get ridiculous amounts of roll. The fairways stimp probably at 8 or 9 -- faster than the speeds of most greens when I was growing up. Will anybody raise the blades? Nope. No tournament course in the spotlight wants to be the one where the pros start bitching about mangy conditions. Everyone wants the immaculate look. I love the idea. Won't happen.

Do you think Vijay Singh has been an underachiever, based on his number of top-10 finishes and percentage of cuts made (probably the best behind Tiger Woods if I've guessed correctly)? Why does he not win more often?
—Anand, Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania

Well, Vijay putts crosshanded with a belly putter. Need I say more? If he was an average putter by tour standards, he'd have 30 wins.

Can you explain why the courses on the coast in California use that damn poa annua grass? It can't be moisture; it's pretty moist in Florida and courses there use Bermuda on the greens.
—Ben Valverde, Berkeley, Calif.

Poa annua is more of a weed than a grass, Big Ben. You can't stop it, you can only hope to contain it.

Why not solve the technology conundrum by reducing the number of clubs in the bag from the arbitrary 14 to, say, an arbitrary 10. Then courses need not be lengthened, they would just have to have significantly different yardages for each hole.
—Rajiv Mittal, Bahrain

While that might make scoring a little more difficult, Mittal Man, it doesn't solve the problem of length. A tour pro is still going to hit driver-wedge on any hole under 440 yards and is still going to reach a 570-yard par-5 in two shots.

Any possibility of a Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson pairing in the Ryder Cup? It would be interesting because I sense these two don't like each other. Is it just me or is there some bad blood there?
—Mike (Mannix) O'Connor, Coronado, Calif.

I don't think they'll be paired, Mannix, at least not in alternate shot. One key to pairing guys has become which balls they play. Tiger is a Nike guy; Phil is a Titleist guy. As for bad blood, I don't have anything definitive. Phil, like a lot of other players, may be sick of being compared to Tiger. He definitely lives for the chance to beat him. My guess is you'll see Woods and Duval together, since they've partnered before (World Cup).

I disagree with your comments on the way technology is changing the game. It isn't just that the balls are going farther; they are also going straighter. You state in the April 15 Underground Golfer: "Force the tour players to use a shorter ball and the ballmakers -- and players -- would claim restraint of trade, go to court in about 30 seconds ... and probably win." But Major League Baseball requires that players use wooden bats, not aluminum. Tennis tournaments are using different tennis balls depending on the surface. There aren't lawsuits over these issues, are there? I think the new equipment is fundamentally changing the way golf is played (by the pros), and I would welcome some additional restrictions on the technology.
—Douglas Fink, Cleveland

Doug, you fink, you're not getting it. Does Mizuno sell millions of dollars worth of wooden bats to the public? Are tennis balls sold as game-improvement items? Rackets, yes. Balls, no. Golf is different. I've definitely seen Little League parents drop $250 for the hottest new bat in order to give little Jason an edge. If you tell baseball players they can use only one model of a bat, you'd see a lawsuit there, too. Golf companies use tour pros to showcase their products and market them for sale to the public. It's such a competitive business, they aren't willing to give that up.

I've read enough about the media hacks getting a chance to play Augusta National on the Monday after the Masters. If you don't know a member and have no chance of getting an invitation, is there any other way to get a chance (really) to play the course?
—David, Kennesaw, Ga.

How can I put this, David? No. It's pretty much like any other fairly exclusive country club. It's hard to get on, and National members, many of whom are captains of industry, are understandably choosy about whom they bring as guests. The surest way to not get invited is to meet a member and point-blank ask, "Say, is there any chance I could ..." Nope, not now. My advice: Get a job with CBS. The network seems to get a few tee times. Or move to Augusta, a nice little city, and within a few years you're bound to befriend someone who hangs with a member. Or caddie at the club. At least it would get you on the course.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

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