By John Feinstein
The U.S. Open will begin Thursday morning at Shinnecock Hills with two past champions, Ernie Els and Jim Furyk, teeing it up thanks to special exemptions given to them by the United States Golf Association.

But the most recent champion at Shinnecock will not be here. Retief Goosen won his second Open title here in 2004, beating Phil Mickelson by two shots on an infamous day that the USGA lost control of the golf course. Corey Pavin, who won here in 1995, also requested a special exemption and, like Goosen was denied.

“We’ve only given seven men in history more than one special exemption,” said Jeff Hall, the USGA’s managing director of rules and Open championships. “We gave Retief one when he requested it two years ago.”

The seven men who have received more than one are all in the World Golf Hall of Fame: Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, and Seve Ballesteros. The first four were multiple Open champions. Palmer and Watson won the Open once each. Ballesteros never won an Open but was, well, Ballesteros.

Goosen is a two-time Open champion. He requested an exemption into the Open at Oakmont, and it was granted. Mike Davis, the USGA’s CEO said Wednesday that Goosen was not told then that if he was given an exemption into Oakmont he wouldn’t be given one into Shinnecock.

“We can’t do something like that,” he said. “If we imply to a player that if he doesn’t take an exemption one year, you’re guaranteed one another year, you put yourself in a tough position. What if the player isn’t competitive or hasn’t been playing? Are we then obligated to give him the exemption?”

Goosen is 49 and has three top-20 finishes on the PGA Tour this year—including a T-6 last week in Memphis. When it became apparent earlier this year he wasn’t going to receive an exemption he told the New York Post: “It was disappointing. They rang me up about two weeks ago and told me, ‘Sorry, it doesn’t look like the exemption is going to go to you.’ Obviously, they felt that Ernie and Jim were a bit more qualified for the event.”

The USGA established the precedent for special exemptions in 1950 after Ben Hogan was out of golf for 11 months due to his near-fatal bus accident the previous year and hadn’t played enough to qualify under the normal criteria.

“Obviously, Hogan deserved the exemption that year,” Davis said.

Hogan won the championship.

Since then, special exemptions have gone generally to past Open champions, often on golf courses where they have won or 11 years after a victory when they are in their first year as a non-exempt player: Hale Irwin got into the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah that way and won.

Goosen is about as low key as any star in recent memory. Which is why his comments to the Post were typically balanced and without rancour.

“They gave me an invite a couple years ago, which was surprising,” he said in conclusion.

Not giving him an invite this year was more surprising.

Pavin’s absence is more understandable. He is 59 and last played in a major championship in 2010, though he remains competitive on the PGA Tour Champions.

Hall said earlier this week that giving Goosen a spot would have taken one away from a sectional qualifier. One has to wonder if a more glamorous two-time Open champion had asked for an exemption if it might have been granted.

The post U.S. Open 2018: USGA stands by decision to not grant Retief Goosen a special exemption at Shinnecock appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Twenty-three years have passed since he took down one of golf’s bona fide heavyweights, Greg Norman, on two of golf’s greatest stages, the U.S. Open and Shinnecock Hills.

He delivered a knockout punch with a 4-wood from the fairway at the 450-yard par-4 18th hole, 209 yards to the front, 228 to the hole, a clutch shot that still resonates today, on the eve of another U.S. Open at Shinnecock.

“I was one up with that shot to go,” he said recently. “Greg Norman and Tom Lehman were two holes behind me. In my mind if I make par there I would very likely win. With having that in my head I had to throw that out and concentrate on the shot.”

He asked caddie Eric Schwarz whether he could get a 2-iron there. No, you can’t, Schwarz replied. They agreed, “100 percent,” that 4-wood was the correct club, Pavin said.

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WATCH NOW: WHAT’S AT STAKE AT THE U.S. OPEN AT SHINNECOCK

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“The wind was blowing 15, 20 miles an hour right to left. I could see the top of the flag. That was it. I decided to aim at the right edge of green and hit a little draw, the normal routing. The second I hit it I knew it was good.”

It was better than good. It was perfect, the ball stopping five feet from the hole. It clinched a U.S. Open victory, the capstone to a career worthy of Hall of Fame consideration—15 wins on the PGA Tour, one on the European Tour win, two on the Japan Golf Tour and a Ryder Cup captaincy.

Pavin, now 58, represented where the game was in 1995 with that 4-wood, a club now virtually obsolete in professional golf, and how he played the 18th hole at Shinnecock. From the tee, he worked the ball left to right into the wind with his driver to better his odds of hitting the fairway, then hit the 4-wood second shot right to left with a helping wind into the green.

Pavin was a legendary shotmaker who eschewed a linear path to the target. “It was hard for me to get up and hit a hard straight shot,” he said. “To me it’s kind of boring.”

David Cannon

As for where the game is now, the uphill 18th hole at Shinnecock Hills has been stretched by 35 yards, its scorecard length for the Open 485 yards. What club might players be hitting into the green at this U.S. Open?

“If conditions are favorable, if it’s not playing into the wind, a guy like Dustin Johnson might be hitting driver and wedge,” Pavin said. “Maybe some guys would hit 3-wood and 8-iron.”

Clearly the game has changed, or, for those who prefer euphemisms, it has evolved. The equipment, among other factors, has increased the emphasis on power and diminished the value of shaping shots, given the inability of the ball to spin to the same degree it once did.

Pavin, a PGA Tour Champions regular, does not necessarily lament the changes, notwithstanding the fact his skill set has been devalued as a result. He’ll never be long, and those who are long are less concerned with hitting it crooked as they once might have been.

“Guys are hitting it a lot farther. The balls go farther, the clubs go farther, players are stronger,” Pavin said. “It’s a combination of a lot of things. The ball doesn’t curve as much. It doesn’t spin as much, so it’s harder to curve. It’s just the way game’s gone. If it’s good or bad, I can’t answer that.

“Personally I’d like to see the ball come back and not go as far. Obviously that would help me, but not for that reason. So much has to be done to golf courses now to lengthen them and change them. Courses are becoming obsolete.”

If he was, say, 32 today, would he be as competitive as he once was? “Zach Johnson is a great example,” Pavin replied. “He’s a guy who moves the ball, is not a long hitter and figures out a way to get it done.

“If I was 32 [now], I’d play a different style of golf. I would have been brought up differently. But if I played now the way I did, how would I do? The question is not answerable. You wouldn’t be using the same equipment. I would like to believe I would find a way to be competitive, that I’d figure out a way to get the ball in the hole as quickly as possible.”

Pavin’s offense is not directed at the equipment or the players, but at the USGA for having become more accommodating of how the game is played today.

“I’m a little miffed at the USGA lately with how it’s setting up courses,” he said. “I applaud them on the one hand, trying to do different things. But to me, U.S. Open golf courses have fairways 25 to 32 yards wide and long rough right off the fairway. It puts a premium in putting the tee shot in the fairway, leaving you clean iron shots into the green. That’s the U.S. Open to me.

“I’ve heard people who’ve said the fairways at Shinnecock are 40-yards-plus wide. I find that sad. It’s nice when a golf course is set up the same way over a long period of time, that it’s a constant. It’s nice to compare different eras.

“I think the great thing about the U.S. Open in general is that it tests all phases of your game. That’s what I love about the U.S. Open. You have to hit it straight and it tests your iron play, your short game. You have to manage your game and there are a lot of things that go into it.”

Meanwhile, there is a historic 4-wood in a display case in Pavin’s home, and one could argue that a more appropriate place for it is the World Golf Hall of Fame. But this is an argument for another day.

What is undeniable is that a wedge used to help finish off an Open victory (short of holing out for eagle), rather than taking its place in history, will remain in play until its grooves wear out.

Yes, the game has changed.

The post Corey Pavin on a 4-wood for posterity and the club some might use to reach the 18th at Shinnecock Hills now appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Corey Pavin, at 5-foot-9 and 140 pounds, never was going to stand out in a crowd, though he does so now symbolically. He is a relic of sorts, a welterweight once capable of holding his own against heavyweights, guile and grit with his one-two punch. He stands as a testament to where the game was and where it is now.

Twenty-three years have passed since he took down one of golf’s bona fide heavyweights, Greg Norman, on two of golf’s greatest stages, the U.S. Open and Shinnecock Hills.

He delivered a knockout punch with a 4-wood from the fairway at the 450-yard par-4 18th hole, 209 yards to the front, 228 to the hole, a clutch shot that still resonates today, on the eve of another U.S. Open at Shinnecock.

“I was one up with that shot to go,” he said recently. “Greg Norman and Tom Lehman were two holes behind me. In my mind, if I make par there I would very likely win. With having that in my head I had to throw that out and concentrate on the shot.”

He asked caddie, Eric Schwarz, whether he could get a 2-iron there. No, you can’t, Schwarz replied. They agreed, “100 percent,” that 4-wood was the correct club, Pavin said.

“The wind was blowing 15, 20 miles an hour right to left. I could see the top of the flag. That was it. I decided to aim at the right edge of the green and hit a little draw, the normal routing. The second I hit it I knew it was good.”

It was better than good. It was perfect, the ball stopping five feet from the hole. It clinched a U.S. Open victory, the capstone to a career worthy of Hall of Fame consideration—15 wins on the PGA Tour, one on the European Tour win, two on the Japan Golf Tour and a Ryder Cup captaincy.

Pavin, now 58, represented where the game was in 1995 with that 4-wood, a club now virtually obsolete in professional golf, and how he played the 18th hole at Shinnecock. From the tee, he worked the ball left to right into the wind with his driver to better his odds of hitting the fairway, then hit the 4-wood second shot right to left with a helping wind into the green.

Pavin was a legendary shotmaker who eschewed a linear path to the target. “It was hard for me to get up and hit a hard straight shot,” he said. “To me, it’s kind of boring.”

David Cannon

As for where the game is now, the uphill 18th hole at Shinnecock Hills has been stretched by 35 yards, its scorecard length for the Open 485 yards. What club might players be hitting into the green at this U.S. Open?

“If conditions are favourable, if it’s not playing into the wind, a guy like Dustin Johnson might be hitting driver and wedge,” Pavin said. “Maybe some guys would hit 3-wood and 8-iron.”

Clearly, the game has changed, or, for those who prefer euphemisms, it has evolved. The equipment, among other factors, has increased the emphasis on power and diminished the value of shaping shots, given the inability of the ball to spin to the same degree it once did.

Pavin, a PGA Tour Champions regular, does not necessarily lament the changes, notwithstanding the fact his skill set has been devalued as a result. He’ll never be long, and those who are long are less concerned with hitting it crooked as they once might have been.

“Guys are hitting it a lot farther. The balls go farther, the clubs go farther, players are stronger,” Pavin said. “It’s a combination of a lot of things. The ball doesn’t curve as much. It doesn’t spin as much, so it’s harder to curve. It’s just the way game’s gone. If it’s good or bad, I can’t answer that.

“Personally I’d like to see the ball come back and not go as far. Obviously, that would help me, but not for that reason. So much has to be done to golf courses now to lengthen them and change them. Courses are becoming obsolete.”

If he was, say, 32 today, would he be as competitive as he once was? “Zach Johnson is a great example,” Pavin replied. “He’s a guy who moves the ball, is not a long hitter and figures out a way to get it done.

“If I was 32 [now], I’d play a different style of golf. I would have been brought up differently. But if I played now the way I did, how would I do? The question is not answerable. You wouldn’t be using the same equipment. I would like to believe I would find a way to be competitive, that I’d figure out a way to get the ball in the hole as quickly as possible.”

Pavin’s offense is not directed at the equipment or the players, but at the USGA for having become more accommodating of how the game is played today.

“I’m a little miffed at the USGA lately with how it’s setting up courses,” he said. “I applaud them on the one hand, trying to do different things. But to me, U.S. Open golf courses have fairways 25 to 32 yards wide and long rough right off the fairway. It puts a premium in putting the tee shot in the fairway, leaving you clean iron shots into the green. That’s the U.S. Open to me.

“I’ve heard people who’ve said the fairways at Shinnecock are 40-yards-plus wide. I find that sad. It’s nice when a golf course is set up the same way over a long period of time, that it’s a constant. It’s nice to compare different eras.

“I think the great thing about the U.S. Open, in general, is that it tests all phases of your game. That’s what I love about the U.S. Open. You have to hit it straight and it tests your iron play, your short game. You have to manage your game and there are a lot of things that go into it.”

Meanwhile, there is a historic 4-wood in a display case in Pavin’s home, and one could argue that a more appropriate place for it is the World Golf Hall of Fame. But this is an argument for another day.

What is undeniable is that a wedge used to help finish off an Open victory (short of holing out for eagle), rather than taking its place in history, will remain in play until its grooves wear out.

Yes, the game has changed.

The post Corey Pavin on a 4-wood for posterity and the club some might use to reach the 18th at Shinnecock Hills now appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

With a two-under 69 on Thursday at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, in windy and rain conditions that saw the scoring average come in a 76.8, Langer established a lead that would not be topped. He then spent the next three days toying with the rest of the field, posting scores of 74-65-72 to win by three strokes over Corey Pavin.

It was Langer’s third Senior British Open title, going with wins at Carnoustie in 2010 and Porthcawl in 2014. The victory was also his third major triumph of 2017, letting him join Jack Nicklaus as just the second golfer to ever win three in one calendar year, the Golden Bear accomplishing the feat in 1991.

Langer’s latest triumph came amid his continued frustration over questions about his putting stroke. With the USGA coming out after the U.S. Senior Open earlier this month stating that he was in compliance with the 2016 ban on an anchored stroke, the German golfer hoped things will soon be put to rest. But whispers linger.

Langer was also under the weather in Wales, dealing with a sore throat that left him with laryngitis at the start of the week and limited his practice.

Lastly, there specter of a rare slip-up from Langer two weeks earlier at the Senior Players Championship, when he double bogeyed the 17th hole to squander a final-round lead and lose to Scott McCarron.

“I’m just going to enjoy the fruit of the labor, and to have won three majors in one season is pretty spectacular, and it actually could have been four if I didn’t mess up two weeks ago,” said Langer, who now has 33 career PGA Tour Champions wins, 12 behind all-time leader Hale Irwin. “But when you put yourself in that situation, you’re going to win some and you’re just going to lose some. That’s how it goes.”

As Langer’s list of superlatives grows, they’re worth repeat if only to help convince people that they’ve actually happened.

This is his fifth senior major victory since turning 58; only three other players in history had one a single senior major at that age (Tom Watson, Irwin and John Jacobs).

He has won his 10 senior majors in 48 starts, giving him a win percentage of 20.83. Meanwhile, for his career he has led or held a share of the lead after 42 of 192 rounds (21.88 percent).

That rate increases to 42.5 percent at the Senior British, where Langer has now led after 17 of 40 rounds. His worst finish in the event in 10 career starts is a T-12.

The post Bernhard Langer cruises to Senior British Open title, his 10th career senior major appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Langer, who also is seeking a third major championship this year, was six under par through 16 holes at Caves Valley Golf Club outside Baltimore to get to 13-under overall. He was two strokes ahead of Corey Pavin, who had completed his round and had shot 68. Langer opened with his first bogey of the tournament, but made seven birdies in the next 15 holes, including five in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine.

Second-round play will resume at 7:45 a.m. (EDT) on Saturday, with the third round to follow at around 11 a.m..

Larry Mize, the first-round leader, shot a 76 and is tied for 15th.

The post Bernhard Langer leads by two in pursuit of fourth straight Senior Players Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.