A sailboat near the 18th green at Pebble Beach flies a banner in honor of Payne Stewart.
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Thursday and Friday's TV times: NBC (3-5 p.m. ET); ESPN (5-10:30 p.m. ET, plus an hour-long wrap-up at midnight ET).
The last time a player won the U.S. Open without a round in the 60s? Tom Kite, eight years ago at Pebble Beach.
The 4½-inch rough is two inches shorter than the rough at the 1992 Open.
Tickets sold for each round? 32,500, according to the USGA.
The second hole, when it was a par-5, was the easiest hole at the previous three Opens at Pebble Beach. The second-easiest? The par-5 sixth.
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Wanna bet?
The winner of the U.S. Open will take home $800,000 from a purse of $4.5 million.
But the real money this week at Pebble Beach is the cash wagered in the practice rounds.
If you think players are serious on a Sunday playing for a sponsor's cash, you should see them on a Wednesday playing for their own. Nearly every foursome that goes out has some sort of monetary incentive, be it for two-man teams, individual skins -- the bets run the gamut.
On Wednesday, Jack Nicklaus was still setting the stakes on the first green in his match with partner Andy Bean against Hale Irwin and Glen Day when Day chipped in for a birdie. Nicklaus missed his own birdie putt, but Bean followed it up with a birdie to halve the hole.
On Tuesday, Nick Price holed a wedge from 85 yards out to win a match with Greg Norman, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh. Singh couldn't get over it later in the day.
"It won him a lot of cash" said Singh, on the losing team in this one. "We are all tied, the pressures were on and he has to go and make that shot."
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Time is on your side: The USGA is serious about slow play -- so serious that it's put out a hole-by-hole time sheet to keep players to rounds of 4 hours, 32 minutes in threesomes and 3 hours, 45 minutes in twosomes.
The chart has exactly how many minutes each hole should take -- from a high of 17 minutes at the par 5s to a low of 13 minutes at the par 3s (except for No. 17, where players are allowed an extra minute). In twosomes, the par 3s get 11 minutes; the par 4s 12 or 13 minutes; and the par 5s 14 minutes.
It's not easy being green: The greens are being cut three times a day for the Open -- twice in the morning and once again the afternoon. And they are being watered in the morning and in the evening, trying to avoid the heat which is expected to climb into the 90s on Thursday.
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OVERHEARD
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NICKLAUS
On if this is his final Open: "If (the USGA) gave me another (exemption), would I accept it? Of course I would. I love playing the Open. I love playing under conditions like this. I would not like to take up a spot if I didn't think I could play." |
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MONTGOMERIE
On winning a major: "I've had a reasonable career here and haven't won a major, so, yes, there's slightly more pressure on the situation. But it won't affect me in any way, shape or form in my lifestyle or life -- if I do happen to win a major." |
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COUPLES
On his future plans: "I think when I do win again -- and hopefully it won't be on my home course with no one around -- then I think I'll come close to stopping and just
play a little bit. That's my goal." |
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SUTTON
On what it takes to win a major: "Any time you win a major you have to have luck. But at a U.S. Open, and with the golf course set up as difficult as it is, luck even plays more of a factor." |
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