ESPN.com - Golf Online - US Open Men 2000 - Plenty of big names headed home

Associated Press
Saturday, June 17

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Todd Fischer fulfilled a golfer's greatest fantasy -- a hole-in-one at Pebble Beach, and in the U.S. Open no less.

So, why the long face?


	Jesper Parnevik missed the cut at the U.S. Open for the first time in his career.

Fischer, a 30-year-old who scrapes out a living on the mini-tours, missed the cut by one stroke Saturday and walked off the 18th green looking like he had just lost his best friend.

"I could snap every club in my bag," he said. "That's how I feel right now."

Plenty of other guys were heading home after the completion of the weather-delayed second round, including Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Jesper Parnevik and 1995 Open champion Corey Pavin.

"It's very frustrating," said Parnevik, who injured his left hip during a practice round and never got his swing in order. "I was playing so good coming into this week. I thought I had a good chance. I just couldn't play."

Parnevik considered not even finishing his round Saturday, but he couldn't get a flight back to Europe. So he hung around to complete a 9-over 80, finishing the tournament at 11-over 153 and four strokes away from the cut.

Parnevik managed one memorable shot, hooking a drive at 18 into Carmel Bay and watching in amazement as the ball caught a rock at low tide and bounced through the green to the back rough. Alas, he whiffed on the next shot and wound up with a bogey.

"It was tough out there," Parnevik said. "I hit some unbelievable, weird shots that I've never seen myself hit before."

Fischer, who missed a 6-foot putt for eagle at No. 6 before darkness halted play Friday, returned to the course at 6:30 a.m. Saturday to complete his round. His first shot was most memorable: a sand wedge from 106 yards at the picturesque seventh hole, which hangs over the Pacific Ocean.

The ball took a couple of hops and landed in the cup for the Open's first hole-in-one since Chris Perry two years ago at The Olympic Club, and the third of Fischer's pro career.

He went to 5-over for the round but didn't get to celebrate for long, heading into the dreaded stretch of three par-4 holes that hug the jagged coastline. He parred Nos. 8 and 9 but took a double-bogey at the 10th, hooking his tee shot into the treacherous rough and three-putting.

Fischer bogeyed No. 11 but birdied the 15th, putting him right on the cut line heading into the final three holes. A bogey at the 16th was countered by a Tom Watson-like shot at the next hole, where Fischer sank a 25-foot flop shot from the fringe of the rough -- one of just 11 birdies at the 17th through the first two rounds.

Fischer tried to play it safe at the 543-yard, par-5 final hole. He hit a 2-iron off the tee, but his second shot, with a 4-iron, curled into the left bunker along the seawall. He blasted out of the sand for a chance to save par -- and play two more rounds this weekend.

Instead, he was going home after an 8-foot putt slid by the left side of the cup. Suddenly, that hole-in-one was forgotten.

"I guess I'll go back to my life now," Fischer said. "I've got a little two-day event coming up. It's in a town called Windover, right on the border between Utah and Nevada. I don't even think there's a stoplight there."

Pavin, who won the U.S. Open at Shinnecock five years ago, seemed to be getting his struggling game back on track when he played the first 13 holes at 3-under. But he fell apart after fog halted play in Thursday's opening round, going 11-over the rest of the way to miss the cut by a stroke.

Pavin has been tinkering with his swing the past two weeks, altering the height of the rotation and striving to keep his head in proper position.

"It's hard to bring that to an Open," he said. "But I just had to do something different with my swing."

Pavin hasn't won since 1996 and ranks 155th on the money list this year.

"I think I'm on track, but it's frustrating," he said. "It's going to take time playing in tournaments to get used to this swing."

Norman went eight straight holes with a bogey or worse for a second-round 82, his worst U.S. Open ever. He missed the cut for the third straight time with a 17-over 159.

Love (75-79) failed to make it to the weekend in an Open for only the third time in his career. And four-time champion Jack Nicklaus, playing perhaps his last Open, said farewell with his worst round ever, 82, for a 13-over 155 total.

At the other end of the spectrum: 36-year-old auto salesman Jeff Wilson was the only amateur to make the cut. He was at 4-over through two rounds. And all four regulars from the Senior Tour -- Tom Watson, Tom Kite, Hale Irwin and Dave Eichelberger -- got through to the weekend.

"The old boys can still do it," Eichelberger said.