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☆ Rory McIlroy Just Misses a Hollywood Ending at the U.S. Open
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Bill Pennington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It might have been fitting if someone from Holywood won this year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. But Rory McIlroy, born in the Northern Ireland town by that name, is not having that kind of year. On Sunday, McIlroy was chasing his first major championship title in nine years, a drought that continues to shadow a luminous career that began with four major titles from 2011 to 2014. McIlroy, like almost all of the PGA Tour’s players, felt blindsided. But on Sunday, a buoyant, smiling McIlroy, 34, was again enthusiastically chasing another major title, in the final round of the 123rd U.S. Open.

Persons: Holywood, Rory McIlroy, McIlroy, LIV, Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler Organizations: Los Angeles Country Club, Sunday, PGA Tour, PGA, 123rd U.S . Locations: U.S, Northern Ireland, Saudi

☆ No Birdies, but One Double Bogey, on the Shortest-Ever U.S. Open Hole
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Bill Pennington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At 81 yards, the par-3 15th hole at Los Angeles Country Club on Saturday was the shortest hole in the history of the U.S. Open. Add to the third-round setting a severely sloped 15th green; three massive, menacing bunkers surrounding the target area; and knotty, knee-high grass all around. Didn’t Koepka suggest earlier this week that L.A. Country Club might be too easy? He said he worried about a “birdiefest.” Maybe he had a hole less than 100 yards in mind. (The old record for shortest U.S. Open hole was 92 yards, at the 2010 event.)

Persons: Brooks Koepka, Didn’t Organizations: Los Angeles Country Club, U.S .

☆ At the U.S. Open, Wyndham Clark Is Confident, and It Shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Bill Pennington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When I’m out there playing, I want to do that for her.”Clark conjured the memory in the wake of two consecutive stellar rounds at the national golf championship at Los Angeles Country Club. He has steadily been climbing the world golf rankings with six top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour during the 2022-23 season. Last month, he earned his first tour victory at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C., a milestone that Clark, now ranked 32nd in the world, said significantly bolstered his belief in himself. In the months after the death of his mother, who had introduced him to golf as a toddler, Clark struggled on and off the course. When he competed poorly, Clark would storm off the golf course and, he said, “just drive away as fast as I could, I didn’t even know where I was going.”

Persons: ” Clark, Clark, teed, Clark’s, ”, “ Organizations: Los Angeles Country Club, U.S, PGA, Wells Locations: Thursday’s, Charlotte, N.C

☆ Rickie Fowler Reserves His Flash for the U.S. Open’s First Round
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Bill Pennington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

No golf fans followed Rickie Fowler on Thursday dressed the same as he was. A fan called out, “Keep it going, Rickie.” But the reaction was hardly the same as the raucous quasi delirium that the longhaired younger Fowler once elicited. Finally, as he marched toward his final nine holes, the volume began to ratchet up. With five birdies and four pars in the closing nine holes, Fowler shot an eight-under 62. It was the lowest round in the history of the U.S. Open.

Persons: Rickie Fowler, Fowler, Rickie, ”, Xander Schauffele Organizations: U.S, Los Angeles Country Club, U.S . Locations: Thursday’s

☆ What’s a Barranca? U.S. Open Golfers Hope They Don’t Find Out.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Bill Pennington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The barranca on the L.A. Country Club’s North Course comes into play repeatedly during the 18 holes, especially as protection in and around the greens. Errant golf balls that land inside the barranca may be unplayable and result in a one-stroke penalty. In other instances, expect to see competitors descending into the barranca with hopes of rescuing their golf balls. The L.A. Country Club barranca, however, is far from a random curio of the course layout. It serves an important, effective drainage role during rainy seasons and adds a natural, craggy aesthetic to the course design, which originated in the 1920s.

Persons: —, “ burr, Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner, Geoff Shackelford Organizations: Los Angeles Country, barranca Locations: U.S, Southern California

☆ Tiger Woods, Forced to Miss the U.S. Open, Is Everywhere
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Bill Pennington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S. Open will be played in Los Angeles this week for the first time in 75 years, and there is a predominant California theme to the event. More than a dozen in the field were raised in California or call it home. All of which makes it seem almost wrong, or cruel, that the best California golfer in history will not be competing. Tiger Woods, who grew up in Cypress, Calif., about 30 miles from the site of this year’s national golf championship, is unable to play at the Los Angeles Country Club after ankle surgery in April. Especially at the U.S. Open, which Woods has won three times — usually in dramatic, unforgettable fashion.

Persons: Tiger Woods, Woods Organizations: U.S, Los Angeles Country, U.S . Locations: Los Angeles, California, Cypress , Calif

☆ Matt Fitzpatrick Is Feeling Confused, and He’s Not the Only One
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Bill Pennington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Golfers had chosen sides in a sport known for individualism, fueling an unfamiliar team-against-team tension. Twelve months later, and days after the seismic news of the American and European tours forming a partnership with LIV Golf, the disruption at the 2022 U.S. Open now seems like an almost inconsequential diversion. Just ask Matt Fitzpatrick, who won that tournament in Brookline, Mass., for his first victory at a major tournament win and also on the PGA Tour. “I seem to remember last year just thinking about the tournament, just the U.S. Open,” Fitzpatrick said on Monday. “It was easier for me to mentally focus on that and be in a better place than obviously all this confusion that’s going on this week.

Persons: LIV, LIV Golf, Matt Fitzpatrick, “, ” Fitzpatrick Organizations: U.S ., PGA Locations: Brookline , Mass

☆ At the P.G.A. Championship, Justin Thomas Looks for Last Year’s Magic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Bill Pennington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Five years ago, when Justin Thomas came to the 2018 P.G.A. Thomas was 25 and the winner of one major championship. Championship as the defending champion. Championship in Tulsa, Okla., Thomas has endured the bumpy, maddening irregularity typical of any golf career (amateur or professional). A month earlier, he stumbled to a tie for 60th at the Players Championship, an event he won two years ago.

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