Balmoral Woods sold

Writing from Chicago

Friday, December 16, 2016

The Mortell family has sold Balmoral Woods, the Crete golf course it developed and nurtured for 41 years, to HITS, Inc., the hunter/show jumping company which bought nearby Balmoral Park Race Track earlier in the year.

The purchase price was not disclosed, but Links Capital Advisors had Balmoral Woods listed at $1.35 million earlier this year.

David Mortell, the longtime general manager of Balmoral Woods, said his family will still be involved “an a small capacity.”

Balmoral Woods opened under the name of Fairwinds, and as a nine-hole operation, designed by Arthur Davis and Ron Kirby in 1975. The Mortells increased their stake from minority to complete owners in 1977, expanding the course to 18 holes with noted architect George Fazio, designer of Butler National Golf Club, joining owner Don Mortell in the expansion plan. In 1980, the present clubhouse was built. Previously, the current seventh hole was the first hole, and the pro shop was in the basement of what had been a Holiday Inn and now is a senior center.

In the last 15 years, the Mortells converted the fairways from bluegrass to bentgrass, bringing a country club feel to play. But, as rounds fell in the Great Recession, David Mortell took the phrase “country club” out of the name, saying he wanted everyone to feel welcome.

HITS bought Balmoral Park on May 27, with the intention of reopening as a show jumping and equestrian venue for spectator events and training in 2017. The track, originally named Lincoln Fields, hosted racing beginning in 1926.

– Tim Cronin

Arnold Palmer's undying legacy

Writing from Chicago

Monday, September 26, 2016

A Grill Room Special by Tim Cronin

What Arnold Palmer did better than any athlete before or since, better perhaps than anyone before or since, is make you feel that you and Arnie were the only two people in the room, even if the room was Augusta National and 45,000 people were hanging around to see him.

That personality, that one-on-one sensibility, is what nobody has even been able to match.

Jack Nicklaus won more majors and more tournaments. Tiger Woods won more money than anybody. Ben Hogan hit better shots more often.

Nobody came close to Arnold Daniel Palmer on a golf course when it came to eye contact. Memories flooded back, carried by a river of tears, when word came early Sunday night that Palmer, 87, had died at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the result of complications of heart problems the day before he was to undergo heart surgery.

For instance, 1989 at Kemper Lakes Golf Course, hosting the PGA Championship, the one major that Arnold, a proud professional and the son of a professional, never won. Astoundingly, he birdies the first five holes on Thursday afternoon, which nearly topples the press tent. Now, scribes mused that they wouldn’t have to build a story around Leonard Thompson, a fine fellow but no Arnold Palmer.

His Army reappears, throngs following him. Inspired, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson start making birdies, and it’s not 1989, it’s 1975. Palmer finishes the round with a 4-under-par 68, two off the leaders, Thompson and Mike Reid. Nicklaus shoots 68 as well. Watson shoots 67.

Asked how he old he felt after the round, Arnie said, “Twenty-nine!”

Friday’s play begins, and Palmer is off early. The world greets him on the first tee. Happily, this was not a one day wonder. He continues to play well. (He makes the cut and birdies the last on Sunday, as does Nicklaus.)

What was most striking was his interaction with fans. “Go Arnie” was heard many times more often than “Quiet, please” over the course of the front nine. And unlike the ultra-focused Nicklaus, or later, Woods, he didn’t look through people. He looked at you, right at you, as you were looking at him. And he smiled. He knew you were out there at the fourth tee to see him and knew you wanted to see him at his best. A look, a smile, and then a look down the fairway to see what adventure awaited.

That is how Arnie’s Army was built, one look, one smile at a time, for more than 50 years. That is how golf grew, for the galleries at Augusta National – and Palmer as much as Bob Jones and Cliff Roberts put the Masters on the map – followed him religiously.

Palmer and the image orthicon camera – television’s eye – found each other at Augusta and fell in love with each other, transmitting that ardor to more fans. The sight of Palmer coming over the rise on the 15th hole, where TV coverage of the Masters first began, was golf’s equivalent of Patton leading a charge over an African sand dune. From 1958 on, Palmer became the star of television golf, the engine that got more tournaments on the air. And long after his star had waned as a player, he took the idea of businessman Joe Gibbs – the non-football coach – and backed Golf Channel. Twenty-four hours a day of golf from the man who came to the fore when there wasn’t 24 hours of golf on television in a year.

Along the way, Palmer’s influence – his mere presence – brought the sleepy British Open back to the forefront. He sold anything and everything thanks to agent Mark McCormack, the Chicago-bred marketing genius whose handshake deal with Arnold was the foundation of an empire. When he turned 50, the Senior Tour, as it was first known, began to walk, having crawled waiting for the magic birthday. When the 50-year-old Palmer missed the first United States Senior Open, held at Winged Foot Golf Club, because the USGA imposed its 55-and-up rule from the amateur side, the competition drew galleries in the high dozens.

The rule was changed the next year. Palmer, 51, won the 2nd U.S. Senior Open at Oakland Hills Country Club. Decades later, asked if the rule was changed to get Palmer in the field, Frank Hannigan, the USGA’s executive director in 1981, said, “Isn’t every rule changed for Arnold Palmer?”

Think about it. Palmer’s presence grew one tour to heights unimagined and effectively created another. Anyone in the last 50-plus years who ever played on any American golf tour, including the ladies, owes Arnold Palmer. He put money in everyone’s pocket.

We digress. Fast-forward to 1993, when Palmer is 63 and a ceremonial player at Augusta. But not on Thursday morning, when he birdies the first three holes, his name goes up on the big scoreboards and he stands on the fourth tee as the undisputed leader of the Masters Tournament. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be there, to see the King back on the throne in Camelot, if but for one brief shining moment, will recall it forever.

Now fast-forward to 1997, and Olympia Fields Country Club. Palmer is playing a practice round a couple weeks in advance of the U.S. Senior Open. Olympia member Larry Spalla called a local reporter – your obedient servant – so an exclusive interview could be gotten with Palmer to crown the Daily Southtown’s pre-tournament coverage.

Palmer comes off the 18th, sits down in the lobby for a TV interview, and then I get my turn.

There are a dozen people hanging around, including Sam DiGiovanni, Arnold’s pal for decades, but suddenly, there’s nobody else in the room but us. He gives lively answers, there are some laughs and some serious moments, and some combined. This was not long after his prostate cancer surgery, and a question about his mortality was in order.

Quipped Palmer, “I leave all those questions to Sam.”

It was pitch-perfect Palmer.

Fast-forward once more, to 2013, and the par-3 course at Augusta National. There are more people than Cliff Roberts could count swarming the layout, especially around the first tee, just before 3 p.m. That’s when the Big Three, Palmer, Nicklaus and Gary Player, will tee off, coinciding with ESPN’s coverage of the biggest little show in golf. Already, those of us in the mob – to quote Jack Whitaker, c. 1965 – have seen Jack Fleck tee off. It was just good to know that at the time he was still with us.

Player is on the tee first, then Nicklaus. Each gets an enormous hand from the gallery. Then up comes Palmer. An ovation, long and heartfelt. And, as it quiets, a women, probably in her 50s, wearing a yellow dress and possessed of a voice as southern as a Waffle House, exclaimed, “My God, it’s Arnold Palmer.” As they say down south, we thought she was going to have an attack of the vapors.

All three hit it toward the green, and nobody particularly cared where the balls landed except the players. As someone else said to his wife a few holes later, turning to make for the exit, “We can go now. I’ve seen who I came to see.”

At the time, Palmer was 83.

What other athlete would have been a draw at 83? Or any year beyond his 50s?

My absent friend Tim Sassone said it perfectly in 1988, when Medinah Country Club hosted the U.S. Senior Open. Arnie entered the interview room for a chat, and someone outside said, “Palmer just walked in.” Sassone said, “Golf just walked in.”

Golf has a void today, matching our broken hearts. There was and will be nobody else like him. Hail and farewell.

Len Ziehm remembers Arnold Palmer

We are pleased to introduce Len Ziehm, a writer who needs no introduction to astute readers, to our website and pages. Len contributes his thoughts on the life and legacy of Arnold Palmer, who died Sunday in Pittsburgh, aged 87.

By Len Ziehm

Arnold Palmer is gone. Where do I begin to tell you how impactful this is to golf – and to me personally?

I’m not sure I would have taken up this sport – one that I love with a passion but don’t play very well – had it not been for Arnold Palmer.

It was back in the mid-1950s when my family lived on Chicago’s Northwest side. I was about 11 years old and my mother wanted me to see an exhibition event at Medinah.

Actually, I think she wanted to mainly see Arnold, the most charismatic athlete of our time.

We went, he didn’t win but the day was enjoyable. My mother took me out to play on a course shortly thereafter, and a life-long love affair with the game began.

Over the years I covered some of his tournaments, the first being the 1968 Western Open at Olympia Fields – my first PGA Tour event as a golf writer working for a major metropolitan newspaper. Palmer didn’t win that one, either, but he was accessible to the dozen or so media that attended. The media crowd and the galleries would, of course, grow considerably from those days.

On the professional level, my best up close and personal experience with Palmer came in Boston. I was sent there to cover something else, but wanted to do a feature on Palmer in advance of the budding Senior PGA Tour (now called the PGA Tour Champions) planning a Chicago visit. A few other writers from around the country had the same idea, and we gathered at a restaurant where Palmer was planning a private dinner with friends.

He knew we’d be there, and we expected a brief, friendly chat. We’d get a story and he’d be back with his friends in a few minutes. Not so. He stayed and talked with about half dozen scribes he barely knew for a good hour as his friends waited (I hope) patiently.

Much more recently we visited Palmer’s Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla., as part of golf/travel-writing adventures in 2015. Palmer was there, dining with his guests, getting his picture taken, just being Arnie. I have a treasured piece of golf art from that visit signed by the king himself.

Palmer’s competitive career was winding down when I came on the golf-writing scene.  He won his last PGA Tour event in 1973, but he kept playing – and that’s a big reason the golf kept growing and senior golf became a viable part of the pro sports scene.

In 49 years playing the PGA Tour, Palmer earned $1,784,497 and won 62 tournaments including seven major titles. He earned much more than that in endorsements and other ventures, of course. His income from 2014, for instance, was reported at $42 million by one respected business publication.

Palmer is certainly not about money, though.  He walked with kings and played golf with presidents, but he never lost touch with more common folks.

Rather than dwell on his playing record and business success, I thought you might enjoy some tidbits – provided in no particular order – about Palmer’s life that I feel tell more about this extraordinary man:

Before winning the 1954 U.S. Amateur he served three years in the U.S. Coast Guard, a stint that interrupted his amateur career – he had left Wake Forest after the death of pal Bud Worsham – and stymied his plans to be a touring pro.

He beat prostate cancer himself and created the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, which is ranked among the best such hospitals in the world.

One U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, sent Palmer a picture of his swing in hopes he would critique it. Another president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, flew to Palmer’s home in Latrobe, Pa., to make a surprise appearance at his birthday party. The day after Gerald Ford left the presidency he had a golf game with Palmer.

Perhaps Palmer’s biggest victory came when he rallied from a seven-stroke deficit in the final round to win the 1960 U.S. Open, but he also blew a seven-stroke lead on the back nine of the 1966 Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco before losing to Billy Casper in a playoff. He blew the lead in the playoff, too.

Palmer built the first golf course in China and designed more than 300 courses around the world.

The son of a greens superintendent, Palmer broke 100 for 18 holes when he was just 7 years old. He met his first wife Winnie on a Tuesday and asked her to marry him four days later. They were married 45 years until her death in 1999.

He signed what must be a zillion autographs and – unlike most every other athlete – his name was always provided in a legible manner. He was confident enough to wear pink before that color was fashionable.

He has a drink in his name – an Arnold Palmer is comprised of iced tea and lemonade – that is known world-wide. He also had his own winery.

He played in 50 Masters Tournaments and was a major factor in the creation of Golf Channel.

He became a pilot to overcome his fear of flying.

He was awarded both the Congressional Golf Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the only sports figure to have both.

He attended Wake Forest, where a statue stands in his honor. In 2013 he rode into one of that school’s football games on a motorcycle.

In 2010 Esquire magazine named him one of the 75 best dressed men of all time.

Palmer had his very own Army, and it was always vocal and supportive, but Arnie’s Army isn’t the only segment of society that will sorely miss him now that he’s gone.

Johnson overpowers field for BMW title

Writing from Carmel, Indiana

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Bulldozing the field doesn’t make for dramatic golf. That depends on birdies and bogeys being bounced back and forth among the leaders on a Sunday afternoon.

When the leader yields bogeys early, then goes on a birdie binge, the drama cannot be manufactured.

It is instead replaced by awe. That’s the only way to watch Dustin Johnson these days. The big hitter won the U.S. Open in June by overpowering Oakmont and outlasting the United States Golf Association’s rulesmakers. He captured the big payday at Firestone, another big hitter’s layout, in his next start.

Sunday, his final round 5-under-par 67 at Crooked Stick Golf Club allowed him a three-stroke victory over Paul Casey in the BMW Championship. His total of 265 wasn’t a tournament record – and the numbers go back to the first Western Open in 1899 all the way to this 113th edition – but his score in relation to par, a gaudy 23 under, is.

He was 15-under on the par-5s, the best known number by a winner. He’s won the old championship twice in the last seven playings, including his one-stroke victory over Casey on Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course in 2010. He’s not just No. 1 in the standings, but given his hot streak, the favorite going into the Tour Championship starting a week from Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Johnson has power (first in driving distance this week, averaging 308.6 yards), accuracy (hitting 52 greens in regulation), and has found a putter he likes (only 103 putts this week, fewest by a Western Open / BMW winner since at least 2003, and only two three-putt greens, both on Sunday). What’s not to like?

“I’ve got a lot of confidence,” he said on the 18th green after a tap-in wrapped up his $1.53 million triumph. “This week, the putter really worked.”

Everything worked. Johnson was two strokes off leader Roberto Castro after 18 holes, tied with him through 36, and led Casey by three entering the final round.

Johnson led by four after a birdie at the first. A few minutes later, it looked like a battle, as Johnson bogeyed the second and third and Casey birdied them. It appeared that Casey, who lost a three-stroke last Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship, had a chance at his first PGA Tour win in seven years. But Johnson birdied four of the next five holes and began the runaway, cheered on by the gallery of about 28,000 on a sunny day.

It was sealed at the par-5 15th, which he eagled for the second time in three days moments after Casey did so. Johnson’s opponent had thrown his best punch and the big guy never felt it.

“That was the turning point,” Johnson said.

The duo parred in and Casey matched Johnson’s 67, as did Castro, who finished at 17-under 271, which would have won eight of the last 12 Western / BMWs. Instead, it got him third place, and five strokes ahead of the quintet of Ryan Palmer, Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, J.B. Holmes and Charl Schwartzel in fourth.

Schwartzel’s bogey-free 8-under 64 was the round of the day on the third straight day of lift, clean and place in fairways and closely-mown areas, one reason the scoreboard glowed red.

Johnson likely would have won no matter what the rules. The wedge game that he worked so hard over the winter on is the key to his big year.

“I know if I’m driving it well and hitting it in the fairway and get a wedge in my hand I’m going to have good looks at birdies,” Johnson said. “Today I hit a lot of great wedge shots. It started on the first hole.”

His 122-yard sand wedge stopped 4 feet 7 inches from the cup. He sank 21 and 7 footers on the fourth and fifth holes, dropped a 120-yard wedge 4 feet from the hole on the seventh, and sank a 5-footer for birdie on the eighth. He was 21-under with 10 holes to play. Casey would have been excused if he had melted away, but he hung in there, all the while knowing his odds were shrinking.

“I ran into a buzz saw,” Casey said. “That was something special the last two days, and I did everything I could. I’m holding my head up very high.”

Johnson’s not perfect. He missed five greens and only saved par three times. But when a guy makes three eagles and 24 birdies in 72 holes, there a margin for error.

If you think about it, Johnson could be the player of the year. Not that he thinks about it.

“There’s still a week to go,” he said. “My peers vote. You’ve got to ask them.”

They vote after the Tour Championship. If he wins that precinct, he’s a lock.

Jordan Spieth always likes the idea.

“He’s dealt with the expectations and won every season for nine seasons,” Spieth said. “That’s really special, but people still considered him someone who wasn’t a closer. You can’t get past two wins on the PGA Tour without being a closer.”

“There’s always something that can happen,” Johnson said, who could have three majors on his resume easy but for a grounded iron in a bunker at Whistling Straits and a wayward series of shots at Pebble Beach. “Believe me.”

That’s hard to argue with. Right now, Dustin Johnson is a hard man to beat.

Playoff permutations vex Fowler

It’s dramatic, especially if you can work a slide rule, these PGA Tour playoff machinations. Thanks to NBC and the on-course scoreboards, the biggest deal of the year about who may and who may not be in the 30-man Tour Championship comes about at the BMW, when the field vies for those spots. Not that the players know as they move about the course. Golf is hard enough with just addition. Add in algorithms, and it becomes impossible.

This year, the last man out was Rickie Fowler, following an even-par 72 for 1-over 289 and a 59th-place BMW finish. Then he became a spectator, and eventually saw J.B. Holmes par the 18th hole to eliminate him and get Charl Schwartzel in. Had J.B. Holmes birdied or bogeyed, Fowler would have been in. Instead, he’s 31st in a field of 30.

“There’s nothing I can do,” Fowler said three hours earlier. “I can’t, I’m not going to go heckle the ones that I need to miss. I want to see guys play well; they’re all my buddies, you never root bad on anyone.”

For Fowler, there’s also the Ryder Cup. It’s not likely Davis Love III saw anything from Fowler that will convince him to pick him tomorrow, when he announces three of his four selections. Fowler was optimistic.

“I’ve done basically everything I can do as far as schedule and playing,” Fowler said. “Obviously it would have been nice to play better to make the pick a lot easier on him.”

Then there’s Sergio Garcia. On Saturday, he made his putter a crooked stick by jabbing it against his bag after a putt the putter – certainly not him – missed. He shot 73-76 on the weekend, finished at 2-under 286, and was zonked, falling from 25th to 32nd. Brooks Koepka (30th to 35th) and Henrik Stenson (24th to 36th), who didn’t play because of injury, also fell out.

Johnson, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott, Jason Day and Casey are the top five. If they win the Tour Championship, they also win the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus.

Around Crooked Stick

Defending champion and world No. 1 Jason Day withdrew with back pain after bending over for his tee on the ninth hole. He was 2 over for the day and 3 under overall. With no points this week, Day ended up ----- in the season standings. Bud Martin, his agent, says Day will get an MRI to see if there’s a long-term issue. ... Louis Oosthuizen birdied seven of his last 12 holes en route to a 6-under 66. ... The third consecutive day of lift, clean and place in fairways and closely-mown areas means seven of the eight rounds in two BMWs at Crooked Stick have been played in that fashion. Players were given a break in all four rounds in 2012 after downpours before and during the tournament. So are the 64 by Rory McIlroy in 2012 and the 63 by Dustin Johnson in Round 2, each considered course records, really course records? Some would say it belongs to Russ Cochran, whose 8-under 64 during the 2009 U.S. Senior Open was played under conventional conditions and on a layout measuring over 7,200 yards. ... NBC presented a stirring feature on an Evans Scholar who had been in a refugee camp in Africa during its telecast. ... Our bogey Saturday: The 2010 BMW that Johnson won at Cog Hill was the fourth under the motor company’s name, not the third. ... Next year’s BMW is back at Conway Farms for the third time in five years. Expect rain.

– Tim Cronin

Johnson leads after curious day at Crooked Stick

Writing from Carmel, Indiana

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Happy 87th birthday to two-time Western Open champion Arnold Palmer!

Imagine a day of golf with a little bit of wind, more and more sunshine as the hours go by, and the opportunity to put the ball in your hand if it lands in the fairway.

Crazy-low scores, right?

That was the expectation on Saturday at Crooked Stick Golf Club, the Pete Dye design that may be diabolical when it’s dry but is gettable when wet.

Instead, on a day with reasonable hole locations, the low score was only 5-under-par 67, punched in by Adam Scott, Billy Horschel and Bill Haas.

What happened? For some, perhaps the pressure of knowing going low would help their cause for advancing to the Tour Championship in a fortnight and thus having a chance at the $10 million FedEx is awarding to the season champion.

Put Roberto Castro in that category. The co-leader with U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson entering the round, he muddled about all afternoon, scoring 2-over-par 74 including a pair of bogeys, one at the last.

For others? Well, golf is as much a mind game as anything. Johnson, for instance, made a late run with three straight birdies and four in his last five holes including a 17-footer at the last but could manage only a 4-under-par 68, and while he leads the BMW Championship by three at 18-under 198, the big hitter’s day could have been so much better. Say, a 64.

“On 3, I left my putt right in the middle; on 4 it was kinda right in the middle; same on 5 and 6,” Johnson said, ruing his inability to adjust to slightly slower greens on the front nine. “I just didn’t hit it hard enough.”

They dried out on the back, and suddenly he was pouring putts in again with the putter that, except in color, is a duplicate of the one Jason Day fancies. He rolled in a 12-footer on No. 14, came out a greenside bunker to a foot on the par-5 15th for a kick-in bird, dropped a sand wedge six feet from the cup on the 16th for three in a row, and then knocked in his longest putt of the day on the 18th after a nifty save on the par-3 17th.

After all that, Johnson has a three-stroke lead on Paul Casey (68 for 15-under 201), four on J.B. Holmes (68 for 14-under 202) and five on Castro, who is fortunate to hold fourth place by himself.

Casey, fifth in the standings – staying there means he can win the $10 million bonus by winning at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club– was sneaky good with a bogey-free round.

“It was tricky stuff,” Casey said. “Wind was swirling, a bit of rain the start out. It was all going on.”

Then the sun came out on the second hole, and Casey went to work with birdies on the fifth, ninth, 15th and 16th holes. He has more work to do to catch and pass Johnson, a big hitter on a big-hitter’s course.

“When he knocks 3-wood around the corner on holes like 14, about 340 yards, I mean – OK, as the crow flies it wasn’t that far, but goodness me, he’s a great athlete. If he continues to hit it like that, he’s going to be incredibly difficult to beat.”

But he and the trio of 67s were the exception. For once, lift, clean and place wasn’t a great advantage. The scoring average was 70.729, but few went crazy, or even moved much, on the day Ken Venturi long ago named Moving Day.

Holmes, who hit only 12 greens in regulation but saved par five of six times, said of his excursion, “No complaints out of me. I hit some good shots, actually some pretty good putts, and they just didn’t go in.”

In other words, don’t disturb the golf gods before the final round.

Even Scott, who woke up 10th, eight strokes behind, didn’t move much. His bogey-free 67 jumped him into a tie for fifth, but he’s still seven strokes in arrears.

“Nice way to finish, but it looks like I’ve got plenty of work to do tomorrow,” Scott said.

The affable Australian is a lock for advancing to the Tour Championship. His goal is to get into the top five. That’s different from clawing to get a seat at the table, as Atlanta native Castro is. Entering the final round, he’s 32nd, with Jason Kokrak (5-under 211) 31st and Rickie Fowler (1-over 217) 30th. Throw in 29th-place Daniel Berger (7-under 209) and the scramble to advance will likely come down to the last putt – made or missed.

“That’s why it’s fun,” Castro said. “The playoffs is fun for us, because there’s just tons of upside. A really good round puts me back in it.”

The course was soaked by two inches of rain Friday night and Saturday morning, thunderstorms raking the Indianapolis area. That reproved the saying of former Western Golf PR man Brian Fitzgerald: “If you want to end a drought, schedule the Western Open.”

It’s the fifth straight year the tournament has been socked by delays of one kind or another. The last year the BMW ran on schedule was 2011, the last year at Cog Hill.

The year before, in 2010, Johnson won the 107th Western Open – the third under the BMW name – at Cog, the key shot a great wedge on Dubsdread’s 17th hole in the final round. He began that day trailing Ryan Moore by one and ended up beating Casey – you can’t make stuff like that up – by a stroke.

History may repeat on Sunday.

Around Crooked Stick

Aside from Casey and Scott, bogey-free rounds were turned in by Jhonattan Vegas (70), and Si Woo Kim (71). ... The golf fan in Indianapolis is a hardy soul. Galleries have been asked to park in a different place each day, as the WGA juggles finding dry ground and paved lots. But they have turned out in big numbers each day, as was the case in 2012, where it poured more often than not. The gallery appeared to be about 25,000 strong, each one stepping gingerly around muddy patches in the rough. ... At one point on NBC’s telecast, a graphic noted Dustin Johnson was the U.S. Open champion. While a commercial was airing, Peter Jacobsen said to his colleagues, “We had to identify him because the (U.S. Open) ratings were so low.” Said Johnny Miller, who won it in 1973, “Still a nice one to win.” NBC lost the U.S. Open TV rights to Fox last year.

– Tim Cronin