The Scene At St. Andrews

They don't make many days like Monday at St. Andrews.

It felt like Augusta in April, the sun was shining, the breeze barely moving the air, a fresh feel to things. The Open Championship starts in three days but it began coming to life on Monday and it could hardly have been nicer.

It was a total reversal from Sunday when the wind blew up to 50 miles per hour, rocking the temporary tournament structures, making it so bad that officials said they would have been forced to suspend play had the tournament been underway in such conditions.

By tournament time, it's expected to be more Scottish around here. The rain is expected to return Wednesday and Thursday, temperatures are expected to be on the cool side and the wind will return. But Monday, it gorgeous.

Tiger Woods was out early, getting his prep work done. Phil Mickelson played a practice round with Dustin Johnson. Bill Haas and Padraig Harrington played a few holes together.

Paul Goydos, four days removed from shooting 59, strolled across the practice green after overnighting from the John Deere Classic in Iowa. There was Tom Weiskopf, in town to play in the champions exhibition Wednesday afternoon, visiting with friends.

The big yellow scoreboards are in place, visible from almost a mile away out on the course. They're selling fish and chips for just under seven pounds -- about $11.50 American -- and there are ice creams stands dotting the edge of the Old Course.

The early-round pairings are out: Tiger's off at 2:20 a.m. Charlotte time with Justin Rose and Camillo Villegas. Phil Mickelson gets a later time -- 9:20 a.m. Charlotte time -- with Colin Montgomerie and Retief Goosen. In what is becoming a major championship tradition, 60-year old Tom Watson is again paired with 18-year old Ryo Ishikawa.

It was a gentle Monday. Just the way to start.

It's St. Andrews. That's Why I'm Going

I'm headed to the British Open next week, in part to write about it but in part because it's at St. Andrews.

It's one of those places that I expected would have trouble meeting my expectations given all I'd heard and read about it before I went there for the first time for the 2005 Open Championship. Like Paris and Augusta National, St. Andrews was better than I expected.

If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. You've stood and looked at the famous clubhouse behind the 18th green and walked across the Swilcan bridge where all the great ones have walked. You know the Road Hole and the woolen shop across the street from the 18th green.

If you were playing the Old Course, you noticed the people who stopped along the street to watch you play. If you weren't playing, you probably stopped to watch someone else play.

There is a charm to St. Andrews that remains genuine after all these years, even though there's a big Starbucks in the middle of town and there will be too many merchants selling too many Open trinkets during the tournament. Walk into a pub and they're talking about golf. Walk into a shop and they'll ask you about golf.

I remember the first day I was there and I'd hurried out to see the course. I'd walked out a few holes then turned back toward town to walk the last few holes. The sun was out and the view of the village hugging the golf course made me stop and stare. It was all right there. In front of me. Behind me. Beneath me.

It's a place like nowhere else. That's why I'm going back.

Shooting 59: Cracking Golf's Final Frontier

When I heard Paul Goydos shot 59 in today's first round of the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run, it didn't matter that Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval, not to mention Annika Sorenstam on the LPGA Tour, had done it before him.



It's still golf's final frontier and when someone goes there, it's still a surprise.



Think about it. Fifty-nine.



And sure, TPC Deere Run isn't Oakmont but it's still a course strong enough to host a PGA Tour event and it's not like guys have routinely flirted with 50-something there. It's 12-under on the par-71 course. It's not hard to do the math. There weren't many pars.



So much of golf has been demystified. There was a time when 300-yard drives dropped jaws. Not any more. A 490-yard par-4 isn't all that unusual. Nor do we blink when we hear about pros hitting a wedge to a green from 150 yards away.



But shooting 59 gets your attention. That's one reason it's been done so rarely. No matter how much mental discipline a player has and no matter how into the zone he may be on a particular day, flirting with breaking 60 is more nerve-wracking than your first date.



You can't help (I'm guessing here because I feel this way about breaking 80) but think about what you're trying to do. Everybody's thinking about, just like they do with no-hitters and perfect games in baseball.



I've been at several tournaments where a player gets it going and everyone starts crunching the numbers -- if he can birdie four of the last five he can shoot 59 -- and it never happens. Or almost never.



It happened for Paul Goydos, who was probably as dumbfounded by what he did as anyone.

He admitted he didn't see it coming, given his lackluster play the past few weeks. But all of a sudden, it was there. Every time Goydos looked up, he saw putts falling in the middle of the hole.

On the 16th tee, Goydos knew he needed three birdies to shoot 59. Then he made them, saving perhaps his best drive and best approach shot for last, setting up the seven-foot birdie putt that put him in golf's most select group.

In a teleconference after his round, Goydos said shooting 59 is "a bucket list kind of thing" for a tour pro.

"I've got a bunch of nines in the 20s, which to me is pretty cool," Goydos said. "But I've had a couple of chances at home to shoot 59 with friends and didn't. I think I've made 10 holes-in-one and I can tell you exactly where they were. And, I've made three double eagles and I can tell you exactly where they were.

"This is just the cream at the top. When I look at myself, what I've done with my career, the two wins will be on top but the 59 will be hanging in there at third."

Good for him. Good for golf.

Bhnker Shots: On Oakmont, Tiger and Sergio

A few bunker shots while waiting for the British Open next week:

-- There's not a tougher U.S. Open test than Oakmont which will add to the curiosity factor surrounding the U.S. Women's Open this week. The Open is always largely about the golf course and this one won't be any exception, especially watching players deal with greens that may be as tough as any. It's not a question of whether over-par will be the willing score but how many over par will the winner be.

-- Is Justin Rose ready to win a major championship?

He'll arrive at St. Andrews next month as the hottest player in the game and he's sure to get some attention in the Ladbroke's betting shops. He wouldn't be my first choice, though.

Rose may contend, he's been playing too well to ignore him, but if the weather cooperates and adds some atmosphere to St. Andrews (something that was missing the last two times the Open Championship was played there), it brings so many factors into play.

Ian Poulter, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood come to mind as worth putting a few pounds on. I want to say Phil Mickelson can win -- and he can -- but he's never done much in the Open Championship. Maybe St. Andrews will inspire him like Augusta National does.

And, I still think Tiger is the player to watch at St. Andrews. I don't care that he shot 79 in the first round of the Irish pro-am he's playing this week. If he can get some putts to fall, he's going to win again. And he's talked so often about how much he likes St. Andrews, I like his chances.

That's been my story and I'm sticking to it.

-- The U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship comes to Greensboro's Bryan Park Champions Course next week and it's a terrific setting. It's a 36-hole facility owned by the city and operated by the Bryan Foundation and it's a model for what a municipal facility could be.

It doesn't hurt that designer Rees Jones was given a great site with tons of lakefront property on which he could put the course. It's hard to imagine many munis getting a setting like the one at Bryan Park. If you're looking for a road trip one day, make the ride up to play the Champions Course, which was once considered the future site of what is now the Wyndham Championship.

-- I read someplace recently about the possibility that Sergio Garcia might not make the European Ryder Cup team this year. Seems far-fetched given his passion for the event but that seems to be the only thing that stirs his golf passion. He's become almost invisible, which is a disappointment not just for him but for us.

Sergio is one of those characters who makes you pay attention. Like him or not, he matters. But not the way he's been playing. His body language these past few months has made it clear he's not having fun.

I'm not ready to write him off. I still think he's got a major win or two in his future but not the way he's been going.

David Feherty's Red, White And Blue Fourth

This will be David Feherty's first Fourth of July as an American citizen. A native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Feherty became a naturalized citizen on Feb. 23 this year and has a red, white and blue streak that runs as deep and rich as his humor.

Feherty, a former Ryder Cup golfer now best known for his funny and perceptive commentary on CBS Sports' golf telecasts, is host of a one-hour special Saturday at 2 p.m. on CBS called 'Golf Magazine Presents: David Feherty's American Journey.'

It's partly Feherty's story and his deep admiration and affection for American troops, particularly soldiers who have been seriously injured in combat. He hosts six outings a year for soldiers who are missing limbs as a result of their military service. It's a bond that developed two years ago when Feherty made his first visit to Baghdad, a trip he says convinced him to become an American citizen.

"They are the reason I am an American citizen," Feherty said during a phone conversation this week. "It's because of the unbelievable job they are doing and the extraordinary strength of the bond that exists between them. I had to become an American once I saw what they are doing."

In addition to showing Feherty's interaction with the soldiers -- it includes a surprise visit from Tiger Woods -- the show also features the stories of four high-profile people:

-- Former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice;

-- Charles Kelley, lead singer for Lady Antebellum;

-- No. 1 NFL draft pick quarterback Sam Bradford;

-- And, PGA Tour player Anthony Kim.

It's an interesting cross-section of people Feherty chose, in part to show the diversity in America, tying it to golf. He talks to Rice about her childhood in Montgomery, Ala., where she was a competitive ice skater; he talks to Kim about avoiding the gang life in Los Angeles; he talks to Bradford about the pressure of being the No. 1 pick in the draft; and, he talks to Kelley about his decision to pursue music and, finally, hitting it big.

The common thread, beyond golf, is how they have excelled by pushing themselves.

"If you're willing to be in the right place at the right time and do things that unsuccessful people don't want the responsibility for, then the American dream is alive and well," Feherty said.

"These four people were willing to be in a place they knew would be uncomfortable. It's absolutely an essential ingredient for success. You have to want the responsibility for things that unsuccessful people don't want. You have to be the one who says, 'I want the ball. Give me the ball.'"

During the show, Feherty critiqued Rice's golf swing and even hit a few shots himself. He's hardly played golf over the last several years and because of serious injuries suffered in a cycling accident, he's lost some of the feeling in his left arm. But he hit some shots for the show and was surprised by how good they were.

While Feherty is the host and the show is framed around his journey to citizenship, it's primarily about the others, he said. Feherty will be working the AT&T National tournament in Philadelphia this week, a perfect Fourth of July spot.

A year ago in the same tournament, Feherty was walking with Woods who came off the 17th green on Sunday with a one-shot lead. Feherty tapped Woods on the shoulder and asked if PFC Brendan Marrocco, a soldier who had lost both arms, both legs and one eye in combat, could be pushed down the 18th fairway as Woods played the final hole. Woods said yes, gave Marrocco a fist pump as he went to the 18th tee and stood back to allow the soldier, pushed by his father and brother, to be recognized as he came up the 18th hole.

"It was a cathartic moment," Feherty said. "You could see his dignity flooding back. It's not just their arms and legs that they lose. It's their dignity they lose.

"I was pushing him and crying like (Gary) McCord at a Barry Manilow concert."

Dustin's Disaster: He's Already Moving On

Dustin Johnson spent last week at home in Myrtle Beach, celebrating his 26th birthday with friends, hanging out on his boat, playing a little golf and letting the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach drift further away.

In a media session at the AT&T National this week, Johnson said he put his final-round 82 at the Open behind him about the time his plane cleared California air space. Nice try. Johnson said he was flooded with calls and messages about his Sunday collapse which kept the memory alive last week even if he'd have preferred to bury it at the bottom of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Johnson said he got a call from Greg Norman, who knows a thing or two about Sunday failures in major championships, but most were from friends, seeking to encourage him. He talked to friends about it and now he's ready to move on, teeing it up in Philadelphia this week in his first start since Pebble Beach.

Asked this week to reflect on what happened, Johnson said, essentially, he played badly at a bad time. As John Fox said about Jake Delhomme's infamous playoff performance, he picked a bad time to have a bad day.

It also goes back to the poor 52-degree wedge approach shot he hit at the 502-yard par-4 second hole (yes, he had a gap wedge for his second shot) that led to a triple-bogey that put everything in motion.

"I hit a poor shot coming in there, so if anything, maybe I should have been a little more aggressive on 2, on my approach shot, and then I wouldn't have been in that situation. But you know, that's golf," Johnson said this week

"The only thing I look back on is that hole, really. I think that hole kind of sets the tone for the tournament. If I hit a good shot in there and have a decent look at birdie, I think it's a totally different golf tournament...

"On 1, I hit a really good drive on 2. I didn't feel any different. I still was very confident, and I still -- even after 2 and 3 and 4, I hit some good shots, really good shots. Even hit a good shot on 5, it just went a little far. But it was just one of those days where I was just a little bit off and it just got magnified. It's the Sunday of the U.S. Open, the golf course was firmer and faster, and it was tough."

After talking with Norman, his friends and reflecting on how it slipped away, what does Johnson take from the experience?

"All of them told me that they learned more from cases they'd lose or from times that they'd lose than they did from when they'd win. Golf is a learning process nonstop. You know, there's a lot of things I think I can take from that Sunday," Johnson said.

When A Man Named Bubba Cries...

Maybe I'm just a sucker for guys getting swept up in the biggest moment of their professional lives but when Bubba Watson won the Travelers Championship Sunday afternoon and started crying like a baby on his wife's shoulder I almost got a little verklempt myself.

When a man named Bubba cries with the whole world watching -- a man who carries a pink-shafted driver just for the fun of it -- it shows how much a Sunday like that one can mean to a person. In the space of a few seconds, Bubba Watson went from being a mind-blowing, long-driving sideshow to a guy with a sick father, a jittery set of nerves and a whole new set of fans.

For all the superhuman distances Bubba Watson can hit a golf ball -- he drove it 396 yards with the aid of a cart path on the tournament's 72nd hole Sunday -- he looked beautifully human when he beat Scott Verplank on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff for the first PGA Tour victory of his career. We see way too many television shots of guys barely cracking a smile when they hole another 30-footer for birdie and we get more than enough muted celebrations in golf so that when Watson let it come pouring out Sunday afternoon, it was sweet.

Watson had just won what may have been the most curious playoff in tour history. It started with 50-year old, short-hitting Corey Pavin, who busted a 219-yard tee shot on his only playoff hole (about 7-iron distance for Bubba) and 45-year old Scott Verplank, one of the most underrated players and professionals of his generation. Pavin bowed out on the first hole after seeing Watson nearly hole his approach shot then Verplank chopped up the second playoff hole, opening the door for Watson.

Bubba's a different dude. He's into collecting sneakers, his hair's a little long by tour standards and he has a homemade golf swing that creates more force than a NASA launcher. He's been tough to get a read on because he flashes on the leader board then disappears. He's blamed part of it on his battle with attention deficit disorder. He's known for how far he hits it, not how he plays. But now he has a victory and, no doubt, the attention of Ryder Cup captain Pavin, who had to be imagining the possibilties of using Watson in alternate-shot matches in Wales this fall.

Here's how Watson, who can amble on in an interview with more gentle curves than a country road, explained his reaction to reporters in Cromwell, Ct., on Sunday:

"I'm a very emotional guy. I cry all the time. When I go to church on Sundays, I'm crying at church. I couldn't get the "yes" or the "I do" out on my wedding day. And the pastor said, you gotta say it. You can't just nod.

"So you know, and just all the -- everybody has issues, but you know, our family had some issues, and my dad's battling cancer; and my wife, we had a scare, we thought she had a tumor in her brain. We got lucky with that one, and now we're battling with my dad. So it's emotional.

"You know, my dad taught me everything I know. It's not very much, but that's all I know. He would agree with that.
You know, I've never had a lesson. My dad, he took me to the golf course when I was six years old and just told me he was going to be in the woods looking for his ball, so he just told me to take this 9-iron and beat it down the fairway. And now look at me after beating a 9-iron on the fairway coming from Bagdad, Florida, I never dreamed this."

Turns out the biggest hitter in golf is just a big softie.

Nothing wrong with that.