Tiger vs. Phil - The Weigh-in

Pacific Beach, California, Wednesday June 11, 7:30pm

Today is the day before the US Open begins, a dream for many of the 156 players that will tee off tomorrow. The US Open is probably the toughest tournament to win, since it traditionally has the best players in attendance. Certainly the US Open courses are the most punishing of all the majors, but I think that Torrey Pines will yield some pretty low scores this week.

After having walked the entire course over the last couple of days, I get the sense that course is not as difficult as some other venues. The rough for the US Open is normally at least 6 inches, but here I don't think it's nearly as deep, and there really aren't any trouble spots for the pros. The only defenses for the course are its length and the tricky, unpredictable winds that blow off the Pacific. It will be interesting to see how the pros handle the conditions, but with the forecast calling for mild temperatures and no rain, I think the winning score will be about 6 under par. That's a pretty low score given that the past few Opens have had winning scores above par.

The course today was the busiest yet, but I imagine that it will only get busier as the week goes on. The buzz was around both Tiger and Phil on the practice range and putting green. At one point they were both on the putting green together, but I did not see them talking to each other or acknowledging each others' presence. It should be a pretty interesting couple of rounds coming up, they tee off at 7:40am tomorrow.

Photo 1 – Phil Mickelson practicing putting

Photo 2 – Tiger Woods chatting on the putting green

Other than the Phil and Tiger buzz, there really wasn't much else going on. Few players actually went out on practice rounds, rather opting to hit the range and putting green, then head off early to get a fresh start for the 7am tee times tomorrow. Either that or they're all partying it up at a swanky club in La Jolla, open only to the rich and connected. I'm neither, so it looks like I'll be looking for another party...

One interesting thing to observe was how each pro handles the many requests for autographs throughout the day. Tiger almost never signs any, and some of the other pros really don't make an effort either. Some of the notables that really didn't seem to care were Davis Love III, Sergio Garcia, and Justin Leonard. On the positive, for each brusque pro there were just as many that did make an effort, stopping between each practice hole as well as on their way from the range to putting green (these are the most congested areas for autograph seekers) to sign many, but not all, requests. Some of the best were Mike Weir (although he didn't sign my cap) and Vijay Singh. Most of the rest fall somewhere in between, having perfected the art of signing and walking.

I did get a chance to wander down to Pacific Beach today, it's sandwiched between San Diego to the south, and La Jolla to the north. The locals like to keep this place to themselves it seems, since it's not really well known or widely written about, but full of locals surfing, jogging, and riding their bikes along the sea walk. There are a couple of stretches of quaint shops specializing in beach wear, surf gear and the like. It looks like there are a lot of local restaurants and shops, so I will have to make an effort to do some research and find a good local restaurant to try.

Photo 3 – Surfers on Pacific Beach riding the tube

I will try to make to the course early tomorrow to try to catch as much of the action as possible. One of the things that really makes it difficult to spend a lot of time on the course is the lack of any decent food. Their food selection consists of a hot dog, chicken breast sandwich, cheeseburger, or a chicken wrap. The other choices include chips, pretzels, ice cream, etc. - talk about bland, uninspired crap. I think the US Open organizing committee needs to spend more time in this regards, and not just for the corporate tents. I'm sure that having a couple of the local taco stands open up on the course would do wonders for the food selection!

But enough about my food rant, I need to go find some dinner now.