Director Bill Paxton’s movie was released in theaters on Sept. 30, 2005.
The roster of strong golf movies isn’t that deep but this one is on the short list.
Director Bill Paxton brought amateur golfer Francis Ouimet’s story to the big screen on “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, released in theaters 19 years on this date, Sept. 30, 2005.
The secret weapon for Ouimet – played by Shia LaBeouf – in the 1913 U.S. Open wasn’t a particular set of clubs, nor his familiarity with the course at The Country Club, which he could see from his bedroom window.
When the amateur won the title in an upset against British veterans Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, he credited his caddie, Eddie Lowery, a 10-year-old boy who was his loudest cheerleader.
The stunning victory cemented a place for Ouimet and Lowery, as well as The Country Club, whiched hosted the 2022 U.S. Open, in golf history.
Eddie Lowery: Francis Ouimet’s caddie
A 20-year-old Brookline native who had caddied at TCC, Ouimet was fresh off a loss in the U.S. Amateur when the president of the U.S. Golf Association asked if he would play in the Open. Though he initially declined, Ouimet joined after his boss gave him time off to play.
Finding a caddie proved more difficult.
Lowery and his brother, Jack, played hooky from school to watch the play at TCC, and Jack agreed to caddie for Ouimet after the golfer’s original man bailed. When a truant officer caught Jack, however, Eddie took three street cars over to TCC and pleaded with Ouimet to take his brother’s place.
“I’ve never lost a ball,” Lowery advertised, not mentioning he had rarely caddied, according to TCC historian Frederick Waterman.
Her father was “just Dad, a very, very modest man,” and for most of their childhoods, Barbara and sister Jane – both of whom live on Cape Cod – never knew the grandness of what Francis Ouimet had accomplished as a young man.
At a time when golf was dominated by the Brits and the game was only for the elite, Ouimet and Lowery, scripted an incredible story. In the aftermath of their playoff triumph over the greatest players of the day, Britons Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, it has been said that 2 million people began playing golf in the United States, and Ouimet has been hailed as the “Father of American Golf.” A true American sports icon.
But to McLean, Francis Ouimet was the man who greeted them in the mornings at breakfast and sat at the dinner table in the evenings. “Always, he would ask, ‘How was school today?’ He never talked about himself,” McLean said.
Later, when she attended a local college, McLean said she would drive with her father from their home in Wellesley to the public-transportation stop. “He took the train to work; I took the car to my college classes. I should have been the one taking the subway.”
Ouimet served a few years in the Army, married Stella Sullivan in 1918 and opened a sporting-goods store with his brother-in-law, Jack Sullivan.
The USGA used to have an 18-hole playoff but that all changed in 2018.
The last time there was a playoff at the U.S. Open, Tiger Woods outlasted Rocco Mediate in a marathon Monday finish in 2008 at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
The U.S. Golf Association’s playoff format back then called for a full 18 holes on the day after the final round, and Woods and Mediate needed an extra 19th hole to decide things.
But that 18-hole playoff format was scrapped in 2018, when the USGA switched to a two-hole aggregate format, followed by sudden death, if needed. The playoff would be set to start shortly after regulation concludes.
If there’s a playoff in 2024, the two-hole aggregate will be played on No. 1 and then No. 18. The sudden death would then rotate between Nos. 1 and 18 until there’s a winner.
There have been 33 playoffs in the history of the U.S. Open. Eight times there were three players who made a playoff. The last three-way playoff was in 1994 and was won by Ernie Els, who held off Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie at Oakmont.
The fairways at this year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club’s North course will be much wider than normally seen in the national championship. Don’t let that fool you into thinking they necessarily will be easier to hit – at least in the proper spots.
Designed by George C. Thomas Jr. and opened in 1928, LACC’s North Course was restored in 2010 by a team led by Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford. They removed stands of trees that lined fairways and reintroduced width as Thomas intended on the rolling property that features several gnarly barrancas near Beverly Hills. The layout ranks No. 2 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in each state, and it is No. 14 among all classic courses in the U.S.
Several of the fairways on the North Course are 50 to 60 yards wide in places, much wider than the normal corridors implemented by the U.S. Golf Association in many past championships. Some past U.S. Open courses have featured fairways an average of about 25 yards wide, often with prime spots less than 20 yards wide and surrounded by thick rough.
Width is a golf architect’s dream, as it promotes strategic play. Golfers must play to certain areas in the fairways to set up the best angles of attack, and the greater the width of the fairway, the more that smart players can take advantage. Such design creates interest and requires thought, tempting players to aim for the edges of wide fairways instead of just carelessly blasting drivers down the middle.
LACC North has plenty of width, to be sure, with some fairways pinching just a bit the farther a player hits a tee ball. But don’t confuse it with mindlessly bashing balls on a driving range. Thomas took advantage of the natural features to make these fairways play much skinnier than they look, and the USGA can’t wait to show off how LACC plays.
“What the architect George C. Thomas intended on this masterpiece, we will leave intact,” John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championship officer, said during a recent media event at LACC. “Sure, we’ll come in and we’ll narrow up a few fairways. We’ll play the greens a little bit more speedier than the members would. And we’ll set a few difficult hole locations. We’ll put a little bit of a U.S. Open feel to it. But we will deliver what George C. Thomas intended to be at Los Angeles Country Club.”
The StrackaLine yardage book for Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course shows the fifth hole to be fairly straight in general, but the contour lines and arrows pointing right in the landing zone some 300 yards off the tee indicate the steepness of the landing area. Players must try to keep their tee shots in the left portion of the fairway to set up the best approach to the green. (Courtesy of StrackaLine)
The best areas in the fairways from which to play an approach are often the high spots to one side, nearest thick Bermuda grass that the USGA and the club has allowed to grow to three or four inches in height. Early reports and videos from LACC this week have shown balls being dropped into the rough and almost disappearing – it’s a bit of a cliché to show such videos on social media, but cliché or not, it’s hard to hit long irons out of such salad. Players have had to scramble to find balls in the rough during practice rounds without the help of tournament volunteers.
Bermuda rough, known for its thickness and the difficulty it presents, is rare in a U.S. Open. The last Open course to use Bermuda was Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014, but that layout relied on sand and scrubby native areas instead of thick rough. This year the rough is much more in the normal style of a U.S. Open than at Pinehurst. Bodenhamer said succinctly, “The rough will be difficult.”
Throw in the extremely rolling terrain, with tee shots on many holes kicking down large hills, and it will be difficult for players to hit the high spots and keep a ball there. Anything that misses toward the center of the fairway will roll speedily downhill, presenting a less-than-perfect approach angle, often from a blind spot in the fairway. Anything that misses too close to the rough is likely to bounce into tall Bermuda grass. Players must be precise, both in hitting the line and spinning the ball one direction or another to keep it there with a driver or fairway wood.
“If we get the conditions we hope for and the weather cooperates, and we get bounciness and firm and fast conditions, we think the best players in the world will rise to the top,” Bodenhamer said. “Because the greatest players control their golf ball not only when it’s in the air, but also when it hits the ground. And when it hits the ground here on this golf course, it goes all over the place.”
The application of width extends all the way to some green sites that feature chipping areas and runoffs at fairway height. Players will sometimes be forced to blast pitches out of patches of the tall stuff, while other times they will be forced to employ a delicate touch from short grass. It likely will be a common refrain about players in contention that they are missing in the right spots, meaning they retain some control over their recovery shots instead of watching haplessly as balls roll away from greens into the worst of the trouble.
“You will see a U.S. Open that is wider than most U.S. Opens. What I mean by that, you will see 50- and 60-yard-wide fairways, George Thomas style. … You’ll see balls bouncing around greens and fairways, getting caught up in rough. You’ll see it all here at LACC. And we will stay true to what the architect intended.”
Bodenhamer, who joined the USGA in 2011 and has played high-level amateur golf, gave several examples of holes where wide fairways don’t necessarily mean large targets.
“You’ll see No. 5 will be about 50 yards wide, but with the (left-to-right) cant of the fairway, you better hit a right-to-left shot into it or it won’t stay in the fairway,” he said. “No. 13 may be one of the widest fairways in U.S. Open history, but if you don’t hit it into a little 20-yard swath up the left side, you’re going to be down below on the right side, blind up to the 524-yard par 4. It will be difficult.”
The StrackaLine yardage book for No. 13 at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course utilizes contour lines and arrows pointing to the right to indicate the steepness of the fairway in the landing area. Players who manage to hit the fairway only to see it roll down the hill will face a long, uphill and blind shot to a difficult green. The hole is marked as 507 yards for the U.S. Open, but the USGA can stretch it even longer than that. (Courtesy of StrackaLine)
Another note on the rough this year: It will all be nasty. In recent years the USGA has frequently employed a strip of less-tall intermediate rough between the fairway cut and the thickest grass, allowing some measure of relief for players who barely miss or land a ball in a fairway only to see it trickle into the rough. Bodenhamer said that at LACC, there will be no intermediate cut. When it comes to hitting the fairways, it will be all or nothing.
“We want players to get every club in their bag dirty, to hit it high, to hit it low,” Bodenhamer said. “Work it left to right, right to left. Bunkers, pitch shots, mental and physical resolve. And yes it’s tough. We will set it up tough. But when you get to the mountaintop of winning a U.S. Open, you will have achieved something special.”
“He rolled in a 50-footer or 60-footer or whatever it was on 13 and I even actually got quite carried away myself.”
“Conversations with Champions, presented by Sentry” is a weekly series from Golfweek in collaboration with The Caddie Network, where we take you behind the scenes for a chat with the winning caddie from the most recent PGA Tour event. This week: Billy Foster, caddie for Matt Fitzpatrick at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Billy Foster has been a caddie for 40 years, and has worked for the likes Seve Ballesteros, Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood. Along the way he collected 45 victories but never bagged the big one.
After many close calls over the years, Sunday’s final round started to look like another oh-so-close major for Foster. That is, until Fitzpatrick drained a long putt on the 13th hole that realigned the stars.
“He missed a four-footer on 10 for bogey and then he three-putted 11 from like 15-18 feet, roughly five-foot putts and he missed it. And I just thought, ‘Here we go again. It’s not going to happen again,'” Foster told John Rathouz from The Caddie Network.
“And then he rolled in a 50-footer or 60-footer or whatever it was on 13 and I even actually got quite carried away myself, which I never do. I never get carried away but I let out a loud roar and that got him right back in the tournament again. Yea, it was a massive putt, just at the right time.”
Fitzpatrick has worked hard to get his game major-championship worthy. He added length off the tee and kept his short game in order. Foster said there’s also mental hurdles that need to be conquered as well.
“You have to learn to lose to win. I think it was a big learning curve for him,” Foster said. “I always thought that coming to the U.S. Open, if he’s going to win a major, that’d be up there with his best chance, with how straight he is and he’s put on 25 yards the last 18 months, I don’t know what’s going on there but he’s turning into a bit of a beast. We played with DJ [Dustin Johnson] the first two days and he bombed a couple past DJ by 30-40 yards and I’m like ‘My God, he’s getting the attention.’
“But yea, his all-around game, his chipping has improved immensely. … Seve [Ballesteros] would be spinning his grave watching. I think he’s in the top 20 of every stat category on the tour so he’s a very consistent player.”
Though this was his first professional win in the U.S., Fitzpatrick continued his past success at The Country Club, where he also won the 2013 U.S. Amateur.
We’ve already taken a deep dive inside Fitzpatrick’s Winner’s Bag but now we get to open up the champion’s closet and see how Matt Fitzpatrick dressed for success at the 2022 U.S. Open.
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“I had a gorilla jump off me back. Not a monkey, but a gorilla,” Foster said.
In March at the Valspar Championship, Billy Foster boasted that he had caddied for 45 winners during his 40 years on the bag. It’s quite a victory total but it didn’t include a single major. Asked by a reporter about his victory flags, the unofficial trophy for the winning looper, Foster barked, “I don’t collect them. Never kept one. I have no interest in it.”
Ah, but that was before Foster finally had the bag of a major champion at the 122nd U.S. Open in Brookline, Massachusetts. When Will Zalatoris narrowly missed his birdie putt at 18, Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick became U.S. Open champion at The Country Club. With watery eyes, Foster approached the pin and kissed the lower right corner of the flag at 18. This one was different. This one meant everything.
“I had a gorilla jump off me back. Not a monkey, but a gorilla,” he told Golf Channel shortly after his back became a lot lighter.
There’s a fairly good chance that the flag from his 46th career victory may be buried with him when the 59-year-old Englishman takes his final breath.
“It means the world to Billy,” Fitzpatrick said. “I know it’s something he’s wanted for a long, long, long time. To do it today is incredible.”
At last. Just think about 40 years, in the neighborhood of 160 majors working for the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood before him. So many close calls. Bjorn, the Great Dane, should have won the 2003 British Open at Sandwich but needed three whacks from a greenside bunker at the 16th hole, made double bogey and gift-wrapped the Claret Jug to surprise winner Ben Curtis.
“I thought about that every day for six months,” Foster said in a recent interview with the Caddie Network.
With Foster on the bag, Westwood achieved World No. 1, but Foster figures that there were at least three or four golden opportunities at the majors squandered – from taking three putts at the last at the 2009 British at Turnberry to Phil Mickelson’s magical shot from the pine straw at 13 at the 2010 Masters and letting Danny Willett sprint past him at the 2016 Masters. There was also the heartache of being T-4 heading into the final round of the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont and having to watch Westwood spit the bit and close in 80. Had Fitzpatrick been able to putt for Westwood, Foster guesses they would have won six or seven majors.
“He putted like Edward Scissorhands,” Foster said.
Foster and Westwood parted ways in 2018 and Fitzpatrick happened to be in between caddies.
“It’s so funny,” Fitzpatrick said. “He kept telling me the first time on the job, ‘I’ll just do 25 weeks and maybe get a fill-in for the others.’ I think he’s had about two weeks off in four years.”
Foster is a legend in the caddie ranks, a master storyteller who can imitate Ballesteros to perfection. He’s caddied in a record 14 Ryder Cups – it would’ve been 15 but he missed 2012 with an injury – dating to 1987 at Muirfield Village, the first time Europe won on American soil. He worked that week for Gordon Brand Jr. He even caddied at a Presidents Cup in 2005 for Tiger Woods, subbing for Steve Williams, whose fiancée at the time was expecting their first child. Foster arguably is Europe’s most respected caddie and all that was missing from his resume was caddying for a major winner. He knows his job and he knows his place.
So happy for Fitzy and his family…And Billy Foster. What a legend of the game. He deserved this one. Enjoy the celebrations lads 💪🏻
“The caddie is the jockey, and every now and then he needs to pull the reigns or crack the whip,” he told Todays Golfer in 2021. “There are times when you need to fire a player up, times you need to know what to say and times you need to shut up.”
In Fitzpatrick, he was convinced he had a player with all the attributes to become a major winner. Despite another close call at the PGA Championship last month when Fitzpatrick finished T-3, Foster’s resolve was never shaken that his boss was ready to claim one of golf’s biggest titles.
“I knew he was good enough to win a major and this week he has played unbelievable,” Foster said. “This has put a lot of bad memories to bed. It means everything.”
“He’s a voice of reason and a voice of authority among the caddie authority,” said Golf Channel’s Paul McGinley. “I’m really happy for him because he’s had an unbelievable career. … He hadn’t been with a player that won a major. That’s no longer. That’s why we’re all happy for him.”
The gorilla is off the back and Foster is ready to celebrate.
“Tonight and next week, I’ll probably have a liver like a football,” he said.
It’s a quest… for a caddy.. many have more than their fair share …some never touch it .. that can not be said of Billy Foster .. he has it now … along with everything else .. but this moment will always remain supreme…well played mate 👍
Hard work pays off, quite literally for Scheffler.
Hard work pays off, quite literally for Scottie Scheffler.
After finishing T-2 alongside Will Zalatoris at the 2022 U.S. Open, one shot behind champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Scheffler earned $1,557,687 to bring his total earnings on the season to a whopping $12,896,849 (not including bonuses), which set a new record for most official money earned in a PGA Tour season. Jordan Spieth had the previous record after earning $12,030,465 in the 2014-15 season.
As if that sum of money isn’t impressive enough on its own, think about this: there are still 10 events left on this season’s PGA Tour schedule.
Scheffler has four wins this season, his most recent coming at the Masters, which capped a run of four wins in six starts. According to the PGA Tour, Scheffler is the fourth player to earn 4-plus wins and 3-plus runner-up finishes in a single season since 200, joining the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth. His third runner-up of the season ties Cameron Young and Will Zalatoris for the most on Tour.
Here’s what we learned from Sunday’s final round at The Country Club.
BROOKLINE, Mass. — On a chilly, overcast New England day, the lead at the 122nd U.S. Open went back and forth throughout the afternoon. Matt Fitzpatrick, Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler all reached 6 under during their rounds at The Country Club on Sunday, but only one of them, the Englishman who won the 2013 U.S. Amateur at this course, was able to finish there.
Fitzpatrick becomes the third golfer to win a U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open on the same course, joining Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach and Juli Inkster at Prairie Dunes.
Here are five things we learned on Sunday at The Country Club.
After another top 10 in a major championship, Rory McIlroy remains confident his time is coming.
BROOKLINE, Mass. — For the third time this season, Rory McIlroy finished inside the top 10 at a major championship. But for the third time this season, McIlroy left a major championship empty handed.
A dramatic finish at Augusta National was good enough for solo 2nd. A squandered opportunity at Southern Hills ended with a T-8. And this week, well this week was a result of inconsistency.
He got off to a great start Sunday, holing a 26-footer for birdie at the first to get to 2 under for the tournament and two back of the lead. But the roller coaster began two holes later.
A bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey stretch from Nos. 3-7 put McIlroy back to even for the day, 1 under for the tournament. He was quickly running out of holes.
A flared wedge on 11 resulted in another dropped shot, and it was officially late early for the four-time major champion.
Rory McIlroy lines up a putt on the fifth green during the final round of the 2022 U.S. Open in Brookline, Massachusetts. (Photo: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)
He made back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15 before playing the remaining three holes at even par.
“Yeah, the game’s there. Another top five in a major,” McIlroy said after his T-5 finish. “I guess (it) doesn’t really mean anything. Yeah, the game’s there. The game’s there.”
Despite the disappointing result, being in the mix is better than going home early.
“I’ll look back at this as another missed opportunity just as Southern Hills was, but missed opportunities are better than not contending at all. So that is a positive. I have to stay patient at this point because if I just keep putting myself in position, sooner or later it’s going to be my day and I’m going to get one.”
Next up for McIlroy is Hartford, Connecticut, for the Travelers Championship. His last trip to TPC River Highlands ended with a tie for 11th.
Then, it’s time to rest.
“I’ve got one more start next week in Hartford before I go to the Open Championship. I’ll get two weeks of good rest before the Open and play some links golf and prepare and look forward to that. Again, my game’s in good shape. I’ve got one more chance this year to try to get that major.”
The last time the Open went to St. Andrews, McIlroy wasn’t in the field.
On Sunday, he hung around long enough to congratulate Matt Fitzpatrick, and their embrace just off the 18th green was as good as it gets.
The 27-year-old Englishman shot a 2-under 68 to hold on for a narrow victory at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Fitzpatrick won by just one shot over World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris to become the 13th player to win both the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open. For his efforts, Fitzpatrick will take home a record $3.15 million, $925,000 more than Jon Rahm last year. Scheffler and Zalatoris each earned $1,557,687 for finishing T-2 at 5 under.
Check out how much money each player earned this week at the 2022 U.S. Amateur.
