This really made for an interesting mental part of the game that I wasn’t aware of.
There’s a nervy energy to golf.
It’s akin to the closing minutes of a one-goal hockey game. That’s the only thing I can relate to on the course and the U.S. Senior Open had that feeling in its four-hole playoff this week in Newport.
Nervy energy? In a playoff for a major?
Yes, I understand that’s an obvious statement to golf enthusiasts. Welcoming the 156-man field to Rhode Island’s shore must have been a can’t-miss event for those New Englanders who anticipate warm days to enjoy their own round of 18.
But I’m not a golf guy. I leave the golf talk to colleagues Bill Koch and Eric Rueb.
That might change after watching Richard Bland best Hiroyuki Fujita with a bunker shot on 18 that nearly sunk for birdie at Newport Country Club. Bland tapped in for par and capped a two-day comeback after chasing Fujita throughout the tournament.
Bland was four shots behind Fujita entering Sunday and three straight birdies to start the day made it possible. Rain halted Sunday’s coronation till Monday and Bland finished the extra day on top. And I loved it.
I was running the 18th fairway, literally, during the playoff to capture videos. That’s just what you have to do when every shot matters. In the unlikely scenario that one of the players shanked his drive and couldn’t recover, or drilled one perfectly, we had to have that on video. Koch was stationed on the 18th green, so we weren’t going to miss anything at the pin.
I was behind Bland for his third shot from the bunker as I recorded his attempt at birdie and had no idea that he nearly sunk it. I only saw, and heard, the crowd reaction for what ended up being the shot of the tournament. And I had to stay behind the bunker because Fujita was trying to match the shot from distance. (Shot from distance is basketball or hockey verbiage, but that’s OK).
Richard Bland signs for a Newport Country Club worker after winning the 44th U.S. Senior Open.
I didn’t see where Bland’s shot landed until later in the day. In hindsight, my Tweet, which simply states — “Bland out of the bunker on 18 draws an applause” — was hilariously mundane as the Englishman effectively won the tournament with that shot.
I did learn some golf jargon, though. Newport is very linksy. I had to Google that during Wednesday’s practice round. And rain helps the ball sit on the green. Getting “up-and-down” was thrown around a few times last week, still don’t know what that entails because the football guy in me always wants to run downhill. Maybe that’ll be homework for the next time.
With Bland and Fujita being in different groups before the playoff, it really made for an interesting mental part of the game that I wasn’t aware of. Bland obviously came out on a heater, but if you’re him, or any golfer in that field, at what point do you look at the board? Or do you look at all?
“I’m a leaderboard watcher,” Bland said after winning. “I want to know what’s going on. You’ve got to know whether you need to keep pushing or if you can be a little bit more conservative.”
That has got to be excruciatingly annoying, especially if Fujita had continued his bogey-free stretch that put him in the lead all week. He didn’t, and bogeys on holes 11, 12 and 14 made the comeback possible for Bland. That type of scoreboard-watching isn’t found elsewhere in sports.
I gave golf my best chance this week and had a great time. The next to-do item? Get out there and give it a real go myself.
Koch and Rueb, which linksy 18 are we hitting? It’s time to get up and down.
jrousseau@providencejournal.com. On X: @ByJacobRousseau
Bland nearly holed a bunker blast on fourth playoff hole to lock it up.
It took a two-hole aggregate playoff then two more holes of sudden death as Richard Bland of England outlasted Hiroyuki Fujita of Japan for the U.S. Senior Open title Monday at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island.
Bland became the 12th player to win his U.S. Senior Open debut and the second golfer from England to win the title.
Playing No. 18 for the third time in the playoff, Bland almost holed his blast from a greenside bunker, the ball striking the flag and finishing inches from the hole. His par knocked out Fujita, who failed to get up and down from 44 yards short of the flag on the long par 4. Fujita’s lengthy par putt missed by an inch.
It was the second senior major title in two tries for Bland, 51, who plays on LIV Golf. In May he won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores in Michigan.
“Your first two senior tournaments to be majors, and to come out on top is, I was just hoping going into the PGA that I was good enough to contend. I hadn’t played against these guys,” he said. “I knew, if I played the way I know I can play, it should be good enough to be able to compete. But, yeah, to be (standing) here with two majors is, yeah, I’m at a loss for words at the moment now.”
Both players had gone par-par-bogey in the first three playoff holes. After the playoff started on No. 10, they played the long, par-4 18th three times to settle the playoff.
On the fourth playoff hole, Fujita drove left and just inches off the fairway. But Fujita carries only a 5-wood, and with 259 yards to go, he was unable to reach the green in regulation. His approach ended up some 44 yards short of the flag in good position, and his pitch onto the green finished well short of the hole.
After having banged his drive past a fairway bunker, Bland had a 214-yard approach uphill but hooked his approach into a greenside bunker. From there, his par save locked up the title. The ball bounced once, kissed the flagstick, then looked as if it might fall into the cup before settling just inches away.
Bland closed in 4-under 66 to reach the playoff, while Fujita cooled off Monday and finished in 1-over 71.
Hiroyuki Fujita plays a bunker shot in the fourth round of the U.S. Senior Open on Sunday at Newport Country Club. (Louis Walker III/USA TODAY NETWORK)
On the first hole of the two-hole aggregate playoff, both players missed the fairway to the right on the 455-yard, par-4 10th. Fujita missed the green just short but was able to save his par after Bland missed his birdie putt.
On the second playoff hole, both players hit the fairway on the 466-yard, par-4 18th, their golf balls within steps of each other on the side of a mound. Both players hit the green and two-putted for par, the playoff then returning to the 18th tee for what turned into sudden death.
Both players missed the green on No. 18 on the third playoff hole, Fujita in a greenside bunker to the left and Bland slicing his approach well right. After Bland’s pitch and Fujita’s bunker blast, both players missed lengthy par putts and the playoff went to a fourth hole.
The final round was unable to finish Sunday because of dangerous storms. When play was called Sunday, Fujita had a three-shot lead on Bland and a four-stroke lead on Richard Green.
But Fujita, 55, made three bogeys on the back nine Monday after having just two bogeys in his first 64 holes, opening the door for Bland to catch him at 13-under 267. Fujita missed just one fairway in his first three rounds but wasn’t as sharp after the weather delay.
A par on No. 18 in regulation would have locked up the title for Bland, but he fell into the playoff with a bogey on the closing hole after driving into a bunker. Fujita narrowly missed a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole that would have given him the title.
Bland’s win gets him a spot in the 2025 U.S. Open.
“I know what you guys like to do with U.S. Opens, so just go easy on us olders. Maybe you can stick a tee up maybe for me,” he said. “It was my first ever tournament in America in at Bethpage in ’09, and I was just blown away by it. We’re always kind of like, oh, being from Europe or from the UK, our major is The Open, but I was blown away by the U.S. Open.
“I’ll be looking at flights to Oakmont for next year very, very soon.”
The USGA reports that play was postponed until Monday due to a dangerous weather situation.
The 2024 U.S. Senior Open was in a lengthy delay Sunday afternoon when the USGA announced the final round would be postponed until Monday due to a “dangerous weather situation.”
Hiroyuki Fujita is the current leader at 16 under. He is up three shots on Richard Bland and four on Richard Green. Steve Stricker is solo fourth at 10 under. Those are the only four golfers double digits under par through 3 ½ rounds at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.
Fujita, 55, has just two bogeys through 64 holes so far. Through the first 54 holes, he had only missed one fairway. During his final round Sunday, he broke the record for most consecutive fairways hit (32) at a U.S. Senior Open since 1997.
The third round tee times on Saturday were moved up in an attempt to avoid the weather but Mother Nature was not to be beat on Sunday. The start of play was delayed due to fog. When play was suspended at 3:01 p.m. ET, the USGA reported that it was due to “a dangerous weather situation.”
The 44th U.S. Senior Open has been suspended due to dangerous weather in the area. pic.twitter.com/r87jcVME5b
Yes, you read that right. Bensel made a hole-in-one on consecutive holes at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island.
First, he whacked a six-iron on the par-3 No. 4 hole from 173 yards out and watched it roll into the cup. As cameras were racing to catch up with him, Bensel did it again on the par-3 No. 5 from 202 yards out with the same club in his hand.
Bensel claimed he didn’t see the first shot, but knew what happened when he heard the crowd react. He saw the second shot the whole way.
“I was kidding around, like, okay, now let’s go for another one, and it happened to go in,” Bensel told reporters after he finished the round. “Everybody just couldn’t believe it. We all went nuts.”
Making the moment even more memorable is that Bensel had his 14-year-old son, Hagen, on his bag — though his father’s accomplishment may come with a little bit of ribbing for the caddie, who initially suggested Bensel hit a 7-iron.
The odds of acing two holes in the same round is 67 million to one, according to the National Hole-in-One Registry. The odds of two aces back-to-back? Well, those weren’t as easy to find. So instead we asked ChatGPT to calculate them and here’s what our robot overlords came up with:
TL;DR: That’s 156.25 million or so to 1.
Making the round much more relatable is the fact Bensel finished with a 4-over 74, but really, who cares about that now?
Frank Bensel Jr. will be telling this story for the rest of his life and if he wants to put it on his tombstone after, not a single person could blame him.
As if making an ace in a major tournament isn’t enough of a once-in-a-lifetime thrill, he did it twice.
As if making an ace in a major tournament isn’t enough of a once-in-a-lifetime thrill, a club pro who splits time between Florida and the Northeast decided to do it twice in the span of two holes.
Incredibly, Frank Bensel Jr., a club pro based in Jupiter, Florida, stepped to the 184-yard No. 4 at Newport Country Club and made a hole-in-one. Then the former Winged Foot pro, who has split time between Century Country Club outside of New York City and the Country Club of Mirasol in West Palm Beach, Florida, did something truly amazing.
The 56-year-old Bensel, who played collegiately at Maryland, walked up to the 203-yard No. 5 and did it again.
The National Hole-In-One Registry calculates the odds of making two aces in one round as 67-million-to-1. There are no odds available for back-to-back aces, perhaps because few people have considered it, but mainly because most courses don’t have back-to-back par 3s.
It’s the first there’s ever been back-to-back aces in a Tour-sanctioned event.
Bensel, who shot 75 on Thursday in the opening round, followed with four straight bogeys. His previous major start was at the 2021 PGA Championship, where he finished 21 over after an opening 86.
But Bensel now has a story that is truly one for the ages.
No matter how one adds it up, Harmon has made good use of his second chance at life and for that he’s grateful.
As soon as Bill Harmon arrived at Newport Country Club for the 44th U.S. Senior Open, he walked to the green below the famed clubhouse, which overlooks Bailey’s Beach in Newport, Rhode Island, and looked up at the balcony and said to himself, “Wow, what a life. The same guy who showed up with $20 in Orlando, wanted to jump off this building in 1992 will end his caddie relationship right below this balcony 32 years later.”
All those years ago, Harmon, 76, was the head professional of the famed blue-blood club and lived above the 18th green with his wife and newborn son. Yet back then, life didn’t seem so grand to the functioning alcoholic.
“I went out on that balcony and I contemplated doing a swan dive,” Harmon said. “I didn’t have the guts to do it but I felt like I didn’t want to be around anymore.”
Harmon has been clean since not long after that fateful night thanks to three members of the club who staged an intervention, and he returns this week to the grounds that were so pivotal in changing his life to caddie one last time for Jay Haas, his best friend.
This is a story of friendship, recovery and life coming full circle.
Living up to the family name
Harmon is the son of Claude Harmon, the 1948 Masters champion, teacher to four U.S. presidents and one of the most distinguished club pros in the game. For 33 years, he taught at Winged Foot Golf Club outside of Manhattan and his coaching tree of pros who learned under his wing include the likes of major winners Jack Burke Jr. and Dave Marr. Billy is seven years younger than his brother, Butch, who went on to be arguably the most famous golf instructor in the game for teaching Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman. His other brothers, Dick, who is deceased, and Craig also were recognized as among the finest club pros in the game.
For many years, Bill felt like a failure who wasn’t living up to the Harmon family name in the golf world.
Newport Country Club’s clubhouse balcony overlooking the 18th green. (Photo courtesy Bill Harmon)
“He was an unbelievable junior who won about everything you could win,” Butch told Global Golf Post in 2019. “Then he went to San Jose State and lost it when he got wrapped up in alcohol and drugs.”
In 1978, Haas, 24, had just won the Andy Williams San Diego Open, his first of nine career PGA Tour titles, and was looking for a caddie. A mutual friend recommended Harmon. They met in Palm Springs, California, and Haas told him to meet him in Orlando in two weeks at Rio Pinar Country Club, the site of the Citrus Open. Harmon got off the plane with $40 to his name. Cab fare was $20. He got to the course on Monday and bumped into Terry Diehl, a pro he knew from Rochester, New York, who said, “What are you doing here, Billy?”
When Harmon told him he was caddying for Haas, Diehl shot back, “Not this week.”
It turned out Haas had forgotten to register for the tournament. Despite that inauspicious start and Haas’s recollection that he didn’t break par more than once in their first several tournaments together, a bond so strong they each named a son after the other began to form.
“He had a one-way ticket to my funny bone,” said Haas, who is playfully referred to as Harmon brother 5-A. “He was always patting me on the back and always knew the right thing to say.”
But Harmon also had a drinking and drug problem. It never interfered with his ability to do his job but Haas recalled a time in Ft. Worth, Texas, when he was paired with Lee Trevino, who took one sniff of Harmon’s breath and said, “I don’t know what you did last night, but I hope it was worth it.”
Trying to get sober
Harmon, who continues to teach at the Bill Harmon Performance Center at Toscana Golf Club in Indian Wells, California, recalls the first time he ever considered sobriety. He was, as he put it, “high as a kite” snorting cocaine in a hotel in Los Angeles and there was Eric Clapton on Larry King Live on CNN talking about getting clean.
“‘Wow, people are doing that,'” Harmon remembers thinking. “It planted a seed.”
He quit caddying in 1988 initially to help his brother Craig, the head professional at Oak Hill, and when he got married that same year it was time to settle down. When he was hired for the head professional job at Newport CC, he seemed destined to add to the Harmon legacy in the game. Not long after, his first son Zack was born and he was overwhelmed with parental pride.
“I remember looking in the backseat, and feeling such a different type of love. I couldn’t believe how strong it was. And I remember looking out the window and one second later feeling equally self-hatred and self-loathing that this kid’s dad was an alcoholic and drug addict. Those two emotions aren’t a good marriage. I’d love to say I quit that day but I didn’t. I do think that’s where my bottom started. I realized at that very moment I was never going to be able to stay on that emotional balance beam, but I didn’t know which way I was going to fall.”
His intervention would occur 10 weeks later. With Newport CC scheduled to be the host club of the 1995 U.S. Amateur, Harmon and several club officials took a scouting trip to Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio during the U.S. Amateur. During that trip, he offended a club official publicly. Harmon doesn’t divulge exactly what he said that day other than to make the point that it was a fireable offense.
“My dad always told me I had a 30 mile per hour brain and a 90 mile per hour mouth,” Harmon said. “I proved him right that time.”
Two of the club’s board members were recovering alcoholics and decided it was better to help Harmon than punish him. They confronted him along with the club official on Aug. 26, 1992, in the living room of his apartment, which is now the club’s ladies locker room, and one of the members offered to take him to his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
“My life’s greatest gift,” said Harmon of the intervention and as if further proof is necessary he noted he had dinner with that member who took him to that first AA meeting earlier this week and still attends a daily meeting most mornings at 4:50 a.m.
As part of the 12 steps in the program, Harmon wrote a letter to Haas making amends that Haas still has saved in his desk at home.
“A lot of times I’ll say, ‘Boy, Billy, if you met you, you’d kick your ass,’ ” Haas said of how Harmon has mellowed while living a sober life.
“I remember one time he told me, ‘In my life I’ve never seen anyone change as much as you.’ My inner reply to myself is, ‘Well, you’re the one who helped me do it.’ He’s one of the people who cared for me more than I cared for myself,” Harmon said.
Bill Harmon, caddie to Bill Haas, at the 2011 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia. (Photo: Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
And so the best of friends are making one more stroll down the fairways at the most fitting course of all. The U.S. Senior Open was scheduled for Newport Country Club in 2020 but was canceled due to COVID-19. Haas wasn’t sure he’d still be exempt in 2024 but he’s in the field, posting 2-under 68 on Thursday and an even-par 70 on Friday to shoot his age or better in consecutive days and make his 18th straight cut in the championship; they’re going to end their player-caddie relationship right below that balcony on Sunday in what could be Haas’s swan song too.
“I may have already passed the finish line and I don’t know it,” he cracked.
70-year-old Jay Haas will play the weekend after shooting his age or better (68-70) in consecutive days 👏
Harmon, a cancer survivor who with his wife, Robin, started in 2010 the Harmon Recovery Foundation, a non-profit organization, that works with people fighting their own demons, has one final chapter in his life’s journey he’d like to explore before he reaches his own finish line: giving back through a series of two-day clinics he’s been conducting around the country. He calls the program “Footprints,” after the words of wisdom bestowed by Burke Jr. to his daughter: “We only have two feet but it doesn’t mean you can’t leave more than two footprints.”
On the scorecard of life, Harmon has made good use of his second chance at life and for that he’s grateful.
“I went many years where I didn’t add to the Harmon whatever it is, I subtracted,” he said. “It’s not for me to say that I added to it but I can honestly say I haven’t subtracted from it and that’s enough for me.”
The duo got together for an interview in the first round and it was priceless.
Get the tissues out.
Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie are names familiar to most golf fans who have watched any NBC Sports telecast over the last couple decades. The two haven’t worked full-time for the network since the end of 2022, but they returned in March for the 50th anniversary of the Players Championship, and fans loved seeing their faces on TV and listening to their analysis.
Well, the duo and good friends were together on TV again Thursday, this time in a bit different capacity. Koch qualified for this week’s U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island (the oldest player to ever do so at 71 years and 7 months), and Maltbie was walking around as an on-course reporter.
The duo got together for an interview in the first round, and it was priceless.
This will be his sixth tournament back as he continues to play through recovery from an Achilles injury.
It’s been a year already since Bernhard Langer won the U.S. Senior Open. More important to the here and now, he’s just shy of five months since tearing his Achilles on Feb. 1.
This will be his sixth tournament back as he continues to play through recovery from the injury. He’ll also be three-for-three in participating in the senior majors in 2024, quite a feat for someone who was told the typical Achilles’ recovery is 12 months.
“It’s getting better, but it’s not there yet. I was told it’s an injury that generally takes 12 months to be at 100 percent, and I’m not even at five months yet,” Langer said Wednesday at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. “I feel it. My leg and my ankle is swollen. It’s fatigue. I don’t have the range of motion in my foot.
“So there’s various things that aren’t there yet. My balance is not where I want it to be and my strength. My calf muscle is probably one or two inches smaller than the other leg. I can’t get on my tiptoes. Right foot, I can do that. Just my right foot. I tried it on my left, and nothing.”
While he will get a cart this week, he will also need to prepare for a fourth day of competition, as senior majors have 72 holes, unlike most of the regular-season senior events consisting of 54.
“I’ve got a ways to go and I’m happy to be playing golf. The good thing is I can get carts in tournaments because right now I can’t walk four or five days, 18 holes. It’s impossible,” he said.
Langer says he had a long discussion recently with New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who famously tore his Achilles just four plays into last season.
“We had just talked about the PRP and stem cells, which I haven’t done yet and probably will not do, but I’ve had PRP done, which is your own blood spinning and injecting your own blood into the wound or into the area that needs healing,” Langer said. “It was interesting to hear his thoughts on the rehab, what he did and what I was doing, and it was on very similar lines and similar progress as well.”
After setting PGA Tour Champions records for victories (46), majors (12) and money ($36 million), he says he often gets the same question.
“I’m 66, and a lot of people say, why don’t you retire?” he said. “I guess I could, but I love the game of golf and I love to compete, and I’m still good enough to compete and be up there where I think I can win tournaments. When that changes, when I feel like I’m going to finish in the bottom third of the field every week I compete, then it’s probably time to quit.
“It’s such a joy, and it’s so refreshing to play nine holes in two hours in a practice round. It’s incredible.”
Soon after Bryson DeChambeau’s historic victory at Pinehurst No. 2 gave LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman a chance to hold the U.S. Open trophy for the first time, another of the fledgling circuit’s players is circling the waters in the nation’s smallest state, hoping to give Norman more hardware to caress.
Lee Westwood is making his debut at the U.S. Senior Open this week and he’s coming off an impressive third-place finish in LIV Golf Nashville, an event won by Tyrrell Hatton. It marked Westwood’s best finish of the season and a similar effort would certainly get him in contention at Newport Country Club for the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy, which Norman also never won in three chances.
Westwood’s putter was better than it had been in recent outings, and he attributed the impressive finish to a stronger all-around short game that he’s been sharpening up.
“I went to Nashville and carried on really with that theme, those swing thoughts,” he said. “Played well on the final day, which was good. I haven’t been finishing tournaments off, so fun for the last four holes and finish that tournament off strongly has given me a lot of confidence going into this week.”
Lee Westwood of England tees off from the 7th hole during day one of LIV Golf – London at The Centurion Club on July 07, 2023 in St Albans, England. (Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)
Westwood isn’t the only LIV Golf member in the field this week. Senior PGA Championship winner Richard Bland is also playing the course that hosted the first U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open back in 1895. And Westwood said the reaction he has heard has been overwhelmingly positive in terms of getting the best field for players 50 and over.
“The consensus of opinion of everybody that I talked to said it’s great to see myself and Richard playing here. I think, when you look at the U.S. Open two weeks ago or the Masters or the PGA Championship, people are happy to see Bryson or Cam or Jon Rahm coming and playing in those big events,” Westwood said. “It’s basically getting all the best players together in one tournament to compete against each other, and that’s what you want at the highest level. You want all the best players there. We’ve been asked to play well this week. Carry on the form of last week.
“I’m looking forward to this week. Looking forward to the first couple of rounds, playing with a couple of old friends, Miguel and Jerry Kelly.”
Westwood, who represented Europe in 10 Ryder Cups and held the number one spot in the Official World Golf Ranking back in 2010, had an interesting observation after chumming around with his senior brethren. Westwood is one of 52 players in the field making their U.S. Senior Open debut.
“I’ve had fun the last couple of days. Meeting a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time that I played out here with, people that I haven’t seen since my amateur days. I recognized some faces, and then they introduced themselves, and I’m like, wow, yeah, it’s been 35 years,” he said.
“What I have noticed is practice rounds out here are way faster than everywhere else. It’s such a joy, and it’s so refreshing to play nine holes in two hours in a practice round. It’s incredible. If the old guys can do it, why can’t the young guys do it?”
Quigley will have an entire state behind him as he tries to make history.
NEWPORT, R.I. – While players in this week’s U.S. Senior Open can go just about anywhere on the property, the third-floor locker room at Newport Country Club is reserved for a select few who have USGA titles to their name.
Brett Quigley, winning of the 1987 U.S. Junior Amateur, is one of the select few who enjoy the privilege.
“It’s really cool to be up there in that little area,” Quigley said. “So yes, I would like to have another picture of the Senior Open trophy next to my name.”
Plenty of fans will traverse the property following and cheering their favorite players on, but Quigley – and fellow Rhode Islander Billy Andrade – will have an entire state behind them as they try and make history.
“I’ll definitely feel that pressure of the hometown, but I also feel it’s a positive where I know there’s going to be a bunch of people pulling for me and pulling for Billy and I love that,” Quigley said. “I love seeing everybody that I haven’t seen in a long time and feeling those good vibes and people cheering me on. It’s fantastic.”
While Quigley is one of the hometown guys, this week’s tournament doesn’t provide a home-course advantage you might think.
Growing up in Barrington, Quigley nurtured his game at Rhode Island Country Club – where father Paul, an RIGA Hall of Famer, was a member. Before uncle Dana was “The Ironman” of the PGA Senior Tour, he was the head pro at Crestwood Country Club and Quigley was there helping out in the shop, pulling carts and picking the range.
Plus, Rhode Island.
“You grow up in Rhode Island and if you drove 15 minutes, that’s a long drive,” Quigley said. “I grew up in Barrington and I wouldn’t go to Providence because that’s too far to go.”
Things have changed.
Brett Quigley poses with the trophy after winning the 2023 Constellation Furyk & Friends at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Over the last three decades, Quigley’s played more than a few casual rounds at Newport Country Club. When the USGA announced Newport would host the U.S. Senior Open in 2024 after having it taken away by COVID, those casual rounds turned a little more businesslike as he started mentally preparing for the tournament.
“I’ve gotten to play probably three rounds a summer here getting ready for this tournament the last couple of years,” Quigley said. “I’ve been trying to do my homework in those rounds.
“I love playing here – it’s a great walk, it’s a fun walk and it’s a great vibe.”
Quigley’s hope is the vibes get real high as the week goes on.
Wind will be the story of the week. If the wind doesn’t blow, the course can be picked apart. Since windless days in Newport happen as often as smooth beach traffic, it’s going to be the biggest challenge the players face all week. It’s going to be different every single day and, as Quigley noted, wildly different depending on what time someone is on the course.
“We played today, it was the north wind – I think – which is a different wind than typical here,” Quigley said. “A lot of the members we’ve spoken to said right at noon it changes to a south wind almost every day.
“We were on the seventh green and we played seven into the wind and it was about 11:50. We get to the eighth tee and the wind completely changed and comes out of the south.
“It’s going to play significantly different depending on the wind direction and that will be a part of the challenge.”
This spring’s rain provided enough saturation that Newport’s fairways and rough are more green than they usually are this time of year. There are still more than a few spots that are firmed up and crispy, which will force players to change how they attack.
“When you see it in the summertime fromnow on, it’s going to be brown and you know the ball is going to be bouncing,” Quigley said. “It’s a little more, not luck, but it’s a little more bouncing and just playing golf instead of more target golf.”
Quigley is excited for the challenge.
Last year Quigley closed major season off with a bang. He went t-4 at the U.S. Senior Open and backed it up with a t-9 at the Senior Players Championship. While he hasn’t started major season off great this year – finishing T-57 at The Tradition and missing the cut at the Senior PGA Championship – he likes where his game is at.
Newport Country Club might not technically be the home of Brett Quigley, but Rhode Island is and it should give him the push he needs as he tries to get the biggest win of his professional playing career.
“It’s a home week,” Quigley said. “And it’s still my home.”
