Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson expressed their excitement Tuesday in being paired along with Adam Scott in the U.S. Open first and second rounds.
Mickelson said he thinks it will level the playing field even more between the world’s top three ranked golfers.
“I think it’s great that a major championship has us paired together, because usually one end of the tee times has an advantage over the other,” Mickelson said.
“For us to be on the same end I think makes it a fair championship and I like the fact that we’re at least on the same wave.”
Woods and Mickelson were also paired at the 2006 PGA Championship in Medinah, Ill. Woods said the pairing is less of a factor in a major.
“Once you tee off, you’re in your own little world,” Woods said. “You don’t really care what anybody else is doing. You have enough issues going on out there, trying to play a major-championship venue. It might influence more in a regular event.”
USGA flexibility
While Augusta National has gone to great lengths to make the Masters a tougher tournament by moving the tees back more often than not, the U.S. Open now has more flexibility with the location of the tees and the pins.
“If the golf course is playing too hard, if the wind kicks up, if the greens are getting out of control,” Woods said, “they have the ability now to move the tees up, play holes differently, give guys a chance to make birdie.”
There have been some questions as to whether Torrey Pines Golf Course will be less challenging for players than most U.S. Open courses. Mickelson, a San Diego native who grew up playing this course, doesn’t think that will be an issue.
“There’s no way to go low here,” Mickelson said. “And the reason is the greens are not soft. They’re firm. … So because of that, making birdies on a lot of these par-4s is going to be not possible for the most part without making a 50-, 60-footer”
Exam time for amateur
Before he can tackle the most important test of his young golf career, Jordan Cox, a 20-year-old amateur who plays at Stanford, had to take a communications exam Tuesday night.
After playing a practice round with Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson on Monday morning, Cox went online at 7 p.m. Tuesday to take the exam. While Cox said that he is ready for the test that begins on Thursday at the U.S. Open, he wasn’t so sure about the one Tuesday night.
“We’ll see,” he said. “Hopefully, come test time, I’ll be ready.”
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