Notebook
Bobby Clampett's Open
Blast from The Past
Bobby Clampett's appearance at Pebble Beach--where he shot a
14-over 298 to finish 37th, 26 strokes behind Tiger Woods--was a
return to the wellspring. Because this U.S. Open was Clampett's
first since 1986 and was played in the town where he grew up and
on the course where he learned the game, the week was an
emotional one for the 40-year-old part-time player and full-time
TV announcer.
Clampett had asked for an exemption from local qualifying, and
when the USGA refused his request, he used the rejection as
motivation to play his way into the field. Once he made it,
though, Clampett had plenty of trepidation about how he would
perform. He had not played in a tournament since missing the cut
at the 1998 Buick Challenge. "It's a little bit like signing up
for college in early September and deciding not to go to class
for a whole year, and then showing up for final exams," he said.
Clampett aced the test by drawing on a flood of memories from
Pebble Beach. It was there that he had shagged balls for Arnold
Palmer in the '72 Open, won two California State Amateurs and
tied for third, behind Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, in the '82
Open. In the first round last week Clampett put on a textbook
display of shotmaking. He didn't miss a green or fairway over the
first 10 holes while going four under par. "When I made the putt
on 9 for a birdie, I looked up and thanked God. My eyes welled up
with tears. It was amazing."
No more amazing, though, than the fact that nearly two decades
have passed since Clampett last played that way. The most common
explanation for his dry spell is that Clampett got too deep into
swing mechanics and lost his natural gift. In his own defense
Clampett compares himself with Tiger Woods, who as a junior used
to be compared to the young Bobby Clampett. "As good as he is,
Tiger tries to get better every single day by improving his
technique, which is what I tried to do," says Clampett. "Look at
what it has done for him. It simply didn't turn out the same way
for me."
Clampett's first teacher, Ben Doyle, believes that it wasn't the
effort to get better that ruined Clampett. Doyle says it was
Clampett's inability to properly filter information. When
Clampett was 13, Doyle began teaching him the highly technical
theories from the book The Golfing Machine, by Homer Kelley. "For
ten years he was getting better every year," says Doyle. "Then,
for a reason he has never explained, he started seeing other
teachers."
Despite working with instructors like Jimmy Ballard and Hank
Haney, Clampett became a fringe player by the mid-'80s and never
won again. (His lone victory came in the '82 Southern Open.)
"Everyone knows that I never met anybody's expectations, or my
own," says Clampett. "I was always disappointed in the progress I
was making with my swing and my game."
Doyle remains close to Clampett but doesn't hesitate to say that
he wasted a rare talent. "Bobby could have done what Tiger Woods
has done," says Doyle, who teaches at the Golf Club at Quail
Lodge in Carmel, "but he became so mechanical, so robotlike, with
so many screwy ways of hitting the ball. He used to be able to
hit a ball on one leg and still look artistic. He lost all his
flair and grace."
What Clampett accomplished last week left Doyle with a wistful
feeling. "Bobby can still do it," he says. "Deep down, it's
there. I would love to help him find it."
Withdrawal Pain
Daly Wimps Out
When John Daly won the 1995 British Open, he received a
five-year exemption into the U.S. Open. That exemption came to
an ignominious end last Thursday when Daly withdrew after making
a 14 on the par-5 18th and shooting 83 in the first round. After
signing his scorecard, Daly told USGA official Jeff Hall,
"Withdraw me from tomorrow's round." Daly waved off reporters
and left.
Daly has acted unprofessionally in three of the five Opens since
'95. In 1997 he walked off the course midway through the second
round. Last year Daly punctuated his final-round 83 with an 11 on
the par-4 8th hole, at one point whacking his ball before it had
stopped rolling. Afterward, Daly said that he no longer
considered the U.S. Open a major and that he would never play in
the event again. He apologized to the USGA two days later.
The saddest commentary on last week's withdrawal was that no one
took Daly to task for it. By pulling out, Daly wasted a slot
that any of the 8,388 entrants who failed to advance to Pebble
would have died for. As the first alternate, Ty Armstrong, 41,
monitored the Open from Cleveland, site of a Buy.com event. "I
feel this way: Withdraw once, and it's easier to withdraw
twice," he said. "I've never done it. I've always finished my
obligations." --Ivan Maisel
Mini-tour Star
Campbell in over His Head at Open
Give him the ample fairways and the soft greens of places like
Emerald Lakes Golf Club in Charlotte, N.C., and Chad Campbell,
who has dominated the Hooters tour this year, is a world beater.
Put him on Pebble Beach, though, and the Tiger Woods of minor
league golf is a fish out of water. In the U.S. Open, Campbell,
a 26-year-old from Andrews, Texas, bogeyed three of the final
four holes of the second round to miss the cut by two. "I hit
the ball fine most of the time," he said. "but nothing went my
way."
This from a guy who has been a model of consistency on the
Hooters tour, on which he has won 10 times in four years--during
one eight-tournament stretch this season he won five times--and
has missed the cut only once in his previous 46 starts.
Campbell has been trying to get to the next level of pro golf
since 1996, when as a senior he led UNLV to a runner-up finish in
the NCAAs, but he is 0 for 4 at Q school. That has left the
mini-tours as his only option, and the Hooters tour is one of the
most competitive. This year he has won tournaments by nine, seven
and six shots, and his scoring average of 68.49 is almost two
strokes lower than that of the next-best player.
Campbell is a stoic, on the course and off. "Chad is as simple as
they come," says Judd Burkett, Campbell's caddie at the Open and
a teammate of his at Midland (Texas) Junior College, which
Campbell attended before transferring to UNLV. "He's like what he
eats: cheeseburgers--just the meat and the cheese, please."
Campbell's simple lifestyle serves him well on the Hooters tour,
on which the players usually carry their own bags. The winner of
a Hooters event gets $20,000, and although Campbell, with more
than $800,000 in his four years, is the tour's alltime leading
money winner, he still prefers budget motels (he stayed at a Best
Western in Monterey last week), family-style restaurants and used
SUVs.
At Pebble, Campbell's gallery included family and friends, and
they are sure that better days are ahead. "With more experience,
there's no telling what Chad can do," says his older brother
Mike.
Until that time, Campbell will have to content himself with
being the most major of the minor leaguers. --Kelley King
COLOR PHOTO: ROBERT BECK Clampett's long-moribund game came back to life at Pebble.
COLOR PHOTO: LISA GREEN PHOTOGRAPHY
COLOR PHOTO: JIM MIDGETT
COLOR PHOTO: JOHN DAVID MERCER
COLOR PHOTO: MARK J. TERRILL/AP
COLOR PHOTO: ANDREWS MCMEEL
COLOR PHOTO: CUMBERLAND HOUSE
COLOR PHOTO: BROADMAN & HOLMAN
COLOR PHOTO: BILL FRAKES (INSET) Jones (inset) redesigned the 16th at Augusta National.
COLOR PHOTO: JOHN IACONO [See caption above]
Trust Me
Pebble Beach, as usual, looked great on television, but if you
were there in person, the 100th U.S. Open was a nightmare of
gridlock and overcrowding. It's time for the United States Golf
Association to take some of its millions and begin building a
network of state-of-the-art Open courses, starting with one near
its Far Hills, N.J., headquarters.
Threesomes
What do these players have in common?
--JoAnne Carner
--Bobby Jones
--Jack Nicklaus
They're the only golfers to win more USGA titles than Tiger
Woods, who has won seven. Jones had nine victories while Carner
and Nicklaus had eight each.
Feedback
Should the USGA eliminate special exemptions into the U.S. Open?
Yes...... 27%
No....... 73%
--Based on 4,620 responses to our informal survey
Next question: Should disciplinary action be taken against John
Daly for withdrawing from the U.S. Open without cause? Vote at
golfplus.cnnsi.com.
Thesaurus
SYNONYMS for a GREAT PUTT
Balata flush, hole hunter, marble in a bucket, pearl jam, radar
love, rolling your white potato, top shelf, true roller, water
bottle.
Numbers
If Tiger Woods is victorious in next month's British Open, he
will not only become, at 24, the youngest player to win the
career Grand Slam but will also have accomplished the feat
faster (21 starts in majors) than any of the four who have done
it. Here's how long it took the others.
Starts Age
Jack Nicklaus 27 26
Gary Player 30 29
Gene Sarazen 36 33
Ben Hogan 33 40
Faces
Paula Carter, Paris, Tenn.
Sarah Johnston, Benton, La.
Carter and Johnston, teammates at Alabama, each prevailed in
major amateur tournaments two weeks ago. Carter, a senior-to-be,
won her second Tennessee Women's Amateur, at Ridgefields Country
Club in Kingsport. She defeated Melanie Hagewood of Clarksville
2 and 1 in the final, playing the 17 holes in four under par. A
biology major and a two-time Academic All-America, Carter got
her other state amateur crown in 1997. Johnston, a junior-to-be,
defeated Beth Bauer, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the country, 2
and 1 to win the 85th Southern Amateur at Ibis Golf and Country
Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. After shooting 68 in the
qualifying round to earn medalist honors, Johnston closed out
Bauer on the 17th hole with her only birdie of the final.
Bruner Binion, Mobile
Bruner, a sophomore at UMS-Wright High, made a hole in one in a
practice round and then a double eagle in the Auburn High
Invitational at the Auburn University Course. He holed a
six-iron on the 156-yard 8th hole and a 248-yard three-wood at
the 500-yard 16th hole. At the 3A state finals Bruner tied for
fifth and led Wright to its ninth straight title.
Submit Faces candidates to golfplus.cnnsi.com/faces.
Payneful Words
The 21-ball salute on Pebble Beach's 18th hole last Wednesday at
the U.S. Open was, we presume, the final farewell to Payne
Stewart. But if you're hungering for still more Payne, there are
three new books commemorating the man who last June at Pinehurst
won his second U.S. Open championship:
The Payne Stewart Story, by Larry Guest (Andrews McMeel, $24.95);
I Remember Payne Stewart, by Michael Arkush (Cumberland House,
$18.95); and Payne Stewart: The Authorized Biography, by Tracey
Stewart with Ken Abraham (Broadman & Holman, $24.99). Here's a
feel for what you'll find in these memorials.
First Impressions
The Payne Stewart Story
"I would call him Sammy Davis Jr. in spikes. He could sing and
dance and act and tell jokes." (Larry Rinker)
I Remember Payne Stewart
"He was kind of out there with some of the stuff he was doing...
like an earring in one ear that he had gotten through
acupuncture." (Peter Kostis)
Payne Stewart
"He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen--unspeakably
handsome, with slightly disheveled sandy-blond hair and dancing
blue eyes."
Payne the Prankster
[The Payne Stewart Story]
"In high school he was always hiding other students' padlocks, or
slipping mentholated ointment into the [jocks] of unsuspecting
teammates to watch them hop around...."
[I Remember Payne Stewart]
"He came over to me with a big smile to congratulate me.... And
then, hours later, I found bananas in my shoes." (Lee Janzen)
[Payne Stewart]
"One of his favorite pranks on the Asian tour [was] the 'Handy
Gasser,' which produced an extremely realistic sound that
simulated flatulence."
His Swing
[The Payne Stewart Story]
"I thought he had a beautiful, graceful movement to his golf
swing. But I also thought it was kind of complicated. And not
orthodox." (Chuck Cook, swing coach)
[I Remember Payne Stewart]
"He had a swing like a Rolls-Royce. All you had to do was be
sure that the water and oil levels were right, and that there
was gasoline in the car." (E. Harvie Ward, swing coach)
[Payne Stewart]
"He had a god-given ability that, once set in motion, seemed
almost self-perpetuating."
His Harmonica Playing
[The Payne Stewart Story]
"God bless him, he blew his ass off. Unfortunately, it was in
Chinese instead of English." (Mark Lye)
[I Remember Payne Stewart]
"He loved getting in front of people and playing his harmonica,
no matter how good or bad he was." (Andrew Magee)
[Payne Stewart]
"Jake Trout and the Flounders were not going to threaten anyone
at the top of the pop music charts, but they sure had a lot of
fun."
His Blue Period
[The Payne Stewart Story]
"He would lose the respect of many of his fellow pros and most
of the golf media. He would lose his desire.... He would lose
and lose and lose."
[I Remember Payne Stewart]
"He never could say the right thing in front of the camera. I
said, 'America doesn't want to hear how good you think you
are.... They want to hear humility.'" (Perry Leslie, club pro)
[Payne Stewart]
"He became so disgusted that he avoided practicing. Instead, he
preferred to go out on his boat and sulk."
His Knickers
[The Payne Stewart Story]
"You'd better have plenty of game to back up those things,
because they look like crap." (Mark Lye)
[I Remember Payne Stewart]
"I couldn't believe how big his closet was. It was so bright you
had to have your sunglasses on to go in there." (Mark Lye)
[Payne Stewart]
"Payne liked the look; he felt that it looked classy and helped
maintain a sense of golf's grand tradition."
Payne Reborn
[The Payne Stewart Story]
"I hadn't paid much attention to it, but all of a sudden I was
like, Wow! He had become a nice guy!" (Mark Lye)
[I Remember Payne Stewart]
"God mellowed Payne considerably and replaced all the bad with
the good that comes from knowing the Lord." (J.B. Collingsworth,
pastor)
[Payne Stewart]
"He possessed a deeper, unusual sense of peace...a peace that
hadn't always been there."
Robert Trent Jones 1906-2000
The Grandest Designer
Robert Trent Jones Sr., who died on June 14 at age 93, was one of
the most prolific golf course architects in the history of the
game. He designed and rebuilt more than 500 courses in 45 states
and 29 countries, and was the father of the so-called heroic
school of course architecture. Here are some highlights from his
career, which spanned seven decades.
1926 As a student at Cornell, he puts together a curriculum that
becomes the standard for course designers--landscape architecture,
agronomy, horticulture, surveying and hydraulics.
1948 In building the Dunes Course in Myrtle Beach, S.C., he
combines large-scale fairways and greens with multiple hazards,
encouraging a high ratio of risk-reward shots. This style of
design comes to be known as heroic architecture. The 13th at
the Dunes--a long par-5 along a crescent-shaped water
hazard--is a Jones classic.
1950 He dams Rae's Creek at Augusta National, transforming
numbers 11 and 16 into dramatic water holes.
1951 Jones's renovation of Oakland Hills for the U.S. Open
defines the modern major championship venue. He moves outmoded
bunkers into landing areas and increases the severity of the
greens. Golfers must play a longer, more aerial game.
1951 A profile of Jones, written by Herbert Warren Wind in The
New Yorker, characterizes a course architect for the first time
as a highly trained creative force in the game.
1952 Under fire for the changes he had made to the par-3 4th at
Baltusrol, Jones aces the hole during a round with members and
quips, "I think the hole is eminently fair."
1964 Mauna Kea in Kohala Coast was the first of the great
Hawaiian resort courses. Built on "the most challenging terrain"
Jones ever saw, Mauna Kea is among the world's finest tropical
courses.
1966 He completes his masterpiece, Spyglass Hill on California's
Monterey Peninsula. The first five holes are among the finest
ever built on dunesland.
1985 Ballybunion New, on undulating Irish linksland, is called
too extreme. Jones's most generous critics call it a magnificent
failure.
1999 Waking from a coma and finding his two course-architect
sons, Rees and Robert Jr., at his bedside, Jones is told he has
had a stroke. "Do I have to count it?" he asks.