Brennan's Blog - U.S. Open

I think the NHL playoffs this year were some of the best playoff games I have seen in a long time. I am very happy that the Wings finally got beat but I must say they went down with a lot of class! I know a lot of the guys were upset that Sid didn't get in line right away, but I thought that Lidstrom was very classy and didn't say anything bad about him. It was a great win for the Penguins and we will see what happens in the next few years as its going to be tough for them to sign some of the role players with Sid and Malkin taking up so much of the cap money.

I also have to say that I really like the move we made in Dallas with the signing of Joe Nieuwendyk as the new GM of the Dallas Stars. I am not so excited about the hiring of Marc Crawford as the new coach, but I do think that a change was in order. I really liked Tippett and think he is a great coach but sometimes change is needed. I am hoping that Crawford can turn things around and will be supportive but think there were some other guys that may have been better for the job.

Now that the hockey season is over it is time to focus on golf and what better way then to get things rolling with the U.S. Open in New York and the great Beth Page Black. It is the largest public golf facility in the country and it is an unbelievable place. In total there are at least five to six courses on over 1,000 acres all on park land in the middle of long island. The Black course is the one that hosts the Open but from what I hear there are two other courses that are also capable of doing the same. Best of all locals pay $50 or less to play which is New York dollars is incredible considering how expensive everything else is. We were here in 2002 the last time the Open was hosted at the Beth Page State Park and it is even better this time around. In 2002 it was as difficult a course as I have ever seen and scores would have very high if it hadn't been for some severe rain that came later in that week. The course was so fast and the rough was as long as I have ever seen at a PGA TOUR event.

This time around the course is once again in great shape and the course is not as difficult. Since Mike Davis took over for the USGA in setting up the golf courses he has done a great job. He introduced the different levels of rough which I think is a great idea. If you hit a shot a few yards offline you should not be penalized the same as somebody who hits it 20 yards offline! The way it is now is if your ball just rolls in the rough you still have an opportunity to advance the ball towards the green and sometimes get it on. In my mind I think it makes the course very fair and really rewards you for good shots.

The back nine is a much tougher and longer nine in my opinion. It seemed like today we hit a lot of long irons and fairway woods in on the back nine with the soft fairways. With all the rain we have gotten this week I don't think the course is going to get very firm so it will favor the longer hitters. It will still boil down to hitting the ball in the fairway and having a good short game. I think I say the same thing every week but it is the truth; if you can chip and putt you will play well every week!

Today we had a great day playing with two young Canadian hopefuls, Andrew Parr and Nick Taylor. They both qualified for the US Open last week and are both very good players. It was good to see some young guys get out and play with Mike and have him give them some advice! I think we are really seeing the next batch of Canadian players taking the correct steps to get themselves out on tour. Matt Hill and Nick were both All Americans in college, Dustin Risdon has stepped up his game on the Nationwide Tour and we have several players on the Canadian Tour that are also ready. I believe that once one or two of these guys get out on tour and has some success, it will really pull all the others along. I think we have seen this with the Swedes and the Aussies whereby they have some many guys on tour that it gives the younger guys a lot of confidence that they can do it.  It is time that our junior programs start to pay off and we have a handful of guys out here on tour that are good enough. They just need to get a few on tour to get the ball rolling!

I am looking forward to the next few month stretch as we get into the meat of the schedule. With the British Open, Canadian Open and PGA right around the corner it is a good sign that summer is here. If there ever was a time to really get on a roll, this is the time to start. Mike has been putting in a lot of hard work on his game over the past few months and had some good success. I know the goal is to win, which is what we are all out here for, but he has shown some good signs as of late. It is going to be a matter of putting four good rounds together and having an opportunity to win. He has had a lot of success here at the Open and I am looking for much of the same this week.

As always, thanks for the support!
Brennan