(EXAMINER.COM) The blue blazer clad men who run the U.S. Golf Association aren’t the humorless traditionalists many would have us believe.
They get giddy at least a couple of days each June, when they make the pairings for the U.S. Open.
This week at Bethpage is no exception. For example:
- In a battle for Singh supremacy, Vijay will be playing with Jeev Milka. Joining the natives of Fiji and India, respectively, is K.J. Choi of South Korea.
- Soren Kjeldsen gets to stroll along with Danish countryman Soren Hansen, who in turn will join Peter Hanson of Sweden. Good luck to the scorekeeper with that group.
- Likewise, someone will have the task to keeping track of Andres Romero, Eduardo Romero and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
- Two of the longest bombers in the game, J.B. Holmes and Alvaro Quiros of Spain, will be peppering the group ahead. Nick Watney is the innocent bystander of this threesome.
- Big hitting Dustin Johnson or Gary Woodland would have better rounded out the Holmes-Quiros group, but Johnson drew fellow “young guns” Anthony Kim and Rory McIlroy, while Woodland will play with amateur Nick Taylor and journeyman Scott Gutschewski.
- Clemson alumni probably will want to follow this trio of former Tigers: Lucas Glover, D.J. Trahan and Kyle Stanley.
- Ditto for Oklahoma State backers, who have three Cowboys (past and present) paired together: Casey Wittenberg, Bo Van Pelt and Rickie Fowler.
- Francophiles no doubt will be tagging along with Thomas Levet, Jean-Francois Lucquin, and Raphael Jacquelin.
- You can bet the gallery following heartthrobs Camilo Villegas, Adam Scott and the now available Sergio Garcia will be predominantly female.
- Meanwhile, the Viagra set will be cheering for Rocco Mediate, Kenny Perry and Tom Lehman.
- A bunch of likely contenders go off No. 10 back-to-back-to-back Thursday morning: Henrik Stenson-Robert Karlsson-Steve Stricker; Geoff Ogilvy-Jim Furyk-Paul Casey; and Luke Donald-Trevor Immelman-Tim Clark.
- The marquee group (8:06 a.m. Thursday off No. 1) features the winners of the last four majors: Angel Cabrera, Padraig Harrington and Tiger Woods.
- The featured afternoon threesome off No. 10 isn’t too shabby, either: Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.
Who says the USGA doesn’t like to have fun?
(Caption answer: It’s Kjeldsen.)
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Dave Seanor is the National Golf Examiner at Examiner.com. He’s an Orlando-based, scrappy 11-handicap who’s been a sports journalist at three major newspapers and two national golf magazines. He has covered the “Royal and Ancient Game” in 18 countries, once teaming with Nick Price to win a Pro-Am in Morocco.
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