First Round

2010 US Women's Open

Oakmont Country Club

Oakmont, PA

This entry will be necessarily brief, since it's late, I need sleep (wouldn't say I'm tired, though) and have to be at the course by about 6:30 in the morning to be ready for my player's warmup at 7:30. We have a 9:12 tee time tomorrow, starting on the 10th tee. I spent over 12 hours at Oakmont today, getting there around 8:30 AM to walk the course to see what sorts of tricks the USGA was planning for us.

First, we shot an 8-over par 79, good for a tie for 98th. Doesn't sound all that great, but when you consider that we are within 10 strokes of the lead (part of the cut consideration) and that we posted a score better than 58 other players, including Michelle Wie, that's not so bad. Going into the round, my goal, as discussed with Missy Farr-Kaye, was for July to post a 6-over 77, so from my perspective, we only dropped 2 shots. As my friend Ken Baer reminded me, when the Argentinian Angel Cabrera won the US Open at Oakmont just a few years ago his opening round score was 76.

Second, I think July should be especially proud of the way she played. She was exactly as I'd hoped. Patient, accepting of what the course gave her and took away, looked at it with a great sense of humor and perspective, and remained open to good shot-making, good creative shot-making, the entire round of golf.

Awesome.

From my point of view, the day ended up being intense, but fascinating.

Mike Davis, the USGA's Open course setup guru, set up Oakmont for this Championship and he was quoted in USA Today as saying that in his view, Oakmont is the gold standard for US Open courses. He said that he thought that it would be a cerebral test not only for the players, but also for the caddies.

It is so very true. It has to be very difficult for a player to play the style of shot that's required around here. It must seem very counter-intuitive to know that if you carry the ball the distance your yardage book says you are standing from the pin, the odds are not great that your ball will be likely to end up anywhere near the pin. I am proud of July for her patience, for her willingness to think creatively on the course and especially on the greens and for her ability to execute the shots necessary. Sure, she made a few non-optimal swings, but she recovered from every one of those mistakes.

We think par for tomorrow is 76. 79-76 we think gives us a great chance to be around for the weekend.

Wish us luck!
--
David Tan