Timing his tee shots to the whistles of a passing train is nothing new for Stewart Cink. Cink said he was about to hit his tee shot on the 11th hole when a freight train barreled by him.
“I had to back off,” Cink said. “And then I went back to the ball and it got me again. I decided to wait a minute until it took off. I missed the fairway.”
Cink said it wasn’t as bad as playing in the British Open at Carnoustie.
“If you’re not careful [there] you can hit the train with your backswing.”
Byrd’s-eye view
Jonathan Byrd, the 2002 PGA Tour rookie of the year, tied for eighth in the Masters and hasn’t let the pressure of playing in his first U.S. Open get to him. After a second-round 66, he’s within two shots of co-leaders Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh.
“It’s my first Open, but I’m trying to win,” the 25-year-old Byrd said. “I feel I have most of the shots to win here. It’s just a matter of managing my emotions and my game, and I’ve done a good job of that the last two days.”
Options, options
After moving into a tie for third with a second-round 68, Australian Stephen Leaney professed his love for Olympia Fields.
“It gives you options off the tee,” he said. “I can try a driver and take on the bunkers or hit shorter. Four or five times I’ve laid up with irons off the tee because if you’re far enough back you can still bounce it up on the green. In past Opens you haven’t had those options. That’s why there are guys who are short hitters and guys who are long hitters up there. It’s a course that has given a whole range of players a chance to win.”
Perpetual motion
When Robert Damron won the 2001 Byron Nelson Classic, people noticed that he couldn’t seem to sit or stand still. Damron was asked about that characteristic after shooting a 68 that kept him within four shots of the lead.
“Fidgety is just the way I am,” he said. “I’m moving all the time, have to walk around a lot. That doesn’t translate into being nervous or unsure of myself. I wasn’t nervous at all today. I’ve just stood up there and hit the shots I’ve needed to. Being fidgety is just me.”
Seniors rule
Nick Price, who is 46, is three shots behind the co-leaders. Tom Watson, who is 53, is four back. Argentina’s Eduardo Romero, who turns 49 next month and is also three behind, was asked why that is.
“Like wine,” he said. “More older, more good.”
Going downhill
Roy Biancalana’s fifth U.S. Open ended with his highest score. The Mt. Prospect golfer shot a disappointing 84 to finish at 19 over for 36 holes.
“I made back-to-back double bogeys on the front nine and back-to-back doubles on the back, and in between I played bad,” Biancalana said. ” . . . I don’t have much to say. I was horrible.”
The seven-bogey, four-double-bogey round ended an improbable U.S. Open for Biancalana, 43, who qualified locally at Bartlett Hills and then, because of a paperwork error on his part, was sent to Kansas City instead of the North Shore sectional. He was first alternate but got into the Open when ex-champion Steve Jones withdrew because of injury.
