A bad Trip
Trip Kuehne slid backward Saturday, but he took his thumping in stride.
One day after shooting 3-under 67, the third-lowest 18-hole score by an amateur in U.S. Open history, Kuehne soared to a 76 that left him at 7-over 217 for the tournament.
“I got welcomed to the U.S. Open today,” Kuehne said with a laugh. “I wasn’t very good, but it’s Saturday and I’m still playing. I shot 76, but it was 76 on the Saturday of the U.S. Open, so I can deal with it.”
Kuehne three-putted the first hole for bogey and never recovered. His wild front nine included three bogeys and three birdies.
“When I play like I did today, I’m happy I stayed an amateur,” Kuehne said. “The greens were very accessible if you hit the ball in the fairway, but for me it was a battle.”
Kuehne still has something to play for on Sunday. He’d love to finish as low amateur in the 103rd Open and has a four-shot lead over Ricky Barnes, who soared to a 79 and is 11-over.
Tricky for Ricky
Barnes, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, was a happy man after making the cut Friday, but reality hit hard Saturday.
“My pro career is just around the corner, but after today I realize I still need to work on my game,” said Barnes, who plans to turn pro after the British Open. “Today it was mostly ball-striking. If I’d hit it as well as I did the first two days I wouldn’t have been 9 over.”
People, people
Olympia Fields vice chairman Kevin Kennedy said there were more than 47,000 people on the grounds Saturday, including marshals, volunteers, vendors and media representatives. Thirty-five thousand tickets were issued for each day of the sold-out tournament. Kennedy said he expected 50,000 for Sunday’s final round.
Farrell remembered
A 60-year-old woman in a brightly colored blouse sat quietly in the last row of the grandstand behind the ninth green, largely unnoticed by the spectators below her.
In 1928, the legendary Bobby Jones lost the Open in a grueling 36-hole playoff to underdog Johnny Farrell when Farrell holed an 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole to win by a shot.
On the 75th anniversary of Farrell’s historic victory, the woman sitting in the bleachers was his youngest daughter, Cathy Rock of Bridgewater, N.J.
Three of Farrell’s children–Rock, her brother Billy Farrell, 68, of Greenwich, Conn., and sister Peggy McGuire of Golf, Fla., plus Lisa Farrell, daughter of Rock’s 73-year-old brother Johnny, received honorary invitations to this year’s Open. They have taken part in ceremonies honoring one of the most overlooked players in PGA Tour history.
Farrell won seven straight pro tournaments in 1927 and 22 overall but has been denied a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Rock and her siblings are lobbying for his inclusion.
“My daddy died 15 years ago today–June 14,” Rock said. “For me to walk around with every single person in my family who has an image of that day in their mind is very moving. All our lives we heard about Olympia Fields, and now we’re here.”
