it,” he said. “Now you have them from all over
the world. It’s a truly international event.”
Bonallack, who officiated at his first major
championship in 1984 when
Seve Ballesteros
won the Open at St. Andrews, acknowledged,
however, that a famous face was missing. “It’s
very sad that the greatest player in the world isn’t
here,” he said of the absence of Woods. “Obvious-
ly, it has been difficult for him to focus his mind
on the game with all the issues he’s had, but his
physical problems are particularly sad.”
He went on: “Four operations on his left
knee would suggest it couldn’t take the pres-
sures he put on it. Yet, at the same time, it
seems to me that we don’t have anything like
as many back problems these days as we used
to have. That’s down to modern equipment with
players using all the big muscles in their body.”
The
New York Times
offered an interesting per-
spective in a piece revealing the view from inside
the scoring tent, that place where players go to
verify their cards immediately after their rounds.
Last year’s U.S. Open runner-up,
Gregory
Havret
of France, had more on his mind than
golf. His father, who had watched him in person
at Pebble Beach last June, died less than two
Ireland’s elite amateurs are set to gain an
unexpected bonus from this year’s U.S. Open. It
will have to do largely with course A
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