management, especially in a broader under-
standing of difficult stretches.
All of which comes courtesy of the Golfing
Union of Ireland’s national coach, Neil Manchip,
who was at Congressional as instructor to Lowry,
a U.S. Open debutant. They have continued to
work together since Lowry turned professional
after winning the 2009 Irish Open as an amateur.
“In terms of what I can bring to
the players in my charge, I’ve
learned so much from assess-
ing the course set-up here,”
said Manchip, who was having
his first experience of the event.
“Looking at the pin positions
and how you can’t get to them
from certain positions on the
course; noting where not to
be on some holes.”
He added: “I like to
emphasize course man-
agement in the
work I do with the
players and what
I’ve learned this week
has the makings of a
The famed together-
ness of European Tour
golf seemed to come
under strain at the week-
end over views by two of
the Continent’s leading
players on the U.S. Open
challenge of Rory McIlroy.
From a halfway posi-
tion of 2-over par – nine
strokes behind the leader –
Martin Kaymer said: “Unless something crazy
happens, I’m pretty much playing for second
place and I hope Rory wins through. He’s a nice
person and he deserves it especially after The
Masters. A lot of people were criticizing him
then, so I’d like to see him do it.”
Interestingly, the thoughts of Westwood
were a lot less effusive. “We’ll see what Rory
does,” said the Englishman, who was only a
stroke better-off than Kaymer on 1-over par.
“He’s had leads before … ” And when asked
what advice he would give Rory with 36 holes to
play, Westwood replied: “I’m supposed to beat
him over the next two days. I’m hardly going to
give him advice, am I?”
Competitiveness is, of course, admirable.
But given how far Westwood was adrift of the
lead, his comments were somewhat surprising.
Especially since he’s a stablemate of McIlroy’s
at International Sports Management.
Thirty-four Europeans teed it up at Congres-
sional. Which illustrates the remarkable change
from 20 years ago when their representatives in
the U.S. Open at Hazeltine numbered no more
than seven. They were: Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle,
Ian Woosnam, Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer,
Jose Maria Olazabal and Ronan Rafferty.
The majority of those players got invitations
as major winners, while Rafferty led the Europe-
an Order of Merit in 1989 and was fifth in 1990.
Wherein lay a tale. As it happened, Rafferty
withdrew midway through his second round at
Hazeltine for no apparent reason, causing out-
rage on both sides of the Atlantic. He was later
fined £5,000 by the Tour, who saw his action as
seriously undermining their attempts at gaining
greater representation in the event. l
Lee Westwood recovered from a first-round 75 with
three under-par rounds (68-65-70) to finish T3.
Titleist Brand Ambassador Rory McIlroy, trusting the Pro V1x™ golf ball and a complete
bag of Titleist equipment, made his first career major a historic one. Rory rewrote the U.S.
Open record book en route to a wire-to-wire, eight-shot victory. Trusting the advanced
performance and consistency of Titleist equipment from tee-to-green, Rory set or tied 12
U.S. Open records at Congressional C.C., including the lowest-ever 72-hole total, four shots
clear of the previous mark. More proof that when you combine exceptional talent with
superior equipment, dreams indeed come true, and in Rory’s case, the best is yet to come.
U.S. Open – Winner
906F2 fairway metals
