Leaders Fall By The Wayside

By Dave Shedloski

Kettering, Ohio – It's a tried and true formula that leads to a similar result time after time. When it comes to United States Open championships, the golf course eventually swallows up everyone – except for one fortunate soul.

On a day when so many players retreated, be it early, late or all afternoon, Allen Doyle was the one player who solved the puzzle of NCR Country Club's South Course and put the pieces together just right. His reward was the U.S. Senior Open title in his seventh attempt.

With a mind-boggling 8-under-par 63 Sunday, Doyle posted a 10-under 274 total at NCR and then watched the field recede in his wake. No fewer than five eminently capable men had a chance to render Doyle's record effort a footnote, but the South Course, which was soft and vulnerable earlier in the week, showed its teeth on a steamy Sunday and bit back at the challengers.

The greens were crusty and firm, the fairways finally exhibited some speed, and the pressure of trying to win the 26^th Senior Open certainly put even more heat on the contenders.

D.A. Weibring, after missing a birdie putt on No. 16, bogeyed his final two holes to topple out of the lead. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

"When the greens get firm – Open conditions – sometimes when somebody posts, it works," said D.A. Weibring, who was gracious in defeat despite being perhaps the most pained victim of the South Course. "What a great round he (Doyle) must have played."

Weibring ended up a tie for second with third-round co-leader Loren Roberts at 9 under par, one shot behind Doyle. Others who could have found themselves clutching the trophy were Craig Stadler, Greg Norman and Tom Watson.

The championship transformed on the ninth hole with a three-shot swing. Stadler was 2 under par for the day, 13 under for the championship and held a three-stroke lead over his playing partner, Roberts. But it all went bad for the Walrus when he drove under the lip of a fairway bunker, could only move the ball a few yards, then three-putted after reaching the green with his third shot. Roberts, meanwhile, made one of the few birdies at the difficult par-4 hole and the two were tied at 11 under par.

Roberts birdied the next hole to get to 12 under, and that's when he noticed the round Doyle was cobbling together.

"It was a great round, but Craig and I were still ahead at the time," said Roberts. "We just had to play our games coming in and we didn't play good enough."

Stadler, in fact, after allowing Doyle and others back into contention, never played his game again the rest of the afternoon. He three-putted the par-5 10^th hole for a par, and then leaked six more strokes over the next seven holes before a closing birdie gave him a 76 and 278 total. "It was ugly, but it's been ugly before," Stadler said philosophically.

For Roberts things turned bad on the 11^th when he drove it perfectly and then, he said, "put the worst swing I think I ever put on a wedge." He short-sided himself in a bunker and left the first shot in. The second he scraped out to 40 feet and a two-putt for double-bogey chopped two shots off his score. He parred in after another bogey at 13, unable to get the ball close enough on the finishing holes to tie Doyle.

"The 11^th hole was my whole tournament right there," said Roberts, playing in his second Champions Tour event, who nonetheless still had his chances and couldn't answer Doyle's onslaught. "Obviously, the lowest round of the week on Sunday … I don't care where you start in the field, you're going to have a chance to win unless you're teeing off at 7 in the morning. Craig and I couldn't do anything about it and we couldn't do anything with our games."

Putting was the undoing of Norman and Watson, who finished fourth and joint fifth, respectively. The Shark, playing in his second senior event, managed to get as low as 9 under par, but he bogeyed 14, and like Roberts couldn't find a way to get the ball close to the hole coming in.

"I've really got no complaints about the way I played," said Norman, who closed with a 69 and was one of just two players (with Weibring) to shoot four sub-par rounds. "I'm just extremely frustrated with the putter. Whenever you don't win and you feel that you played well enough to win, you feel disappointed."

Watson, the second-round co-leader, was vying for his second straight major title, but he never recovered from a four-putt in round three. He dropped from 9 under to 7 under par with that hiccup at the sixth hole Saturday, and that's where he finished the tournament, at 7-under 277, tied with Wayne Levi, who never factored.

On three occasions Sunday Watson got within two shots of Doyle's winning total only to give one back. "I made my share of good shots this week and put myself in position to win the golf tournament and just didn't come through," he said. "I can't say I putted terribly, but I certainly did make good of the opportunities I had."

Weibring had the best chance of disturbing Doyle's dream day. He played without a bogey for 16 holes and got his score to 11 under par after his third birdie at the par-5 10^th. But the thick rough at NCR South was his undoing. He missed the fairway at both the 17^th and 18^th and those led to the bogeys that opened the door for the winner.

"It isn't a great feeling to finish bogey-bogey when you have a chance to win the U.S. Senior Open, but I've got to look at how I played all week," Weibring said. "I was surprised at the way the leaderboard developed the back nine. Everything was on schedule for what I was doing. Obviously, I don't really know what happened. It was just one of those things."

Right. It was one of those things that always seem to happen at a U.S. Open. One player solves the riddle, and everyone else is left to wonder what happened, what might have been.

Dave Shedloski is a free-lance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.ussenioropen.com.