Notebook: Number Of Players Challenge But Fall Short

By Alex Miceli

Hutchinson, Kan. - The top of the leaderboard seemed to change minute by minute Sunday at the U.S. Senior Open.

It started early when Tom Watson, the favorite to most of the 24,868 in attendance, three-putted away a two-shot lead over the first three holes to give the field, and more specifically, Allen Doyle hope.

Many took advantage of Watson's 2-over misstep, but none could work it to their advantage except for Doyle.

Doyle would slip at times as well, leaving some light at the end of the tunnel for those chasing. One of those was D.A. Weibring, the same Weibring who had a chance to win the Senior Open last year at NCR Country Club until bogeys on the last two holes cost him his first major championship.

"I'll always look back, unfortunately, thinking I bogeyed the last two holes," said Weibring. "But when I think back on how well I played, I got a little bit better every day, and I played my way into position, and things just didn't work out."

On that Sunday, Weibring was in third place to start the final round. He faltered with a 70, but on

Peter Jacobsen was one of a few players who held or shared the lead Sunday. Jacobsen got as low as 7 under, but couldn't maintain it. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

this Sunday he came from even par and moved to 7 under through the first 12 holes.  That would be as low as he could go. Over the final six holes, he'd shoot 5 over. A double bogey 6 on the day's hardest hole, the par-4 16th, punctuated his downfall to eighth.

"It snuck in my mind," said Weibring of last year's finish.  "I kept trying to say, ‘OK, you're human, you're going to think of those things, but let's put that over there.'"

Peter Jacobsen also reached the top of the leaderboard.  Starting four shots back of Watson, Jacobson methodically made a move upward by making three birdies over the first seven holes. He fell to 7 under par and the lead when many of the leaders were struggling. 

But Jacobson, like many did on Sunday, would make a fundamental error on the par-4 ninth.  Jacobson admitted afterward that he was too aggressive after his drive in the rough, and while he executed his pitch shot back into the fairway, he tried to get his third shot close to a difficult hole location. He instead hit it over the green, eventually making a double-bogey 6.

Jacobson would finish tied for third at 5-under 275.

"Everybody was a little more aggressive, as they were yesterday," said Jacobson. "I got off to a good start.  I just couldn't keep it going."

If Saturday seemed like an easy day at Prairie Dunes with a scoring average just above 71, Sunday was easier (70.901). Thirty-two players shot par or better and 18 players recorded rounds in the 60s.

One of those players that found the Perry Maxwell design to his liking was Bruce Lietzke.  The 2003 champion made a birdie putt on the 18th hole to post 5- under 275. At that point, the championship was still in doubt as Doyle had bogeyed the 16th. Doyle's lead over Lietzke was two with two holes to go.

"I'm really disappointed," said Lietzke, who shot 4-under 66 Sunday. "I didn't have any chance of making birdie on 17 to maybe put a little more heat on those guys.  It was by far my best round of the week and probably couldn't have been much better. Other than playing 17 over again, I got just about everything out of the round I could. And it looks like I'm going to probably come up a couple of shots short and 17 will kind of bug me for awhile."

Other had their chances as well. Former U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson got it to 5 under as well, with a string of five birdies in the middle of his round. But a bogey on the 16th derailed his chances.

Andy Bean also made a charge. He got it to 6 under through 11 holes, but he couldn't  maintain the pace of tracking down Watson and Doyle and finished tied for fifth with Simpson.

In the end, Doyle wrestled control of the championship when he made a 12-foot slinger on the 17th hole to successfully defend his title.

"I felt then it was match play," said Doyle of the putt. "I know there was a guy through at 5 [under], but I don't worry about him after the last four or five holes.  Because if I can't par in, then I don't deserve to win it anyway.  So I just try to concentrate on what I have to do."

And concentrate he did.

Strange Bristles

Curtis Strange closed the U.S. Senior Open at Prairie Dunes with a bogey for a 1-under-par 69 and a 1-under 279 total to tie for 11th place, which not only was his best finish in a senior major, but also his best finish this year in 13 starts.

He was hopeful, but not very happy.

"I still get so angry, because I expect so much of myself," Strange said Sunday as he packed up in the locker room. "I get down more so than ever, and you can't hang your head out there. I guess I'm still trying to play perfect."

Strange missed the cut at last year's Senior Open and contemplated hanging up the clubs for the rest of the year, but he returned, played decently for much of the season, and then found out this week that he can still manage his game on difficult golf courses.

"I played nicely," said Strange, who won the 1988 and '89 U.S. Open titles. "I putted well all week. I drove it poorly but my iron game was actually pretty good. I see signs. But I don't like the way I finished. That horseshoe I'd been carrying around fell off on the back nine.

"But, yeah, this is the kind of event that I feel pretty good at. The harder the better; that has always been my thing. I kind of know what to do. I still can do it sometimes, but it's not consistent. I just have to go out and do it."

Dave Shedloski contributed.