Live at the US Open - Congressional - Tuesday June 14, 2011

It was so quiet.

Was it the mass of trees that stifled the noise – such as it was?

Was it because it was Tuesday?

Was it because the Tiger roar is silenced? At least for now…

It was strange early on. It was eerily silent and felt empty. Something missing? No excitement was evident. Is it the calm before the storm of the weekend? Or is the game reinventing itself once again? Maybe a little early to say “Post-Tiger and Post-Phil” – but maybe not.

As the day wore on things seem to come to life…more and more people arrived…some pairings brought a buzz – Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell and a back nine missing Rory McIlroy – Jim Furyk with the Cowboys Rickie Fowler and (a) Peter Uihlein – Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink. That’s what we’re talking about! Saw everyone’s favorite tweetmeister, Ian Poulter, on the practice green – talking on his cell phone. Not sure he ever putted! Some things are more important than others.

A free day for us to wander the course, take pictures and drink up the atmosphere. Congressional is nestled in a residential area that could rightly be called wealthy. Huge, beautiful homes mostly with multiple acres. I’m guessing more than one of our stellar congressmen/women and senators reside here. There are two courses here – one of which is now less a golf course than a maintenance facility. Guess it is worth the zillions of dollars the USGA pays to stage an Open. Like they need the money…the new clubhouse is 70,000 – yes seven zero thousand! – square feet. I’m thinking the last Open went a long way to paying for this gorgeous structure. If only we peons could get a peek inside. Not!

The course – well the back 9 which is all we saw today – is quite lovely and long even with only one par 5. 579 yards of par 5. (and #9 is 636 yards) Be sure to check out #10 which is downhill par 3 over water. Until 2006 it was 18 only reversed so it was an uphill par 3 to the edge of what was doubtless the old clubhouse. Kind of crazy – I need to find out how the holes actually were five years ago.

Tomorrow we spend on the front 9 which appears to be half the size of the back 9. The holes are compact – back and forth. Many of the fairways (not just the front) were narrowed from an average of 33 yards to 25. Much narrower than when Congressional hosted the last Open in ’97. I mean 25 yards! Most of my putts are almost 25 yards – know what I mean?

That’s the scoop for the day…really an interesting one. And if you are wondering, there are no new pictures tonight because the adapter is missing in action so I cannot download them. Should be lots of photos tomorrow. Thanks, as always, for tuning in.