Campbell still winces at the memory of the hug. "The guy's a bull," he says. "He might be the strongest man in golf. There's no rough he can't muscle the ball out of. That's a tremendous advantage around a course like this."
Last week Oakmont was as big a story as any of the players. It is to the U.S. Open as St. Andrews is to the British Open — embodying the very soul of the tournament. Oakmont has hosted more national championships than any other venue and boasts a roll call of Hall of Fame winners, including Tommy Armour (1927), Ben Hogan ('53), Nicklaus ('62), Johnny Miller ('73) and Larry Nelson ('83). The Oakmont mystique is jealously guarded by its members, who brag about the toughness of their course the same way that some men go on about their jacked-up pickups — perhaps to compensate for some other inadequacy.
So you can imagine the panic among the membership when, the day before the start of the Open, the USGA trimmed the rough for the second time in a week. Then that night nearly half an inch of rain fell, taking more bite out of the course.
Nick Dougherty, a flashy young Englishman, took the early lead with a two-under-par 68 and then rubbed it in afterward, saying, "I think the course is, I hate to say easy, but. . . ."
Even though 28 players failed to make a birdie on Thursday — including Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Zach Johnson, Paul Casey and K.J. Choi, all of whom are in the top 17 in the World Ranking — Mickey Pohl, the tournament chairman, received more than two dozen e-mails overnight from fellow Oakmont members voicing displeasure that their course was not inducing enough suffering.
Before the second round the greens were rolled and all the compassion squeezed out of Oakmont. In hotter, breezier conditions there were only two rounds in the 60s — Casey's 66 was the equivalent of a 58 at the Phoenix Open — and 35 in the 80s. Thanks to a 71, Cabrera led at even par. Woods was in 13th place at five over. Asked if the USGA was on the verge of losing the course, a la Shinnecock in 2004, Woods said, "It's close. It's right on the edge, I think."
Extensive watering kept the putting surfaces playable for the weekend, and during the third round Woods took advantage of the softer conditions, hitting 17 of 18 greens in a beautiful display of ball control. His 69 pushed him from 13th to second, two back of callow Aussie Aaron Baddeley (who would never recover from an opening triple bogey on Sunday).
On Saturday night Woods's swing coach, Hank Haney, was asked where the third round ranked in the pantheon of Woods's ball-striking performances since the two began working together in 2003.
"The best," said Haney. "On the hardest course in the world, when he absolutely had to have it? It's the best. It has to be."
