Caleb Manuel was standing on the 18th tee at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, about to put a difficult opening round of the U.S. Open behind him, when he looked over and caught a glimpse of the second tee.

And saw Phil Mickelson, with a raucous gallery around him, preparing to hit a shot.

“It looked kind of like a Sunday afternoon, the gallery and all the people following him, and the noise,” Manuel said in a phone interview Thursday after the first round of the tournament. “When someone makes a putt or chips in, you can hear everyone across the course.”

It was a reminder for the 20-year-old of just where he’s playing, and the level he’s at. Unfortunately for Manuel, his round provided another kind of welcome to playing in a major golf tournament for the first time. The Topsham resident struggled to a 13-over par round of 83 at a tournament notorious for providing some of the sport’s toughest rough, fastest greens and most challenging conditions.

Only four holes at The Country Club played at or below par Thursday. The course came with teeth, and Manuel saw that for himself.

“I’d say the first couple of holes I was definitely nervous, and after the third hole it was just the golf course being hard,” said Manuel, an amateur who defied odds by qualifying for the U.S. Open last week. “I told my caddy (Nick Hampion), I’m driving the ball and putting the ball pretty well. Not great, but solid. But my irons (weren’t) as solid as they normally are.

“I think if I tighten those up, I can definitely have more success out there.”

The defending Maine Amateur champion hit four of 18 greens and five of 14 fairways, and often found himself needing to pay the toll the Open routinely exacts for wayward shots.

“A yard or two from the fairway that’s friendlier rough, and then once you’re outside of that, unless it’s sitting right up, you’re basically punching out or trying to hack it up there,” he said. “(And then) it might be buried again, or you might be in one of the bunkers or fescue.”

To add to the challenges, the wind picked up and started turning even good shots into mishits.

“I hit a pretty good iron shot on 16 today, it was a par 3. I landed it front portion of the green, but it was downwind and it still rolled off the back of the green and pressed up against the collar,” Manuel said. “I made par, but it was a tough up-and-down. I just looked at my caddy and I go ‘I don’t know what else I can do there.'”

Manuel started with five straight bogeys, then had his lone double bogey on the sixth, but said nerves weren’t a problem throughout the round.

“I kind of just put everything behind me, and threw the expectations out the window,” he said. “I think after the first couple of holes I was expecting too much out of myself. After the first four holes, I (thought) ‘All right, I’m at the U.S. Open, let’s have fun.’ Instead of ‘Hey, we’ve got to hit it perfect.'”

Manuel bogeyed the seventh, but rolled in a putt between 15 and 18 feet. It seemed to give him life, as Manuel parred three of the next four holes, and he closed out with pars on the 14th, 16th and 18th holes.

Manuel, who went out after the round to practice iron shots, said he’s looking forward to applying the lessons from the round to Friday’s second round. He tees off at 2:42 p.m.

“When I’m in the fairway, attack, and hopefully hit a few more fairways,” he said. “The goal for (Friday) is to have the mindset of the back nine of, we’re at the U.S. Open, let’s have some fun. Hit some golf shots, get the crowd clapping. It’s fun. There’s a lot of people out there.”

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

NHL notebook: Lightning unfazed after losing opener to Avalanche

Next »

U.S. Open: Hadwin grabs leads as McIlroy makes statement with play