THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606140746
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH. LENGTH: 71 lines
The first place Curtis Strange and Carl Paulson went after finishing their play in the U.S. Open Thursday was the practice green at Oakland Hills. And it wasn't that they needed the work.
Rather, the green was a safe haven, somewhere they could go to collect their thoughts following disappointing first rounds.
``I played all right, except for the first hole,'' Strange said after opening at 4-over-par 74. ``But you blink out here and you can make bogey.''
Strange, the two-time former Open champion, began his round with a double-bogey six from the wood chips behind the first green and finished it with a potential par-saving putt that made 1 1/2 revolutions around the cup before spinning out.
``That typified my round,'' he said. ``Every round I play lately, I make the highest score possible. With a couple of saves, I could have shot 70. But it just doesn't happen. If there's a way to screw me, I get screwed.''
Paulson, a Virginia Beach native playing in his first Open, was 4-over-par his last three holes to finish at 8-over 78. Strange is seven shots behind Woody Austin and Payne Stewart, Paulson 11.
``If I play a good round (today), I can get within 10 shots of the leaders, make the cut and go from there,'' he said. ``If I don't, then I'll have my first major under my belt. Either way, I'll be trying my butt off.''
Like Strange, Paulson got off to a rocky start, opening with a bogey. But he followed that with a birdie, before making double-bogey on the par-three third hole when he hit too strong into a bunker and left one in the sand. Again, he birdied the next hole, holing a 15-foot putt.
He did it again on the back side, following a bogey-4 on No. 13 with a birdie-3 at 14. But that pattern finally stopped.
``I got impatient out there a couple of times, and it cost me,'' he said. ``But my impatience was a direct result of me not executing my game plan the way I wanted to.''
Paulson's biggest mistake may have come at 16, a 403-yard par four. After knocking a drive down the heart of the fairway, leaving him a soft 9-iron to the green, he hit his approach into the water and made double bogey. He then made bogey at 17 and 18 as well.
``You know, you work so hard to get to play a course like this, then work so hard to put the ball right where you want it to go, to do something stupid like that wears on you,'' he said. ``I was real upset with myself after that. I'm just disappointed with my results from today. I know it sounds odd, but I didn't play all that bad.''
Strange opened his round with a drive down the middle, then flew a 7-iron shot from 172 yards over the green and into some chips put down Wednesday to soak up the rain.
``I had nothing from back there, but instead of getting it on, taking bogey and moving on, I tried to make par,'' he said of an ill-advised third shot played right at the flag. ``I could easily have gotten it on and two-putted for bogey. But I tried for par and wound up with double.''
Strange had his moments as well. After hitting his tee shot long and left at the 200-yard 17th hole, Strange rolled in a 25-footer to save par-three, the best of several clutch putts he executed.
``I put it in one of those places at Oakland Hills that it's impossible to make par from,'' he said. ``And I made it. I made a few putts out here today.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Carl Paulson of Virginia Beach got off to a rocky start in his first
U.S. Open with a bogey on the first hole. He finished at 8-over 78.
Graphic
FIRST-ROUND SCORECARDS
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm] by CNB