Ready For The Best Day Of His Life: U.S. Open Day 4 Blog By Coach Reehoorn
June 14, 2012
Oregon State junior men's golfer Nick Sherwood qualified for the 112th U.S. Open Championship by defeating Daniel Miernicki of Oregon in a sudden-death playoff at a sectional qualifier. Head coach Jon Reehoorn was with Sherwood during the week and wrote a daily blog leading up to the U.S. Open, which runs Thursday through Sunday at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif. For more information, follow @BeaversMGolf, @JonReehoorn and @NSherwood14 on Twitter or visit the Official Site of the U.S. Open Championship.
Watch Part 2 of an interview with Nick Sherwood about the U.S. Open at the end of this blog.
Sherwood Tee Times
• Thursday: 9:27 a.m.
• Friday: 2:42 p.m.
Viewing Schedule
• Thursday: ESPN 9 a.m.-noon; NBC noon-2 p.m.; ESPN 2 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Friday: ESPN 9 a.m.-noon; NBC noon-2 p.m.; ESPN 2 p.m.-7 p.m.
Day 1 Blog | Day 2 Blog | Day 3 Blog
A heavy mist, fog and much cooler temperatures greeted us Wednesday morning as we made our way from downtown San Francisco to the course. The marine layer, which will get talked about to death this week on television, had arrived at The Olympic Club. I think I'll create a Twitter hashtag of #marinelayer for it beginning with this post. Yesterday a member of the media asked me how I thought Nick would do this week. I am confident Nick will do well, but told him one thing I thought could throw Nick off would be the perfect weather we had seen all week. If the conditions change, which it looks like they might Thursday and Friday, that could be difficult.
Wednesday was a great opportunity for Nick to take advantage of seeing the course play totally different. As I waited for Nick and his dad to eat breakfast, I headed to the practice area to watch and see what else I could soak in on my last day at the US Open. I was lucky enough to spend about 10 minutes talking with Jim McLean, before Bill and Nick arrived on the range.
After a range session, which had Bill and me wishing we had more clothing, Nick led the way to the first tee for his last look at The Olympic Club before his first major championship gets underway for real. Nick was paired with Vijay Singh, Rod Pampling and Hunter Haas. Greeted by a couple of "Go Beavs" yells on the first tee, Nick was last to hit. Nick seemed much more relaxed right from the beginning. Upon arrival at the tee, I reminded him what we talked about last night; to make sure he does everything exactly how he wants and to go through the process. His response, "don't worry we (he and his Dad) already are."
As Nick put his tee in the ground and went through his pre-shot routine, I noticed Vijay eyeing Nick pretty closely. It seemed as if he wanted to see what this `kid' had, sizing him up like a prized fighter would against the underdog. Nick absolutely roped his tee shot, his longest drive on the first hole during the week, which left him a 4-iron on the 520-yard, par-4. With a 4-iron from about 200 to the front edge of the green, Nick's shot landed just short and rolled past the hole location to the back of the green. Nick rolled in his 30 foot putt for a birdie 3 to begin his day, which would be a dream start come tomorrow morning. On the second tee, Vijay was once again watching Nick closely. And, once again Nick roped it down the middle with a driver. With the longest tee shot in the group (Vijay hit 3-wood), Nick was last to hit his approach. Watching all of the other players in the group come up well short of the green for their approach, Nick decided to change from a 5-iron to a 4-iron for his approach from 178. The heavy, wet air was definitely making a difference. Nick hit a 4-iron that never left the flag and ended up just about 15-20 feet past the flag. Vijay was taking notice.
As we walked up the fairway, Vijay asked Nick, "young man, how old are you?" Nick is 21, the same age as Vijay's son. Nick made par on 2 and 3 and moved to the fourth hole. The fourth is a difficult driving hole with the hole dog-legging left but the fairway sloping right. Hunter Haas hit a few shots way left off the fairway, which got some good comments from Vijay that I shouldn't repeat. Let's just say everyone got a few good laughs. With Hunter missing the fairway way left and Vijay laying back with a 2-iron to keep it from going through the fairway, Nick again roped his tee shot, this time a 3-wood. As Vijay watched Nick's ball fly dead straight again, he turned to his caddie and whispered, "he's good."
By the time we got to the sixth hole, I found myself thinking `today is going way too fast.' Nick was playing very well, looking like he had when he played 18 holes by himself on Monday. Vijay couldn't believe how short the ball was flying and the three-time major champion asked Nick multiple times what club he hit. Vijay Singh was making club choices off Nick Sherwood? When we returned to the hotel and watched the Golf Channel coverage talk about the #marinelayer, Nick commented that no one can adjust to the ball going so short because they all live in a warm climate. They (other players in the field) aren't used to playing in a cold, wet climate where the ball goes nowhere, he said. Very true and just another benefit of playing golf in the Pacific Northwest, knowing how to play when the ball goes nowhere!
The sixth hole provided another example of how different the course played with the #marinelayer. On Sunday Nick chased driver into the fairway bunker, which is 290 yards from the tee, so he had planned on hitting 3-wood to make sure he was short of the bunker. Nick's driver went as far as his 3-wood did on Sunday and Monday. One of the best moments of the day came on the drivable par-4, seventh (the hole Alvaro Quiros made an ace on today with a 3-wood). In our first go around on Sunday Nick, from the advice of Alex Cejka, decided to layup and leave himself a good wedge yardage. After Vijay hit driver in the front left bunker, Nick stuck with his plan to lay back and give himself a good look at birdie with a wedge. Nick missed the fairway to the right and Vijay quickly told him, "you got to hit driver here." Vijay explained his thought process that if you miss the fairway by laying up you might not be able to hit the green. If you miss the green with driver you are going to be able to get it on the green from 20 or 30 yards much easier. Vijay has won three majors and numerous PGA Tour events so he knows what he is doing. Nick will be hitting driver on #7 tomorrow.
In his Shick moment of the day, as Nick bent over to put the tee in the ground to hit the driver like Vijay suggested, he said, "hey Veej, what's the target with driver?" It was as if Nick and Vijay were on a nickname basis and had been friends for years. Standing directly behind Nick when he said it, I at first couldn't believe it, laughed to myself and thought "Shick being Shick." Vijay didn't respond. I don't think he heard Nick or perhaps he was so surprised that Nick had just called him Veej, he didn't know what to say. Sticking to the plan, Nick finished up his practice round on the eighth hole, again signed autographs for a good 15-20 minutes. He was too nice to say no to everyone who kept asking "just one more," and then we all grabbed some lunch.
Prior to getting to The Olympic Club this week I told Nick he needed to spend some time on the practice area Wednesday afternoon and enjoy the circus it becomes. When Nick and his dad arrived to a packed practice facility, he said something about the place being packed, which it was. There were probably 30-40 guys on the putting green and the same on the range, not to mention the crowds of a few thousand people in the grandstands and standing around the putting green. I don't know if every major championship is like this on Wednesday afternoon, but the U.S. Open is crazy.
Not really fazed by it all, Nick found a straight putt to a hole, slapped down a chalk line and made himself make 50 3-foot putts in a row before he practiced anything else. Somewhere in the 40 in-a-row range he missed and started all over. As Nick was completing his drill, John Solheim (President/CEO of PING) walked by, Chris Berman (ESPN Anchor) talked with players on the putting green, Rick Reilly was taping a spot for ESPN about 20 feet away, members of the media from around the world were taping spots for their broadcasts back home, and every major club manufacturer and training aid representative is there making sure players have the company product in their hand so you at home see them with it.
After about an hour and a half of putting practice, Nick declared he was ready to play and it was time to get out of the circus and home to rest for tomorrow. I headed to the car as Nick and his dad went to the locker room to put away his clubs. Waiting in the car for them to return to the hotel, I had the door opened on the car for some air and just as Nick was about to open his door he said to his dad, "it will probably be the best day of my life." I can only assume they were talking about what awaits on Thursday. Nick is correct; it is going to be an unbelievable day for him and his family. After watching the way he handled himself all week, I'm confident he is more than ready. At each event we play in during the season I ask the team to give me "3 Keys to Success." Things they themselves can control. A huge key for Nick this week will be to make sure he sticks to the process and does what he wants to do before each shot. Just Shick being Shick.
Go Beavs!
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