Friday, July 21, 2000
Old Course goes bluegrass
Unfazed by St. Andrews, Flesch just one stroke off lead
Steve Flesch tied Tiger Woods and was one stroke behind leader Ernie Els.
(AP photo)
| ZOOM |
|
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — The boys at Triple Crown Country Club in Union, Ky., will be into it now.
The weekend hackers and the two-dollar Nassau players that count Steve Flesch as their buddy may have to get off the course and in front of the television this weekend. It's time for them to trade their bogey lives for some vicarious thrills. Their man is a shot off the lead at the British Open.
It's only one round. It is, in fact, just the first round. But for a day at least, Steve Flesch, Covington Catholic '85, is one stroke shy of best in the world. “Today was kind of a big round for me,” Flesch decided.
Well, yes. Pro golfers often take strange trips to prominence, but none stranger than Flesch. A month after graduating from UK in 1990, Flesch was in Manila, playing the Asian Tour. He worked five years in Asia, dodging snakes on the fairways and staying away from drinking fountains.
That was the good life compared to his seven failed tries at getting his PGA Tour card. A man could get discouraged.
Even when he played the Old Course for the first time Sunday, Flesch wasn't sure what he was doing. He and his caddie went out alone — “two blind guys running around,” Flesch said — asking the marshalls what club to use and where to hit the ball.
The Old Course, which looks like the moon with grandstands, will do that to you.
So here he was Thursday, shooting a 67 in his first British Open round. At St. Andrews, no less. St. Andrews was golf when golf was sheep herders pounding leather-covered feathers with hiking sticks. A big deal. Yes.
By the ninth hole, Flesch was 4 under par. Unlike many American players, he wasn't flustered or intimidated by the links-style golf. In the United States, players bomb the ball off the tee, then hit it high and land it soft on the greens. It's the same every week.
Here, there is too much wind to be so cavalier from the tee; your ball could land in a man-eating bunker. Playing creatively while keeping the ball under the wind is what matters. “It took me four practice days to figure it out,” Flesch said. “I think I have.”
Until he bogeyed the 16th, Flesch had the lead all to himself. Then he hooked his tee shot at No.17, the infamous Road Hole, into some of the only deep rough on the course. The shot Flesch hit next told you everything you needed to know about him Thursday.
To get to the 17th green, you can run a low shot up a neck of fairway no wider than a driveway, hoping you don't run the ball through the green. Or you can launch it high and hope you miss the heart-breaking pot bunker on the left.
Either way, it's sleepless nights.
Flesch put his approach on the green, 30 feet from the hole and a step from the road, then made the two-putt par. “Making four there, I felt like I picked up a shot,” he said.
He finished with a par at 18 and his name second from the top on the leaderboard. “I got a good one under my belt,” said Flesch, who does understatement as well as he does 4-irons.
He wasn't surprised he played well. He has played well all year. But Flesch did savor it. While Tiger Woods fretted over, yes, the arc of his swing plane, Flesch said: “It took me so long to get here. I'm just enjoying playing.”
The boys at Triple Crown are loving it, too. He plays with them occasionally when he's home, though not as much as he used to. “They're good fans,” said Flesch. “I'm sure they'll be watching.”
Accompanied by lagers and cigars, no doubt. A couple years ago, they followed Flesch around the Memorial course. I followed him with them. Let's just say everyone knew they were there.
If their man is making the winning walk Sunday, no one at Triple Crown will be safe.
Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at (513) 768-8454.
Continuing British Open coverage from Associated Press
Sports Stories
Astros 6, Reds 2
Box, runs
Griffey offers to pitch in to keep Larkin
Wohlers: 'Sideshow' of setbacks ends
Bell completes third generation
McKeon raises the roof
Diamondbacks-Reds Scouting report
Most viewers shut out of live Hall coverage
Brennaman defined by boldness
Dillon could sign for a year
Bengals-Pickens divorce final
XU recruit MVP in all-star game
Satterfield, U.S. men win
