Golf News

The Booz Allen Classic and the U.S. Open

Still shocked by Phil Mickelson's meltdown on the 18th hole last weekend? Wondering if Colin Montgomerie will ever win a major? And after an overhauled PGA Tour schedule left the Booz Allen Classic without a future sponsor, are you mourning what could be the PGA Tour's final weekend in Washington?

Washington Post sports columnist Leonard Shapiro was live from the booth at the Booz Allen Classic Friday, June 23 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss this week's tournament, last week's U.S. Open, and any other questions or comments you have about golf.

The transcript follows.

Watch:

PGA's Local Presence Up in the Air

Read: Leonard Shapiro's recent columns

Listen Now: Shapiro Updates Booz Allen Leaderboard

More From The Post:

Booz Allen Leaderboard

Today's Tee Times

Curtis Starts Booz Allen In Near-Record Fashion (Post, June 23)

A Last Hurrah For PGA In Area? (Post, June 22)

Boswell: An Improper Send-Off , (Post, June 23)

Boswell: Opportunity, And Paradise, Lost at Open (Post, June 19)

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Herndon, Va.: Hi Leonard, What do you think will happen with future PGA events happening in the D.C. area?

Leonard Shapiro: I suspect we're going to get an event here in the fall that, as usual, will not include many of the game's big name stars. I also think we have a shot at getting an LPGA event here, probably not until 2008, but I know they're very interested in the market, and right now, it's a terrific tour with lots of great young players, soon to include Michelle Wie.

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Alexandria, Va.: In your opinion, what is the main difference between 5 over at the U.S. Open and 14 under at the Booz Allen (or any other PGA stop)? Is it the length of the rough? The speed of the greens? The tournament pressure?

Leonard Shapiro: The courses are night and day. Here it's wife fairways, minimal rough, better greens. There it's five inch rough, fairways the size of a runway at 30,000 feet and impossible greens. Five over at Winged Foot last week was probably the equivalent of 10-under here, maybe even 12 or 14 under.

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Bethesda, Md.: Mickelson has been roasted for his decision making on the 72nd hole and somewhat understandably. However, I don't have any quarrel with the driver off the tee because I don't think he had confidence he was going to find the fairway with a 4 wood. With respect to the second shot, that was how he played the entire week-he just didn't execute. NBC's camera work was awful on the second shot, but Maltbie who was down there never indicated nor suggested Mickelson couldn't make the play he tried. Lastly, Mickelson was totally jobbed by the lie he got in the trap. I think it is safe to say by virtue of how he was putting and chipping he would have gotten up and down from the trap if he had gotten a playable lie. Sure, he could have played the hole differently, but this to me was not Van de Velde-ian in collapsing magnitude.

Leonard Shapiro: I'll respectfully disagree. He didn't hit a fairway on the back nine, only two on the front. A 3-iron or 4-wood would have gotten him 230 yards into the fairway if he hit it semi-straight. Even if he couldn't get home on his second shot, this is one of the game's great chippers and putters, and at least he would have had a chance to get up and down for a par to win. As for his lie in the sand, he wasn't jobbed, he hit it in a bunker, which is supposed to be penal. Lots of players had fried egg lies. I agree with you on NBC's camera work, but in their defense, who would ever have though he'd hit it into a tent. White ball on white canvas, it was tough to pick up.

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Anonymous: While Mickelson's play and, even more so, decision making, were horrendous on 18, it shouldn't be overlooked that he played phenomenally until then. The wood from the rough was obviously a bad decision, and he should have clearly hit his driver less, but winning the U.S. Open while hitting only two fairways was in his grasp.

To me, what makes this so surprising is that his play on 18, and perhaps a few drives, seemed 180 degrees opposite his thinking over the past two years--you know, over the period when he's won three majors. I hope this will reinforce to him that his approach over that period is the way to go, rather than let the fact that he did almost win the Open while only hitting two fairways convince him that that's the way to go...

Leonard Shapiro: His own words, "I'm such an idiot," tell you all you need to know about his decision making. Maybe he got caught up in the moment, with the New York fans cheering him every step of the way. I suspect it's a lesson well learned and you'll see him win several more majors in the next five or more years, as many as seven or eight, I suspect.

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Beginner in Va.: I'm not sure if this is the right place for my question but I thought I'd try.

My husband and I are just starting out as golfers and looking for a course that's easy to start with in the Northern Virginia area. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Leonard Shapiro: Not a problem. Try Pinecrest just off 395 South near Landmark shopping center. A nice nine hole course. I always loved to play at Hains Point in the District--flat, wide fairway, great river views, a good driving range and very affordable.

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Arlington, Va.: Mr. Shapiro, what kind of turn out is expected for the Booz Allen this weekend? Are people buying tickets at the gates or is attendance struggling due to the lack of big names?

Leonard Shapiro: Just anecdotally, it looks like crowds are down for the first two days. Might be different over the weekend, but weather will be an issue with rain in the forecast again Saturday. Like every golf writer in America, I pray for only one thing: no Monday finish!!!

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D.C. native: Used to love the Kemper open, went every year for over a decade. It is truly sad that the PGA has left the tournament out in the cold. Maybe guys like Norman were right when they said they should leave the PGA and start their own tour? Your thoughts?

Leonard Shapiro: I don't think there's any question we've been given the short end of the stick here by the PGA Tour--see Boswell's column today in sports--but players breaking off from the tour seems a bit radical. Norman is talking about the elite players forming their own tour, and I think that would be a mistake. I do think the tour has also offended a number of its players with the new schedule format, and lots of guys are plenty steamed about Washington going to a fall date, if a sponsor can be found.

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washingtonpost.com: An Improper Send-Off, (Post, June 23, 2006)

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Rockville, Md.: Has the PGA Tour seized the title of "Most Inept Sports Leadership" from MLB? The D.C. area has to be top 5 in terms of golf interest and money. There's no valid reason we should be stuck with a third-tier event.

Local businesses might as well chip-in to start a non-PGA sanctioned event and offer a huge payday. Sort of like the Masters.

Leonard Shapiro: I think Finchem is a very smart guy, but wonder why he's making such dumb moves involving this tournament, not signing with ESPN and getting 15 events and all Thursday-Friday coverage on the Golf Channel. Maybe he knows something we don't, and as far as Washington is concerned, there are $40 million reasons Memphis got the spot Booz Allen wanted the week before the U.S. Open. In any league, money always talks.

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Phil's collapse: It was completely Van de Velde-ian. The difference is Van de Velde is a European and therefore gets judged more harshly and is not as talented, which of course should make it less of an issue but somehow makes it more of one.

Leonard Shapiro: I'll disagree. This was worse than Van de Velde, because at least Jean, despite making triple bogey at Carnoustie in '99, got himself in a playoff. Mickelson is No. 2 in the world and is getting plenty of heat. Carnoustie was the comedie francaise. This is golf's version of a Shakespearean tragedy, though I hesitate to associate the word tragedy in any way, shape or form with losing a golf tournament.

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Germantown, Md.: I've always enjoyed your coverage of golf, and appreciate the coverage you've done of the LPGA.

I've been going to the Kemper/Booz Allen tournament for years, and it's always seemed to be well supported by fans in the area. I read with interest the comments from both the PGA Tour and Booz Allen for the reasons the tournament is moving to the fall, and found the different "versions" to be interesting (if not a bit depressing!). Do you believe it will still receive the same type of fan support it has enjoyed over the years? I worry - it's awfully hard to compete with the Redskins come fall Sundays... Why does the Tour seem to not be interested in having a viable stop in the DC area?

Leonard Shapiro: I think the tour wants to be in Washington, and I'm hoping that at some point, a sponsor will pull out of an event in the spring/summer and Washington will get a chance to get back in the real rotation. A fall event makes no sense after the majors, after the FedEx Cup, after the Ryder and President's Cups, when none of the top players will show up, just as they don't now.

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Burke, Va.: About Phil's tee shot -- I'd like to respectfully disagree with your respectful disagreement.

Phil tried to hit his "banana-slice" drive -- this is his equivalent of Tiger's "stinger"; a shot that he feels is going to hit the fairway a high percentage of the time.

It's not at all the same as whipping out the big dog and trying to bomb one 400 yards.

Now, failing to chip back into the fairway, THAT was a dopey decision.

Leonard Shapiro: Excuse me, but he tried to hit that controlled fade 14 times on the day. Repeat, he missed the fairway 12 of 13 times before he got to 18. Why would he think he could buck those sort of odds? Makes no sense to me whatsoever, and I suspect before the British, or whenever he next faces the media, he'll admit it as well.

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Fairfax, Va.: I am soooo hoping you will let me plug a charity golf tournament to benefit mentally and physically disabled children.

Thanks!

Leonard Shapiro: Feel free to plug away.

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Arlington, Va.: Len, no more Booz Allen in D.C.? Ever?

Leonard Shapiro: No more Booz Allen Classic, because Booz Allen's deal with the tour ends with this year's event. Maybe it'll be the Fannie Mae Open, or the Sprint Classic, but Booz Allen is over and out.

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Alexandria, Va.: I don't think Phil's meltdown had anything to do with his decision to hit his driver. He wasn't hitting any club straight off the tee, so the driver made sense. It was the second shot that cost him the tournament; that shot HAS to get back in play to protect bogey.

As to the Booz Allen sponsor issue, given all the danged money in this town, why the heck isn't someone, some company, stepping forward? This isn't about money, not at this level, one would think.

Leonard Shapiro: Enough with Phil, though you're right about his second shot, which hit a tree and came right back at him. He probably should have been aiming for the grandstand down the right side, where he'd have gotten a free lift and likely been able to get up and down from the drop area for his par, or at worse a bogey. The dumbest decision of all, however, came at No. 5 on Sunday, a short par 5 birdie hole, when he hit his drive into deep grass down the left side and pulls out a 4-wood. I saw no one all week try a wood from that five-inch spinach, and Phil moved his ball all of three feet, eventually making a dreadful bogey. A sand wedge 70 yards up the fairway, a short iron to the green gives him a chance at birdie and an almost certain par. He missed the playoff by a shot, and there it was.

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Bethesda, Md.: I started at the Kemper in 1980 as a "runner"--sprinting scorecards after nine holes to the main scoreboard (no computers then)--became a scoreboard operator, a standard bearer, and finally graduated to beer-drinking gallery member. I got my first autograph from anyone when Arnie signed my hat at the first Kemper. I was there when Jack shot 30 on the front nine of the blue and I was sitting at 16 (really the 5th hole of the gold course) when Freddie Couples ended the five man playoff in '84. I'll miss the old girl and Finchem shouldn't play us like that, but it is business and I'll always have my memories.

Leonard Shapiro: Sounds like a true Blue golf fan, if you'll pardon the pun. I know thousands of people who attended or even worked as volunteers at the tournament who are all heartbroken. Even us cynical sports writers are miffed. Can you tell?

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