June 21 — Despite plans to tear up the course at Pebble Beach Golf Links last week’s U.S. Open, New England golfer Jon Curran didn’t make it to the weekend.
“EXTREMELY disappointed…should have made that cut,” Curran, from Hopkinton, Mass., posted on his Twitter account Friday.
Another New England golfer, J.J. Henry (Fairfield, Conn.), also failed to make the cut. Curran and Henry finished at 10-over and 9-over, respectively.
U.S. Women’s Open. Meanwhile, LPGA Tour pros Alison Walshe and Liz Janangelo were looking forward to their turns at the U.S. Women’s Open next month. Walsh, from Westford, Mass., will be playing in her third consecutive Open, while Janangelo (Hartford, Conn.) will tee it up in her fifth Open tilt at Oakmont Country Club from July 8-July 11.
Both golfers had heard horror stories about Oakmont’s greens, which will demand as much skill and imagination as those that tortured golfers at Pebble Beach last week.
“I try to block it out when people talk about [the fast greens and challenging rough],” Janangelo said in a phone interview. “I tend to scare myself, so I’ll make my own opinion whey I get there.”
Wanted: Quick greens. Walshe, for her part, is working on her short game to prepare for Oakmont’s putting surfaces. On the road in Ohio and Illinois before a quick visit back home to Massachusetts, the 25-year-old Boston golfer seeks speedy, firm greens to practice on wherever she goes.
“I try to find quick greens because I’ve heard Oakmont’s are undulating and lightning-fast,” Walshe said. “I’m working on putting because the greens are so crazy, and just hitting fairways because the rough will be out of control.”
Hectic week. As for the guys, Henry, 35, was an old hand, playing in his sixth U.S. Open. For 23-year-old Curran, however, his first major championship experience was a cyclone of unexpected activity.
Just earning entry to the Open was as rigorous a test as Curran had had in his stellar career. He had to win playoffs at Rhode Island and New Jersey qualifiers just to get in.
Then life got crazy, as he suddenly needed a place to stay; the USGA, which runs the Open, took care of everything, Curran said before the Open.
No Priceline this time. “I’m usually driving to tournaments and going on Priceline [to search for deals] for hotels,” he added.
Curran’s father and members of Framingham Country Club, where the young Curran got his start, helped him fund his excursion, according to the Boston Globe.
Getting his first look at Pebble Beach on June 12, Curran was determined to act as if he’d been there before.
“I’m just looking at this as a tournament, something I’ve played in for years,’’ Curran told the Globe. “I mean, it’s great, it’s awesome, but you can’t get caught up. I don’t want to blink my eyes and the next thing I know be on a plane home, but have all these stories of ‘I saw this guy, I saw that guy.’ I’d sound like an amateur.’’
The fact is, he hadn’t been there before, which may have made his missed cut that much more devastating. Curran is making his way on golf’s mini-tours. He made four of seven cuts last year on the NGA Hooters Tour, from which he has banked $3,925.
Biggest event by far. Despite the enormity of the situation, Curran was determined to play his own game.
“It’s not only a major, but the biggest event I’ve played in, by far,” Curran said about his final qualifying round. “All that aside, it could have been a Monday Nationwide qualifier and I would have felt the same thing.
“I felt like, ‘Finally, all right!’” Curran said.
Third time’s a charm. This year was Curran’s third attempt to qualify for an Open spot. Judging by the young golfer’s confidence and grit, it won’t be his last.
“When you keep trying to do something and you miss by a little bit, you can get frustrated,” he said. “You keep trying and it’s not quite going your way, and then you finally make it. Yeah.”
Next up: Oakmont. The women were also looking to make their marks at this year’s upcoming major.
“The Open is truly a challenge in every way,” said Janangelo. “It’s a difficult course and takes a toll mentally [as well as physically]. So many factors play a role, but it’s the most incredible experience.”
Another New England golfer, Brittany Altomare (Shrewsbury, Mass.), will be riding high into the Open. The 19-year-old standout junior golfer earned last week’s Women’s Eastern Golf Association Amateur title by four shots, thanks in large part to her flat stick. Jarring a 12-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to cap her win should help Altomare’s confidence on Oakmont’s tricky greens.
Golfworld, by the way, lists Altomare, an NCAA All-American last year as a freshman at the University of Virginia, as one of the Top-50 Players to Watch. Altomare missed the cut in her first Open try.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. She also writes the Boston Golf Examiner and National Golf Examiner blogs.)
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