Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BY JAIME DIAZ THE NEW YORK TIMES LENGTH: Long
With a game that is essentially short, straight and conservative, he has captured the golfing public's imagination as a player whose greatest strength lies in having no weakness.
When the 90th Open begins Thursday at Medinah (Ill.) Country Club, Strange will tee off not only as defending champion but as the player most of his peers consider America's finest. The 35-year-old Kingsmill resident will be chasing the record of Willie Anderson, who won the Open in 1903, 1904 and 1905.
Since then, five other men have won back-to-back Open titles.
Strange's stardom is not on the level of Greg Norman, whose soaring shots leave galleries awestruck. But he brings his own brand of charm with his ability to make par after par on difficult Open courses where birdies rarely come in bunches.
A trademark of Strange's game is that when he hits a poor shot, his course-management skills generally ensure that the ball will wind up in an area from which he can recover.
When he decides to play boldly and putts well, as he did last year on his way to a second-round 64, he can make birdies.
And when the heat is greatest on the final nine, Strange rarely makes a mistake.
It's a fiercely controlled style of play predicated on a favorite saying among the caddies on the PGA Tour: "Nobody hates a bogey more than Curtis Strange."
For those who do not appreciate its command, Strange's game is not an exciting one to watch. Then again, the result often is.
It is the type of game that wins U.S. Opens.
"Everything in my game is a little like watching hair grow," Strange said in an interview last month. "But that's the game you want to play at the Open."
History bears him out.
The United States Golf Association prides itself on running the most demanding championship for the best golfers in the world, but the Open is a tournament for which the games of many of the best golfers are ill-suited.
In the last 50 years, the game's greatest power players, often among the dominant players of their eras, have not fared as well in the Open as they have in other major tournaments.
Sam Snead, who has the most PGA Tour career victories (81), never won the U.S. Open in 31 attempts. Arnold Palmer won one, though he lost three others in playoffs. Tom Watson has won one. Seve Ballesteros has never finished better than third in 11 Opens.
Norman, probably the most accurate long driver in history, has finished in the top 10 once in seven attempts, when Fuzzy Zoeller beat him in a playoff at Winged Foot in 1984.
"It's always been the hardest of the four majors for me to win," said Jack Nicklaus, who at Medinah will be making his 34th start in the national championship. He will be seeking a record fifth U.S. Open title.
The history of the Open is filled with winners whose forte was making par by keeping the ball on the fairways with short- to medium-length drives, hitting the greens with steady iron shots, and, very often, having an exceptional week of putting.
The quintessential Open player was Ben Hogan, who won four championships from 1948 and 1953 with perhaps the most accurate tee-to-green game in history.
Lee Trevino won two, as did Billy Casper, Julius Boros and Hale Irwin.
Andy North, a tall man with a little man's game, has one regular PGA Tour victory. He has won two U.S. Opens.
Strange has won 17 tournaments in his 14-year career, but his two Opens are his only victories in major championships.
"Curtis' natural game is a U.S. Open-style game," Nicklaus said.
"He has to adapt his game to the Open courses much less than a power player like myself. Curtis is straighter off the tee than me and has a better short game than I did. His game is making pars, not necessarily a lot of birdies. On the other hand, Curtis would have to adapt a great deal to win the Masters or even the British Open, where the wider driving areas allow me to play more of my natural game."
Along with Strange, the player whose game - in both quality and style - is best suited to Medinah is Nick Faldo, who has won the last two Masters. Strange beat Faldo in a playoff in 1988 to win his first Open title.
Faldo, 32, has his own dream to chase: He is the only man this year with a chance at the Grand Slam. Such talk about the winner of the year's first major usually is presumptuous, but Faldo has won three of the last 11 majors, lost another in a playoff and finished in the top 10 in three others.
"Nick and Curtis basically play the same game," said Nicklaus, who was paired with Faldo in the final round of the Masters. "They don't do anything remarkable with the ball like Ballesteros or Norman. But they hit one straight, solid shot after another. And they are very patient."
The most troublesome part of Strange's game this year has been his usually reliable putter. He ranks 76th in putting among players on the tour.
Tied for the lead after three rounds of the recent Southwestern Bell Colonial, Strange began the fourth round by three-putting from six feet on the second hole and from 10 feet on the third.
Still, as he has been constantly interviewed about a "three-peat" at tour stops, Strange has been making sure he savors a career interlude that may never come again.
"It's going to be pretty tough to give up that trophy," Strange said.
Can he win?
"I think I can gear myself for this one week," he said. "I kind of did that last year, forgot about everything that came before. I might be being unfair to myself to think about winning, but I actually am. I just want a chance on the weekend."
by CNB