ChAmpionShipS mediA GUide - USGA

Senior
Open
6 U.S. Senior Open
Despite a charge from Mark O’Meara, who tied for the lead
three times on Sunday, the story was Olin Browne from start
to finish.
Browne punctuated his historic week at the 2011 U.S. Senior
Open at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, with style by dropping
a 28-foot birdie putt to shoot an even-par 71 to finish at
15-under-par 269. O’Meara matched Browne step-for-step
early but faded in the end, finishing three strokes behind him
at 12-under 272.
The crowd around the 18th green erupted when Browne’s
putt fell, making him the first wire-to-wire winner of the
championship since Dale Douglass in 1986 and the second
in its history. Browne’s performance was one for the record
books; he set numerous records, including the lowest 54-hole
total in the history of the championship (15-under 198), lowest
nine-hole scoring with a 5-under-par 29 on the inward nine
on Saturday and the lowest score in the opening round by a
winner (64).
But Browne, who won three PGA Tour events in his career but
no majors, wasn’t concerned with how he got the win.
“I don’t think it matters how you win,” said Browne, who won
for the first time on the Champions Tour and the first time in
142 starts. “I don’t think it matters whether you shoot 63 coming
from the pack. I don’t think it matters if you shoot 75 after
having a six-shot lead.”
For a championship that was defined by low scores — the 128
sub-par rounds smashed the record of 116 set at Crooked Stick
Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., in 2009 — Sunday’s course set-up
was tougher on the field. Heavy rains preceding the championship
softened the course and made the hole locations more
accessible, but by Sunday they began to regain their firmness.
“You didn’t see quite as low of scoring today because it is
Sunday,” said runner-up O’Meara. “The pins are a little
tougher, the nerves are a little bit more there. There is pressure,
even though there’s pressure to me every day I play.”
Early in the final round it looked as if O’Meara might take the
lead over Browne. Birdies at the opening hole, a 398-yard
par 4, and the 514-yard, par-5 fourth hole brought him to
15-under and a share of the lead with Browne. He again tied
for the lead when Browne bogeyed the 565-yard eighth hole,
but O’Meara could never take the outright lead.
The momentum clearly shifted in Browne’s direction when
O’Meara’s 12-foot birdie putts on 10 and 11 didn’t drop.
“I didn’t really putt as well today,” said O’Meara. “I really
needed to make the putts on 10 and 11, and I didn’t make
Browne Wins the 2011 Championship
those. Olin drove the ball well coming home. He put it in the
fairway. He hit the greens. That’s what you’ve got to do in a
USGA event to win.”
O’Meara’s chances evaporated when he bogeyed the 461yard,
par-4 13th and the 488-yard, par-4 16th.
The tough stretch of finishing holes featured six of the eight
toughest scoring holes for the week, including the 14th (most
difficult), 13th (second) and 16th (third). Browne navigated the
stretch in a masterful 8-under par for the week.
“I knew if I was in the lead or somewhere near the lead on the
back nine that there was going to be all kinds of stuff happening,”
Browne said. “It’s just too hard a nine holes of golf. I just
did the very best that I could. I hit as many functional shots to
stay in it, not lose my patience and not start doing stupid stuff.”
And hit functional shots he did, as Browne worked his way
patiently through the back nine, capping off his performance
with his long birdie putt on the 18th.
Throughout the day, the closest any player came to O’Meara
and Browne was Mark Calcavecchia, who began the final
round six strokes behind Browne. He pulled within two strokes
of the lead when he holed a 100-foot putt for birdie on the
par-3 12th, but couldn’t sustain his momentum. Calcavecchia,
who finished as the runner-up at the Senior British Open the
week prior, bogeyed the 13th on his way to a third-place finish.
“The way I felt today, it was kind of a miracle, so I’m, happy
with that,” Calcavecchia said. “Just didn’t feel too good today.
Got a little shaky with my putter, although I didn’t miss any real
short ones. I dead yanked that par putt on 14 and didn’t hit a
good putt on the last hole.”
Another story was Hale Irwin, whose closing 68 was good
enough for a fourth-place finish, giving him the most top-five
finishes in the history of the Senior Open with eight, one better
than Jack Nicklaus’ mark of seven.
From his opening round 64 to his 28-foot birdie putt on the
last hole, the 2011 U.S. Senior Open was ‘The Olin Browne
Show.’ For a player who has been so close to winning the U.S.
Open, finally capturing a major championship was rewarding.
“I had a couple of shots at Congressional (in 1997) and at
Pinehurst (in 2005),” said Browne, “and I butchered Pinehurst
on Sunday, played with Michael Campbell and watched him
win. This is very satisfying for me.”