Friday’s OPen Notebook

Friday’s OPen Notebook

More from Pinehurst No.2

THANKS, DAD: Kevin Kisner got a jump on Father’s Day by coaxing his own dad out of the gallery Friday to serve as a last-minute caddie.

The 30-year-old PGA Tour pro was already 8 over and certain to miss the cut in his first national championship when he arrived at Pinehurst’s 16th. Kisner said a double bogey there convinced him to send regular caddie Duane Bock into the crowd and turn the bib over to Steve Kisner.

“At first I was a little concerned about interfering with the group,” Steve Kisner said, sitting alongside his son after the round. “One of the guys (in the group) still had a chance to make the cut and I didn’t want to change the flow. But Kevin insisted, and once he insisted I was glad to do it.”

Steve Kisner passed on his love of the game and had caddied for his son a few dozen times before, most recently at a mini-tour event.

The reason for his reluctance initially may have been about more than just disrupting the flow.

“You weren’t drinking a beer or anything out there, were you?” a reporter asked.

“Actually I had a couple out there,” Steve Kisner. “So I might be a good interview.”

Telling a good story apparently runs in the family. Kevin Kisner and wife Brittany had their first child Monday, leaving Kevin just enough time to drive over from Aiken, South Carolina, and get in a few practice holes. Whatever free time he gained by missing the weekend play at Pinehurst will be devoted to looking after his new daughter — and Steve’s fifth grandchild — Kate.

“Changing diapers before you came here?” someone asked.

“I got one in and that’s it,” Kevin Kisner said. “But I’m sure I’m going to get a lot more tonight.”

“Are you pretty good?” came another follow-up.

“I’m not real sure,” Kevin Kisner replied, “but we’ll find out.”

LET’S PUTT TWO: Matt Kuchar rolled in a 2-foot bogey putt on the sixth hole. Then, he set down another ball and holed the putt again.

He was just playing it safe.

Kuchar’s ball moved before he could hit the putt. If he had addressed the ball, it would have been a one-shot penalty and Kuchar would have had to replace it to its original position. He called over a rules official to discuss it, and Kuchar was certain he had not addressed it. Lee Westwood, his playing partner, agreed.

“We called in a walking rules official and he says, ‘Not really sure,’ and we come to the decision that I said, ‘Let’s play two balls and we can discuss it afterwards.”’ And in the discussion afterwards, we came to the same conclusion that I had not addressed it and not caused it to move,” Kuchar said.

He made bogey on the next hole and shot 70 to finish nine shots behind.

ONE AMATEUR LEFT: The only amateur to make the cut at the U.S. Open won’t be one for much longer.

Matthew Fitzpatrick, who was 4 over through two rounds, is scheduled to make his pro debut next week at the Irish Open.

“Making the cut was first priority, really,” said Fitzpatrick, the 19-year-old English player who won the U.S. Amateur last year. “Then just to push on from there is sort of the thing that I always say when I’ve played the professional events ... just make the cut and push on. So, yeah, I made the cut and now I’m trying to move up the leaderboard.”

Associated Press