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ARDMORE, Penn. (May 3, 2013) -- Webb
Simpson was fully expecting to have a life-
altering experience last
summer. He just thought it was going to
happen in July, not in June.
Simpson’s wife, Dowd, gave birth to the
couple’s second child, Willow Grace, on July
28, a year after they
welcomed son John.
But the Charlotte, N.C., resident also wound
up getting a Father’s Day gift he’ll never
forget. Playing nearly
flawless golf on The Olympic Club’s demanding
Lake Course, Simpson shot a pair of 2-under
68s over the
final two rounds to claim the 2012 U.S. Open
by one stroke over 2010 champion Graeme
McDowell and
Michael Thompson.
Despite being a two-time PGA Tour champion
who was ranked in the top 15 of the Official
World Golf
Ranking, Simpson, then 26 and making his
second U.S. Open start, was a virtual
unknown to casual fans.
That changed on a cool Sunday afternoon in
San Francisco.
Thanks to worldwide media attention, people
no longer need a media guide to recognize
Simpson.
“Me personally … I don’t think I’ve changed,”
said Simpson via Skype at 2013 U.S. Open
Media Day at
Merion Golf Club on April 30, six weeks before
beginning his title defense and four days
ahead of the first of
111 Open local qualifiers, today on the East
Course at the Club at Admiral’s Cove in
Jupiter, Fla. The USGA
accepted a record 9,860 entries for this year’s
U.S. Open.
“I hope I haven’t [changed],” Simpson
continued. “I don’t want to change based on
successes or failures, but
when it comes to golf, a lot has changed. My
World Ranking went up a lot. I think I made it
to fifth in the
world (from No. 14) after the U.S. Open. My
confidence grew tremendously.”
Coming into the U.S. Open, Simpson wasn’t
considered a strong contender. He had missed
the cut at his two
starts leading into the championship: The
Players Championship and The Memorial, both
big events on the
PGA Tour schedule.
But Simpson, a 2007 USA Walker Cup Team
member and Wake Forest All-American, had
affection for The
Olympic Club. Even though he had lost,
ironically, to eventual runner-up Thompson in
the first round of the
2007 U.S. Amateur at Olympic, Simpson
walked away with positive thoughts.
He’ll bring similar memories to Merion, a
venue he played for the first time eight years
ago. Simpson
advanced to the second round of the 2005
U.S. Amateur, falling to future PGA Tour
winner Anthony Kim. Just
as in 2007 at Olympic, Simpson instantly fell
in love with Merion. He’s maintained that level
of fondness in
subsequent visits.
“I tell people all the time it is my favorite
golf course in the world,” said Simpson. “What
it demands out of
the players is so different than most golf
courses. It seems like most golf courses now
are evolving to be a
bombers’ paradise [where] every par 4 is 500
yards and you hit driver on every hole.
“Merion’s the opposite. I only hit a few
drivers. That’s where I think that [experience]
will help me. I’ve
already played in a big championship there.
There are a lot of intricacies with Merion that
a player will go
around for the first time and not see them
all.”
Because Merion rewards precision over power,
Simpson already knows he’ll be wearing out
his hybrid 3-iron
from many of the teeing grounds. At Merion,
controlling ball flight and playing from the
fairway are vital for
success.
He pointed to the par-4 11th, a 367-yard
downhill hole featuring a blind tee shot.
Baffling Brook runs down
the left-hand side, then crosses in front of and
hugs the right side of the green.
“[It] is going to be something around a 230- to
250[-yard] club,” said Simpson of the tee
shot. If you drive
it in the rough, you are probably not going to
go for the green because you won’t be able to
clear the water.
So it turns into a quick bogey. [But] if you
drive it in the fairway, you’ll have a sand
wedge [approach] and
it’s a great birdie hole.”
Simpson’s game seems to be rounding into
shape for his defense. He skipped the 2012
British Open for
Willow’s birth, and then failed to play the
weekend at the next two majors, the PGA
Championship and last
month’s Masters. But Simpson nearly claimed
the RBC Heritage a week after his
disappointing performance
at Augusta National. He tied McDowell over 72
holes, though McDowell prevailed at Harbour
Town Golf Links
when Simpson three-putted from the fringe on
the first playoff hole.
Going into the Wells Fargo Championship in
his adopted hometown of Charlotte, Simpson
had made eight of
11 cuts in 2013 with two top-10s and a
quarterfinal showing at the Accenture Match
Play Championship. He
hopes that solid form will continue into the
second week of June.
“It’s an honor for me to defend such a big
title,” said Simpson. “But it’s even more of an
honor at a place I
love. I can’t wait to get there.”
ABOUT THE U.S. Open
The U.S. Open is the biggest of the 14 national
championships conducted by the USGA.
Open
to amateurs and professionals.
The USGA intends to make the U.S. Open
the
most rigorous, yet fair, examination of golf
skills, testing all forms of shot-making. The
USGA prepares the course after careful
consideration of 14 different factors.
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