Unlikely pair at top creates Open drama

By Thomas Boswell
The Washington Post

E-Mail

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. ---- There isn't enough valium on earth for Ricky Barnes to win the U.S. Open. Or for that matter, for his old buddy Lucas Glover to grab the biggest prize in golf, either. But, all the same, they're going to be in the last twosome today when our national championship is decided.

They're not just ahead of the field. They're way ahead, tied for the lead with a five-shot margin over four players tied for third -- including Phil Mickelson.

Golf is cruel, but this is ridiculous. What a setup.

Why not just shackle Barnes and Glover together at the ankles, cover them in fire ants and say, "Good luck, boys." Sure, you're going to root for Phil. Fine. That's OK. So is everybody else with a pulse. But save some sympathy, please, for Barnes and Glover. And if one of them should, against all common sense and their own nerves, somehow win this Open, be gracious. Hug 'em.

Barnes, after winning the U.S. Amateur in '02, has found the professional life an utter misery, never winning any event, even on the minor league Nationwide tour. Only this season has he finally scuffled his way onto the PGA Tour, the very last man to get his card, with a best finish so far of 47th. As for Glover, who's a solid Tour pro, he has only one career win and says, honestly, "I've never been here before. We'll see what happens. I don't think there are many people who think that I can or will do it. I'll keep my opinion to myself."

You look loose, he was told. "It's an act," he said.

While a victory by Glover would be a mammoth upset, few can fathom the significance of a victory by Barnes. We're talking about a player who is so far out of his element, so intent on keeping his emotions from flying apart, that he doesn't know what day it is. "It felt like Sunday out there today," said Barnes, referring to the atmosphere and pressure of a round in which he'd shot an erratic but admirable even-par 70 to back up his opening rounds of 67-65--132 that set a new 36-hole Open record.

Then Barnes repeated, "It felt like Sunday." It is Sunday, Ricky.

Some fans feel that players like these, who seem like clutter in a final pairing in a major tournament, are some kind of athletic refuse that needs to be swept away -- and almost always is -- to make room for the usual stars. But I'm just a sucker for them. I always take the bait. It's just one round of golf. Why couldn't one of them shoot a 70 or 71? That might be enough. Who's going to make up that much ground? This is a soft, wet course, not all that tough.

Why couldn't they do it? Then you hear them talk. And you study what golf has already put them through. You imagine how much it would mean to them to win -- far, far too much to help them play well. And you hold your breath, just hope they keep their dignity.

"I'm in good position. I shot even par with the lead in the Open," said Barnes, the Stockton native who had a brief 6-shot lead and once reached the stratosphere of 11 under par, making him the fourth player ever to have a double-digit under-par Open score.

Only two factors make it conceivable that Barnes could actually win. First, he has enormous talent. Second, he has suffered.

Whatever the lowest rung of golf's hell may be, he's been within sight of it. In '02 while at Arizona, he won the U.S. Amateur. In '03 he won the Ben Hogan Award as the nation's top collegiate golfer. At the '03 Masters, he was low amateur, finished 17th and, when paired with Tiger Woods, trounced him by seven. Think that got noticed? Only by the whole sport, especially since Barnes has a physique like his father who played in the NFL and hits the ball a ton.

"I obviously thought after my college career I'd be out here right away," said Barnes. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really (ticked) off the first two or three years, seeing other guys that you played with getting out there and playing well. The guys you know you competed against in every tournament and every step of the way."

One of those was Glover.

"Ricky and I have known each other forever -- junior golf, college golf. We're friends," said Glover. Yet they hadn't played together since the '02 Open here, back when Barnes was still a supernova.

Now, they make either a perfect final pairing or a perfect nightmare for each other. Will their old friendship and common enemy (the course) bond them, calm them, inspire them? Or will they watch each other unravel?

"He earned his way out here," said Woods of Barnes. "He played the entire Tour on the Nationwide to get here. It's not like he qualified and got in, by luck, by chance."

As Barnes thought ahead, he didn't imagine an Open title. Instead, he said, "I made some mistakes. But I'll cherish the good things I did." Hold that thought.