It’s rare to hear a roar in a practice round. But Tuesday at Congressional, the stars aligned for Jeff Overton.
Playing with the U.S. Open’s top drawing card, Phil Mickelson, there was a big crowd at the 13th hole. Hitting a 6-iron on the 193-yard par 3, Overton treated them to a hole-in-one, just the second for the 28-year-old.
It held more significance than the first, which came at the third hole at Torrey Pines North.
“I don’t even count it because it was the first shot of the day in a pro-am,” said Overton, whose most memorable shot came on the 18th hole of the Barclays, where he made a double eagle, bouncing a shot from 239 yards into the cup.
Overton likes Congressional, He led the 2008 AT&T National after shooting 66-65 in the first two rounds, before fading to ninth place as Anthony Kim won.
“They could make this play as hard or as easy as they want. They have a lot of options,” Overton said. “They could make [the winning score] 7-over if they wanted. But I think they’ll make it fair. It’s a nice, big golf course that’s fun.”
Despite his ace, Overton was on the losing side of his practice round better-ball match as he and Mickelson fell to Hunter Mahan and Dustin Johnson. After Overton’s eagle at No. 13, no one in the foursome had a birdie the rest of the way on the brutal back nine.
Different strokes
Dustin Johnson blew a three-shot lead in the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open. Rory McIlroy did the same with a four-stroke advantage in this year’s Masters. But there has been little similarity in how they have dealt publicly with their high-profile failures.
“It’s the first time in that situation. You’re going to be feeling the pressure and I certainly did,” McIlroy, 22, said. “The more you get yourself in that position, the more you’ll be able to deal with it better.”
While McIlroy has been introspective, Johnson has been anything but. He was asked on Tuesday how long it took to get over his final-round 82 in the U.S. Open.
“It didn’t take very long at all,” Johnson, 26, said. “I’m pretty sure I was done with it by Monday morning when I woke up.”
Not that Johnson didn’t learn from his experience. When he analyzed his triple bogey-double bogey-bogey run on holes No. 3 through 5 at Pebble Beach, he realized he altered his tempo when things went wrong.
“I started walking faster, swinging faster, just going through my routine faster,” Johnson said. “When I was in the same situation at the PGA, I really slowed down.”
Johnson blew a one-shot lead on the final hole of the PGA when he grounded his club in a poorly defined fairway bunker and took a two-stroke penalty. But he also pointed out that he birdied No. 16 and No. 17 at brutal Whistling Straits to get the lead.
No 62s this week
The last time Hunter Mahan saw Congressional, he shot 62 in the final round of the AT&T National, putting heat on eventual winner Tiger Woods. On Tuesday, the same course bore little resemblance to the one he torched two years ago, especially the 18th hole, the second longest par 4 in U.S. Open history at 523 yards.
“Hitting 5- or 4-iron into this green? It’s not necessarily a 4- or 5-iron green. It’s a tough hole,” Mahan said. “[In 2009] I hit a sand wedge.”
Mahan, 29, enters in strong form. Since missing the cut at the Masters, he has finished in the top 20 in four straight events.
