From the desk of GCM

End of the line at Senior Open for Robinson

Let's start with the good news first — Tommy Robinson finally has a birdie under his belt at a U.S. Senior Open.

In fact, he has three. After not making a birdie during his first experience at a Senior Open two years ago at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, the superintendent at Ravinia Green CC in Deerfield, Ill., will take home a trio of memorable scores from the 2010 event at Sahalee CC. He made a long, downhill put on the first hole for birdie, nearly aced the par-3 fifth hole before settling for an 18-inch tap-in putt and then conquered the lengthy par-4 18th hole in just three shots.

Unfortunately for Robinson, though, those highlights weren't enough to overcome the big numbers that kept haunting the 34-year GCSAA member during his second round. After shooting an 83 in the first round, Robinson finished with an 89 on Friday — a total of 32-over-par for the tournament — and missed the cut by a wide margin.

Good news, bad news

Which one do you want first? Well, I hope you said "good," because that's what you're getting.

This morning, I made my way down to the Tacoma area and toured Chambers Bay Golf Course with superintendent David Wienecke, CPAg, and it was well worth the trip. What a unique golf course property, even when fog obscures most of the postcard-worthy views of the place, which is what happened this morning. From the design to the maintenance to the work being done in advance of next month's U.S. Amateur and the 2015 U.S. Open, just an impressive operation. More words and photos to come.

Now for the bad news: that same fog that covered Chambers Bay also found its way to Sahalee CC and the U.S. Senior Open. In fact, it was so thick that play was suspended for more than two hours this morning. Not only was that bad news for the golfers who were on the course at the time, it was also bad news for Tommy Robinson. Our superintendent competitor this week is in the final group off the first tee in round two, and his start time has now been moved all the way back to 4:10 PM local time, which means there is a very good chance they won't finish their second round before dark tonight.

A Pacific Northwest twinbill

Up and at 'em early on this Friday (yes, it's actually still considered "early" on the West Coast) because I've got a full agenda ahead of me today.

With Tommy Robinson not teeing off until 2:30 p.m. local in the second round of the U.S. Senior Open, I decided to fill my open morning with a trip south to visit this area's other "major" golf venue, Chambers Bay, which will host the U.S. Amateur in a few short weeks as well as the U.S. Open in 2015. Superintendent Dave Wienecke has been gracious enough to give me a little time this morning, so we'll take a casual tour of the course, I'll snap a few pictures and then report on my visit later on the blog.

Before I hit the road, a couple of items that I didn't get to include in last night's post. First is the photo that is included with this post. The golfer in the shot, Jerry Johnson, doesn't really matter much, nor does the occasion — it was the first shot in this year's tournament. Instead, I post the photo (provided courtesy of the USGA) because it provides a great illustration of the challenge facing Robinson and the other competitors this week. This is shot from behind the first tee, and the extremely narrow corridor you see here is typical of almost every hole on the golf course. Any tee ball that veers even a little left or right is flirting with disaster, as Robinson unfortunately learned during his opening-round 83.

Balky driver betrays Robinson at Senior Open

As Tommy Robinson settled into bed on the night before the first round of the U.S. Senior Open, there was one part of his game he felt confident wouldn't give him nightmares — his driving.

During what was largely an uneventful practice round at Sahalee CC on Wednesday, the superintendent from Ravinia Green CC in Deerfield, Ill. — as far as we know, the only working superintendent to ever qualify to compete in a major professional golf event — found only one part of his game giving him any real cause for concern, and that was his driving. It wasn't terrible, mind you, but after that round, he headed to the range to see if he and his tee shots could come to some sort of mutually beneficial agreement.

It didn't take long for that to happen. After just a few swings and a few minor tweaks, Robinson began to hit laser after laser down the range, one following the other. All told, Robinson figures he hit nearly two dozen consecutive drives exactly the way he wanted to. "Driver, 3-wood, it didn't matter. Everything I hit on the range was long and straight," he says.

Long road ahead for Robinson

Tommy Robinson's goal of making the cut at this year's U.S. Senior Open is on life support after a rugged first 18 holes at Sahalee CC in Sammamish, Wash.

Normally a straight and long driver of the ball, Robinson suffered an uncharacteristically poor day off the tee today en route to a 13-over-par 83 that has left him, currently, tied for 146th place in a 156-player field. With the current lead at 4-under-par (Kansan Bruce Vaughn is in sole possession of the lead right now) and the cut set at the low 60 players plus ties, as well as anyone within 10 shots of the lead, Robinson will realistically need to be in red numbers for most of the second round to see the weekend at Sahalee.

"I'm not sure what happened," said a frustrated Robinson following his round. "I just couldn't hit the ball off the tee to save my life. Normally, I'm a pretty straight driver of the ball and kind of struggle with the putter, but today it was the complete opposite. I'm really at a loss."

Rough first nine for Robinson

As superintendent Tommy Robinson makes the turn in the first round of the U.S. Senior Open, I'm making a quick stop back at the media center because ... well, my pen ran out of ink and I didn't have another one. Yea, I know. I should have been prepared. What can I say? I wasn't a very good Boy Scout.

Robinson finished his first nine at 6-over-par 41, which is 10 shots behind current leader Bruce Vaughn, who is at 4-under through 12 holes. Unlike his Wednesday practice round, when Robinson was fairly accurate off the tee but made few putts, he has struggled mightily off the tee thus far but has saved himself even more damage with his short game.

The par-4 18th was a microcosm of his first nine holes. His tee shot ricocheted off a tree on the left side of the fairway and bounced back into the short grass, although well short of the intended landing area. He hit a nice second shot to within 140 yards of the hole, but his third shot came up well short of the green. Needing to get up-and-down for bogey, he flubbed his chip shot and, now laying 4, was still not on the putting surface. However, with a big number looming, he drained a 25-foot putt to salvage bogey, eliciting a large cheer from the fairly sizable crowd around the 18th green.

Back to the course now. Stay tuned to our Twitter account (@GCM_Magazine) for updates.

D-Day for Robinson at Senior Open

The first round of the U.S. Senior Open at Sahalee CC near Seattle is off and running, and GCSAA member Tommy Robinson will take his first swings of the championship in just over 30 minutes.

Before I hit the course to follow every one of those swings, a brief recap of what I expect to happen throughout the day. Robinson, the superintendent at Ravinia Green CC in Deerfield, Ill., is officially scheduled to tee off at 9:15 a.m. Pacific. If pace of play is what I expect it to be, I imagine it will be close to 2 p.m. before his first round is complete. Toss in a quick interview following the round, the walk back to the media center and some time to grab a quick bite to eat, I suspect it will be after 3 p.m. Pacific before I'll be able to post any kind of updates to the blog.

Then, I have plans to meet up with Sahalee superintendent Rich Taylor, CGCS, this afternoon sometime between 4 and 5 p.m. local, just before his team heads out for their afternoon rounds. As you can see, it's a fairly tight schedule that offers very little time to sit down and bang out a blog post or two.

Best way to keep tabs on what's going on today, at least before later this evening, will be through our Twitter account — @GCM_Magazine — which I will update as I can (cell phones are not allowed on the course, but my coveted media badge allows me access. I'll have to keep it conspicuous, though). You can also follow Robinson's round through the live scoring function on the USGA's website.

The trouble with the trees

Tommy Robinson's first impression of Sahalee CC in Sammamish, Wash., wasn't all that different from just about anyone who was seeing this course, just east of downtown Seattle, for the very first time.

"A lot of trees," he said with a laugh. "Trees on the right, trees on the left, trees in the middle."

The trees, of course, are the defining feature of Sahalee, which this week is playing host to the U.S. Senior Open, and the course's first line of defense against the best senior golfers on the planet. The course isn't particularly long, at least for touring professionals (it will play to just over 6,800 yards for the Senior Open). The rough, a perennial ryegrass/Poa annua mix, won't be particularly tall or thick (the first cut of rough along the fairways will only be at an inch and a half). The fairway widths are generous (an average of 26 yards across).

'The most important person here this week'

While I was walking the back nine with Tommy Robinson during his practice round today at the U.S. Senior Open, officials with the USGA met the media to discuss preparations at Sahalee for this week's tournament.

As I read through the transcript of the affair, it caught me a little off guard exactly how forthcoming these officials were in discussing matters of course set-up. As recently as five years ago at events like the Senior Open, things like target green speeds and heights of cut in the rough were state secrets not meant for public consumption. Now, they're calling formal news conferences to announce those details to the media.

The other thing that struck me was how ofter Sahalee CGCS Rich Taylor's name was mentioned during the proceedings. By my count, there were seven specific mentions of Taylor, his crew, the volunteers and the work they're all doing this week. At one point, he was called "the most important person here this week" by USGA president Jim Hyler. Now, kudos for the superintendent aren't unusual; the superintendent has been routinely recognized at affairs such as the one that took place this morning. But the frequency with which Taylor was mentioned and praised does show just how much respect Taylor has earned after almost 30 years maintaining this layout, the last 11 as the head superintendent.

Live from Sahalee

After slogging through the madness that is a U.S. Open to bring you the behind-the-scenes scoop on golf course maintenance activities at Pebble Beach in June, I think I'm going to like the more relaxed setting I appear to have found at Sahalee Country Club for this week's U.S. Senior Open.

If you haven't already heard, one of GCSAA's own is teeing it up this week. Tommy Robinson, the superintendent at Ravinia Green CC in Deerfield, Ill., and a 34-year GCSAA member, is taking his second shot at this event (he qualified to play two years ago at The Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs), and since a working superintendent competing in a major professional golf event is such a rarity, as I detailed in a post earlier this week, we decided we should be here to follow all the action.

This isn't the first time I've attended a Senior Open — last year, I spent a few days at Crooked Stick, but that was more as a guest of the fine folks from SePro (headquartered nearby) than as a member of the working media — so I had an idea of what I would find once I made my way to the course. And it doesn't take a brain scientist (or a rocket surgeon) to figure out that the pace of activities at a Senior Open would be quite a bit different than the fervor that surrounds one of the biggest golf tournaments in the world.