If 10 years of living in Connecticut and working in New York City taught me anything, it was that if you leave yourself an extra half-hour to get someplace on time just to be safe, be a little safer and tack on another half-hour.
Southeast Kansas native Travis Hurst, a former KU golfer from Erie, didn’t do that Monday, and it’s a good thing he didn’t, or he wouldn’t have experienced such a memorable two-hour walk through that torture chamber of a golf course known as Winged Foot.
By the time Hurst qualified for the U.S. Open won Sunday by Geoff Ogilvy, the hotels close to Mamaroneck, N.Y., were booked, and he had to stay in Trumbull, Conn., 42 minutes and so many road-raged tailgaters (who drive with two fingers on the steering wheel and one finger waving hello) up the road from Winged Foot.
As he arrived, the 8:50 group he was supposed to join was teeing off. Rather than rush and hold them up, he waited and was invited to play nine holes with a player making the turn.
“Retief Goosen was by himself and said, ‘Want to join me?’ It was just me and him for nine holes,” Hurst said Sunday during a telephone interview.
As it turned out, neither player made the cut. Goosen shot a 77-78, Hurst a 78-78, same as Sergio Garcia. Tiger Woods missed the cut, too, with a 76-76. The course devoured big names and underdogs alike.
“Every hole, it was tough to hit the fairway,” Hurst said. “You miss the fairway by just a little bit, and you’re dead. TV didn’t do it justice. It was a lot harder than it looked. It’s a good thing those spotters were there. I lost two in the rough during my practice round.”
Hurst called that round “the highlight of my week,” because of the conversations he had with Goosen, a player he described as “a kind of quiet guy, a great guy, really nice.”
Hurst, 26, plays on the Tight Lies tour. He said he earned about $65,000 in purses last year and had $35,000 in expenses. Goosen advised him it takes a great short game and good putting to do well in the Open. He also gave him pointers about playing in front of such a huge, mouthy crowd.
“He told me not to sign autographs while playing a hole because that can slow up play,” Hurst said. “He said to only sign them after you’ve finished a hole and are walking to the next one.”
Goosen, a South African and two-time U.S. Open champion, last won the tournament in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills.
“He told me the New York fans will boo you, criticize you, heckle you all day long,” Hurst said. “He told me how they were booing him the year he won at Shinnecock because they wanted Phil (Mickelson) to win it.”
The New York crowd wanted Mickelson to win again Sunday. A par on 18 would have done it. A bogey would have forced a playoff. Instead, Mickelson carded a 6 on the par-4 hole. Hurst didn’t see it. Instead of playing the part of spectator, he became a tourist, taking the train into Manhattan with his girlfriend and his parents, Lyle and Connie Hurst, on Father’s Day.
“A friend of mine was text-messaging me with updates all day,” he said.
They went to the ESPN Zone for lunch, did the Statue of Liberty thing, visited Ground Zero and walked the busy sidewalks.
“My mom and dad basically have never been anywhere but Erie,” he said.
For what is Erie known?
“Not a lot,” Hurst said. “I only had 46 in my graduating class in high school.”
He learned the game playing on a course with sand greens.
“I didn’t look at it as a disadvantage,” he said. “I played 36 or 54 holes a day. I wanted to become a golfer, and I played all the time.”
He played himself all the way into the U.S. Open. On Tuesday, he’ll be back beating the bushes, playing in the StoneBridge Summer Classic in Bossier City, La. It’s such a classic, Hurst said he had “no idea what the name of the tournament is. I just know it’s in Bossier City.”
It’s a long way from New York City for the small-town boy who’s come a long way from Erie.
