Pinehurst, N.C. ? U.S. Open golf courses tend to be gas guzzlers, tearing through the mental and physical fuel tanks of the world’s best golfers.Pinehurst No. 2, with its weedy, sandy, waste-land roughs hugging the fairway on both sides and its turtleback greens, has a different look and feel ...

Pinehurst, N.C. ? Too often, the longest walk in golf stretches from the driving range to the first tee. And since it was the U.S. Open, where everything is longer and tougher, Thursday it became the longest walk of Chris Thompson’s life.Somewhere on that stroll, Thompson lost his mojo, then ...

Pinehurst, N.C. ? Gary Woodland took a 6-iron to the tee on the 213-yard 17th-hole at Pinehurst No. 2 and hit it high and on the pin. He heard the excitement of the crowd building and then a loud moan and then a thundering ovation.When he walked onto the green, a fan in the stands hollered ...

Pinehurst, N.C. ? All of his life his name had been Chris Thompson. And then, at age 37, he finally qualified for a PGA Tour event and his name became Nicholas Thompson. At least that’s what it said on his permit for the player parking lot at the Byron Nelson Championship. He made the cut ...

Pinehurst, N.C. ? The gallery following Matt Kuchar, Gary Woodland and Andres Echavarria for their final practice holes in advance of the 114th U.S. Open slowly swelled as word spread as to the identity of the slender, well-dressed man walking stride-for-stride with Woodland down the ...

Pinehurst, N.C. ? Seinfeld had the summer of George. On the Kansas golf scene, this has been the summer of Chris Thompson.Contending on the PGA Tour has become routine for fellow Lawrence Country Club member and former Kansas University golfer Gary Woodland, but few expected him to have Jayhawk ...

His lone competitor for the final of three U.S. Open spots at the sectional qualifier played at Springfield (Ohio) Country Club had finished a couple of holes earlier as former Kansas University golfer Chris Thompson walked up the 18th fairway toward his mammoth drive.Thompson to caddy Jim ...

The way most of us look at it, the fine line between birdie and bogey, a foot here, a bounce there, is a matter of luck. That’s not how those who make a living playing golf explain it.Nobody would have thought otherwise if former Kansas University two-time All-American golfer Chris Thompson ...