Yesterday was the much anticipated Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge, which featured one lucky contest winner, John Atkinson, and Justin Timberlake, Tony Romo and Matt Lauer in a foursome at Torrey Pines, site of next week's U.S. Open.
On Thursday, I mentioned that ESPN.com's Jason Sobel handicapped the field, and as it turns out, he did a solid job. Both Timberlake and Romo broke 100, just as Sobel predicted, and Lauer (100) and Atkinson (114) were north of the century mark. More impressive: Romo did a little better than that, firing an 84.
It may not sound all that impressive, but Torrey Pines is in all its U.S. Open glory, and the foursome played the course from the tips, some 7,600 yards (or roughly 1,300 yards more than the average amateur faces during a typical round).
Despite Romo's respectable showing, his score just reinforces the differences between a professional and a low-handicapper. (Romo's somewhere around a 2, Timberlake's a 6, Lauer's a 6.2 and Atkinson's an 8.1)
"They're inhuman, how well they stripe it," Timberlake said of the professionals who -- albeit better armed on the talent front -- will face the same challenge next week. "We're just proud to be a part of actually showing it."Apparently, Atkinson's game plan was to hit hybrids off the tee to keep the ball in play, and try to bogey his way around the course. He got off to a good start -- bogeying the first four holes -- but then he says "the wheels came off." Still, all things considered, it's probably the best 114 he's ever shot.
Not a single birdie was made, and the longest putt holed was a 20-footer Lauer made for par at the last hole. Atkinson failed to make a single par, yet he was the winner by anyone's measure. A year ago, Atkinson was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. ...
"I had a great time," Atkinson said. "I had a certain score that I wanted to hit, but that wasn't going to happen. But I feel it's like life -- you've just got to keep going."
