Teenager Tolan Has a Lot of Nerves

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. —  At 16, Derek Tolan was never going to shoot his age at his first U.S. Open, but his eight-over 78 Thursday wasn’t bad for openers.

Heck, Tolan finished four shots better than three-time Open winner Hale Irwin.

Afterward, Tolan acknowledged being as scared as a kid on his first prom date.

“I didn’t think I was going to be all that nervous, but you could just watch the tapes, I was walking funny,” Tolan said. “I was so nervous, I forgot how to breathe. Yeah, I was real nervous.”

Tolan had eight bogeys, one double bogey, nine pars and a birdie. He even hit eight of 14 fairways.

Tolan had enthusiastic support from the fans following his group.

“I enjoyed it a ton,” he said. “It helped me out a lot. It made me concentrate a lot more too.”

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Golf Digest handed out “Be Nice to Monty” buttons this week in anticipation of potential trouble between New York golf fans and Colin Montgomerie, the often picked-upon Scot.

But Montgomerie reported no major problems with the gallery in Thursday’s first round.

Now, his golf game was another story. Montgomerie bogeyed three of the last four holes for a 75.

The crowd?

“Fine, fine,” Montgomerie said at his locker. “I wish Monty was nicer to himself and holed some putts.”

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Some golfers turn to their sports psychologist for advice on handling pressure, but Sergio Garcia has the luxury of turning to his girlfriend, tennis star Martina Hingis.

“It does help,” Garcia said. “As you all know, she’s in a very similar position to me. She knows what I’m going through.... To me, it takes a lot of weight off my shoulders to be able to talk to somebody that understands that.”

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It has been called the People’s Open, because Bethpage Black is a public course, but the 42,500 fans are finding heightened security measures because of the events of Sept. 11 and the proximity to Manhattan, some 35 miles away.

No cars are allowed in Bethpage State Park except for those belonging to players, tournament officials and security personnel. Most of the fans are carried on buses to the site and pat-downs are a regular occurrence. No bags, backpacks or cell phones are allowed on the grounds.

Tickets are electronically scanned at the entrances and what seems like miles of green fencing closes off prohibited areas.

“The security we have in place for the week is definitely enhanced from what we’ve had in the past,” said Marty Parkes of the U.S. Golf Assn.

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Bruce Fleisher, who qualified for the Open by winning the U.S. Senior Open, withdrew, a move that was criticized by another senior player who remained in the field.

“It was not the best way to handle it,” said Irwin, who also said Fleisher let down the senior tour players. Fleisher said before his withdrawal that Bethpage Black was too long for him and that he couldn’t play it.

“He can play it,” Irwin said. “He is the Senior Open champion. If the [USGA] didn’t want that category [for exemption] they wouldn’t put it in there.”

Irwin, 57, didn’t exactly have a banner day in his 33rd U.S. Open. He shot a 12-over 82--his worst round in 120 rounds at the Open.

“It was a very, very long day,” he said. “The end of the story. I’m not really ready to high-tail it out of town just yet.”

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Irwin compared the conditions at Bethpage Black with those of Winged Foot in 1974--considered to be the toughest U.S. Open setup of all time.

“The rough at Winged Foot was long and wiry, and this is thicker,” he said. “This is just a large golf course. At Winged Foot, the greens were a little more difficult to putt. They had more contour.”

Irwin won the first of his three U.S. Open titles at Winged Foot with a score of seven-over 287.

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Andy Miller, son of NBC analyst Johnny Miller, shot six-over 76.

Not bad, all things considered.

“After the first couple of holes, I felt pretty good,” Andy Miller said. “I got over my nerves. I hit the ball great.”

It was the putting “yips” that drove Johnny Miller off the PGA Tour, and son Andy had his share of problems.

“If I could have just avoided my three-putts, I shoot three over and that’s a good round, I’m right there,” Miller said.

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There’s money in those merchandise tents. The USGA projects sales of more than $5 million by the end of the week.