Cherry Hills Village – Jill McGill is no stranger to Cherry Hills Country Club. But she acknowledged Tuesday that her favorite golf course is putting on a much different face this week as it hosts the 60th U.S. Women’s Open.
McGill, a Denver native and a graduate of Cherry Creek High School, played Cherry Hills hundreds of times growing up. She said the only time she saw the course so tough was before the 1985 PGA Championship, won by Hubert Green, and the 1990 U.S. Amateur, won by Phil Mickelson.
“The rough is a lot different than anything I ever played growing up, with the exception of when they were getting the course ready for the PGA and the men’s U.S. Amateur,” McGill said. “The course layout is the same as I remember it, only the rough is taller and thicker. This is a tournament of the fewest mistakes, and the rough is the biggest difference.”
The 18th hole will be rugged, too. It measures 459 yards, is uphill and is a par 5 for members but a monster finishing hole this week.
“No. 18 is a beast for a par 4,” McGill said. “It was playing very difficult today. I hit a driver, 7-wood into there.”
Cristie Kerr, second on the LPGA money list this year, said the 18th is tough but fair. “It’s pretty long, but it’s fine,” she said.
Worth the weight
The last time Joe Hage’s daughter, Nicole, played in a U.S. Open was in 2002 at Prairie Dune Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan. Joe Hage weighed 285 pounds then and couldn’t walk the fairways. And he certainly couldn’t carry his daughter’s golf bag.
But he will be his daughter’s caddie this week as the amateur from Auburn plays in her second U.S. Open.
“I’ve lost 45 pounds, and I did it all because I wanted to carry her bag this week at Cherry Hills,” said Joe Hage, an investment banker from South Florida. “I got up at 5 a.m. every day to work out. This is a big payoff for me.”
Nicole Hage failed to make the cut in 2002. She’s hoping for better this year.
“I think I’m playing well, and having my dad is going to be a lot of fun,” she said.
Big Elway fan
McGill was proudly displaying an autograph from John Elway on her golf hat. The Broncos’ Hall of Fame quarterback was part of a junior clinic at Cherry Hills, and McGill took advantage of the moment.
“I have been a Bronco fan ever since I was a kid,” McGill said. “We spent a lot of time in blizzards.”
History lesson
When 15-year-old Michelle Wie stood on the famous 346-yard, par-4 first hole, she thought about one thing: Arnold Palmer. It was in 1960, in the final round of the U.S. Open, when Palmer began his most famous charge by driving the first hole.
“A lot of people have told me many times before, and it’s a great story,” Wie said. “It’s really wonderful how he hit that hole with the Persimmon wood.”
Wie said she started her golf career hitting Persimmon woods. That was at age 7. “I didn’t want to change to a metal wood,” she said.
Footnote
Another 15-year-old wants to join the LPGA Tour. Atlanta’s Carmen Bandea sent a letter to the LPGA asking for a waiver of its 18-year-old requirement to become a member of the tour. She wants to enter LPGA qualifying school this fall, which would give her a chance to earn her tour card for 2006.
