The Writer's Life: The Writer's Life 6/22

“You drive for show, putt for dough,” said Bobby Locke, winner of four British Opens, long ago. Never was that more obvious than in yesterday’s final round of the U.S. national championship. Dustin Johnson missed a bunch of routine putts down the stretch. His monumental drive on the 18th to set up an eagle try went to waste when he three-putted from 12 feet, handing the title to Jordan Spieth, who had eagled the hole after a double-bogey at 17. What drama. It negated all the bellyaching about the condition of the course, which indeed looked terrible on TV, and which proved irrelevant. Johnson has no one to blame but himself. Sadly, I don’t believe there’s much that can be done to improve putting, in contrast to all other aspects of the game. If there was, Sergio Garcia would have won several majors by now. But let’s not feel too sorry for Johnson, 31, whose second place tie was worth almost $900,000, and who has a beautiful wife and infant son. He’s making a great living playing a game. He will win other tournaments and no doubt contend in majors and perhaps even win one or more -- if his putting improves. There were other thrilling aspects of the round: Australia’s Adam Scott shot an incredible 64, which put him into a long shot position to win if the leaders faltered, which was a distinct possibility. And how about South African Louis Oosthuizen’s spectacular run on the back nine -- six birdies in the last seven holes to get to -4, a tie for second. My pick, Phil Mickelson, finished well out of the running. As for Chambers Bay, I’d be very surprised if the Open ever returned to it. It is a funky layout in a scenic setting, but too much of its surface is bleached. I don’t know why anyone would pay 100 bucks to play there, especially since it’s so difficult. I prefer a visit to a place with lush grass, a lot of trees and colorful flowers, a sort of five hour visit to the country. Kudos to Fox, which ran the last hour commercial-free. The day -- the golf world -- currently belongs to Jordan Spieth, who has captured the season’s first two majors and has fans and broadcasters salivating at the prospect of a feat yet to be accomplished -- the grand slam. Tiger Woods won four consecutive majors over two seasons, a great accomplishment but not a true slam. Spieth! Spieth! Spieth!

Decades TV aired a marathon of The Untouchables this weekend. I sneaked peeks while the Open was in commercial. I watched it regularly back in the day, but have forgotten almost all of it. Strangely, I remembered a bit of dialog exactly, outside of: "It's Ness -- get 'im!" Joseph Wiseman, of Dr. No (1962) fame, is holding a gun to the head of Madlyn Rhue. Robert Stack says Wiseman won’t shoot “…because if you do you’ll be standing there naked…” Why I would remember that and nothing but fleeting visual images of the show is another of those mysteries of the mind that make life so fascinating. Rhue, a TV mainstay in the 60's and 70's, has 117 credits listed at IMDb, not counting appearances on several short-lived series. She passed away at 68 in 2003. Her most famous turn came on an episode of Star Trek (Space Seed, 1967) that featured Ricardo Montalban as Khan. Here’s how she looked in it:

My thanks to the kind folks who bought books today and to the woman who donated four classics and a book on music by famed composer Leopold Stokowski.

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