Lee Westwood shot an opening-round 70 at the US Open on Thursday to put himself in the hunt heading into round two on Friday. Had it not been for the unique design of Merion Golf Club, it might have been even better.
Westwood’s approach shot on the 12th hole on Thursday was right at the pin, but it hit the infamous wicker basket at the top of the pole and rolled all the way off the front of the green and onto the fairway. He would have been putting, but Westwood had chip back onto the green and wound up making a double-bogey. Later that night, he took to Twitter to express some of his frustrations.
So much tradition at merion to talk about……like those delightful wicker baskets !
— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) June 14, 2013
@Kstupples you obviously can't lip read! There's a reason the rest of the world has moved onto flags !
— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) June 14, 2013
Merion began using wicker baskets instead of flags nearly 100 years ago, but no one really knows why. Golfers and caddies tend to hate it because it makes the wind more difficult to read. We saw Tiger Woods catch a tough break at the Masters when his ball hit the pin and rolled into the water, but that could have happened anywhere. Westwood’s tough break can only happen at Merion.
