Missing Links: '[Mickelson] could have won six and he hasn't won one [U.S. Open],' and the old rough and new look at Pinehurst

By John Strege

Stories of interest you might have missed…

"He could have won six and he hasn't won one," Ernie Els says of Phil Mickelson and the U.S. Open. Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press looks at Mickelson's quest to complete the career grand slam with a U.S. Open victory at Pinehurst.

"Tournament golf has gotten to be 99.9 percent pound it out of heavy rough,'" [Ben] Crenshaw says. "To me, it's very boring. I've gotten sick of it." Lee Pace, author of "The Golden Age of Pinehurst: The Story of the Rebirth of No. 2," examines the old rough and new look at Pinehurst.

Behind the third green at Pinehurst No. 2 (Getty Images photo)

Pinehurst No. 2, site of the U.S. Women's Open following the men's Open there next week, has been hosting women's golf tournaments since the North & South Women's Amateur debuted there in 1903. Among the more recent North & South winners: Yani Tseng and Morgan Pressel. Sammy Batten of the Fayetteville Observer looks at the history of women's golf at Pinehurst.

During the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in 1999, Payne Stewart and his family by chance rented Eddie and Jan Marshall's home overlooking the 13th hole at Pinehurst No. 6. It left the Marshalls with a nice story to tell, and Jason Sobel of Golf Channel tells it.

A Washington state delegation will be at Pinehurst next week on a learning mission in advance of the U.S. Open going to Chambers Bay, outside Tacoma, Wash., next year. Another goal? "Be part of the rotation of the U.S. Open, one Pierce County executive said in this story by Scott Hanson of the Seattle Times.

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