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Matty's
Mystery putt will be one to remember Matt Johnston couldn't believe his eyes, not to mention his good fortune, as his golf ball did a slow roll into Oakmont folklore. "All I could do was laugh," Johnston said. Johnston, of Winnepeg, Canada, made one of the most unusual pars of all time on the second hole during the opening round of the U.S. Amateur on Monday at Oakmont Country Club. It went down as a putt you'll only see at Oakmont, and all Johnston could to do was watch. He never stroked the ball. The ball simply started rolling before he could address his three-foot, downhill putt and it went into the cup. Oakmont member and former St. Margaret's Hospital CEO Stan Kevish of Indiana Township witnessed the phantom stroke. "That one will be written in our folklore," Kevish said. "I've played high school golf here, I caddied in the 1953 U.S. Open here, and I've seen hundrends of rounds, and I've never seen anything like it." Tom Meeks, senior director of rules and competition, said he's never heard of a ball moving on its own and going into the cup in his 28 years with the U.S. Golf Association. "We've had situations where the ball moved on its own, but never one where it went in," Meeks said. Johnston appeared to have a routine par lined up after reaching the second green in two strokes. However, he rolled his first putt about 12 feet below the center hole location. Johnston tapped his next putt, his fourth stroke, three feet above the hole and marked the ball. Now, the tale begins. For over two minutes, Johnston attempted to replace the ball at his mark, but everytime, the ball rolled toward the hole on one of Oakmont's fastest putting surfaces. Finally, the ball settled, and Johnston's playing companion, Alan Scheer of San Diego, agreed the ball wasn't moving. Johnston picked up his marker, putting the ball in play. "The ball stayed at rest for 15 seconds," Johnston said. "I stepped away, and a gust of air must have hit it because it started rolling." Johnston said he wasn't addressing the ball when it moved. The ball did a slow "Oakmont roll" into the cup. That's when the ball moves so slowly, the golfer can read the Titleist or Hogan label each time it turns over. "It trickles, trickles and goes to the edge of the cup and pops in," Kevish said. "To putt, and then have it count five to ten minutes, after you hit it, that's absolutely one for the record books." Johnston called it luck. "I just shook my head," Johnston said. "I started laughing. I thought I'd get a one-stroke penalty or something, or have to put it back where it was." U.S. Golf Association rules official Rodger Ostrander, who witnessed the turn of events, ruled the ball moved due to the conditions on the course. Because golfers play the ball as it lies and the course as they find it, Johnston was not charged a stroke. Johnston received a 4 on the hole and finished with an 82. "For some reason, the ball wouldn't stay," Meeks said. "Once the ball is replaced, then if something causes the ball to move, whether it's a gust, the slope of the green or whatever, you get what you get. It could have gone the other way. He could have gone into a creek." Meeks assigned a rules official to watch the second green for the opening two days of stroke play because of its slope and a nasty lateral hazard. "That green is by far the most severe here at Oakmont," Meeks said. Meeks set the hole location 12 yards back from the front edge of the green, which slopes back toward the fairway. Johnston said he never before tapped a putt that went into the hole several minutes after he stroked it. |
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