Three Beautiful Things 06-15-2025: Stunning Finish, Grilled Burgers, Father's Day and Golf Many Years Ago

1. Because of the hour and half+ rain delay at Oakmont yesterday afternoon, I was out the door and on Carol and Paul's patio when J. J Spaun electrified the world of golf by driving the green on the par 4 17th and two putting for a birdie, to give him a one stroke lead in the U. S. Open, and then sank an unbelievable birdie putt of about 64 feet on 18 to dramatically secure a victory.  

Thanks to Byrdman and Terry Turner's comments on the text machine, I knew how this splashy, soggy  tournament ended and, once I returned home, I jumped right on my MacBook machine and found replays of J. J. Spaun's magnificent finish, a finish that contrasted vividly from his horrible and seemingly cursed front nine when he started the final round with five straight 5s and seemed to have played himself out of contention.

But, the tournament leaders, Sam Burns and Adam Scott, struggled mightily. The leaderboard got tighter. 

The rain delay gave J. J. Spaun 90 minutes to clear his head, and the golf gods seemed to have rewarded viewers who stuck it out through the tiresome rain delay with an unimaginable finish and seemed to have rewarded J. J. Spaun's resilience  and cool manner with a stunning win. 

2. Carol and Paul hosted Christy and me for a fun grilled burger dinner on their patio. We began with carrot and celery sticks and a vegetable dip that Carol called Martini Dip, served in a martini glass and featuring green olives and other ingredients, but no gin, vodka, or vermouth. Christy brought a potato salad and I contributed an apple, strawberry, spinach salad. We ended the evening with two desserts. I brought cupcakes topped with fresh organic strawberries from Beach Bum Bakery and Carol made a superb rhubarb custard pie. 

3. Father's Day and the U.S. Open's final round blend inseparably in my memory. On many of these Sundays before he died, Dad and I watched final round coverage of the U.S. Open together and enjoyed some memorable finishes to the tournament. When I moved away, I called Dad on Father's Day to wish him a happy Father's Day and to debrief together about the U.S. Open. For some of those phone calls, I hadn't seen the final round, but Dad filled me in on what happened. 

One year (1977? 1978?), we played in a Father/Son event at Esmeralda Golf Course in northeast Spokane.  In that event, father and son played alternate shots and I'll never forget the humiliation I felt on the second tee. It's a par 3, around 140 yards long, and I addressed my ball, took a out of synch horrible swing at my tee shot and missed the ball so badly I only advanced it a few feet. Dad had to hit a second shot that was almost the length of the hole. He, too, was embarrassed. I wanted to find a place to hide. 

Overall, though, I think we had a pretty good time that day, but I was a wreck on the golf course and hated the number of times I let our father/son team down....