AS SOON AS he saw the policeman standing in the middle of the road, waving him to a stop, Scott McCarron knew he had made a mistake. He had decided that morning to let his wife use the courtesy car that the United States Golf Association had provided him for the week of the 2002 U.S. Open. Jennifer was going into Manhattan, and McCarron thought she would be better off in an SUV.
McCarron took the smaller rental car to the golf course. But as he pulled up to the policeman, he remembered that his Contestant Parking sticker was in the SUV. Like everyone else who had already set foot on the grounds of Bethpage State Park, McCarron knew that security at this Open was unlike security at any other Open. Bethpage is located smack in the middle of Long Island, only thirty-five miles from Ground Zero.
Neither the USGA nor the New York State Police were taking any chances. For the first time in history, the Open was being played at a true public facility, one owned not by a corporation but by a state agency. Bethpage Black was one of ... read full excerpt from Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black ebook
