Watching a Jordan Spieth round nowadays is like being on a roller coaster.
For one golf fan during Friday’s second round at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, watching Spieth also came with a surprise bruise.
As the Texas native teed off on the 16th hole, his tee shot went so far right that he hit a spectator directly on the elbow. Luckily for Spieth, the ball bounced off the fan’s elbow right onto the green.
The spectator was thankfully O.K., even though he is walking away from the tournament with a huge welt near his elbow. Spieth gave him a signed ball and glove to apologize for the injury but also thanking him for help on the shot.
The fan appeared to be in good spirits despite the unfortunate injury.
Spieth ended up bogeying the 16th hole even with the fan’s help to put him on the green. He missed the cut for this week’s tournament after finishing four-under par.
When Citadel football assistant coach Everette Sands signed up to play in the Korn Ferry Tour's BMW Charity Pro-Am, he probably wasn't expecting to be interviewed by the Golf Channel.
We can guarantee that he wasn't expecting to be mistaken for Texas Longhorns legend and former NFL quarterback Vince Young, either.
In a viral interview on Golf Channel, Sands was mistaken for Young. After being told he "played for six seasons in the NFL" and was "arguably one of the best NCAA quarterbacks of all-time at Texas," Sands was asked how he took what he learned as a football player and applied it to golf.
Sands had a huge smile on his face, but handled the interview with grace.
"Now, I apologize, you have the wrong person. I'm Everette Sands from over at the Citadel. I'm a football coach! But the great thing about golf is not only am I competing against myself, but I'm competing against everyone else."
I’m dying laughing they thought they were talking to Vince Young, might be the most awkward interview I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/cjz0gYqg9D
The 2024 U.S. Open begins on Thursday, June 13 and runs through Sunday, June 16 at Pinehurst Course No. 2 in North Carolina.
With the tournament around the corner, fans can still snag tickets to attend the third golf major of the year to see the top golfers in the world.
There's a variety of tickets fans can purchase to enjoy the event at Pinehurst, ranging from just a single day ticket to multi-day passes to V.I.P. club packages. It all depends what the fan wants to see and do while attending the tournament.
Here's more information about specific ticket prices to attend the 2024 U.S. Open.
How Much Does It Cost for a Single Day Pass to the 2024 U.S. Open?
Fans can go just one of the four days to the U.S. Open. If fans want to have the ability to walk the course alongside their favorite golfers for a cheaper price, the gallery tickets are the way to go. The cheapest gallery tickets are selling on the official U.S. Open site for $175 plus fees for Thursday's round, while Saturday's third round is the most expensive ticket for $235 plus fees. Both Friday and Sunday are selling for $225 plus fees.
Resale websites, such as StubHub, are selling tickets at a cheaper rate. For instance, a gallery ticket for Thursday is selling for $117 plus fees, while Saturday's round is set at $175 plus fees.
How Much Does It Cost for a Grandstand Ticket on the 11th Green?
The U.S. Open is selling specific tickets for fans to be able to sit in the grandstand bleachers on the 11th green throughout the tournament. On the official tournament website, Thursday's grandstand tickets are selling for $325 plus fees, while Sunday's final round is selling for $350 plus fees. Both Friday and Saturday are sold out on the website.
Fans will still have access to the entire Pinehurst Course No. 2 with these tickets, they will just have the opportunity to sit on the 11th green. Seating is determined on a first-come, first-serve basis.
How Much Does It Cost for a Daily Garden Ticket?
The U.S. Open also has a special Daily Garden package for this year's tournament. These tickets include access to a reserved area that mimics an outdoor bar. Food and beverage packages can be added on to this ticket.
The Daily Garden tickets for Thursday are selling for $260 plus fees, Friday is sold out, Saturday is selling for $325 plus fees and Sunday is selling for $300 plus fees.
How Much Does It Cost to Sit in the Carolina Club at the 2024 U.S. Open?
The hottest tickets for purchase, and the most expensive, are for the Carolina Club at Pinehurst Course No. 2. These tickets include an air-conditioned facility on the 16th tee box, all-inclusive food and beverage and access to the gallery and Daily Garden.
On the official tournament website, only tickets for Sunday's final round are still available for the Carolina Club, selling at $850 plus fees.
If you don't have the patience to wait for all four rounds of a PGA Tour event to conclude to find out if you've won your bet, or if you just want to make watching the first round more exciting, than betting on who will be the first-round leader may be the move for you.
You can find my favorite full-tournament outright picks in my betting preview here, but in this article, we're going to focus on who's going to be leading after Thursday's opening round.
Collin Morikawa has been trending in the right direction lately, finishing T4 at the PGA Championship and then solo fourth at the Charles Schwab Challenge where he gained strokes in all four major areas. He struggled through February and March but now it seems like not only are his irons back in form, but his short game has been great as well. He has gained strokes on the greens in four of his last five starts in individual stroke play events.
Morikawa has also had plenty of success at Muirfield Village. He won the Workday Charity Open here in 2020 when the course hosted back-to-back events due to the COVID-19 schedule and then followed it up with a solo second finish here in 2021.
If we're going to bet on anyone to be the first-round leader, we need to look to see how they have scored in opening rounds this season and Morikawa passes that test with flying colors. Only Scottie Scheffler has a better Round 1 scoring average than Morikawa, who has an average opening round score of 68.08. That's by far his best average score amongst all four rounds.
He's averaging a score of 70.50 in Round 2, 69.70 in Round 3, and 71.00 in Round 4. That paints the clear picture that if you want to bet on the 27-year old, the time to do it is on Thursdays.
Pick: Collin Morikawa First Round Leader +1600
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
