Martin Proves to Himself He’s Not Just Along for Ride

Casey Martin rode his cart into a tie for 23rd place at the U.S. Open, proving something to himself.

“I just realized I can play with these guys,” said Martin, who finished at 11-over-par 291 with rounds of 74-71-74-72. “I played well, [but] not my absolute best. I think I have a lot more game than what I showed. If I play like that I can be a steady fixture out here. It’s a ways off, but realistic.”

Martin received an ovation when he rode up the 18th fairway.

“I kind of got goosebumps,” he said. “It’s all kind of a blur right now.”

He will ride a cart and make his PGA Tour debut in two weeks at the Greater Hartford Open. Martin also is considering playing the Quad City Classic, July 9-12, when there is no Nike Tour event scheduled.

“I’m thinking about it,” he said. “It depends on how much energy I have.”

His goal this week was to finish in the top 16 and earn an invitation to the 1999 Masters.

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Ernie Els defended his Open title while nursing a sore back and didn’t play as well as he would have liked--16 over par 296 and a tie for 49th. But Els didn’t blame his back injury, which forced him to withdraw from last week’s Buick Classic.

“I don’t want to put my play on my back,” Els said. “I didn’t play well. It’s not what I wanted. I couldn’t go full-out on a lot of my shots, but my putting probably let me down more than anything.”

Els, who played one round at par, said he never seriously considered sitting out this week.

“It would have been more disappointing not to play,” he said. “It was a learning experience. I’ll get tougher. I’ll go back home now and think about it.”

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After 42 consecutive U.S. Open appearances, Jack Nicklaus knows a difficult venue when he sees one, but Nicklaus wouldn’t say Olympic is the toughest he has played.

“It’s a difficult golf course, no question about that,” he said. “When you think you’ve played reasonably well and the closest you get to par is three over, that’s not too good.”

Nicklaus, who finished tied for 43rd at 15-over 295, said he failed to stay in the tournament mentally.

“I obviously wasn’t able to keep my . . . concentration,” he said. “It kept getting worse and worse. It got a little frustrating.”

Nicklaus insisted he has not made up his mind about playing the British Open to lengthen his streak of consecutive majors to 147. He finished tied for sixth at the Masters, which indicated to many that Nicklaus would continue to play all the majors.

He said he doesn’t take too much positive out of the way he played Olympic.

“Somebody might say ‘Gee, Jack, you’re 58, what a wonderful week,’ ” Nicklaus said. “But I’ve still got to keep my focus on what’s really important, and that’s being competitive.”

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Time trials: The first twosome on the course was Fred Couples and Jim Johnson, who teed off at 8:29 a.m. and finished at 11:35, thus clocking in at a speedy 3 hours 6 minutes.

They both shot 71. Couples, whose third-round 79 blew him out of the water, wound up at 17-over 297 and finished tied for 53rd.

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The best finish by an amateur since Gus Moreland won in 1933 was in 1960, when Nicklaus finished second. Matt Kuchar, the 20-year-old U.S. Amateur champion from Georgia Tech, shot 70-69-76-74 for a 289 and finished tied for 14th on his birthday.

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It’s probably no consolation to Payne Stewart, but four others failed to win the Open after leading the first three rounds: Gil Morgan in 1992, T.C. Chen in 1985, Hale Irwin in 1984 and Bert Yancey in 1968.