Sports
The best view of this U.S. Open? It starts at the beginning
PINEHURST, N.C. — It was still early when Justin Thomas woke up the ghost.
A little after 8 a.m., he walked along the pine straw lining the right side of the third hole at Pinehurst No. 2. The two-time major champion considered his options. Having bogeyed the second hole he was already feeling the heat on a day growing warmer by the minute. Now an errant tee shot on the third left an awkward angle into the green.
With that, Thomas drew back his club and hit a shot that can only be described as … relatable. Something between a dead pull and a violent hook. Perhaps a knot of wire grass near the lie was to blame. Perhaps it was simply a terrible shot. Either way, it was so bad, and so left, that it crossed the entire fairway and entered the native area left of the third green.
It was a spot few visited during Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Open. The third hole measures under 400 yards. Perhaps the course’s friendliest par 4. A wedge into the green will do — at least for these guys. But Thomas ended up near a temporary fence wrapped in a thick green canvas, the dividing line between the course and the houses lining it. Appropriately, not far from where Thomas’ ball ended up, the fence includes a single opening.
Two swinging doors are held together by a padlock, but allow for access from either side.
There, on the other side of that fence, is Donald Ross’ house.
The Scotsman first moved to Pinehurst in 1900. He was hired to serve as a golf pro and teaching instructor for the area’s two nine-hole horses — courses he ultimately decided to combine into one 18-hole track. Then set out to build a second course in 1907. He shaped the land as he’d learned back home, where golf’s first architects wandered the planes looking for where the sheep created mounds to block the northern wind. That’s where they built their bunkers.
The course Ross crafted in Pinehurst became his muse. So much so he wanted to look after her. So he and his second wife, Florence, built their home behind the third green in 1925. They disagreed on the style during construction. Thus, today, 76 years after Ross’ 1948 passing, if you walk along Midland Road, you’ll see what looks like a Scottish Cottage, while if you walk along back near the third green, you see what looks like a Southern colonial. Every good marriage has a middle ground.
Donald Ross built a home along Pinehurst No. 2, the most famous course in his legendary history as a golf architect. (Brendan Quinn / The Athletic)
The romantics here say Ross used to sit out back and smoke cigars, watching players come through the third and fifth holes. He’d note how they approached the two turtleback greens, then plot against them. Some claim Ross would wander out to the course at night, checking the contours of that third green and looking after things.
“Ross continued to improve No. 2 long after he finished it,” says Dan Maples, whose father, Frank, came to be a sort of adopted son by Ross, and handled construction and course maintenance for umpteen Ross courses, including No. 2. “It became an extension of himself.”
All these years later, the U.S. Open is being played at Pinehurst for the fourth time. So to understand what both Ross and God intended, where else would you watch it other than Ross’ back lawn?
GO DEEPER
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Just ask Sam Bennett. The 24-year-old posed with high hands watching his approach into the third. A good one. Settling upon what looked like a flat piece of the green, the shot left Bennett with a 15-20 foot birdie try. But then a wiggle. The ball seemed to consider its options. Then a lean to the left. The crowd moaned. Picking up speed, the ball rolled off the green, through the fringe and somehow settled onto the cut of rough atop the bunker, inches from dropping into the sand for a straightforward bunker shot. Out in the fairway, Bennett doubled over. He then arrived on the green to find an uneasy stance, a tricky chip, and a bogey.
The third could be a postcard for all of Ross’ greens at Pinehurst. It tempts. It teases. It accepts. It rejects. It is crowned, but can hold approach shots and allow scoring. It is short and accessible, but so difficult to get up and down.
Thursday’s pin placement was on the left side of a right-to-left slope. Looking up at it from the fairway, the top of the green cuts a horizon line that turns the backside of the green into a great unknown. Players are well aware of what’s back there, but can be nevertheless unnerved. That’s precisely what Ross was going for.
In the back, the green careens downhill toward a sandy footpath and, if you cross that, all the way to the fifth green. Some are now more aware of this than others.
Dustin Johnson rolled his eyes upon finding his ball sitting in the middle of that dusty path. Then he made bogey on his way to a 4-over 74.
Jason Day tried a traditional bunker shot from the path, but found a compressed patch of sand and thinned a shot back over the green. His up-and-down from 82 feet probably was one of the better bogey saves you’ll see this week.
Poor Cameron Davis found his ball behind the third green and asked a USGA rules official if he might receive relief from the path, as if it were a cart path. Confused by the question, the official responded, only, “No.” Accepting the answer, Davis pulled out a sand wedge, blasted a shot and watched his ball roll to the crest of the green and come to a standstill. Then he watched it roll 50 feet back to him. Davis saved bogey, but finished with a 77.
Scottie Scheffler plays a shot out of the greenside bunker on No. 3. (Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
The third hole wasn’t all spin-outs and evil eyes. Nineteen players birdied it. Every player inside the top eight at days’ end left with par, except two. Bryson DeChambeau and Akshay Bhatia made birdie.
GO DEEPER
The two Pinehursts have not always seen eye to eye
That is, in many ways, the point. Ross aimed to create courses that could test the best, fairly. Good shots are rewarded. Bad shots are not. Chance is always in play. Add it up and you get a war of attrition. Who can keep aiming at the middle of greens? Who can take their medicine when necessary? Who can keep giving themselves opportunities?
Following an opening 3-under 67, DeChambeau exhaled and said: “From a mental exhaustion perspective, this was probably the most difficult that I’ve had in a long, long, long time. I can’t remember the last time I mentally exerted myself that hard to focus on hitting fatter parts of the green instead of going for flags.”
As for Thomas, his bogey on the third was an early reveal of what was to come. He sure as hell got a scare and finished his morning with a 7-over 77, returning to the driving range afterward to figure out what went wrong.
Ross, you see, is no ghost. He is very alive.
(Top photo of Justin Thomas: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
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Israel’s national gymnastics team has suspended all training and team activities amid the recent Iranian counter-attack on the country following the U.S.-assisted strikes on Iran.
The Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) provided a statement to Fox News Digital announcing the violence has caused “unavoidable disruptions.”
“The current security situation in our region has resulted in unavoidable disruptions to our regular training schedule and has created significant uncertainty regarding the national teams’ professional plans, particularly as we are at the outset of the international season,” the statement read.
“At this time, all training activities have been temporarily suspended, pending approval from the relevant authorities to safely resume operations. Naturally, the suspension of training and the closure of airspace are causing considerable stress and concern. However, the safety and well-being of our gymnasts and professional staff remain our highest priority. We sincerely hope for safer and calmer days ahead, when we can focus solely on sport.”
A source within the team told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the gymnasts have been moving between bomb shelters since Iran’s counterstrikes began.
Israel’s gymnastics team is considered one of nation’s strongest Olympic programs alongside its Judo and sailing teams. The team is only a week removed from a successful trip at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Germany, where the country’s star Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal in floor gymnastics.
Now, the team will have to seek safety until the attacks are over.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has directed all U.S. government employees and their family members to continue to shelter in place either in or near their residences as Iran continues to fire missiles at Israel.
Additionally, the embassy announced that due to the security situation, it would be closed on March 2, and did not give an estimate on when it would be reopening. The closure includes consular sections in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The embassy also said it is “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” It noted that Ben Gurion Airport remains closed and there there are neither commercial nor charter flights operating from the airport.
On Friday, ahead of the launch of Operation Epic Fury, the embassy gave all non-essential workers permission to leave Israel, with reports that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged those looking to leave to do so as soon as possible.
Iranian airstrikes killed at least eight Israelis on Sunday as Tehran’s latest missile barrage landed just miles from Jerusalem.
The strikes landed in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. Initial reports said four people were killed when missiles landed in a residential area on Sunday, but that death toll rose to eight, according to Israel’s national emergency service.
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Iran’s military has carried out counterattacks against Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East after a joint U.S.-Israeli strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
The strikes also killed several other top Iranian leaders, including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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Local chapters of National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame have begun honoring the top senior football student-athletes, with the Coastal Canyon area banquet set for Sunday in Agoura.
Players are selected based on their grade-point averages and leadership skills, among other attributes, honoring the best of the best.
Such players as James Moffat from Crespi, Mateo Bilaver from Chaminade, Jacob Paisano of Hart, Diego and James Montes from Granada Hills Kennedy will represent their schools on Sunday.
The Los Angeles chapter will hold its gathering in Manhattan Beach on Friday.
Simi Valley coach Jim Benkert has taken over running the Coastal Canyon group with dozens of individual student-athletes set to be honored.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
Sports
US Olympic hockey hero Jack Hughes opens up about support for women’s team amid backlash over Trump’s joke
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Team USA Olympic hockey hero Jack Hughes spoke about his support for his country’s women’s hockey team after his team was the subject of backlash for laughing at a joke by President Donald Trump about the women’s team.
During an interview on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” Friday, Hughes opened up about his respect for the women’s team after McAfee appeared to reference the controversy by joking that Hughes and his teammates “hate” the women players.
“We are hanging out with them so much, the women’s team. We were supporting them. Like, we were at their games, they were at our games,” Hughes said.
Jack Hughes of the United States celebrates after a gold medal win during against Canadaat Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games Feb. 22, 2026, in Milan, Italy. (Elsa/Getty Images)
Hughes then appeared to address the recent criticism of his team for its response to Trump’s joke.
“Like all these people talking, how many of them watched their gold medal game? Me and Quinn Hughes were at the game. We were at the game until like overtime ended on the glass, and we were jumping up and down so excited for these girls, so excited they won,” Hughes said.
“And how many of these people watched the gold medal game, watched their semifinals game? Like 10 of the 10 of our players went to their game in the round-robin. Like, we supported them so much, and we’re so proud of them. We’re so happy that they won, and they brought a gold medal back and that, you know, I said it, the men’s and women’s team both brought gold medals back. So, just unbelievable for USA hockey.”
Hughes, who scored the game-winning overtime goal against Canada to win gold, reflected on his interaction with the player on the U.S. women’s team who did the same, Megan Keller.
“Me and her had a great moment in the cafeteria after her gold medal game. We played Slovakia the next night, and it was like a late game. And we were in the pasta line — me and Megan. They were just getting ready to go out again, and I just gave her a massive hug, and I said, ‘I’m so happy for you. I’m so proud of you,’” Hughes said.
“A couple nights later, saw her again in the [cafeteria], and we took a great picture and, uh, she just gave me a big hug and was so pumped for me as well.”
Hughes told reporters after the game the first thing he thought about when the puck went in was Keller, who scored the golden goal for the United States women’s team against Canada three days earlier.
US WOMEN’S HOCKEY GOLD MEDALIST SAYS IT’S ‘SAD’ MEN’S TEAM HAD TO APOLOGIZE FOR OLYMPICS CONTROVERSY
The controversy surrounding the men’s team stemmed from a locker room phone call between the players and Trump right after their gold medal win over Canada.
Trump told the men’s team after inviting them to Tuesday’s State of the Union address that he’d “have” to invite the women’s team, otherwise “I probably would be impeached.” The team laughed in response, prompting immense backlash.
Several mainstream media outlets penned op-eds condemning the men’s team for laughing at the joke and then visiting the White House to celebrate and Trump’s State of the Union address.
The United States’ Jack Hughes (86), who scored the winning overtime goal, celebrates after defeating Canada in the men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
U.S. women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight said on Wednesday’s edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” that Trump’s “distasteful joke” has “overshadow[ed]” the women’s success.
“I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke, and, unfortunately, that is overshadowing a lot of the success, the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats,” Knight said.
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“We’re just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts, and continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold for both men’s and women’s at the same time. And really not detract from that with a distasteful joke.”
Hughes’ mother, Ellen, a former Team USA player and current player development staff member, said the players only cared about “bring[ing] so much unity to a group and to a country.”
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