US Open at Pinehurst, Father’s Day have special meaning for Raleigh native Webb Simpson
Webb SImpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, had to qualify to play in the tournament this year and said he might have had some second thoughts had the Open not been in Pinehurst.
But it was in Pinehurst, on No. 2. Simpson is a Raleigh native who now lives in Charlotte. This is his home state and the U.S. Open his only major championship. It all added up.
So Simpson went to Duke Golf Club last week and put himself through 36 holes of golf in the U.S. Open sectional qualifier. While there were some adventures on the golf course — three balls in water — along the way, he birdied his final hole of the day to make it.
“It was exciting,” Simpson said Monday. “It’s a long day, especially for someone who understands how sweet it is to be in a major, especially the U.S. Open here at Pinehurst.”
Missing the Open at Pinehurst? That was unthinkable for Simpson.
His father, the late Sam Simpson, bought a house at the Country Club of North Carolina years ago. Webb and the family spent much time there, especially when he was teeing it up everywhere and becoming one of the nation’s best junior golfers.
There was that appeal. And Sunday will be Father’s Day. That, too, will have special meaning — for Simpson and others in the field.
Tiger Woods has his son, Charlie, at Pinehurst this week. The two have been walking together during practice rounds on No. 2, Tiger saying he does listen to his son’s opinions and advice.
“I think having Charlie out here is very special.,” Woods said Tuesday. “To have the father-son relationship that we have and to extend it into this part of both of our lives, he’s playing a lot of junior golf, and I’m still playing out here. ... It’s great for us to be able to share these moments together.”
Simpson said he never was able to win a tournament at the Pinehurst resort, like the North & South Amateur or Donald Ross Junior, and one of the “Putter Boy” trophies that come with them.
A father-son victory
But he did have a big victory at Pinehurst — with his dad.
“We won the Donald Ross Father-Son (tournament),” Simpson said. “It was alternate shot. We were in a playoff. In the playoff, my dad drove it in the fairway, I hit it to three feet, and then he made it for us to win.
“I was so excited. He looked at me like he was mad at me. I’m like, ‘What? We just won.’ He’s like, ‘Don’t ever do that to me again. Hit it to 20 feet. Don’t hit it to three feet.’”
Simpson smiled broadly while telling the story. It’s obvious he loves telling it. It’s also safe to say he inherited some of Sam Simpson’s competitiveness.
Simpson now is 38. His father, a longtime Raleigh resident and real-estate executive, passed away in November 2017. He was 74.
Webb Simpson was the fifth of Sam’s six children. Webb and Dowd Simpson now have five children of their own.
“I think about him every day,” Simpson said. “I really do. Pinehurst was where he was at his happiest. We lived in Raleigh. He worked really hard. But when he would come to Pinehurst on a Friday, you’d really see him kind of decompress. He loved to play golf.
“So I do think about him every day. I probably think about him more here than anywhere, especially in CCNC, where our house is. He would be thrilled to death that I qualified. I think he would have been a nervous wreck on Monday.”
In the sectional qualifier, that is.
Returning to the U.S. Open
Simpson was the first former U.S. Open champion since Lee Janzen in 2015 to successfully get through qualifying to earn his way into the championship. Open winners receive a 10-year exemption — Martin Kaymer, the 2014 Open champion at Pinehurst is in the final year of his exemption.
Simpson was not exempt last year and did not try to qualify for the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club -- “I had a conflict,” he said. But this was a different matter. This was Pinehurst.
Janzen was 17 years removed from the second of his two Open titles and 50 years old in 2015 when he made it through qualifying to get to Chambers Bay for the Open.
“I wanted to qualify all along,” Janzen said in 2015. “I know there will be a day when I’ll just say that’s it. So, yeah, I am here on purpose. I actually tried to get here.”
Simpson tried to get to Pinehurst and did. Now there’s the matter of negotiating No. 2, the golf course lovingly designed and carved out of the Sandhills by Donald Ross that can be beguiling and infuriating, but also rewarding.
Simpson played in the U.S. Open in 2014, the last time it was held in Pinehurst. He tied for 45th place at 10-over-par 290. That was 19 shots behind Kaymer, a wire-to-wire winner.
‘It’s all upside’
Simpson returns 10 years later with his golf resume a solid one. He led Broughton High to state championships. He was a three-time All-America and ACC player of the year in 2008 at Wake Forest, which he attended on the prestigious Arnold Palmer Scholarship.
As a professional, he has won a major. He won The Players Championship. He has played for the U.S. in the Ryder Cup matches against Europe. He has the respect of his peers.
“The perspective shift is I felt more pressure in ‘14, my first time playing in a major here,” he said. “Whatever I was (ranked) in the world, top 15. But now, being here, I kind of see it as a gift to be here.
“I didn’t get in. I had to go qualify. So I feel like it’s all upside. My game is so much better than it was a year ago. As weird as it sounds, I feel like I can compete.”
Simpson’s first PGA Tour win came in Greensboro, at the 2011 Wyndham Championship. His dad was a very excited and proud man that day at Sedgefield Country Club, the smile never leaving his face.
Webb Simpson, asked Monday about the lessons learned from his dad, said, “He taught me so many things.”
Simpson said a friend on the PGA Tour recently texted him about being at a junior tournament watching his son compete and happened to see another kid move the ball in the rough, thinking no one was watching. He asked Simpson if he should go tell the kid’s father.
“I’m like, yeah, definitely tell his dad,” Simpson said. “That was one thing my dad taught me, to always do the right thing. Golf is a game of integrity more than any other sport probably. You have to call penalties on yourself.
“Do your best. Don’t quit. There were points (at the Open qualifier) where it would have felt nice to go to the car. I kept going. I think he would have been proud.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "US Open at Pinehurst, Father’s Day have special meaning for Raleigh native Webb Simpson."
