Janzen can't defend again

For the second time, Lee Janzen learned it's not easy to be the defending champion at the U.S. Open.

Janzen, who won at The Olympic Club in San Francisco a year ago, finished a four-day struggle at Pinehurst No. 2 with a 5-over 75 Sunday and an 18-over 298 for the tournament.

After his first Open victory at Baltusrol in 1993, Janzen failed to make the cut the following year. This time, he barely made it to the weekend after starting with rounds of 74 and 73.

"Some of the guys in contention, maybe they want it a little it more than the guy who's just won it," Janzen said. "I enjoyed being the champion for a year."

Janzen's poor showing extended a tradition at the U.S. Open, where the defending champion has failed to seriously contend since Curtis Strange won back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990. The only other player in the past half-century to win consecutive Opens was Ben Hogan in 1950-51.

"Last year, I was able to play my practice rounds, go home and rest every day," Janzen said. "With all the extra attention this year, it's harder to keep your mindset on preparing for the tournament. There's a lot of talk about last year's tournament. You can't talk about last year and win this year."

OPEN SUCCESS: So you want to play the course where some of the world's best players were brought to their knees?

Pinehurst No. 2 will reopen Tuesday to the general public. The cost for a round -- $225.

"I will spend the next eight weeks tearing (the venue) down, which may very well be the most depressing thing in my life," championship director Jon Wagner said Sunday.

However, Wagner gave the event a thumbs up and anticipates the USGA will return as soon as possible, probably in eight or nine years.

"If you think of the perfect venue one of the things you need is space, which we've got more space than you could ever use," said Wagner. "Two, you need a platform or a theatre to perform that is going to evoke some kind of emotion or passion in people that they want to be here to begin with. That's something that Pinehurst offers that no other place does."

In addition to some dramatic golf staged this week, the tournament was a hit at the concession stands. Pinehurst surpassed the previous record concession sales of $1.5 million at an Open on Saturday with one round left, Wagner said.

"One of the things that we didn't anticipate to this degree, because people had to drive a little further than was typical, instead of eating at their homes everybody was eating here. As a result, there was so much more trash than we ever anticipated," Wagner said.

The previous concession sales record was set by the 1997 Open at Congressional Country Club in Maryland.

FAST STARTS, SLOW FADES: An early lead at the Open guarantees you nothing -- just ask players like John Daly or Kaname Yokoo.

Daly and Yokoo each shot 2-under-par 68 in Thursday's opening round, only to fade fast over the next three rounds.

The two weren't alone.

While Daly finished last at 29-over and Yokoo was at 21-over, Bob Tway, Chris Smith and Larry Mize also started well with 69s, but Tway and Smith finished at 23-over and Mize was one shot worse.

WE SURRENDER: Pinehurst No. 2 played hard this week. Just how hard?

Ask Chris Perry, who crawled on his hands-and-knees as he approached the 18th green.

"I thought it would be kind of funny to throw up the surrender flag the last 10 feet and just crawl to the green," said Perry, whose 6-over 76 Sunday left him at 17-over for the four-day event.

"It was pretty comical and a good laugh, for myself even, but I knew that the crowd would like that."

Last year at the Olympic Club, three golfers finished at plus-20 or worse. At No. 2, a whopping 16 golfers who made the cut were at 20-over par or worse, including players such as Tom Watson, Tom Kite and last week's PGA Tour winner Ted Tryba.

Tryba was 19-under-par in winning the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He ballooned to 28-over this week -- a swing of 47 strokes.

FORGOTTEN ROUND: While the leaders battled it out down the stretch, the forgotten round of the final day belonged to Dudley Hart.

Hart's 1-under 69 was one of just two sub-par rounds on Sunday. Hart's clutch round moved him from a tie for 46th on Saturday to 17th. Vijay Singh also shot a 69.

Hart played the final 16 holes in a remarkable 4-under after starting double-bogey and bogey on the first two holes.

"On this course you can't really get too frustrated," said Hart, who finished at 11-over. "If you lose your composure a little bit you can shoot sky-high."

AP