Could the belly putter become a victim of its own success? Maybe, if some factions in the game’s governing bodies have their way.

Webb Simpson’s win at the U.S. Open added renewed fervor to the anti-anchor partisans. Since Olympic, the velocity of rumors spiraling around the long stick has increased. Graham Spiers, host of the BBC’s “The Golf Show,” sat down with R&A chief executive Peter Dawson, and both men appeared to tout the traditional style, using traditional arguments. Spiers wrote about the interview at the BBC's website:

The R&A are currently conducting "intense discussions" with the USGA about where the governing bodies of golf go with the belly-putter. Dawson, like many, believes that the "anchoring" of the putter against the stomach is contentious, and may give the golfer an unfair advantage when striking a putt.

Another way of putting this is, it is not a pure putting stroke, as golf has intended over hundreds of years. If you think about it, the belly-putter means less judgement and subtlety are required when gripping the shaft and executing the putt.

It is not my job here to pre-empt Dawson and the R&A's final judgement on the legality of the implement. But my hunch is that, down the line, this club will eventually be outlawed.

Spiers goes on to discuss what it might take to prompt the ban (basically Keegan Bradley winning the British), and it’s not hard to tell where the Ancient ones stand. Meanwhile, back in the colonies, the USGA’s Mike Davis went on record with a more diplomatic approach, saying he does not anticipate a decision anytime soon.

Video: The World's Fastest Forecaddie
A while back, we at T&R mentioned that somebody with a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster decided to use it to catch a golf ball. Because if you have a $280,000 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster, that’s what you do with it. It’s your prerogative, the world is clearly your oyster, so why not? Well, now we have the video. Check it out, via Galopnik:

This leaves us with questions, of course. Why was the pro in the Callaway hat playing a TaylorMade driver? How many tensed-up slices did it take before he could hit a ball at that car? How did he get that gig -– and how can I? (N.B.: He carried that a shade over 300 yards, dead straight, into the back seat of a moving vehicle.)

Car’s impressive, too.

Video: Tiny Driver
It’s Friday, and we are going heavy on videos to take you into the weekend.

So why not watch the world’s tallest basketball player -– 7’8’’ Harlem Globetrotter Tiny Sturgess -- hitting golf balls at New York’s Chelsea Piers? Check out the video at Cinesport.

According to the clip, Sturgess carries a single-digit handicap, and can hit it 300 yards. And, if you listen closely in the background, I think you can hear him getting called for a block on Lebron…

Tweet of the Day

No matter what you think about LeBron, he went out and led his team to the championship, you have to admire that ‪#greatness

— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) June 18, 2012

Andrew Dudley, the English man who goes by "Jungle Bird" and interrupted Webb Simpson's trophy presentation at the U.S. Open, talked with CNN's Jeanne Moos to explain how he got onto the green, why he does what he does, and to offer an apology of sorts to Simpson.

He said the USGA did not press charges, and the police were "really cool" to him, and even made a few bird noises of their own. Here's the video, in which you'll be treated yet again to his bird calls.

Webb Simpson expressed his gratitude, and some fellow pros sent their congratulations:

Simpson sent a picture of the 'Jungle Bird' as well:

Amateur Beau Hossler finished tied for 29th at the U.S. Open, but the best thing that happened to him last week might just have been the proposal below:

Father's Day was also a common theme on Sunday:

After 17-year-old amateur Beau Hossler's impressive performance at the U.S. Open, we asked Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers if they thought Hossler should turn pro after completing high school in 2013, or head to the University of Texas as planned.

Here's what the Top 100 said:

If you were Beau Hossler’s coach would you advise him to turn pro after high school?

YES: 3%
NO: 97%

Comments:

“Triple no after that final round. His future team mate beat him for the week in the end.” --Jon Tattersall, Terminus Club, Atlanta, Ga.

“Zero point, Zero chance. I had the same situation with Inbee Park. Wait at least one year.” –-Joseph Hallet, Vanderbilt Legends Club, Franklin, Tenn.

“Iwould like to see him in college first, but today’s athletes are so different. He has the skill, talent and mental capacity, just not old enough to rent a car!” -- Nancy Quarcelino, Nancy Quarcelino School of Golf, Spring Hill, Tenn.

“Remember the grim years experienced by Justin Rose after finishing 4th in British Open at age 17?” –J.D. Turner, The Turner Golf Group, Savannah, Ga.

“Stay in high school. Graduate from college. Always have a Plan B.” -–Charlie Sorrell, Crystal Lake Golf and Country Club, Hampton, Ga.

“Turning pro will not allow him to mature as a person.” –- Jim Suttie, Cog Hill Golf and Country Club, Lemont, Ill.

“Only if he wants to be a teaching pro at age 27. That's how long it took Ty Tryon to go from phenom to failure.” –T.J. Tomasi, Keiser University School of Golf, Port St. Lucie, Fla.

“He needs to go to college. Remember Ty Tryon and Michele Wie? Neither reached their potential because they never learned to dominate at any level.  College would help Beau tremendously.” -- Mike Adams, Hamilton Farm Golf Club, Gladstone, N.J.

“He has a scholarship to play at Texas.  Go to college, have fun, win an NCAA championship and get your degree.  The PGA tour will still be there for you after that.” --Ed Ibarguen, Duke University Golf Club, Durham, N.C.

“The college experience is far too valuable in the big picture of life. It would be a shame to miss it.” -- Kellie Stenzel, Palm Beach Par 3 Golf Course, Palm Beach, Fla.

“Yes, that's what players do in other countries around the world.” –- Scott Munroe, Nantucket Golf Club,  Siasconset, Mass.

“Even though he seems to be a very mature young man, and has huge talent, he needs to gain more experience playing for Texas after high school graduation. After all, why waste that 4.0 GPA he's earned in so far in high school?”
–-Carol Preisinger, Kiawah Island Club, Kiawah Island, S.C.

“Can you say Ty Tryon?” –Brady Riggs, Woodley Lakes Golf Course, Van Nuys, Calif.

“This mistake has been made way too often with great talent that then doesn’t validate winning success at every level.” –Brad Brewer, Shingle Creek Golf Club, Orlando, Fla.

“Go win in college and learn how to be dominant”. –- Eric Johnson, Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pa.

“Not a chance. He needs much more seasoning!” -- Dan Pasquariello, St. James Plantation, Southport, N.C.

“Here are two ways of giving the same answer: Beau's US Open performance was nothing less than brilliant and showed remarkable promise but he should continue to successfully focus on being a 'student-athlete' for at least another year.  Only at that time, consider a switch from attending the University of Texas to attempting PGA Tour School.

"While Beau's US Open performance was nothing less than brilliant and shows remarkable promise, making a living on the PGA Tour is not a done deal yet as his Polo Golf Ranking scoring average of 72.03 in 29 junior golf rounds over the last year would at best place him 148th on the PGA Tour this season.” -- Dom DiJulia, Dom DiJulia School of Golf, New Hope, Pa.

NBC's Bob Costas and newly minted U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson were having the usual post-victory chat on the 18th green at the Olympic Club when a man in a Union Jack hat jumped in front of the camera and started squawking like a bird.

Kudos to the USGA's Mike Davis for pulling the guy off camera.

Webb Simpson won the U.S. Open at San Francisco's Olympic Club on Sunday, shooting 68 for a one-over total to secure his first major title.

"Amazed, I've got no words," Simpson said after the victory. "Just thankful to God. I couldn't have done it without him."

Simpson, who had two previous PGA Tour wins, held off a cast of veteran players on Sunday that included former U.S. Open winners Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk and Ernie Els.

McDowell and Michael Thompson tied for second at two over par, and five players were three over -- Furyk, David Toms, Padraig Harrington, John Peterson and Jason Dufner.

Tiger Woods, who started the day at four over par, five shots off the lead, had a disastrous start and never recovered. He bogeyed the first, second, fifth and sixth holes and doubled the third to shoot five-over 39 on the front. He settled down on the back nine, making birdie at Nos. 14 and 17, but his three-over 73 left him seven over for the tournament. His last major victory was four years ago in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

Golf Magazine's Cameron Morfit: Simpson holds on at foggy Olympic Club

More U.S. Open Coverage
- U.S. Open Leaderboard
- Photos: Sports Illustrated's best U.S. Open images
- Videos: Highlights, expert roundtables, interviews and more
- Photos: Check out the pros' custom golf clubs
- Photos: Pro golfers with their dads
- Photos: Tiger Woods, a life in pictures

 (Photo: Fred Vuich/SI)

Looks like ESPN will be pleased with having Tiger Woods in prime time for this U.S. Open. The network's press release on Friday's ratings is below:

ESPN’s prime time coverage of the second round of the 112th U.S. Open on Friday, June 15, earned the network’s highest rating and largest audience ever for a regular round of play in the event.

The telecast from 5-10 p.m. ET averaged 3.6 million viewers and a 2.9 household coverage rating, according to the Nielsen Company. The audience was the fifth-largest ever for a golf telecast on cable.

ESPN’s live telecast of earlier U.S. Open play on Friday from noon – 3 p.m. ET earned a 1.5 household coverage rating, averaging 1.6 million viewers.

Thursday’s U.S. Open first round telecast from noon – 3 p.m. on ESPN earned a 1.6 household coverage rating, averaging 1.6 million viewers, while the 5-10 p.m. telecast had a 1.5 rating with 1.7 million viewers. Both telecasts were up in viewership and ratings from the 2011 U.S. Open, which was held in Bethesda, Md., and aired earlier in the day.

ESPN’s largest audience ever for any U.S. Open telecast was a Monday playoff in 2008 with 4.2 rating and 4.8 million viewers.

SportsCenter and ESPN.com will continue to report from the U.S. Open all weekend ESPN Radio will have live coverage of the final round on Sunday from 4-10 p.m. ET.

Bubba Watson leads the PGA Tour in driving distance with a monstrous 314.5 yard average, which makes Tiger Woods's 295.7 yard average (T30th) look pretty average.

However, Tiger can still pop one out there from time to time. With the tees pushed forward on the par-5 16th hole to an appetizing 610 yards on Friday, Tiger and Bubba were both thinking about reaching in two and they each hit massive drives down the fairway. The surprise? When those tee shots stopped, Tiger's ball was about 20 yards past Bubba.

During a post-round press conference in which Tiger took obvious pleasure in recounting his best shots, a reporter asked him about outdriving Bubba on 16. Tiger's response was illuminating.

Was it enjoyable to be about 20 yards past Bubba on 16 today?

TIGER WOODS: The tee shot on 16, it's obviously it's easier for me to hit the ball further because I'm turning it and I'm working it with some kind of top spin, a little draw.

And I hammered it out there, but Bubba's playing a big cut. He teed off in the middle of the tee box. He didn't go to the right and hit a straight ball slice or straight ball/cut. He went to the middle part of the tee box and shaped it more. So he burned a little bit of distance off of that, and just tried to get the ball in play.

He did the same shot on the second shot, which is kind of cool to see, to hit a driver that high off the deck. It's not easy to do.

(Photo: John Biever / SI)

At least there wasn't a reporter attached to it.

Sergio Garcia took out his frustrations on a course microphone at the Olympic Club on Friday after mis-hitting his tee shot on the third hole.

Garcia had been playing a solid round on the punishing course and was one under when he got to the third hole, his 13th. (Related: Interactive map.) After his tee shot landed several yards short of the green, Garcia slashed his club at a microphone on the tee box, cutting it in half. The Golf Channel has footage of Garcia's microphone duel here.

Despite the outburst, Garcia was able to hold it together for the rest of his round to post  a respectable one-over 71 on Friday. He is four over for the tournament.

The hot-blooded Garcia has been known to show his frustrations on the course, most recently with a textbook-perfect club throw at the Thailand Golf Championship in December.

We wrote a little something yesterday about “the rarest, most meaningless shot” we’ll see all week --  Alvaro Quiros’s practice round albatross on Olympic's seventh. Well, we recommend you watch Nick Watney’s reprise from Thursday, because it’s phenomenal. His double eagle on the par-5 17th starts at the 1:10 mark in our highlight package.

It’s hard to say which is more impressive, hitting a tee shot from 270 and having it roll in like a putt or drawing a 5-iron with the ball below your feet and having it roll in like a putt. Watney went from three-over to even on that one swing.

Just how rare is a double-eagle in competition?  The U.S. Open had only seen two before yesterday, and the tournament has been played since 1895. And how about seeing an albatross in two straight majors, after Louis Oosthuizen's at Augusta? Our researchers are still pouring over the microfiche, but…never...?

Casey at the Tee
Casey Martin, playing in the U.S. Open for the first time since 1998, put together a solid opening round by any measure, shooting four-over 74. It was particularly impressive considering Martin's painful circulatory disorder in his right leg. Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Martin shook off a case of nerves to play the last 12 holes in 1-under. If you intend to watch him during Friday's second round, don't make it a mission of pity. Go for the sheer beauty of his swing. This is one of the purest ball strikers you'll ever see, and when you consider where he has been the past six years, the notion is astonishing.

"I guess I settled down and played pretty well," said Martin. "But it doesn't feel like I played well. It feels like I've been through a war. It was so hard out there. Man, that course is a stress."

Even through the hellish stage of his career, back when he had to sue the PGA Tour and endure such bitter resentment from the golf establishment, the Olympic Club has been Martin's friend. He recalls the galleries being "great" when he played the 1998 U.S. Open, finishing in a tie for 23rd in his then-historic use of a cart, and the fans were off-the-charts respectful Thursday.

All of that is good to see, given what Martin had to put up with last time he found himself in the spotlight. He started day two hanging around the top 60 players, who will make the cut.

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