Certainly, the romantic notion tickled his fancy. With the U.S Open returning to The Country Club in Brookline for the first time since 1988, how cool if 59-year-old Chip Johnson qualified just as he had done as a 25-year-old all those many summers ago?
Heck, he actually put in an entry, too.
But on the day (May 9) of what would have been his U.S. Open local qualifier at Kirkbrae CC in Lincoln, R.I., Johnson was at work. The head golf professional at Hatherly CC in Scituate, Mass., had reconsidered and withdrawn.
The faith in his game to handle the local challenge, and even at final qualifying, was there. “But if I actually made it (to The Country Club) . . . ” said Johnson, letting that thought hang. “Well, I just don’t know if my game could hold up.”
The honesty is blanketed in perspective and experience. No second-guessing that call. But the story isn’t about today, it’s about the wonderful script Johnson authored 34 years ago at a time in his life when wild dreams were not so wild. He was that good.