Ricky Barnes Leads the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black

(Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

 
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really pissed off the first two or three years. And seeing other guys that you played with getting out there and playing well."

"The guys you know you competed against in every tournament and every step of the way and they're out there and you're struggling just to kind of get conditional status on the Nationwide Tour."

Who could have foreseen this?

Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover in the final twosome in the third round of the U.S. Open?

No one seven years ago when they were paired together during the first two rounds of the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. Both players missed the cut back then.

This year is a different story.

"It's (the Nationwide Tour has) obviously gotten me real ready to play out here and it's humbled me the past four or five years."

Humility is a powerful thing especially in the game of golf when you are grinding it out.

Ricky Barnes—keep grinding because as you do you get polished in the process.

Here's to hoping you shine brightly at the end of the 109th U.S. Open.

As brightly as a diamond no longer in the rough of Bethpage Black.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to Andy@MrHickoryGolf.net

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