By MONTE DUTTON

When the United States Open is played at Pinehurst No. 2, I have a small degree of familiarity.

I played it. Or, rather, it played me. Several times.

Back when it was Winston Cup, and Rockingham hosted two races a year, an annual junket took the writers who traveled the full NASCAR circuit to play a round on one of the world’s great courses.

Those were the only times I ever played with a caddy and the only times I ever needed one.

The greens reminded me of being forced to putt into a distorted mirror at a carnival. It wasn’t like being drunk. It may have been like being under the influence of hallucinogens. I can’t say.

I’m lining up a putt and thinking, It’s gonna break two feet left, and the caddy tells me to aim seven feet right, and I think, Oh, wise guy.

As it turns out, he’s not a wise guy. He’s a guy who is wise.

On another hole, I was about three feet off the green, and the caddy cautioned me to be careful because John Daly had an 11 from that same spot. Thus inspired, I carded a sizzling nine.

I knew Barry Whitman for most of my life and a decent portion of his.

He was an assistant football coach at Bell Street Junior High School, which for two years was a disastrous experiment in all-male integration.

Bill Rhodes, David Martin and Whitman held us together with occasional help from others. It was a colorful, harsh time of cultural exchange and learning to get along. It’s more amusing now than it was at the time.

Martin, a colorful man who also taught me math, moved along after a year. He once paddled me so hard that my knees sent his heavy desk sliding across the room. I liked him, though, and I have often wondered what became of him.

Whitman and I crossed paths on summertime sandlots and at church. He liked to talk, seldom hid an opinion, and loved to laugh.

Clinton and I suspect most towns had leaders, both men and women, of young people. They raised their own kids skillfully and left an impression on all the others. It seems to me that no one occupies that niche nowadays. When I was a kid, we had Grady Adair at McGee’s Drug Store, J.A. Orr at Western Auto, Barry Whitman, Sam and Truman Owens and many others.

Fortunately, today, kids have their phones to inspire them.

A friend of mine once said, “This town raises your kids for you.”

Not anymore. At least not the same way.

Too much learning is remote in more ways than one.

Presbyterian College’s Joel Dragoo was barely all district when he became All-American.

The Blue Hose center fielder from Beckville, Texas, who batted .401 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI, made the collegiate baseball writers’ Third Team. He was the sole Big South representative on the team and one of four from South Carolina.

South Carolina’s Cole Messina made Second Team. Clemson’s Cam Cannarella and Aidan Knaak joined Dragoo on the Third Team.

With PC’s hard-throwing right-hander, Daniel Eagen, it was the same, only different.

Eagen, from Fuquay-Varina, N.C., made the Perfect Game All-America team, which consists of three teams of pitchers. Eagen made the Third.

With a 6-2 record and a 2.67 ERA, Eagen held opposing hitters to a .176 average.

Earlier this week, both Dragoo and Eagen made the baseball coaches’ all-district team.

In the Legion wars, Greenwood Post 20 picked up a stirring, come-from-behind, 12-9 victory over Evans (Ga.) on Tuesday night and followed it up with an 8-0 conquest on Wednesday.

Laurens’ Jackson Martin, who patrolled right field, tripled in three runs. Another ex-Raider, center fielder Jaedon Goodwin, walked and scored a run in the former game.

The Braves (3-3) got two hits from Laurens’ Goodwin in the latter, and Martin hit safely.

Clinton’s Carson Glenn started on the mound and went 3/3 at the plate in Chapin-Newberry’s 6-4 victory over Easley.

The teams are to play again on Thursday night at Newberry College. Post 193/24 is 4-2.

Laurens’ Hunter Nabors and Owen Pridgen had a pair of hits apiece as Golden Strip (4-0) won, 7-4, over Anderson.

Ben Willis started at shortstop and pitched the final inning. He was 1/4 with a run batted in. One of Nabors’ hits was a double, and he both scored and drove in two runs.     

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