Father, daughter tackle Open together.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. _ The putt tumbled into the cup and the crowd cheered and Gilles Gagnon took his hat off and kissed his daughter Dominique on the cheek.

After all these years, he had finally made the U.S. Open. Thirty times he had tried and failed. Thirty times he had polished his game, put his dream in his pocket and had gone off to try to qualify and 30 times, he had gone home with the dream still in his pocket.

Thursday, though, he was out there in the thick of it at Pine Needles. The thing is, he wasn't playing in the men's Open. He was caddying for Dominique, his 20-year-old daughter, who had only had to try once to make the U.S. Women's Open field. …