June 16 (Bloomberg) -- The stone clubhouse of Winged Foot Golf Club is filled with memories of championship moments. From Bobby Jones to Jack Nicklaus, some of golf's greatest players and plays are represented in books and photographs.

Even the ``Mulligan'' gets some space.

The course in Mamaroneck, New York, where the second round of the U.S. Open is under way today, claims to be the U.S. birthplace of the Mulligan, golf's ``do-over'' shot that gives weekend duffers a second chance without adding a stroke to their score.

Nicklaus, the all-time record winner of major championships with 18, played golf at Winged Foot on his honeymoon in 1960. Jones, the only golfer to win all four majors in one year, sank a 12-foot (3.7-meter), downhill, left-to-right putt on the final hole of the West Course in the 1929 U.S. Open that sportswriter Grantland Rice called ``the greatest single putt I have ever witnessed.''

Those portions of club lore are proudly discussed. The concept introduced to U.S. golfers at Winged Foot in 1937 by Canadian-born hotelier David B. Mulligan is something else.

``We don't talk about it that much,'' Tom Nieporte, the club's head professional for the past 28 years, said in an interview.

That doesn't mean the club's members don't take advantage of it during casual rounds.

``Most guys are reaching into their back pocket for another ball before the first one hits the ground,'' Nieporte, 77, said.

It's also found repeatedly in books that line the cramped clubhouse office of Winged Foot historian Douglas LaRue Smith.

Dictionary

The term Mulligan has crossed from golf into everyday life and earned a spot in Webster's New World Dictionary. The practice, which is also referred to as a ``breakfast ball'' when used during early morning rounds, is against the rules and draws a penalty if used in competitive play.

It's almost always used only on the first tee, when a golfer hits a poor shot. Usually, a player's partners have to agree to grant the free stroke.

Mulligan brought the term to the U.S. from Canada, where he was a member at several clubs, including the St. Lambert Golf Club in Quebec, according to the U.S. Golf Association, which runs the Open and oversees the sport in the U.S. and Mexico.

Mulligan, who was president of the Windsor Hotel in Montreal, would rush to the course a few minutes past noon in order to be back to the hotel before 6 p.m., according to a letter sent to the USGA in 1985 by M. Donald Grant, former chairman of baseball's New York Mets and a cousin of the late duffer. The same approach occurred at Winged Foot.

`Topped Drive'

``He was a very fast dresser, and when he would reach the first tee, because of his rushing, he would invariably top his drive,'' wrote Grant, who often drove Mulligan to the course.

Mulligan would then hit another ball, which he called a ``correction shot,'' according to the USGA. ``All his friends ever did was snicker and let him get away with it,'' Grant wrote.

The term began to spread when Charles Gordon, a friend playing in Mulligan's group, topped his drive one day.

``As we all started to leave the tee he said, `Wait a minute boys, I'm going to take a `Mulligan,''' Grant wrote. ``Thereafter, all of us did it and it grew like wildfire.''

While the term is associated with poor play, Winged Foot isn't the only U.S. club staking claim to the Mulligan.

`Less Credible'

Essex Fells Country Club in New Jersey says the term came from John A. ``Buddy'' Mulligan, a locker-room attendant who worked at the course during the 1930s. He was known for replaying shots, particularly on the first tee, according to the USGA. Essex Fells's story is one of the latest versions and ``may therefore be less credible,'' USGA spokesman Marty Parkes said.

At the U.S. Open, where advancing the ball out of 6-inch- high (15-centimeter-high) grass that lines the fairways can cause wrist injuries and where Colin Montgomerie had the only sub-par opening round, some players joked they wouldn't mind a few second chances.

``I don't think they will let us have any,'' said Jason Dufner, 29, playing in his second U.S. Open after winning last week's LaSalle Bank tournament on the lower-tier Nationwide Tour. ``It would be nice, though.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Buteau in Mamaroneck, New York at mbuteau@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 16, 2006 08:46 EDT