US Open Day 2 and Golf Discussion Thread
Day 1 saw birdies and eagles at a nearly unprecedented clip for a US Open. Really soft, slow, cool and almost no wind. Guys needed to go low yesterday big because....... oh, wait, that is the weather all weekend. The USGA is going to need some clown faces that shoot the ball back out on the greens or big windmills or something if they have the Open at Pebble again because this next-gen may eat this course up.
**My day played Pebble 50 years ago. He said it is almost surreal to play on and that paying attention to golf is nearly impossible with the kind of scenery on the course. He was about a 2-3 handicap at the time (or so he thought before his round) and carded a wobbly 81. It cost him $70. It runs $585 right now with additional cart or caddie fees. Behind Augusta and St. Andrews, it would probably be third on my bucket list if I am ever in California with $1,000 burning a hole in my pocket.
1. Rose -6
2. Schauffele, Wise, Oosthuizen, Fowler -5
Rory T8 at -3, Koepka T16 at -2, Tiger T28 at -1, Phil and Jordan +1
I was worried after the first 4 holes yesterday that Koepka was going to go full Gregor Clegane on the entire field and that this would be not be worth watching over the weekend but.... wait, he makes mistakes, in golf? Nice. Rose is hard to bet against here. He plays USGA setups well and was frankly awesome yesterday. My personal pick is that Sunday will be a pretty cool day for most golf fans because I think Fowler is going to get his first of not-that-many-at-all majors and that he will get it at a cool, memorable venue.
For those who are actually stuck at work and not playing golf instead of watching it or doing something else way better than I am, a little golf talk today?
Where is the Friday Michigan in CWS POSBANG???
Why did you feel the need to plug this at the top of a thread about golf
Because I thought a Friday POSBANG, especially since we are in the CWS for that first time since 1984 was more threadworthy than the US Open, which I still will watch though.
Teacher here playing golf this afternoon to celebrate summer vacation. Considering Leslie Park (one of my favorites when not crowded) or trying Washtenaw Golf Club for the first time because it's actually reasonable on golfnow for once.
Golf courses just need play anyway they can get it right now. They have lost half a season already with the onslaught of rain in Michigan in the last two months. (I would bring your golashes today or at least wear your "back up" shoes).
Courses will be blindingly green for the rest of the summer which is good news, but man has it been frustrating trying to plan a couple of rounds this year so far.
I hear ya. Have yet to play at all this spring, between the frequent rain and a 3-week bout with bronchitis. Feeling better now finally, but after another inch and a half of rain yesterday in the area, the only golf for me this weekend will be what I watch on TV.
Just a fucking pathetic golf season so far.
I've played 4 times and haven't finished a round yet, and we are supposed to play tomorrow morning, and guess what the forecast is? Yep rain. The only good thing is, my water bill will be low, because if I make it out of June without turning my sprinklers on, I'm not going to. It can start turning brown in August I wouldn't give a shit.
I live on the west side of the state and I have played ~twice a week since late April. A few times in light rain but not too bad. Have you guys on the east side had that much more rain?
I mean, it has rained 28 of the last 33 days. Heavy downpours at least once, maybe twice a day a couple of times per week. One or two days per week that are all day rainouts. Courses are extremely wet, most cart-path only, some no carts at all. Yes, it has rained a shit load so far this spring/summer.
Washtenaw is pretty tight. If you spray it off the tee, you won't have a ton of fun. One of those older country club set ups. Good course and challenging, but harder if you don't have decent control of your driver.
we have a thread more than 3 hours before first group tees off. NICE
My hot take is Tiger will miss the cut, or just barely make it at best.
He missed a golden opportunity to score yesterday and I think the morning will not treat him well.
Honestly one under is still scoring at the us open.
I think he is going to bring it today. I don't think he will win the tournament but I think he will be in the mix on Sunday. He made one REALLY bad swing yesterday that shook him but he was pretty solid otherwise. Not great, but I think he has his game in shape to stick around for the weekend for sure.
I disagree. I think he’ll be right in it. He hit very well off the tee and putted extremely well. He had an off day striking his irons and was frequently coming up 10-20 yds short. He’s arguably the best iron player there ever was and you have to assume that won’t continue all week. I think he’ll have one of the better scores on the course today and be in the top 10 (whatever that score is, who knows. Depending on the weather and what the USGA does to it a -2 or -3 could be the best score today, who knows). I really think Tiger will only be 3-4 back heading into the weekend, unless Keopka or Rose go run and hide, which could happen.
I don't think Koepka can from -2. Rose could though. He looked razor sharp yesterday.
Koepka's issue is just the odd's. He couldn't win 3 US Open's in a row, could he?
Pebble doesn't favor Koepka (not a bombers layout). Too many blind doglegs and finesse holes. Rose's precision game is a better match. Rickie is also a good match. Tiger loves the greens and was sinking some bombs to stay in it, we will see if he can get his iron play up a notch. Molinari is another guy who's game is suited to Pebble golf.
Is it weird that I enjoy watching golf on tv and I play golf games on my Xbox but I don't play in real life? I feel like that's a little weird!
That is weird!
They say the first step is knowing. So you got that going for you.
TGC 2019? Friggin' great game.
I just started playing that recently! I played a lot of the Tiger Woods games back in the day, this is similar but the putting took me the longest to get used to and I am still working on it.
Yeah, it takes a minute to get the hang of it. But you'll be able to dial it in. Just keep at it.
The course designer is the part that blows my mind. Fantastic tool. Having every course imaginable at your fingertips is incredible.
Maybe you should start playing?
I have thought about. I have a couple people I know now who play so I could probably go with them. That was the problem previously was I didn't really know anyone who played and I wouldn't go by myself.
It depends on what you are looking to get out of it. It is really hard. If you are a really competitive person or a perfectionist it may not be the greatest thing to get into if you can't let go of that. If you are just looking for something to do socially and have a couple of beers and look at nice scenery it could be a good idea. Good exercise too.
Definitely the social/beer aspect of it!
Definitely try it out! It is definitely do-able to quickly get to the point of keeping up with pace of play. I've been horrible my whole life (also never bothered with lessons) and literally shoot 120. But I play a few times each year, have fun with family or friends, and bad golfers are a guilt-free way for them to get rid of their "crappy" golf balls/clubs and get new ones.
Well, I mean watching it on TV and playing it in a video game are both easy and golf is not.
So it isn't that weird.
I’m not enthused with Koepka and am not rooting for him to win. Not rooting against him, just hoping someone else wins. I honestly think it’s the “Sparty” in him. And by that I mean that all this week (and previous majors for that matter) the story on him is how he plays with such a chip on his shoulder and that he invents a “slight” to motivate him. It’s just silly. I like Rory, Ricky, Tiger, Rose, and Molinari (just a stone cold killer performance in the Ryder Cup). I also really like Tony Finau, but I don’t think he’ll ever win a major.
I guess if I had to root for one guy, it’d be Ricky. He’s loooong overdue. After that, it’s either Rose or Tiger. The way Tiger sank putts yesterday to grind out the -1 was incredible. If he gets his irons at all this week, he’ll be right in it.
I (and probably many others on the board) am with you on rooting for Ricky Fowler. At -5 after the first round, he needs to finally find within himself the killer instinct that somehow hasn't yet surfaced for him in the majors other than briefly at the 2018 Masters.
If I can find it, I'll come back and post here an article I read yesterday in which the great Jack Nicklaus somewhat lectured Ricky on how he mentally prepared for majors. In short, Ricky, Jack, and several other golfers were on a panel recently and Ricky made a statement that he tries to stay on an even keel and treat every tournament the same, whether a major or not. Jack jumped right into the discussion and disagreed, even pounding his fist several times into his own hand for emphasis as he stated the need to fine tune himself in preparation for majors.
(Edit @ 8:25 am: here's the ESPN article, enjoy!)
https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/26967357/rickie-fowler-not-kid-anymore-win-major
It was on Fehrety. Yeah, Fowler said that he tries to treat it like a regular week and just focus on routine and not be taken up in the moment. Jack said basically "well you are not doing it right then." (para-phrasing of course).
Almost like saying the next game is the most important game. When it's not. It's the OSU game. But I guess that is why we haven't had success against them in 20 years.
Koepka is a frat boy who wants everyone on their knees for him. He wants the reception of Tiger, and he will never get it because he is one of the most boring players to watch that I have ever seen. Tiger is arguably the best player to ever play the game and also happens to be a minority. Koepka will never compete with that.
I think this will become the norm in modern golf, some guys will post low scores no matter how traditionally hard the course may be (last years US Open an exception). These guys now are just so damn good.
I love Tiger, I mean I watch every single round of his start to finish when I can, but I think his comeback might be over. Too many elite players in every field for him at this age. How many scoring chances did he fucking blow yesterday??? I was about yelling at my TV because of all the dumb shit he did. Ugh, love the guy to death but cmon.
If Tiger doesn’t win I’d love to see Rickie win. Very humble, soft spoken guy, and it would be his first major.
Unpopular opinion (maybe?): Jordan Speith is so easy to root against. I swear I hope he shanks one right every swing. Blaming everything on his caddy, complains about the course, I hate his whiny little bitch ass.
I’m with ya on Jordan.
On Tiger...what? How could his comeback be over? It’s really just getting started. He didn’t really blow that many scoring opportunities yesterday. He was a little bit off with his irons, but scrambled and putted beautifully. Most players would have scored at least +2 or +3 yesterday with some of his positions on approach. He’s still the best iron player in the game and had an off day with them. His driving was good and putting was excellent. He really didn’t do a lot dumb shit...just the one Double on the front. He just was not flushing his irons, but that happens from time to time. He’ll be ok and be consistently in the hunt.
Every player, including the ones that go low, hit terrible shots throughout the round. Tiger is the only one on a Thursday who has every single shot broadcast. Justin Rose is the leader and he was scrambling all day long, golf is funny that way. Tigers comeback isn't over, but he will never dominate the field like he used to, he is just too old to do so.
There were like 25 players on Thursday who had every shot broadcasted.
Your emotions are very real . And well I guess that's very important to you.
They might deny it, but I think all the bitching the players did after Chambers Bay and Congressional had a large effect on the USGA. I am really surprised they didn’t let the rough get very thick and taller leading up to Thursday so they could evaluate what the weather was going to be. If high winds were in the forecast, they could’ve simply mowed the rough down a bit. As it was, there was no poor weather, not impossible rough and not super fast greens.
I will still watch, but I found it more entertaining when the Open was kicking players asses. What’s the big deal if for one tournament a year they put up high scores?
I think you are thinking of Shinnecock last year. They ate Congressional up. Rory won that Open at -16.
Chambers Bay just sucks. Like, I know two people who actually played the course and they said it was just a really long, bad golf course.
The only time they have a legitimate gripe is if a course punishes good shots. Then it becomes something other than golf and they have a right to complain. They simply could not putt at Chambers Bay, the greens were comically bad. Both Shinnecock and Pinehurst #2 can get to a place in dry conditions where the players don't have a shot to play, there is no shot available that can be a "success." At that point it is truly ridiculous.
Weather forecast is benign all weekend. What makes Pebble tough is the gusting winds and trying to hit small greens. In these conditions, Pebble has no teeth for an elite pro and the winning score could be 20 under unless the USGA gets the fairways and greens ultra firm by Saturday. I was at the Open last year at Shinnecock and it was ridiculous. The reason Koepka did so well is that he just over-powered the course and was hitting short irons he could spin. The rest of the field was bouncing mid irons into the deep fescue over the greens. You can't over power Pebble, it is a finesse layout that requires strong winds to make it major-worthy. We will see what the USGA has up it's sleeve.
Happy Father's Day to the board. Go Blue !!!
Pin placements is really all they have. They can put the pins 5 paces on right next to the Ocean. Double cut and roll the greens but that could destroy Poa Annua.
I think that the USGA is just going to have to take their beating this weekend. Or they could use the weather machine but that would be a pretty drastic step.
Could try to dry out the fairways too. I’m assuming the sub-air is only present on the greens, but still, there’s things you can do to dry out fairways. Do that and those slopes make shot shape critical.
Marine layer!