Saw some amazing chip-in's this afternoon. Rory, Rahm and Brian Harmon all chipped in from 4 inch Kentucky Blue grass rough around the greens.
Afternoon was good today. Rory and Brian Harmon on top at -5, Rickie and Scottie are among a bunch who are -4. Rickie could have been tied but he dumped his drive in the water right on 17. That rough was gnarly looking, US Open lenght.
capsule of Scottie Scheffler's year, great play tee to green. Then on the greens the elite play stops. Today he had 10 putts from 7-10 feet, made 1.
Viktor Hovland just was out of his mind on the back 9, shot a 61 today and beat Scottie by a couple. Again Scottie played very well tee to green but Hovland was making puts and Scottie was making 2 putts. He missed a putt on 17 that said it all, should have been a birdie, but instead a solid par. But in the end he goes to East Lake ranked #1 in the FEDEX Cup standings and will be -10 when he tee's it up on Thursday, Hovland is #2 and will start -8, Rory is #3 and will start at -7, Jon Rahm will be at #4 and start at -6. Scottie and Rory have the same issues with the putter.
Scheffler starred out -10 and played well through 5 -3 for the day, then the wheels come off and 3 bogey's and double bogey leave him at -8 while Morikawa who started out -1 and shot 9 under today shares the lead at -10 with Bradley and Hovland. Scotties putting has failed him again as he's missed a number of inside 10 footers today.
Rory apparently was playing with a bad back and shot even today. Sottie had a putt to go to -10 but didn't make it. That ball into the water on #15 was really the turning point for Scheffler. Triple bogey.
Good round today by Scottie, actually made some putts, and shot -5, but Hovland and Morikowa shot -6 and lead at -16 to Soctties -14. On the women's side, Lexi Thompson continues to spiral downward and is sitting at +11, the odd thing was Stacy Lewis the Solheim Cup captain was talking her up, I hope she isn't even considering making her a Captains pick no matter how much Lexi loves the Solheim Cup.
Changing the subject a little, does the Euro Ryder Cup team look a lot more formadable? Victor, Rory and Rahm are a solid foundation. With a highly partisan, rabid crowd, the US will probably be the underdog.
Update on nephew Matt at the USGA Mid Am. The field is 264 guys, and the top 64 go to match play after 2 rounds of stroke play. Weather has been a factor with a number of players not completing their rounds yesterday, but they have all completed them now. Matt is tied at 53rd, shot a +2, his RD2 tee time was going to be pushed back till tomorrow, weather permitting. He'll have to play his RD2 in the AM, then any playoffs and start Match play if he qualifies. Could be a long day!!
Well my nephew Matt made it thought stoke play to match play. Shot 73/71 +3 and ended up in a tie with 16 other guys for the last slots. There were 14 open stil, and he sealed the deal by carding the only eagle on the first playoff hole, so he's in and the rest ot them play on.
Well Matt went down today in the round of 64 5 and 3, the guy who beat him was the low amateur in the 2017 Masters finished 36th and made the cut in last years U S Open finished 64th. He's off to the Crump Cup next week at Pine Valley, so it's been a busy couple of weeks for him. His pregnant wife thinks she's married to a professional golfer, just not getting paid!!
Update: The guy Matt lost to in the Mid Am ended up winning the tournament and a trip to the Masters. It's his 3rd Mid Am title. He's the top mid am golfer in the world. Since turning 25 seven years ago, the 32-year-old Newport Beach, Calif., native arguably has been the world’s best mid-amateur golfer. That year, he immediately announced his presence to this golfing demographic by capturing the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur in dramatic style – he rallied from 4 down with 5 to play to beat 2014 winner Scott Harvey in 37 holes – at Stonewall, in Elverson, Pa., a few weeks after claiming the Metropolitan Golf Association Amateur. Since then, he’s played on four consecutive winning USA Walker Cup Teams, including earlier this month on the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland when he posted a 2-1 record (2-0 in singles) in the come-from-behind victory, advanced to a pair of U.S. Amateur quarterfinals (2020 and 2022) and now he has hoisted the Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Trophy for a third time. https://championships.usga.org/usmi...arified-air-with-third-u-s--mid-am-title.html
Read an interesting article on the Solheim Cup which called for a change in the format so that more of the top players are included. Unlike the Ryder Cup where 24 of the top 25 will be involved. The Solheim will only have 9 of the top 25 due to the exclusion of the Asian/Australian women. The article also proposed changes to the Cup that would involve the Asian Players as well. Create 3 teams, expand that US team to include all of the America's. Add Australia and New Zealand to the Euros and then of course the Asian players from Korea/China/Japan/Thailand etc for a 3rd team. Doubt if any of that happens though, tradition is tough to break in these things.
Looking forward to the Ryder Cup. The Euro team will be much stronger this time, at least on paper. US team doesn't seem to be peaking. Scottie has lost his putting touch, JT has lost his game and Spieth and Fowler have trouble closing the deal. In any event, it sure looks like it will be a lot closer than the one 2 yrs. ago when the US dominated.
JT looked alot better last weekend. I'm optimistic he will rise to the occasion and make Zach look like a genius and get his game back to form in Rome. Scottie's putter is a f'n mess, gotta be a mental thing but I wouldn't know, I can't putt either.
Brooks Koepka is trying to generate some publicity for himself. Brooks Koepka slaps Tiger Woods with ‘Masters’ slander, makes astounding majors claim (msn.com)
Nicklaus finished second in 19 Majors. I guess he could say he should have had 37 but he gifted 19 away.