US Open 2018

Discussion in 'Sports Board' started by Terry O'Keefe, Jun 11, 2018.

  1. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    It's my 2nd favorite week for gold, the Masters is #1. With the Masters you know what you are getting the course might be tweaked year to year, but golf fans know each hole like they actually play it on a regular basis. With the US Open the venue moves around every year and each is unique in it's own right and then there is USGA messing around with the course to achieve their target of the winner maybe being the only guy to break par.

    That messing around with the course has caused controversy over the years, with the players whining about the setup being unfair. If it's not the greens rolling like concrete it's the rough being impossible to deal with if you end up there. But that's what makes this tournament great for the fans, seeing the Pro's struggle with bad shots just like we do. I played a PGA Tour course right after the week of the tournament, it was still setup for the pro's. I can tell you the rough was too much for me and the greens too fast. I played that same course last month after it had been returned to playing conditions for members and the rough was fair and the greens while fast and smooth were fair as well. I can't imagine playing a US Open setup.

    As far as favorites and who I'd like to see win.

    Phil...I'd like to see him get that last piece to the career slam. But I can't see it happening, he still has his moments and creates some spectacular recoveries, but fewer than in the past. He's still not a good bet to hit a fairway which is why he's so creative. Also it seems to me he's just an average putter at this point. I just don't think he can put together 4 rounds, he might get off to a hot start but it won't last or he could come out and crater on day 1 and then get it going (too late).

    I'd really like to see Ricki Fowler win, he has the game.

    Jordan, I'd like to see him find his game. He had a good Masters of course and it's not like he can't play but right now he's just playing like a journeyman.

    Bubba ...one of my favorites when he's on, hit's it sooooo far and like Phil makes some incredible shots, putting fails him at times.

    DJ..right now he's clearly the best, it almost seems unfair when he's playing like he did at Memphis. But winning the week before is peaking too soon.

    Tiger...I really don't want Tiger to win. I'd like to see him play well and it'd certainly be a big big big deal if the did...but I really hope somebody else wins.
     
  2. Don Ballard

    Don Ballard Well-Known Member

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    Terry,

    With all the young talent on the circuit now, it's almost anyone's chance to win. Makes for some very interesting viewing.
     
  3. gipper

    gipper Well-Known Member

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    Terry I’m like you in having this my second favorite tournament of the year. While the PGA usually supervises tournaments this is the baby of the USGA. While the PGA doesn’t want to embarrass their members, the USGA cares more about a good test of golf skills. It poses different challenges than other tournaments. Andy North and Lee Jansen won it twice. Phil couldn’t win it once. My favorites are Jason Day and JT. From the neck down DJ is awesome. I wonder about his mind game. There was the meltdown at Pebble and the 3 putt on 18 at Chambers Bay.
    My non American favorite is Rahm who will someday be a force like Steve.
     
  4. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Mike..being a New Yorker, did you ever get out to Shinnecock Hills?

    Here's a good article on the course and it's history.

    https://www.pgatour.com/news/2018/06/11/things-to-know-us-open-shinnecock-hills.html


    I wonder if AJ has given up golf, haven't seen him on a golf topic in awhile.
     
  5. George Krebs

    George Krebs Well-Known Member

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    I would certainly like to see Tiger win. No matter what he does he cannot duplicate his win in 2008 on a broken leg and torn ACL. He has shown that he can compete again but can he put four good rounds together? We'll see but he has certainly put the juice back into the PGA.
     
  6. Don Ballard

    Don Ballard Well-Known Member

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    Berger and Finau move up 44 spots to make a four-way tie for the lead after three rounds. I still like Dustin Johnson's chances for a win tomorrow?
     
  7. kp

    kp Well-Known Member

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    If the USGA does not DQ Mickleson, then I hope that every player on the final round uses that ploy to save the strokes. He got carried away by the frustration, then covered it by saying it was his plan to help his score. Then he doubled down and says that the people that respect the game should "toughen up". I just lost all respect for Phil. What a display. If he is not DQ'ed then the game has just changed.
     
  8. gipper

    gipper Well-Known Member

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    I think that the guys who were on the top of the leaderboard when the day began and got hosed by the conditions courtesy of the USGA really appreciated Phil making a statement for them. Today’s leaders didn’t play better golf, they played a playable golf course. Even easy going Zack Johnson agree the course “got awayâ€￾ from the USGA. I doubt we’ll see the same kind of bloodbath today.
     
  9. IrishCorey

    IrishCorey Well-Known Member

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    KP,

    Didn't Jon Daly take some flack for doing something similar?
     
  10. Sid

    Sid Well-Known Member

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    From an article in Golfweek by Beth Ann Nichols:
     
  11. kp

    kp Well-Known Member

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    Corey, yes Daly did the same thing. I had higher expectations for Mickelson than Daly. I am truly disappointed. If Mickelson really did offer to withdraw, then he knew he should. He just didn't have the guts to do it. Koepka really played well and gutted it out. Good win for him.
     
  12. gipper

    gipper Well-Known Member

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    I wonder if the Golf Channei were showing the first part of the Open rounds and NBC were showing the conclusion, would the talking heads on Golf Channel still call for ratings booster Phil to be DQ’d.
     
  13. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Well controversy and the US Open go hand in hand. So that the USGA struggled with the setup of the course is nothing new and really should be expected.

    But in the end the players were the story. It was an excellent final round, Brooks Koepka deserved the win, he made the shots when he needed them and he made the putts when he needed them. He also is winning off the course, with Jena Sims.

    [​IMG]

    It was painful to watch Dustin putt, he just couldn't find the line or the stroke.


    All in all it was a good tournament. I get it that the US Open should be a stern test, the pro's have plenty of tournaments that the winnner is 18-20 strokes under par, don't need that type of setup. But they just seem to screw it up 4 out of 5 years. Somethings they can't account for though, like the wind, but there are a lot of things they try to tweak and make worse.

    As far as Phil goes, to me it was a non-event. It wasn't a smart play, and he got the criticism and took the penalty. The media won't let it go, it's like those unwritten rules in baseball, break one of them and you're a bad man with no respect for the game.
     
  14. kp

    kp Well-Known Member

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    Gipper, good question but I would extend it to the USGA. What if Finau had done the same thing? I'll bet he would have been gone.
     
  15. kp

    kp Well-Known Member

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    Terry, I respectfully disagree. Golf has always been different. Maybe your playing partner can stand on the tee box and tell "hmm golfer, hmm golfer, SWING!" As you tee off. :shock:
     
  16. gipper

    gipper Well-Known Member

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    kP Finau couldn’t be the one to make a statement for the pros to the USGA. Phill a Hall of Famer made the statement for his fellow competitors. Fleet wood made the best statement about the Saturday course setup. On Sunday he was only 15 strokes better.
     
  17. kp

    kp Well-Known Member

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    I picked Finau out of the hat as an example. Michelson had a reaction born of frustration then tried to justify it as some sort of strategy to save strokes and now it is being portrayed as an act of protest or some altruistic stand for his fellow golfers. Think about it...if you don't like the course then cheat. That's what happened. 8)
     
  18. HUSKERMAN-HUSKERFAN

    HUSKERMAN-HUSKERFAN Well-Known Member

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    WWAPD?

    Well for starters, he DQd John Daly for missing his tee time. And at least Daly walked off the course one time after being frustrated and DQd himself.

    IMHO, the rule is in place to examine if intentional or not. You get DQd if you sign an incorrect scorecard (just ask De Vincenzo) in a major, yet Phil was allowed to do it. We dont know what Phil would have gotten on that hole should he have let the ball go. As far as we know, he finished higher in the money than he should have.

    He Intentionally stroked a ball in motion. You're DQd Mr. Mikelson.
     
  19. kp

    kp Well-Known Member

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    :!:
     
  20. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Well I don't think in the moment that Phil had time to think of anything but oh crap that's going all the way to the fairway and did what he did. It's illegal and he got the appropriate penalty. I personally wouldn't have cared if the committee had DQ'd him or not.

    I've stopped competitors balls from going into a greenside water hazzard on a bladed chip to save them the golf ball, they were grateful and took the penalty like it'd actually gone in the water and nobody has ever asked me to take a penalty. I've also missed short putts and as the ball slipped by the hole bumped it back in the hole and nobody ever asks me to take a penalty. I guess my group just disrespects the game! But of course this is just a Sat game not a tournament.