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2018 US Open - Shinnecock


Wally Fairway

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Erin Mills was not a good venue for the US Open. Those guys murdered it. Says a lot about Koepka that he won that drive-and-pitch tournament and is in the thick of this one in a totally different type of course.
What they should probably do is shrink the fairways, let the greens be and stop picking pin placements that are on ridges.


Totally agree with this
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8 minutes ago, pops said:

The USGA wants to be the story. That's really all there is to it. 

Couldn't disagree more. I can't believe the USGA actually came out and acknowledged they screwed up even if just a little. Normally, they're so arrogant that they don't feel they need to answer to anybody.

I think it looks really, really bad when the two guys playing in the last group for the final round signed their cards an hour before today's leaders even teed off on #1. The last 10 guys combined for +67, right?

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25 minutes ago, C-Man said:

DJ's comment immediately after was the inconsistency of the green speeds -- some were blazing fast and others were slow. That's pretty difficult.

Erin Mills was not a good venue for the US Open. Those guys murdered it. Says a lot about Koepka that he won that drive-and-pitch tournament and is in the thick of this one in a totally different type of course.

What they should probably do is shrink the fairways, let the greens be and stop picking pin placements that are on ridges.

I'd agree with this as well.  Make driving accuracy a premium but reward a good approach shot.

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3 minutes ago, Uncle Nate said:

As the USGA CEO himself said (surprisingly), you want great shots to be rewarded, and with the condition of the greens for the later pairings, this wasn't the case.  Great shots were penalized due to the conditions of the greens.  

 

 

Was shocked at how open and honest he was. I thought he was going to be arrogant and say the course was set up exactly how they wanted it to be. 

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32 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Couldn't disagree more. I can't believe the USGA actually came out and acknowledged they screwed up even if just a little. Normally, they're so arrogant that they don't feel they need to answer to anybody.

I think it looks really, really bad when the two guys playing in the last group for the final round signed their cards an hour before today's leaders even teed off on #1. The last 10 guys combined for +67, right?

I get they said what they said, but they want to protect par and all that shit. And Davis had no choice but to accept some responsibility given his track record. But at the end of the day, everyone is talking about it because the usga set it in motion. It got weird, but that was a reasonable outcome. 

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1 minute ago, pops said:

I get they said what they said, but they want to protect par and all that shit. And Davis had no choice but to accept some responsibility given his track record. But at the end of the day, everyone is talking about it because the usga set it in motion. It got weird, but that was a reasonable outcome. 

I get what you're saying. I just disagree that the USGA has any notion on becoming the story. I think the USGA would just rather there be no talk of them whatsoever. It's like a referee or umpire, the good ones you're not supposed to notice.

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2 minutes ago, C-Man said:

I get what you're saying. I just disagree that the USGA has any notion on becoming the story. I think the USGA would just rather there be no talk of them whatsoever. It's like a referee or umpire, the good ones you're not supposed to notice.

This is exactly right. The USGA wants no part of this story.  But they are the story.

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33 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

 

Was shocked at how open and honest he was. I thought he was going to be arrogant and say the course was set up exactly how they wanted it to be. 

Well he did actually say that...but for the start of the day. But as Duval said later on the Golf Channel, they knew that courses always change as the day wears on, especially at a place like Shinnecock. So if they know that, why did they set the course up exactly how they want it at the start of the day knowing it will deteriorate? You could tell Duval was fighting the urge to call them dumbfucks at the end of his comments. 

Edited by Uncle Nate
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US Open used to be my favorite tournament of the year but it’s The Masters now and it’s not even close. USGA steps on their dick almost every year now. 

I watched until about 3 today and wasn’t really interested anymore. 

Edited by 4th&Five
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1 hour ago, Uncle Nate said:

As the USGA CEO himself said (surprisingly), you want great shots to be rewarded, and with the condition of the greens for the later pairings, this wasn't the case.  Great shots were penalized due to the conditions of the greens.  

 

I just don’t remember that many great shots coming from the last few groups. And I certainly don’t remember any that were hit right where they wanted but they still got screwed. I saw guys who were frustrated hit shitty tee shots into the rough and got fucked because of that. I saw guys hit poor shots on the wrong sides of pin and they got fucked. 

Yeah the greens were fast, but the Golf Channel guys are trying to use the conditions to excuse their shitty play. DJ shot 77 because he was spraying the ball all over the place. If he played like that on Thursday, he would have shot 77. Four guys shot 69 on Thursday. That’s it. Was Zach Johnson crying about the USGA losing the course then?  

I’m just not buying all of this bitching. 

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30 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

Agree.  I enjoy the Masters and the British Open way more than the US Open.  Other than Pebble Beach, the US Open courses aren’t even particularly interesting, and lately they’ve had some real stinkers.  

Just taking a standard long course and growing the rough 1 foot high while making the greens impossibly fast doesn’t make for good golf or impressive shotmaking.  It’s more about luck and surviving a war of attrition, and less about skill, than the other majors.  At least when the British produces high scores it’s because of the weather and you see the players having to throw out the normal game plan and play a different style to adapt, kind of like a snow game in football.  The US Open just involves everyone having to use the regular PGA tour style of play, and that style not working.

And for whatever reason, that's because Pebble won't let Mike Davis and his crew fuck with their shit. No clue why shinecock or southern hills or whatever don't do the same. 

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6 hours ago, hookem48 said:

Even today with the difference between morning and afternoon the difference was less than2 shots. lol

How about this:  the guys that were 2-5 shots worse as a group than the leaders on Thursday and Friday were suddenly 2 shots better on Saturday. 

That said, you can’t discount a 66 under any conditions at the us open, where most of the field shoots par or higher any given round. 66 was going to move those guys up the leaderboard, as it’s probably 5 shots on the field, and they started the day like 9 shots back of 2nd place. 

Edited by Pato del Muerto
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I've never liked Phil..  I've pretty much always hated him since I met him.  With that being said I've actually warmed to him recently and I don't think he needs to be crucified for this.  He has a weird sense of humor and I think he was trying to be funny being that he was out of the tournament.  It's just a fucking game.. It's not like when Daly did that shit out of anger.  I do think he'll WD though and I think the rule will get changed because of this.  

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3 minutes ago, Stu said:

I've never liked Phil..  I've pretty much always hated him since I met him.  With that being said I've actually warmed to him recently and I don't think he needs to be crucified for this.  He has a weird sense of humor and I think he was trying to be funny being that he was out of the tournament.  It's just a fucking game.. It's not like when Daly did that shit out of anger.  I do think he'll WD though and I think the rule will get changed because of this.  

WD? he's on the range warming up to tee off right now. 8:43am ET tee time with Rickie 

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8 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

At least when the British produces high scores it’s because of the weather and you see the players having to throw out the normal game plan and play a different style to adapt, kind of like a snow game in football.  

Huh?  Weather is precisely what drove the afternoon meltdown today.  They didn’t expect the afternoon wind to be so high.  And these guys have to adapt.  Shinmecock is essentially a British Open course!

I guess I just like a different type of challenge than most of you. I agree that 13and 15 were poorly placed for the afternoon conditions but I like these guys having to respond mentally to the whole thing and seeing the guys who can adjust their approach to bogey being okay thrive. Justin Rose yesterday was exactly what I like to see. He was constantly in bad situations that everyone else melted down over but he kept his cool and approached each shot with an even keel and made great saves. And he was rewarded for it. The mental fragility of these millionaire golfers being highlighted...and I like it.  But to each their own. 

Edited by sidis
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10 hours ago, 3adays said:

Yeah, but DJ ain’t getting all 4. 

Well you could make a case for 3 of the 4 at least. He already has the US Open and could have had the PGA except for the goofy local rule about hazards. His length is perfect for Augusta so the one that IMHO he has the least chance is the Open. Of course we said the same about Phil until 2013.

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10 minutes ago, sidis said:

Huh?  Weather is precisely what drove the afternoon meltdown today.  They didn’t expect the afternoon wind to be so high.  And these guys have to adapt.  Shinmecock is essentially a British Open course!

I guess I just like a different type of challenge than most of you. I agree that 13and 15 were poorly placed for the afternoon conditions but I like these guys having to respond mentally to the whole thing and seeing the guys who can adjust their approach to bogey being okay thrive. Justin Rose yesterday was exactly what I like to see. He was constantly in bad situations that everyone else melted down over but he kept his cool and approached each shot with an even keel and made great saves. And he was rewarded for it. The mental fragility of these millionaire golfers being highlighted...and I like it.  But to each their own. 

Nicklaus once said that every time he heard a golfer complaining about the Open course he knew the guy was ready to contend

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Nicklaus once said that every time he heard a golfer complaining about the Open course he knew the guy was ready to contend

Uh no. He actually said the opposite.

Jack Nicklaus told a story about how he used to assess his chances at tournaments by listening to what his fellow competitors were saying. If he heard a player complaining about the conditions or talking in a negative way about anything, then he'd think to himself, "There's a guy who won't be in contention", and mentally cross them off his list of competitors to watch out for that week.

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9 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:


Uh no. He actually said the opposite.

Jack Nicklaus told a story about how he used to assess his chances at tournaments by listening to what his fellow competitors were saying. If he heard a player complaining about the conditions or talking in a negative way about anything, then he'd think to himself, "There's a guy who won't be in contention", and mentally cross them off his list of competitors to watch out for that week.
 

 

crap - was trying to type "was not" and somehow left out the second word...

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It's funny how other tournaments seldom have complaints about their greens. Since the USGA seems to fuck them up on a semi-regular basis, why not focus on making the greens pristine? Shrink the width of the fairways, grow the rough to old-school heights, and plant some damn trees.

There are plenty of ways to test players without making the course the central topic of conversation.

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For all of the bitching about the course setup, I would love to see the reactions to pros playing courses that we routinely play. I have no doubt that they would go very low, but put them in a bunker with powdered sugar playground sand and a plugged lie with footprints or putting on a green that hasn't had a pitch mark repaired in 20 years and see what they say.

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12 hours ago, C-Man said:

DJ's comment immediately after was the inconsistency of the green speeds -- some were blazing fast and others were slow. That's pretty difficult.

Erin Mills was not a good venue for the US Open. Those guys murdered it. Says a lot about Koepka that he won that drive-and-pitch tournament and is in the thick of this one in a totally different type of course.

What they should probably do is shrink the fairways, let the greens be and stop picking pin placements that are on ridges.

 

Pin placement was the biggest problem. USGA had to know, or at least expect, the greens to get faster during the round. Believe they said that after the round. They f'd up. 

That said I love the US Open. Enjoy seeing pros hacking it out of thick, knee high shit after hitting bad tee shots. They did widen fairways.  You ain't supposed to be there. 

 

PS: Hook em. Kick the pigs ass! 

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I think these guys are as upset with Phil for goofing off when not in contention as they are with him purposely committing a penalty. 

In no way did he look out of control yesterday. After the hole, he was laughing with that qualifier guy he was playing with. Then the mock celebration today. 

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For all of the bitching about the course setup, I would love to see the reactions to pros playing courses that we routinely play. I have no doubt that they would go very low, but put them in a bunker with powdered sugar playground sand and a plugged lie with footprints or putting on a green that hasn't had a pitch mark repaired in 20 years and see what they say.


If there’s a point in here, I’m missing it.
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This is exactly why the U.S. Open is my favorite tourney.  It's the "big balls" golf tourney we hold, much like the Open.  It's funny that at the Brit, golfers expect the weather to be a factor.  But here, it's as if they're being unfairly kicked around.  I get that the pin placements, etc. are idiotic here/there, but there have been other "concessions" I don't like through the years like lower rough, etc.

The Masters, as humongous as it is, is about everyone trying to craft their game for that one, single course.  To learn how to play that one in particular.  I think the U.S. Open is more "get out there and let's see what you got", especially when things go shitty.  And they will go shitty at some point there.  But it's a big, broad, beer-drinking home run derby event to me.   You have to go out there and play, not on a meticulously groomed, legendary course where you know every single grass blade and how to play it, but just raw guts and skill.  It's kind of America/blue collar to me, the most specifically American American golf tourney.  I think in every way it's our American cousin to the Open, and should be.  It's where it comes down to managing unfamiliar or even unexpectedly difficult "stuff that pops up".  Always has been.

I can have an issue with the USGA's mismanagement of the conditions/placements up to a point, but this is the tourney where it's balls out.  Only at the U.S. Open can Ken Venturi win the '64 tourney, accompanied by doctors who were monitoring his overheating condition.  I mean where else do you get this conversation between Venturi and a doctor that was following him around?

Quote

 

"You know, dehydration can be fatal," Everett told him.

"I'm already dying," Venturi responded. "I have no place else to go."

 

Maybe that's the outer outer limit of the spirit of this tourney, but it's always been my favorite for this type of reason.   It's just a different cat, more like a day in the Wrigley bleachers than up in the cozy club suite.

Oh, and fuck Fox.  Good god what a shitshow of commentary.

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