2013 Women's US Open Discussion Thread

[MSchott]

I've tried watching this Open for the last couple of days, but it's a snooze fest.  The leaders don't have any personality to speak of, and after watching the beat down at Merion, the course they're playing looks like it's set up about as hard as a local muni.  The greens are slow, the fairways are huge. It will be interesting to watch the women play Pinehurst #2 next year right after the men's Open.  They'll obviously be moved up quite a bit, but hopefully the USGA won't change the rough or the greens in the few days leading to the women's Open. Back to watching the Colonial.

If the set up is easy how come so few women broke par? Wide courses don't mean easy. Just hitting a fairways doesn't mean an easy shot into the green. It's important to hit the correct side of the fairway to have the proper angle to the pin. Then although the greens are large, the landing areas to get close to the pins are small. The greens cannot be too fast because they are exposed to the wind and could get extremely fast. The modern trend in course construction is this kind of course. Look at Bandon, Streamstrong, Sand Hills, Dismal River and others as lay of the land courses not artificially confined by 1000's of trees. As Erik says, Pinehurst will have wide fairways and the original concept of Augusta Narional was wide fairways and proper approach angles.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

Man, Inbee Park is incredible.

With that said, I just can't even look at her. I know it sounds mean, but it's a good thing she's really good at golf...

I know I'm an a-hole

Well now I regret the thumbs up I just gave you in another thread... :-)

I mean come on - it's bad enough to be that shallow, worse to actually admit it, and worse still that she's not even that bad looking!

[Tontj5]

Here are the Final scores:

1 Inbee Park -8
2 In-Kyung Kim -4
3 So Yeon Ryu -1
T4 Paula Creamer +1
T4 Angela Stanford +1
T4 Jodi Ewart Shadoff +1
T7 Brittany Lang +2
T7 Jessica Korda +2
T9 Shanshan Feng +3
T9 Brittany Lincicome +3

For entire results:
http://www.tonyslpgareport.com/2013/06/us-open-preview-pairings.html

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

Well now I regret the thumbs up I just gave you in another thread... :-)

I mean come on - it's bad enough to be that shallow, worse to actually admit it, and worse still that she's not even that bad looking!

Haha, sorry. I'm honest. She seems nice, funny, and nobody can doubt that she's probably the most dominant golfer in the world right now.

In all fairness, there are plenty of golfers that look a lot worse. Haha.

[mailman]

I guess if short fat chicks do it for you then fair play to you. Mailman

[boogielicious]

What separated Park from the rest was her putting.  She is by far the best putter in the LPGA this year.  Her swing is a bit quirky and I am amazed that she generates that much power.

[BostonBrew]

Originally Posted by boogielicious

What separated Park from the rest was her putting.  She is by far the best putter in the LPGA this year.  Her swing is a bit quirky and I am amazed that she generates that much power.

Yeah, her backswing looks very mechanical and too slow for my liking. But the rest of the swing looks great. I think all the comparisons to Tiger in 2000 are more than appropriate, especially with the way she has been putting.

[chriskzoo]

Originally Posted by BostonBrew

Yeah, her backswing looks very mechanical and too slow for my liking. But the rest of the swing looks great. I think all the comparisons to Tiger in 2000 are more than appropriate, especially with the way she has been putting.

No.  Just no.

[BostonBrew]

Originally Posted by chriskzoo

No.  Just no.

Are you kidding me??

Tiger Woods - 2000

Starts - 20

Wins - 9

Majors - 3

Win % - 45 %

Inbee Park - 2013

Starts - 13

Wins - 6

Majors - 3

Win % -  46%

How is this not a legitimate comparison?

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by BostonBrew

Are you kidding me??

Tiger Woods - 2000

Starts - 20

Wins - 9

Majors - 3

Win % - 45 %

Inbee Park - 2013

Starts - 13

Wins - 6

Majors - 3

Win % -  46%

How is this not a legitimate comparison?

What she's doing is incredible, but you can't compare the LPGA field to the PGA field.

I mean, just look at the range of scores in the top 5 of the women's US open yesterday.

[BostonBrew]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

What she's doing is incredible, but you can't compare the LPGA field to the PGA field.

I mean, just look at the range of scores in the top 5 of the women's US open yesterday.

So you use one event's leaderboard as justification for the difference between the leagues. Should I mention just two years ago when McIlroy blew away the field at the US Open? Or how about just last year's PGA Championship?

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by BostonBrew

So you use one event's leaderboard as justification for the difference between the leagues. Should I mention just two years ago when McIlroy blew away the field at the US Open? Or how about just last year's PGA Championship?

It's not just the leaderboard. C'mon man, seriously? I thought it was pretty much agreed upon that the LPGA field right now is pretty weak at best. To compare it to the competition in the PGA tour isn't realistic.

[newtogolf]

I've recently heard Inbee Park referred to as the most dominant professional golfer in the sport today by numerous sources that cover golf.  Her score and win this week further solidifies her dominance over her competitors.  Tiger needs to win a major this year if he wants to take that distinction from her.

[chriskzoo]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

What she's doing is incredible, but you can't compare the LPGA field to the PGA field.

I mean, just look at the range of scores in the top 5 of the women's US open yesterday.

Simply put, the LPGA has a history of this, especially recently.  For whatever reason that tour lends itself to having one dominant golfer - we saw it with Annika, Lorena Ochoa, Se Ri Pak, Yani Tseng, and now Inbee Park - who win a LOT over short 3-5 year stretches.  You don't see that in the men's game with anybody but Tiger and before him Jack because there is so much parity on the men's tours.

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by chriskzoo

Simply put, the LPGA has a history of this, especially recently.  For whatever reason that tour lends itself to having one dominant golfer - we saw it with Annika, Lorena Ochoa, Se Ri Pak, Yani Tseng, and now Inbee Park - who win a LOT over short 3-5 year stretches.  You don't see that in the men's game with anybody but Tiger and before him Jack because there is so much parity on the men's tours.

That's what I was getting at. Not to take anything away from Park, she's a phenomenal talent, but Tiger in 2000 isn't a fair comparison.

[SoundandFury]

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

Well now I regret the thumbs up I just gave you in another thread... :-)

I mean come on - it's bad enough to be that shallow, worse to actually admit it, and worse still that she's not even that bad looking!

You're kidding right? I'm going to guess that was sarcasm, because she seriously looks like a troll.

On a more serious note, am I the only one who thinks Park's sustained success is bad for the LPGA tour?  It's not like it's destination TV to begin with, but the fact it's basically become the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour completely seals the deal.  If you don't think the LPGA would be more popular if it was Creamer, Gulbis, Korda, Brittany Lincicome, or basically any of the girls from Big Break, you're nuts.  This is obviously somewhat subjective, but I really have no interest in watching a golf tournament where the majority of the players on the leaderboard can't, or can barely speak English.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by BostonBrew

Are you kidding me??

Tiger Woods - 2000

Starts - 20

Wins - 9

Majors - 3

Win % - 45 %

Inbee Park - 2013

Starts - 13

Wins - 6

Majors - 3

Win % -  46%

How is this not a legitimate comparison?

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

It's not just the leaderboard. C'mon man, seriously? I thought it was pretty much agreed upon that the LPGA field right now is pretty weak at best. To compare it to the competition in the PGA tour isn't realistic.

I'm with Boston.  Based on those numbers, it seems to me like you can start to make comparisons and although, perhaps, yes, her competition is less than in the PGA, that shouldn't necessarily be counted against her.

Besides, isn't that a bit of a self-fulfilling prophesy?  I mean, her winning all of the majors is what's leading to the conclusion that the competition is lesser.  Couldn't you have also said of Tiger in 2000 that the competition wasn't good enough because he won all of the majors?

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by SoundandFury

On a more serious note, am I the only one who thinks Park's sustained success is bad for the LPGA tour?  It's not like it's destination TV to begin with, but the fact it's basically become the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour completely seals the deal.  If you don't think the LPGA would be more popular if it was Creamer, Gulbis, Korda, Brittany Lincicome, or basically any of the girls from Big Break, you're nuts.  This is obviously somewhat subjective, but I really have no interest in watching a golf tournament where the majority of the players on the leaderboard can't, or can barely speak English.

Then I'm nuts. ;)  Those girls that you mentioned are frequently on the leaderboard as it is.  Yesterday, for example, I.K. Kim, Creamer, Jodi Ewart, Korda, Lincicome,, Ai Miyazato, Lexi Thompson, Morgan Pressel, and Cristie Kerr all finished in the top 20.

Last week, IK Kim, Beatriz Recari, Creamer, Miyazato were all in the top 11.

If you are watching the LPGA for cute girls, it's not hard to find them near the top of the leaderboard every week.