Category: Thrash Talk

This Year’s Winner of the U.S. Open… Merion Golf Club

Justin Rose edged Jason Day and Phil Mickelson for the 2013 US Open trophy, but I explain why the real winner this year was Merion and the USGA.

Thrash TalkThe winner of this year’s U.S. Open was Justin Rose, but the REAL winner of the U.S. Open was Merion Golf Club. The USGA and the team that sets up the course also deserves a great deal of credit as well.

Early in the week many people, including myself, thought that Merion was not fit to handle the length of the modern golfer. Sure, they had some extremely long par threes and a limited number of par fives but they had a number of par fours that measured under 350. On paper it looked like many of the pros could drive half of them. I for one thought the final score, especially after the poor weather they had prior to the tournament, would be lower than ten under. I was definitely wrong.

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2013 U.S. Open Staff Picks

The U.S. Open moves to historic Merion Golf Club, and we try to pick ’em.

Thrash TalkThis year’s version of the U.S. Open moves to a very historic site – Merion Golf Club, site of the now famous Hogan two-iron into the eighteenth green. The U.S. Open has not returned to Merion because of the concern that the golf course was going to be overpowered by today’s equipment, but now the wait is over, and we get to see how the USGA sets up the course for the players.

Despite his recent hiccup at the Memorial, Tiger is the clear favorite at this year’s event. Matt Kuchar, the winner of the Memorial also comes in very hot and will sure to be a factor on Sunday as well. Rory McIlroy has been very quiet this season, but that might just be the quiet entry he needs to make a big impact on the tournament.

The big unknown this week seems to be the weather. There has been quite a bit of rain and the last time we had that at a U.S. Open Rory ran wild in the nations capital breaking all sorts of scoring records along the way. Lets see what the staff of The Sand Trap thinks will happen at this years event.

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Why Tiger the Golfer Matters

Tiger Woods is the greatest player of his generation, maybe ever, and I discuss why every golfer should root for him.

Thrash TalkIn Billy Casper’s book titled “The Big Three and Me,” Casper talks about his time on Tour and how when a new golfer came onto the scene it was extremely rare that they had a great swing combined with ability to handle pressure. He mentions that sometimes on the range they would see someone with the most beautiful of swings and how he would think to himself “surrender now.” Usually, though, it would come to pass that under pressure that golfer would struggle and that beautiful swing paired with a shaky putting stroke.

Certainly you must admit that the PGA Tour is full of great swings whose trophy case does not match up with their beautiful swings. The players who have both are extremely rare – maybe once-a-generation type players we are talking about here. For my generation I have been lucky enough to get to watch one of these greats, and his name is Tiger Woods.

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Who Belongs in the Golf Hall of Fame?

Recently Fred Couples and Colin Montgomerie were inducted into Golf’s Hall of Fame, and this is my take on whether they truly belong.

Thrash TalkRecently the World Golf Hall of Fame inducted two extremely controversial members to the ranks: Freddie Couples and Colin Montgomerie. Both were controversial because neither had an overly impressive body of work for their careers. Both were especially light when it came to major wins. Freddie won a single Masters and Colin could only count a handful of near misses.

Freddie’s career was marred by a bad back, so in reality we will never know his true potential. Without a doubt he was an incredibly popular golfer amongst most of the fans because of his easy going nature and the fact that he was one cool dude. He was for a brief period the world’s number one golfer, yet he only amassed seventeen career wins including the one aforementioned major. Freddie won a number of “unofficial” events during what was called at the time golf’s “silly” season, but they are not truly wins against full fields. I think inducting Freddie was more a ballot of how well liked he was amongst the golf press and his playing competitors, rather than on his merits. I say Freddie does not belong.

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Why Tiger was Wrong, Sergio was Right

Tiger wins but in the process exchanges some verbal blows with Sergio over an etiquette dispute, see why I think Tiger was wrong and Sergio was right, but not innocent.

Thrash TalkAs with most stories there are two sides to be told. This case is no different, especially since the two sides were separated by fifty yards. The scene of this controversy was The Players Championship in the delayed third round in the final pairing of Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia.

On the second hole, Garcia, away and hitting his second shot in the fairway was distracted by the gallery that was gathered around Tiger’s drive in the left pine straw. Several seconds prior to Sergio’s swing, Tiger pulled his fairway wood out of this bag and the crowd reacted favorably to his choice to go for it. This favorable cheering distracted Sergio and caused him (his own words) to miss the ball way right into the trees on the right. Sergio bogeyed the hole.

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Adam Scott wins the 2013 Masters… Now What?

Adam Scott won a very exciting playoff for the 2013 Masters, the real question is where does Adam go from here?

Thrash TalkI have to admit that I did not get to watch the final round of the 2013 Masters Toonamint live. I was flying on a plane to Asia, but my DVR caught the whole thing and I was able to watch every minute. Ever since the 2007 Masters where Zach Johnson won with an over-par score, the Masters tournament has done a wonderful job making exciting back nine drama.

This year’s event was no different with the event in complete doubt leading up to the playoff. Although I knew the outcome, watching it unfold was still quite compelling. I am very happy to see Adam Scott take his first major especially after his falter down the stretch as the Open Championship last year. It would have been easy to let that event damage him and cause him to falter again coming into the final holes at Augusta.

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Why Tiger Should Have Withdrawn From the 2013 Masters

After getting incredibly unlucky, Tiger took a two stroke penalty, but he missed an opportunity to improve his image.

Thrash TalkTiger Woods should have withdrawn from the 2013 Masters.

Yes, it was more than he had to do, because the rules state that he was able to finish out the tournament, but withdrawing would have been the right thing to do.

On Saturday morning I got to my club as I do for most Saturday mornings for breakfast with my regular group. By that time ESPN and Golf Channel had already been talking about the drop. One of my good friends came in and I told him of the ruling and he immediately said that when he was watching the event he had told his wife after Tiger made the drop that it was not a correct drop. Sadly I did not get to see it live that day because I was working but I certainly saw the replay on all of the sports channels.

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2013 Masters Tournament Staff Picks and Questions

The 2013 edition of the Masters has all the makings of a great event. Let’s see what the staff expects for the event.

Thrash TalkHello friends. For me the official start of spring is the sound of the opening tee shot at Augusta National. This year the man on form and who is likely everyone’s favorite is Tiger Woods. He has started the season with three wins and hasn’t looked this good going into the Masters for at least the past five years. To add to the drama Phil has already won in Phoenix this season and is also looking good. Then last week Rory McIlroy – who has been pretty awful this season – has seemingly pulled his game together and finished second at the Texas Open. There are no shortage of storylines going into the event.

This year here at Thrash Talk we have decided to change it up by allowing a different forum member to answer each our five questions along with the staff. We had some great responses. Without further ado here are everyones thoughts.

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Lost My Heart in San Francisco

Michelle Wie has won a few times on the LPGA Tour, but by and large her career has been marred by an inability to get out of second gear, what should she do now?

Thrash TalkFor Michelle Wie, the title of this Thrash Talk does not perfectly apply. She went to Stanford, which is in Palo Alto, but it is in the Bay Area, so close enough. Sadly, Wie is likely to go down as one of the biggest busts in women’s golf. Her parents have gotten and deserved most of the blame for the tragedy that has been her career, but at some point Michelle has to take some responsibility.

For starters, she should have never played in all the men’s events she played in. I think the first Sony Open was great, my advice would have been you missed the cut by one, so we’ll give it one more year. After the second year which wasn’t as good it would have been the last time she played in a men’s event. Instead she entered the John Deere Classic got heat exhaustion and the whole thing was a mess. This mistake was on her parents. They should have realized that her entering men’s events was a circus and publicity event, and should have done a better job protecting her. They should have told her to play with the men is an admirable goal but let’s win some events on the women’s tour and establish ourselves as Annika did before entering the circus.

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