I attended the U.S. Open yesterday and sat behind the first green for about five hours. Then I went to the ninth green for about three hours.
I saw one birdie: a chip-in by Justin Rose at the first. I saw Ian Poulter’s long putt from off the green nearly fall and Shingo Katayama’s chip from the fairway rattle the pin before rolling a few feet away. He would later miss the par putt.
Friday I sat behind the 18th green. Though the hole was blocked by a large tree, reasonable views of the tenth, twelfth, and fifteenth tees as well as the ninth green (if you’re on the railing). Sitting in the shadows of the trees, and with the wind whipping, the location was less than desirable: walking the course until about noon is advised for those coming on Saturday or Sunday.
Anyway, here are my observations…
Phil’s Whining
You know, lately I’ve been coming around on Phil Mickelson. Maybe he is just a happy-go-lucky guy. Maybe he’s really not as phony as I used to think. I’ve been trying to give Phil the benefit of the doubt – and I never doubted his skill as a player. Until now:
Well, it’s disappointing to dream as a kid about winning the U.S. Open and spend all this time getting ready for it and have the course setup, injury, you know? To think that the end of this tournament – you’re trying to win and hit great shots but you’re also trying to not end your career on one shot, which – or at least suspend it for a while. That’s a little disappointing, yeah.
The course cannot be blamed, Phil. Your one-hour-per-green short game preparation sessions can be blamed. The U.S. Open hasn’t injured a rash of players this year (or any other year), and Phil’s comments about ending his career are overly dramatic. Everyone felt bad for Phil this week, they knew he was hurting, but after making those comments, fans and writers I talked to have really seemed to turn the corner from “Oh, poor Phil” to “quit whining, Phil.” In the words of a friend of mine, “If people are giving you excuses, you don’t need to make any for yourself.”
Poorly played, Phil.
Paul Casey’s 66
There’s no doubt in my mind that Casey’s 66 today was better than Johnny Miller’s 63 in 1973. I don’t have the 1973 stats handy, but I wouldn’t believe that Miller bettered the scoring average in 1973 by 11 shots as Casey will today. Casey’s round of golf deserves a spot in the annals of the greatest rounds in U.S. Open history, and if it had occurred on Sunday and resulted in a Casey win, would seize the top spot in my opinion.
My vantage point on 18 afforded me a view of Casey’s kick-in birdie at the short 14th as well as his somewhat sloppy bogey on the 18th hole. I predicted 66 would be the low score shot this year at the U.S. Open – I did not expect it to come today. I figured it would come on Saturday (someone well back always goes low on Saturday at the U.S. Open).
The Tenth
The tenth hole is not relenting. The pin position is borderline unfair, in my opinion, and players are happy to keep the ball within a few yards of the green with their approach shots. Everything from drivers to three-irons are being hit from the tee, but there’s no clear winner: people are bogeying from everywhere.
The Wind
Television commentary has been minimal on this issue, but the wind is absolutely whipping at the course today. It’s at least a two- or three-club wind, and the direction is essentially straight down the ninth, across the eighth, and straight into players on the first and tenth.
The Greens
The greens are still surprisingly receptive. The pin positions are, overall, rather fair. The greens are still green and not burned out – they’re playing appropriately. Players are simply having a hard time finding the fairways. Could the rough be cut a little lower? Perhaps.
The Ninth Green
Phil Mickelson and Stewart Cink both putted off the green at the ninth. Shingo Katayama left a 50-foot putt at least 20 feet short putting from behind the hole and just onto the practice portion of the large dual-purpose green.
Justin Rose and Aaron Baddeley
Justin Rose began pooorly and scratched back to shoot a second consecutive 71. Baddeley’s 70 is an incredible round as well, and both players at +2 are well-positioned going into the weekend.
Richie Ramsey?
Richie Ramsay’s caddie jersey contains a misspelling: his caddie is walking around this week marked “RAMSEY.” C’mon, USGA – this is the defending U.S. Amateur champ. Spell his name correctly, wouldja?
Richard Lee
According to the USGA, 16-year-old Richard Lee withdrew due to a leg injury. Word is it was a wrist injury. I saw him walking off the course from the 15th or 16th hole, limp-free. The USGA would later correct the issue.
Eddie Gardino
Angel Cabrera’s caddie is none other than Edoardo Gardino of Big Break IV and VII.
Birdie at the Last
How about that sand wedge Cabrera hit to his last hole of the day, the ninth, and the resulting tap-in that eliminated Phil Mickelson (among others) at +11? Wow. To hit driver on nine, have a sand wedge in, and stuff it. High fives all around after Phil’s earlier comments.
Stay Tuned
I hope to post updates daily with my observations and notes from the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Stay tuned.
The fact of the matter is, in my opinion, that present day fertilizing techniques result in a much lusher growth than in the past. I see it at my own club where 3″ rough is enough to cost a shot. That Phil chose to practice in rough that was eventually cut down may have been a poor choice. That he chose to speak out about it may have been poor PR. But he has a point.
In a way, Jack’s comments dovetail with something that struck me as I was watching today’s coverage.
For the past decade or so, if you asked me to name the one phrase that most typifies US Open coverage it would be “on the edge.” Fairways, the roughs, and especially the greens. Everything at a US Open is “on the edge” and that has been best demonstrated by the fact that time and again the grounds crew, at the behest of the members, is sacrificing the golf course to host the tournament and live up to the USGA’s standards.
But not this week.
This course is alive, and it is eating.
I am only seeing it on TV, maybe Erik can offer some better, on course, perspective, but this course is not on the edge. It is in it’s prime, excelling, and knocking off “would-be’s” one at a time.
This is scary-good. I can’t wait for the weekend.
A few things. One, I think the rough is too thick. I always do at the U.S. Open – I’d rather see some guys able to play towards the green than just pitch out. I’m not saying the rough should allow for much, but it’s, say, an inch longer than I’d like to see, ideally. It’s about a 0.7-shot penalty right now. I’d like it to be more 0.4 or 0.5.
Second, to get back to Phil, there is no rash of injuries and there almost never have been at the U.S. Open. Phil injured himself by hitting pitches and chips for an hour at every green. His comments are off the mark – guys aren’t talking or thinking about career-ending injuries, and neither was Phil. Phil has managed to turn a pity party into a “shame on you” party.
Put another way: Phil’s point about the rough being perhaps too dense and perhaps “too” anything would have been better received had it been framed differently. People aren’t necessarily reacting negatively to the opinion itself, but to the way in which it was said.
There is the famous quote by former USGA President Sandy Tatum that the USGA “wasn’t trying to embarrass the best players in the world, merely identify them.”
This year, yet again, I don’t think they’re succeeding in that mission. Half the players in the top 10 of the world rankings did not make the cut. More than half of the top 15 (8) did not make the cut. 14 of the top 30 did not make the cut. If fact only 27 of the world’s top 50 players are playing this weekend.
With so many top players gone, I don’t think this course and this set up are identifying the best players. Instead I think they’re identifying the hottest and perhaps luckiest players this week. I’ll reserve full judgment until Sunday night. But right now I don’t think I’ll be considering the U.S. Open champion anything but lucky. Once again.
I have to disagree with Jack about so many top players being gone.
Half gone? Perhaps this shows that there is more wrong with the world rankings than with the course set up.
Look at the top ten.
If the top ten include guys doing nothing this season it isn’t much of a top ten. Furyk? Els? Goosen? What have they done this season?
If you look at th FedEx Top Ten. A ranking that is weighted more toward recent success, only three in the top ten were cut. Phil, KJ, and Adam Scott. And two of them were cut by Cabrera’s birdie on 18.
I hope the “luck thing” is intended to be hyperbole. Paul Casey hit fairways and greens all day and scored, if that round would lead him to an eventual win (which I doubt) calling it a lucky win would be quite misguided.
I’m going from memory here, but they seem to fail at about the same rate (if you use your criteria, which I don’t personally have a problem with… Michael Campbell ain’t “the best” by any stretch) every year. Lots of top players, if memory serves, fail at the U.S. Open. There’s too fine a line, and the flavor of golf played is so different nobody is playing their normal game(s).
Again, I think you could say this every U.S. Open year. When was the last time a U.S. Open was contested with three big names all having a shot in the final round? I don’t remember the last time.
Follow-Up on Casey’s 66
Supposedly, Miller’s 63 beat the course average by 11.8; Casey’s 66 by 10.9. I’m not sure if that’s the daily or weekly average for either, but any way you slice it, 63 is dang impressive.
You know, a lot of people aren’t fond of Johnny Miller the announcer. And I’ll buy that. But at the same time, because of that opinion, there are those who are railing on him when he comes to tears recounting that 63 (over and over again, I’ll grant).
But let me tell you… each and every one of us should be so lucky in our lives to accomplish something so great as that round that when recalling it we must weep.
That round, ladies and gentlemen, was for the ages. And whether you like the announcer he has become or not, you’d best not forget that while you were children or not yet born, a golfer with a wooden driver and soft ball shot the best round that may ever be turned in on that ridiculous golf course.
Paul Casey’s 66? Very nice. But 30 years from now he won’t be crying over it.
Angel Cabrea is the US Open champion. Well done Angel. That Tiger and Jim finished second weakens my premise a bit, but I still contend that the course and it’s set up is not an identification of the best player but, in fact, is rather a crap shoot.
Watching the telecast it seemed to me that bounces and caroms had more to do than skill in determining the outcome. True there were obvious chokes. And that’s not a lot of fun to watch either. Aaron, Steve, Bubba, et al, you have my condolences.
So in the last three year’s we’ve had Michael Campbell, Geoff Ogilve, and now Angel. Hmm. That’s certainly the start of a list of winners for the ages. The USGA may be so omniscient that they can be sure their direction in the U.S. Open identifies the best player in the world, but I’m not buying it.
I think the USGA needs to call the PGA and request some consultation on course set up. Of course, however, since they know it all, the USGA won’t do that. As I write this the powers that be are on the corporate jet back to Morristown, NJ amid some celebratory cocktails.
Yuk. My father would roll over in his grave, but I’m about ready to consider bowling.
It wasn’t in the final round to win a major, but the statistics back it up: it was virtually as great a round of golf as Miller’s 63. Not as compelling or as pressure-packed (for the same reasons), but every bit as “good,” I contend.
It’s also scary how good both rounds could have been. Miller could have shot 61 – he three-putted the eighth from 15 feet… uphill. Casey made a sloppy bogey at 18.
In Typical and correct US OPEN fashion…..Winning boiled down to chip and putt…….As opposed to the “Flashy but False image of “Who’s best” played out each week on the PGA Tour”……..
Being able to throw caution to the wind, while unwinding a 350 Yard Drive……cause you know that an errant result will be honored and forgiven rather than ridiculed and punished is not golf……….and it is not good for the game……
Tiger has gotten smarter in the majors…..Thank God…LOL……and lets just be real clear….Punishing those that believe they can get away with it…….IS CORRECT……..
The game of Golf is about Skill….Mental, Physical, Touch, and of course the final ingredient is Power…But it is fourth…Not first as played out each week on the PHONY PGA Tour…..
Consider this…..Even I can Bust them 325 with the latest in Techno Crap…..and yea…I can keep about 30% in a 40 Yard Landing area. The rest …Only God Knows…What do you wanna betThe best in the World cannot put even 60% of such Big Bombs in a 40 ydanding area…much less a 20 or less !!!
So the Open brings us back to Sober Reality…as it should be………Cheers
How many people did attended the last US Open at Oakmont?