2019 U.S. Women's Open

[iacas]

As much as I'll be watching The Memorial, I may be watching the U.S. Women's Open more. It's at a recently restored course, and features some of Seth Raynor's boldest greens.

About the restoration:

Quote

 

“The benefit of a targeted approach to restoration work is that new (old) information can occur at any time,” said club archivist Forrest Norvell IV, who found the 1938 aerial and 1925 Mayberry plan. “The targeted approach allows flexibility to accommodate the lessons of new research and can also be more inclusive, building support of the membership as you go along.”

The 11th hole at the Country Club of Charleston is a replica of the 15th hole at North Berwick in Scotland. At 177 yards, the hole features a raised and reverse Redan green with a false front and two large bunkers. The tee box is situated on what used to be a Confederate battery. “I expect the 11th to be a household name by the end of the Women’s Open,” said Kyle Franz, the designer charged with leading the club’s latest restoration.

 

Here's a video from NLU:

Some good photos and things here too: 

Country Club of Charleston Review - Graylyn Loomis

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The Country Club of Charleston showcases Seth Raynor's course architecture skills in a relatively flat piece of property. This was my third round playing...

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[Hardspoon]

Yeah - I’m excited for this as well. I’ll probably record one and watch the other live. Which is which will mostly depend on whether Tiger is in contention.

[Missouri Swede]

37 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

Yeah - I’m excited for this as well. I’ll probably record one and watch the other live. Which is which will mostly depend on whether Tiger is in contention.

He doesn’t just move the needle.  He changes your DVR.

[Hardspoon]

Also, obligatory GCA link:

Golf Club Atlas » Country Club of Charleston

 

[nevets88]

Winner will get one million USD. 

Quote

This year’s U.S. Women’s Open purse will total $5.5 million, positioning it as the largest in women’s golf and ensuring that its champion – provided that she is a professional – will receive $1 million for the first time.

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2019/05/u-s--women-s-open-u-s--open-purse-increase.html

[DeadMan]

Yikes.

 

[iacas]

Hank is a troll.

[Sandy Divot]

I have watched this much more than the Memorial. I've spent a lot of time in Charleston, lived in Mt. Pleasant for a bit, but I never saw the course. I think it looks really good. Love the views of Charleston in the background. I must admit I am not very familiar with many of the players, but I am really enjoying watching them play, but the pace is very slow.

[Buckeyebowman]

I was toggling back and forth between the Women's Open and the Memorial. Sheesh! I thought the guys were slow! The pace of play for the women was absolutely glacial! 3 hours 15 minutes to play 9? Ridiculous! 

[DrvFrShow]

How in god's name do 9 holes take 3 hours and 15 minutes? 

[nevets88]

Glad I tuned in late in the day to see Thompson make her late charge. It seemed the announcer kept underestimating her distances. I didn't even bother with The Memorial, no time. That 3 wood Thompson hit was right on the money.

 

 

 

[iacas]

Korda hit driver off the deck to 9’2”. That was the shot of the day. If she could have putted yesterday she’d be leading.

Ditto for Thompson.

BTW Hank the highest Korean is 6th (a “Lee” unfortunately) and there are only five Asian gals in the top 13 in the screenshot. Four American gals representin’.

[jmanbooyaa]

Interesting leader board. Will check it out today. 

[ncates00]

14 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I was toggling back and forth between the Women's Open and the Memorial. Sheesh! I thought the guys were slow! The pace of play for the women was absolutely glacial! 3 hours 15 minutes to play 9? Ridiculous! 

Carlotta Ciganda is one the worst. 

[iacas]

21 minutes ago, ncates00 said:

Carlotta Ciganda is one the worst. 

She wasn't handed a penalty yesterday was she? The gal who was looked like she was about to cry, but c'mon… by that point, you'd gotten two warnings. Angela Lee, the Stanford amateur.

Amateur hit with slow-play penalty in the third round of the U.S. Women's Open - Golf Digest

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The thing is, there's no real fair way to enforce something faster. Players should be entitled to look for their balls, or get rulings, and so a strict time par thing can become an issue, and you can't punish the groups behind them if they finish a hole within, say, 16 minutes of the group before them finishing a hole.

So it usually requires both systems to be in place: over your time par with no good reason (lost balls, rulings, etc.) AND more than 15-17 minutes behind the group in front of you. The situation doesn't happen often enough.

The next step is to start randomly timing people hitting shots. Perhaps "We will randomly be timing people. The first to arrive at their ball has 50 seconds to hit their ball when they are free and clear to do so, and the others have 40 seconds if they've been waiting at their ball. Players who take longer than 40 seconds will receive three warnings and then be issued a penalty stroke for the fourth bad time, two penalty strokes for the next bad time, and will be DQed for the sixth bad time."

That's the only way to take the pace of play policy to the next level.

The NCAAs handed out three-stroke penalties to two players and a one-stroke penalty to two more players at the finals, I think I read, too.

P.S. I said "no fair way" and then devised what I think is a pretty "fair way," but it's still not completely fair as people would tend to know who the slow players are and would likely time them more often. Or to make it fair, they'd time the players on specific holes - maybe the even numbered holes or something - and then players would kinda quickly learn that and could play slowly on 1, 3, 5, 7… So it's still likely not completely "fair," but it's probably better. Stricter. More aggressive. Maybe they could even make it two warnings. If you have a tough shot and want to take two minutes to play it, well, you'd just have to be comfortable burning a warning.

[GLFTPS]

Good stuff.  One area that seems to cause long delays is rulings.  Every time the are near a sprinkler head, have an embedded ball or are blocked by an immoveable obstruction they call for a rules official.  They know the rules and have fellow competitors to verify what they do. C'mon man.

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, BillK said:

Good stuff.  One area that seems to cause long delays is rulings.  Every time the are near a sprinkler head, have an embedded ball or are blocked by an immoveable obstruction they call for a rules official.  They know the rules and have fellow competitors to verify what they do. C'mon man.

I didn’t see that many rulings yesterday. Did you?

[ncates00]

23 minutes ago, iacas said:

She wasn't handed a penalty yesterday was she? The gal who was looked like she was about to cry, but c'mon… by that point, you'd gotten two warnings. Angela Lee, the Stanford amateur.

Amateur hit with slow-play penalty in the third round of the U.S. Women's Open - Golf Digest

---

 

The thing is, there's no real fair way to enforce something faster. Players should be entitled to look for their balls, or get rulings, and so a strict time par thing can become an issue, and you can't punish the groups behind them if they finish a hole within, say, 16 minutes of the group before them finishing a hole.

So it usually requires both systems to be in place: over your time par with no good reason (lost balls, rulings, etc.) AND more than 15-17 minutes behind the group in front of you. The situation doesn't happen often enough.

The next step is to start randomly timing people hitting shots. Perhaps "We will randomly be timing people. The first to arrive at their ball has 50 seconds to hit their ball when they are free and clear to do so, and the others have 40 seconds if they've been waiting at their ball. Players who take longer than 40 seconds will receive three warnings and then be issued a penalty stroke for the fourth bad time, two penalty strokes for the next bad time, and will be DQed for the sixth bad time."

That's the only way to take the pace of play policy to the next level.

The NCAAs handed out three-stroke penalties to two players and a one-stroke penalty to two more players at the finals, I think I read, too.

P.S. I said "no fair way" and then devised what I think is a pretty "fair way," but it's still not completely fair as people would tend to know who the slow players are and would likely time them more often. Or to make it fair, they'd time the players on specific holes - maybe the even numbered holes or something - and then players would kinda quickly learn that and could play slowly on 1, 3, 5, 7… So it's still likely not completely "fair," but it's probably better. Stricter. More aggressive. Maybe they could even make it two warnings. If you have a tough shot and want to take two minutes to play it, well, you'd just have to be comfortable burning a warning.

I’m not sure if she was yesterday, but I watched the tournament last week where Law won and Ciganda would back off putts multiple times on a single putt seemingly every hole. I don’t think she’s as bad on full swings but around the greens, it’s absolute misery watching her.