2023 U.S. Open (Los Angeles Country Club)

[snapfade]

Radar O'Riley Reed tied for 56th. Ha Ha

Clark will wind up on the notables list within 36 months.

No more marine layer talk, unless they bring it up at Pebble next month.

Ladies PGA this week.  I'll be following Chella Choi and Gaby Lopez closely.....very closely.

 

 

 

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, ScouseJohnny said:

The death of a parent at a tender age doesn't make you intrinsically interesting.

Eh. I disagree.

[GolfLug]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

I think he’ll be one of those win once guys that we’ll never hear of again.

I know. I don't care for so much parity in golf. A Rory win would have been a 100X better.

Ok. I guess we wait for another major. This one stings even more than the British loss.

[PatrickMurtha]

I do suspect that this is one of those major wins that will be historically insignificant, which is why the personal tragedy angle had to be pumped up, in the tradition of Olympics “human interest” coverage. ANY of the other players in the top ten would have been a more significant win. A first major for Rickie, Xander, Tommy Fleetwood, or Tom Kim would have been exciting. Austin Eckroat and Min Woo Lee are 5/6 years younger than Clark, and could be stars. Even Harris English has two Top 10s at prior US Opens, and plenty of good will built up (as Gary Woodland had). The others - McIlroy, Smith, Scheffler, Rahm, DJ - would have been major repeaters, and that’s always historic. But Clark’s majors record at age 29 includes four MC and a previous best of T75. He had a good week and is having an above average year. Whether that heralds anything more seems unlikely, but time will tell as it always does. 

By the way, kudos to Brentley Romine at the Golf Channel for this bit of very fine prognosticating:

18. Wyndham Clark: Boasts four top-12 finishes, including a Wells Fargo title, in his last seven starts. Can bomb it, hitting his mid-irons very well right now, solid chipper and putter. A definite sleeper this week.

Edited June 19, 2023 by PatrickMurtha

[NZ Golfer]

sadly wasn't the play-off I hoped for .. but am stoked for Clark ... great achievement .. Rory had his chances 

[Moxley]

Well done Clark!

Very fine margins for Rory yet again. Unfortunately I think that Rory's distractions off the course in the last couple of years may have been the difference here ...

[Beastie]

The list of things I would not sell in exchange for being able to hit driver like Rory is very, VERY short. Putting not so much.

Wyndham Clark played real solid tee to green and his chipping and lag putting were superb yesterday. He deserved to win for sure. I can’t wait for The Open next month ( and I’ll be there on the Sunday) cmon Rory. 

[Clemsonfan]

8 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Well at least a LIV player didn’t win. I don’t know why I was rooting against Clark, but I didn’t want him to win. I think he’ll be one of those win once guys that we’ll never hear of again.

I am going to go the other way. Clark won by 4 at Wells Fargo on a difficult course. If he was only putting well we’ve seen that is difficult to maintain but the rest of his game is great. Maybe he is on a heater, but appears to be hitting on all facets of his game. Despite the difficulty of the 1000 yards for the closing three holes I did not think he was going to lose his lead. Rare to think that with just about anyone!

[phan52]

This was Rory's to lose. Again. I thought the turning point was on the front nine when they were showing simultaneous putts, where Rory was going for birdie and Clark was putting to save par. Clark had a one-shot lead and it could have been a two-shot swing. Clark made and Rory missed. I knew it would be a struggle after that because Rory just wasn't making anything. Some of his makeable putts never had a chance.

[Beastie]

1 hour ago, phan52 said:

This was Rory's to lose. Again. I thought the turning point was on the front nine when they were showing simultaneous putts, where Rory was going for birdie and Clark was putting to save par. Clark had a one-shot lead and it could have been a two-shot swing. Clark made and Rory missed. I knew it would be a struggle after that because Rory just wasn't making anything. Some of his makeable putts never had a chance.

I don’t see how it was Rory’s to lose when he was never actually in sole lead. Your turning point feels about right, that and all the missed birdie putts and a failure to get up and down after a lucky drop from the plugged ball. 

[Moxley]

6 hours ago, Beastie said:

I don’t see how it was Rory’s to lose when he was never actually in sole lead. Your turning point feels about right, that and all the missed birdie putts and a failure to get up and down after a lucky drop from the plugged ball. 

He was one shot behind two players that had never won a major going into the last day, and also players he is comfortably better than - his ability combined with his opponents lack of major winning experience meant he had a great opportunity and was for sure the favourite. I think if he was present, this would have finally been number 5, but unfortunately for him I think his head has been elsewhere. 

[guitarget]

I don't drink....but, I did smile quietly to myself every time someone said "marine layer."😊

[GolfLug]

15 minutes ago, guitarget said:

I don't drink....but, I did smile quietly to myself every time someone said "marine layer."😊

Your jaw must still be hurting..

[Elmer]

Over the weekend I saw alot of Golf Twitter just dragging the course.
The course was called "uninteresting" & "not worthy of a major".

I, as a viewer enjoyed the course.
I think it provided a challenge without being impossibly difficult.
I don't like seeing the winning score somewhere around -20..

I would hope in the next 25 years they go back to this course!

[vasaribm]

2 hours ago, Elmer said:

I would hope in the next 25 years they go back to this course!

Coming back in 2039

https://www.usopen.com/u-s--open-future-sites.html

[iacas]

5 hours ago, vasaribm said:

Coming back in 2039

https://www.usopen.com/u-s--open-future-sites.html

Maybe.

The ticketing issues, the membership… we'll see.

The USGA made a ton, though.

[saevel25]

I found this interesting. The Tour players hit about average fairway % for the week, but the missed fairway penalty was pretty high.  

If you take LACC and put it up north near Pebble or Torrey Pines, and maybe that course becomes a monster due to the potential for windier conditions? 

[Rick Graham]

On 6/15/2023 at 4:05 PM, jxdama said:

I  have to say this  is a  major  disappoinment. -7 the  lead  in the first round  of the  US OPEN? At one time this was a true test  of  golf on a difficult  course. I read where some were claiming the  lack of rough was a good thing. I guess so if you want a  defenseless  course with little  or  no obstacles. Please do something to toughen this thing  up overnight. No way should a US OPEN  have scores this  low. At  least  my pick to win, Scheffler, is  on the  board.

100% true, us open should be most difficult track all year, usga only allowing 22k spectators is a joke as well.  2 62's????  Even brandel chamblee said this course is fine for members, but not for us open, usga leadership is questionable for the last 23 years.