2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst

[JetFan1983]

7 minutes ago, Alx said:

This is what have a problem with. I didint watch the full broadcast, but I have watched most of the highlights on the USGA youtube channel which are extensive. 

It looks to me that the ground around those weeds is elevated and every shot has a tendency to settle in the low points in between the weeds. Meaning, these "breaks" arent that lucky, but rather getting a bad lie is unlucky and a decent lie is kinda expected. 

For example, take a look at this screenshot:

Thats a screenshot from the 2nd round 5th hole of the lies Scheffler, Schauffele, and McIlroy got hitting it into the waste area. All three got decent lies.

If you watch the shots settle you can see exactly what I was referring to about how the balls appear to settle between the tufts aka decent lies.

 

I see what you're saying. I think that's probably fair to say, and Bryson did draw a truly awful lie on 18. And he got it up and down with an excellent 50 yard bunker blast. I think maybe I would've expected one or two more lies he drew to be a lot worse than he ultimately got, but like it's been said, getting a little fortunate in these things is something all winners experience to varying extents. 

A fun part of Pinehurst no.2 is how the native area there has more variance to it than the traditional "you're screwed" rough of a US Open. Scottie Scheffler did say how the Pinehurst setup messed with his mind off the tee, saying it was 50-50 whether you got a good lie or not. I'm not inclined to put full stock into his "50-50" number, but if you look at it thru that lens, Bryson was pretty fortunate, at least by Scottie's standards of what the course was giving guys who missed the fairways. 

 

[billchao]

2 hours ago, Zeph said:

Luck will always be part of a tournament. You can analyze all 72 holes and try to see who got more lucky, but to what end? Next tournament it’ll be the other way around. Bryson shot the lowest score and won. Rory could have won with fewer mistakes on the last four holes. Or any of the other 68 holes.

Right, it’s a 72 hole tournament. Luck swings both ways and it kind of evens out. It’s not like Rory got nothing but bad breaks and Bryson got all good ones. He won by one. That could be almost anything to make the difference, and one could analyze Bryson’s 72 holes and find places where he could have scored better. If people are going to say Rory could have done so and so and won, they should be able to say Bryson could have done so and so and won by 3.

[iacas]

6 hours ago, Alx said:

No, he did not. He played a stroke worse.

He scored a stroke worse. You can play better but score worse. Luck/randomness can go against you.

It wasn't my point to make, but… the score is not 100% indicative of skill. More than skill goes into that.

[Vinsk]

Bryson got better lies cuz he soaks his golf balls in epsom salt. 

[boogielicious]

17 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Bryson got better lies cuz he soaks his balls in epsom salt. 

Fixed that for you!😜

[Vinsk]

33 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

Fixed that for you!😜

That’s classic Scott. I actually left the ‘golf’ out then realized that’s too easy for Scott….sure enough….you came through. 😂😂😂

[DaveP043]

21 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

Yea but were we discussing the variance at any of the other majors of the last few years? I don't recall that we did, so there must be a decent reason this time around to have a fun back and forth. 

In my view, at most tournaments the fairways are pretty consistent, the first cut is consistent, the deeper rough is consistent, you kind of get what you "deserve" most of the time.  At Pinehurst, and at some of the other courses in the area that have been renovated in the same way, two balls off the fairway and a foot apart can have wildly different challenges.  That's not good or bad, necessarily, but it DOES make luck a little larger factor.   Combine that with the green speed and contours where a shot that's only a little bit off can end up in a pretty bad spot, it was a really tough test.  There wasn't much room on and around the greens for a "mediocre" result, it was either pretty good, or pretty bad.