Has your opinion changed

[teal]

We just got done with what has to be one of the best majors in a very long time. I have to wonder though - has your opinion changed on anything in the game - after seeing what this tournament was?

1. USGA - is the Open the best tournament in golf? The Masters is the sentimental favorite but has the Open become the one to watch now for drama and great shot making?

2. Tiger Woods - is he better than you thought or now is he more human that Rocco pushed him so hard?

3. Pelz - if he was the one behind talking Phil into 5 wedges and Phil has the showing he does - does Pelz's stock take a hit? Phil always had the short game rep and all Pelz has managed to do with it is add clubs. An impulsive nature and decent credit card can do that.

4. Does Harmon take some blame for not getting Phil comfortable (accurate) enough with his driver that it NEVER should be a question as to if he should at the least carry it? (biggest question for me)

5. Journeymen golfers, are we going to pay a little more attention to the rest of the fields now? Maybe both as spectators and (hopefully) the channels covering the tournaments.

So the question is - what has the Open changed your mind on or made you think more about?

[Tristan]

i think that the US open has always been a high on tension just look at the way that Phil and Monty exploded at Winged Foot in 06. It is also the scene for spectular golf from Tiger in 2000 and Tiger on Saturday. The USGA have to take some credit they learnt from Oakmont and made it fairer - graduated rough, playing with the tees and the holes.
Butch Harmon and Dave Pelz have obviously taken a hit but it is ultimately Phils choice and maybe he felt he could win with that specfic game plan. He tried it enough in practice! Its whether he feels comfortable - you dont have to hit it perfectly straight look at tiger.
Journeymen pros have always been a highlight in both the US open and the British open as the qualifying process offers that something more.
I think that my opinion of Tiger has gone up throughout this week - when people look at the defining moments of his career it will be the US Open in 2000, that chip at the Masters in 05 and the determination he showed this week.

[geezer]

1. USGA - is the Open the best tournament in golf? The Masters is the sentimental favorite but has the Open become

1. The Open Championship (British) is and always will be my favoutite. But yes this tournament has greatly elevated my opinion of the US Open. Well done USGA! 2. My opinion of Tiger hasn't changed much. Perhaps a little more respect for the man. Not to belittle Roccos' feat, But it was impressive that Tiger could play through such obvious discomfort and still win. 3. No change of opinion on Pelz. Phil just didn't show up this week. 4.Phil didn't leave the driver out due to innaccuracy, he left it out because he felt he needed to work the ball left to right round this golf course, which is a draw for a lefty and Phil finds it easier to draw his three wood. And just as a note the 3-w he was carrying was 11.5 DEG. Thats signifigantly stronger than your average three wood. 5. I'v always believed that any golfer in the field has a chance. There are favourites, yes and there always will be. But hopefully the broadcasters will now realise that they all have a shot too.

[Clubswinger21]

We just got done with what has to be one of the best majors in a very long time. I have to wonder though - has your opinion changed on anything in the game - after seeing what this tournament was?

some good questions here. 1. Yes. Masters for me is the sentimental favorite.. it has the potential to cause some serious drama but the US open has been more entertaining consistently. 7600 yards, Long rough, tight fairways, blistering greens, sets the stage for the ultimate test. 2. It was too bad Rocco couldnt pull out the victory. That would've made Tiger a bit more human in my eyes even with the injury. He finds a way to win even when he's hitting bad shots. He's not better than i though now.. hes more just proving himself day in day out that he is the greatest player of all time. 3. I look at it like Phil is the Mad Scientist and Pelz is his Igor. Enough said. 4. Yup. Part of the blame should be on his head. We all know Phil is going to be taking a hefty swipe at it but its Harmons job to shorten the swing and quiet down the legs.Seems like the only thing i hear Harmon working on with his clients is getting the plain more down the line at the top. 5. Rocco's well known, won 5 times on tour and you usually see him in contention a couple times a year. I wouldnt classify him as the epitome of journeymen or anything. He's a good player with a repeatable action, and i was a fan of his before the 2008 US open happened. I think that you see maybe 5 or 6 stories with relative unknowns.. like Paul Goydos at the Players. Every once and awhile there' a guy with a story that you cant help but root for.

[iacas]

1. USGA - is the Open the best tournament in golf? The Masters is the sentimental favorite but has the Open become

I still preferred watching Hoylake. Not Carnoustie so much, but the British still has the edge for me.

However, I think the USGA is learning - quickly - how to set up courses. This setup turned a boring golf course into a pretty good test - not too dull, but not over-the-top easy either. Bethpage next year could be awesome. Mike Davis is learning very, very quickly.

2. Tiger Woods - is he better than you thought or now is he more human that Rocco pushed him so hard?

He's right about where I thought he was. He'd have probably won fairly handily without the knee thing. And by "handily" I mean a stray drive or two is all that he'd have to have straightened out. Turn two doubles into pars and he wins by four.

3. Pelz - if he was the one behind talking Phil into 5 wedges and Phil has the showing he does - does Pelz's stock take a hit? Phil always had the short game rep and all Pelz has managed to do with it is add clubs. An impulsive nature and decent credit card can do that.

Pelz has never had much credibility in my mind. I like his 3x4 wedge system, but at the same time, that's one of those "common sense" type things that someone would have eventually thought of. Dave just put his name on it first.

4. Does Harmon take some blame for not getting Phil comfortable (accurate) enough with his driver that it NEVER should be a question as to if he should at the least carry it? (biggest question for me)

Phil gets all the blame. I think someone else said it best: he out-thinks himself. He, too, is a dolt sometimes. He should just go play golf instead of trying to think about everything so much. Tiger's bag rarely changes. All he'll ever do is swap the 2-iron and the 5W.

5. Journeymen golfers, are we going to pay a little more attention to the rest of the fields now? Maybe both as spectators and (hopefully) the channels covering the tournaments.

Nope. Rocco's near-win won't have any effect on that. He won a few more fans, but that won't affect the other no-name types in the various fields.

[Ben]

1) I've always thought of the US Open as the tournament in golf, the one that PGA guys want to win the most, and the one the delivers the most drama. It is my dream to win a US Open. The Masters would be great, but not as sweet as the US Open.

2) Tiger Woods won with a busted knee. As of recently I've thought him to be something more than great. This weekend proved that.

3) I've never bought into Pelz nor his philosophies. I actually never paid much attention to what he's ever said in the first place. You'll see in threads in Swing Tips and Equipment here that I think multiwedge strategies are a joke.

4) I heard a commentator say that Phil not using a driver was akin to Tiger and his knee surgery. If Tiger didn't win, "hey, I just had knee surgery." If Phil didn't win, "hey, I was trying a new strategy." An excuse for the local-boys to fall back on. I don't dismiss the theory.

5) I've always appreciate the "journeymen" player. Being an aspiring pro myself, I know that when I do make it, more than likely that's where I'll be. I've always liked rooting on the underdog.

[LottaBalata]

For me personally, I never hooted and hollered more for golf on TV than I did over the weekend. It was like college basketball and watching IU win in '87. It was simply compelling and very exciting. Tiger was nearly falling down due to pain. Rocco was livin' it up with the gallery. He played well. He was the only player in the field to push Tiger at all. And, he was at ease 90% of the time.

It makes me want to play more golf, and do a better job at it. Prime Time for first timers/young kids--that's the awesome part. I bet Dick's Sporting Goods sold out of there beginner sets

As far as how difficult the course was. . .On a couple other sites, there were threads predicting the winning score. One said -12, and the other said -13.
After 4 rounds, Tiger and Rocco were at -1. I think that says it all right there. I saw Phil hack out of the rough in 4 strokes. He tried chipping up HOW many times on 13? Stuart Appleby 4 putted and 3 putted in one round. THERE WAS NOTHING EASY ABOUT IT!

Tiger is the best in the world, and the course was set up for a guy like Rocco. That's why it ended up the way it did.

One of my favorite parts of the Open was simply seeing the makeshift scorecard on the screen with Tiger's string of 3's. That was cool.

[teal]

Ok - with the new information (Tiger has a broken stick and bad knee) does that change anything? Tiger becomes more or maybe the field less?

*If you say it like I would to a friend in a bar bet - "I beat the guy and I was playing with a bad ACL and 2 fractures in my leg" it sounds rather impressive to someone*

[BSweet]

We just got done with what has to be one of the best majors in a very long time. I have to wonder though - has your opinion changed on anything in the game - after seeing what this tournament was?

1. In my opinion the Masters is the easiest major to win. It has the smallest field and is played at the same course every year. The Masters is overated. The Opens are where it is at. It is open to ANYONE. They are entertaining to watch and are played at a variety of courses. I love it.

2. I am not a gigantic fan of Tiger, but I definitely praise him for what he did this weekend (AND Monday). At the same time how pathetic is the rest of the PGA Tour? I give many props to Rocco Mediate for being such a contender this week, but where were the big names? Scott? Garcia? Mickelson? They top players in the world were AWOL with an injured Tiger Woods. Great for Tiger, but also shame on the rest. 3. I don't think it matters. The bottom line is that Mickelson couldn't hit a fairway....He probably should have hit one of those 5 wedges off the tee. 4. I don't think it was a confidence issue. He hit his "strong" 3 wood for accuracy, but the plan backfired. Phil didn't have his long game that week. It didn't matter what wood he hit. 5. No.

[Richie3Jack]

1. USGA - is the Open the best tournament in golf? The Masters is the sentimental favorite but has the Open become

The Open has always been my favorite tournament, not only because it's the country's tournament, but the mental toughness it takes to win a tournament where the room for error is almost nil has always interested me.

2. Tiger Woods - is he better than you thought or now is he more human that Rocco pushed him so hard?

The same. Although hitting a hook with the ball below your feet out of a fairway bunker still amazes me.

3. Pelz - if he was the one behind talking Phil into 5 wedges and Phil has the showing he does - does Pelz's stock take a hit? Phil always had the short game rep and all Pelz has managed to do with it is add clubs. An impulsive nature and decent credit card can do that.

Taking the driver out of the bag had nothing to do with Phil's round. He couldn't find the lot with a 3 wood, what's he going to do with a driver? My problem is Phil's putting technique as his feet are very close together and the ball is way too far up in his stance. Surprised Pelz is teaching this.

4. Does Harmon take some blame for not getting Phil comfortable (accurate) enough with his driver that it NEVER should be a question as to if he should at the least carry it? (biggest question for me)

Partially, but it depends what he's teaching. I think Phil just doesn't listen sometimes. For instance, Phil's left leg is locked on the backswing which affects his spine angle which will affect accuracy. But Phil has been doing that since he was with Rick Smith. It's one of the golden rules of the swing that the back knee should remain flexed. I can't imagine Smith and Harmon not teaching that, so I have to believe that Phil just isn't listening and doing his own thing, which is quite common in golf.

3JACK

[lamebums]

1) Yes. The layout is difficult but not impossible - a winning score of -1 and the player's aren't complaining too much. An excellent balance. And it's the US Open. Our Open. And I like the 18 hole playoff much, much more than any of the other tournaments.

2) I wanted to see Rocco win, but to watch Tiger win with a busted knee is pretty impressive, regardless of whether you like the guy or not.

3) Pelz - Can't say as much about him as I'd like. He's got some good research into the short game though.

4) Harmon - Playing it safe isn't Phil's game. He flies by the seat of his pants and to make him hit 3 wood or less off every tee and play it safe will result in a 78 or higher every time.

5) With Tiger out for the rest of the season it'll give someone in the rest of the field an excellent opportunity to step up to the plate. There's the British and than the PGA later this year, if someone takes those up then we could have a serious challenge in 2009. I'd certainly like to see it. "Tiger, tiger, tiger." is getting old fast.

[hawkeye]

We just got done with what has to be one of the best majors in a very long time. I have to wonder though - has your opinion changed on anything in the game - after seeing what this tournament was?

It was a good major alright - one of the better ones that Tiger has won.

1. British Open has a wider variety of shot making. Will always be my favourite tournament to watch though the US Open is my favourite tournament in America. 2. Tiger Woods is Tiger Woods - nothing has changed. He still scares the crap out of most of the field when he's there. Our own Damien McGrane beat Tiger on the Saturday at Dubai this year, he's not infalible. But he is a damn sight better than everyone else. 3. It was Mickelsons choice. I've played rounds of golf level par with no woods in the bag. I played for years without a driver. I think this decision shows he has the balls to go against the flow (again - remember the 2 drivers at Augusta?) - I admire his effort. It didn't work out - who would have betted that Phil would take a 9 from 40 yards out? 4. Phil hits the ball, not Harmon (or Pelz). He took a strong 3 wood so he could hit more fairways. Maybe you should be asking why he didn't hit the 3-wood straighter. 5. ESPN had a TIGER/PHIL ticker at the top of the screen on Thu/Fri. There were 25,000 fans there on Monday. It pains me to say it but it's a business, not so much a game. Tiger = ratings. At the British Open you get to see everyone - it's not a Tiger Show (even when he's winning). Hence, it's my favourite major. I'd like to see more variety on the PGA Tour coverage - but unless Paul Goydos or Rocca Mediate are in contention, it will probably be limited.

[tm22721]

I forget which hole it was but Phil hit a stunningly high and short flop shot close with his 64 wedge. Soft and high from the rough on a short sided hole, no room at all.

So Pelz gets a little credit in my opinion.

[Thrash13]

So the question is - what has the Open changed your mind on or made you think more about?

Thrash Talk: Random Thoughts from Torrey Pines These are some of the things I took from the U.S. Open. I tried to stay away from the obvious Tiger, Rocco, and Phil talk. There has been plenty of that.

[Chas]

Nice post hawkeye, especially re: Phil. Let's face it, he isn't a grinder. Just the opposite in fact. Makes him always interesting to watch, but also frustrating sometimes and he can make you wonder what he's thinking. He's good for the game of golf IMO, it takes all sorts.

I'll never play the 13th again without thinking of the guy. I'm usually right about where he was after my second .... but not from that amazing tee box! I mean, you could almost launch a hang-glider from there it's so far back.