Big Break X: Michigan

[Tha Fuzzy 1]

Well, we always need a heel, someone to root against, right? Looks like its going to be David. That was pretty crass of him, what he said about Rachel. I don't think he made a bad decision in picking Rachel/Otis, but to me, the biggest advantage was David over Otis, in fact, I'd rather of had Rachel than Sally as my partner. Until the approach Sally hit on the playoff hole, she hadn't shown anything resembling a 'competitive golf' game.

Otis turned out to make the biggest blunders, not just on his putts, but after Rachel hit that great shot that stopped just a few feet from the pin. I know he was trying to pump her up and give her confidence, but you don't tell someone something that's going to make them emotional, putting is when you need the nerves of steel the most. Sometimes its just best to shut up and not say anything than to say too much.

Even though they didn't win the Immunity challenge, Haymes impressed me the most with his shot, especially the glass shot, everybody before him was just trying to blast a stinger shot, and he realized that you didn't need to hit the glass that hard to break it, you just had to hit it, although the shot that Robby hit was awesome. He hit it through the glass twice on that shot, the replay was just, wow. I wish I had 10% of the accuracy that Robby had on that shot.

[Doctorfro]

Sally's swing looks ....... awful! How is she on this show? Actually, there are other swings I have seen on this show that are suspect. Used to be you had to be a 3 hcp or better to be on this. I really don't see anyone worthy of the prizes to be awarded at the end of this show. None of them is good enough to deserve an exemption to play on any tour.

[LongballGer]

It's entertaining, but it's awful to watch.

All of the contestants play like 40 handicappers. From what I've seen most of them wouldn't be able to break 90 let alone play in a PGA tour tournament.

[Golfgal]

  Tha Fuzzy 1 said:

Well, we always need a heel, someone to root against, right? Looks like its going to be David. That was pretty crass of him, what he said about Rachel. I don't think he made a bad decision in picking Rachel/Otis, but to me, the biggest advantage was David over Otis, in fact, I'd rather of had Rachel than Sally as my partner. Until the approach Sally hit on the playoff hole, she hadn't shown anything resembling a 'competitive golf' game.

I have to agree with you. I figured David would pick R&O;, but I wonder if he was told by the producers to "draw it out" to add drama. I sure didn't like that part. Yes, Otis's blunder wasn't his 3 putt - it was his comment to Rachel that brought her to tears and made her miss that putt. Poor guy...you could just tell he felt so bad for the whole day. And poor Rachel...she really was behind the eight ball most of the day. They definitely get my sympathy vote - nice guys do finish last sometimes I guess. I interviewed Michael and Amber tonight . I'll add Haymes, Andrea and Sally on Wed. Let me know what you think of what they had to say. Gayle

[Awsi Dooger]

  Doctorfro said:

Sally's swing looks ....... awful! How is she on this show? Actually, there are other swings I have seen on this show that are suspect. Used to be you had to be a 3 hcp or better to be on this. I really don't see anyone worthy of the prizes to be awarded at the end of this show. None of them is good enough to deserve an exemption to play on any tour.

Sally finished tied for 3rd in an LPGA tournament in 2000. But I agree, her swing so far hasn't demonstrated any hint of that. She is lunging at the ball and has hit two pathetic shots, the shanked 9 iron in the progressive distance challenge and the smothered left opening shot in the glass break.

Robby and Hugo look like the best players to me, and Haymes is solid. This Big Break may have shaky players but it's produced two memorable shots -- Casey off the top of the wall and Robby's ricochet off the camera and back through the glass. I wondered how that happened, all week in the promos. It almost looked like two players had hit simultaneously from different sides of the glass. I enjoyed this episode because it provided a villain, a necessary focus heading to the middle episodes. But the typical massive hints were available, to nullify any suspense. Rachel's eyes had too much going on in the brief interview segments. I knew almost immediately they had been eliminated, long before Dave identified them for the elimination. Her facial area around the nose and eyes was puffy and with obvious emotion. Otis looked deflated. Plus the clock got in the way. I mean, when a two hole elimination begins at 40 after, I'd bet virtually anything it goes extra holes. That was instantly verified when the first hole took all of three minutes to show. So that knowledge virtually screamed that Otis was going to 3 putt on the second hole. Then the first playoff hole was concluding at 58 after, so how is Rachel going to make the clutch par putt when there's no time for another hole? I realize I should keep my eye off the clock but I've always been an analytical type. A few observations: * Amber's swing is rounded, back and forth, with a low left follow through not unlike the way Justin Leonard looks at times, especially with his irons * Otis decelerated on his putts in the elimination challenge * When I saw Rachel's putting style in the first episode I thought it would let her down, cross handed with hands far apart, and very wide stance. All of these competitors have been looking up very quickly after putting * I didn't appreciate this week's format, the team with fewest points able to identify its opponent. That severely disadvantaged the weakest team, which by all appearances was Rachel and Otis. Throughout the opening challenge I kept thinking their result was irrelevant, since they were certain to be picked. Dave played drama king by dragging it out * Camila shouldn't be wearing long pants

[alf174]

  Awsi Dooger said:

* Otis decelerated on his putts in the elimination challenge

yah think? geez, I can sorta excuse him shorting it on the first lag putt, but the 2nd time on the tie breaker? On the same green! All he had to do was get it in a 2 foot circle. That combined with his comment to Rachel before her birdy putt puts Otis in the golf-hall-of-shame lol.

[jambalaya]

I like the idea of picking your opponent instead of having everyone safe. It weeds out the weak teams. They have to play to stay in rather than make one good shot to stay in. Rachel was a better player than Otis. He should have let her make all important shots. He has been very shaky the entire time.

[Smallville]

Did no one notice the camera angles in this week's show?

[U345387]

Interesting episode. Long drive guy, david, is a tremendous tool and great guy to hate. Sally cracks me up with the "roid rage" celebrations. Felt bad for rachel, she really stepped up and hit some nice shots under pressure. Now starting to feel bad for Sally. Her facial expressions and tone in the interviews is progressing from being competitive alongside David, to embarassed by his behavior, to downright sorry she made the decision to be on the show.

Was it just me or did Amber have some weird cleavage action going on in the black interview shirt? Yikes! First chink in the armour.

And another observation (sorry to dwell on this topic), did stina have some, um, enhancements after the last BB? Big fan of stina.

[Golfgal]

  U345387 said:

Interesting episode. Long drive guy, david, is a tremendous tool and great guy to hate. Sally cracks me up with the "roid rage" celebrations. Felt bad for rachel, she really stepped up and hit some nice shots under pressure. Now starting to feel bad for Sally. Her facial expressions and tone in the interviews is progressing from being competitive alongside David, to embarassed by his behavior, to downright sorry she made the decision to be on the show.

I believe Stina just had a baby not too long ago - heard she was pregnant during BB K (taped in Dec). So if she's breast feeding, then there's good reason for the "enhancements" ;)

[MO_Hacker]

  Smallville said:

Did no one notice the camera angles in this week's show?

Watching the replay right now, haha

[jmoc]

  Golfgal said:

I believe Stina just had a baby not too long ago - heard she was pregnant during BB K (taped in Dec). So if she's breast feeding, then there's good reason for the "enhancements" ;)

I caught her placing her hand over her belly a couple of times and leaving it there while talking and thought that was odd. Then I remembered that she was PG and that made sense along with the "enhancements". I do feel for Rachel, Otis was a weight around her neck the whole show and then crippled her with the "Father" comment. Of course it did not help that Sally said the putt was really slow as she walked off on the playoff hole, almost guaranteeing Rachel would hit it too hard... jmoc

[jambalaya]

  Smallville said:

Did no one notice the camera angles in this week's show?

Is that the reason some of the swings looked kind of funky?

[Smallville]

No, they had a low camera angle on Amber in one shot.

But anyway, back to the thread updates.

[worst_shot_ever]

  Smallville said:

No, they had a low camera angle on Amber in one shot.

As my buddy from Kansas likes to say in those situations, "Thanks for coming out."

  Awsi Dooger said:

But the typical massive hints were available, to nullify any suspense. Rachel's eyes had too much going on in the brief interview segments. I knew almost immediately they had been eliminated, long before Dave identified them for the elimination. Her facial area around the nose and eyes was puffy and with obvious emotion. Otis looked deflated.

Ditto. Painfully obvious. I felt bad for them when they succeeded in avoiding the elimination by finishing last as I knew they would be gone anway.

  Awsi Dooger said:

* Amber's swing is rounded, back and forth, with a low left follow through not unlike the way Justin Leonard looks at times, especially with his irons

There was one scene with a pretty good look at her swing, probably the one you have in mind. Seemed like she laid it way off and again low and left in the follow through. When it happened I was wondering if this was really her standard swing, or if she did that to shape that particular shot in some way. I figured it must be her standard swing, because doing that on purpose wouldn't cause the ball to do what you need it to do when you want to stick a green -- right? Maybe someone can help me out: I'm trying to visualize what my ball flight would look like with that sort of low/inside to inside path(assuming I were a righty and I'm describing what she did correctly). Also assuming I didn't just hosel it, I'm thinking it would promote an open clubface, cause the ball to spin left to right, with a low ball flight and likely a run out when it lands. Am I right, or just making stuff up?

  Awsi Dooger said:

* I didn't appreciate this week's format, the team with fewest points able to identify its opponent. That severely disadvantaged the weakest team, which by all appearances was Rachel and Otis. Throughout the opening challenge I kept thinking their result was irrelevant, since they were certain to be picked.

Ditto there too.

  Awsi Dooger said:

Dave played drama king by dragging it out

That dude is just silly. And it looks like there's more antics in store! Yea! Maybe we have our Lori -- someone was listening.

  Awsi Dooger said:

* Camila shouldn't be wearing long pants

I'm waiting for the producers to realize the best way to create drama and excitment this season would be to arrange for Amber and Camila to meet in a head-to-head match play event. Fingers crossed.

[Golfgal]

Well, all interviews are done for this week - whew! There were a bunch, but all good stuff...

Haymes confirmed Stina had her baby with her.

Sally said what we saw/heard this week was the tip of the iceberg.

And the big bad wolf, David, joined in on the fun. And it was fun talking to him (or listening ;)).

The dark side of reality tv is on the golf channel (quote for Haymes I felt was worth repeating).

[Awsi Dooger]

  worst_shot_ever said:

There was one scene with a pretty good look at her swing, probably the one you have in mind. Seemed like she laid it way off and again low and left in the follow through. When it happened I was wondering if this was really her standard swing, or if she did that to shape that particular shot in some way. I figured it must be her standard swing, because doing that on purpose wouldn't cause the ball to do what you need it to do when you want to stick a green -- right? Maybe someone can help me out: I'm trying to visualize what my ball flight would look like with that sort of low/inside to inside path(assuming I were a righty and I'm describing what she did correctly). Also assuming I didn't just hosel it, I'm thinking it would promote an open clubface, cause the ball to spin left to right, with a low ball flight and likely a run out when it lands. Am I right, or just making stuff up?

That must be Amber's standard swing. They've shown enough of it, including a driver, and it always looks the same.

My conclusion has been identical, that a swing of that type has to produce a low ball flight and not much bite.

[Awsi Dooger]

I hadn't watched the confessionals since week one. Tonight I caught up with the previous two weeks and the player who surprised me by being so animated in that setting was Rachel Lubahn.

It drove me nuts watching the week 3 confessional because I knew Rachel reminded me of an actress, but I couldn't place it. Finally after three views it hit me: The band camp girl in American Pie and the sequels. I think you'll see what I mean, particularly the opening segment:

http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.a...2=10795&auto;=1