Is it me....

[laxbballgolf]

I'm with you NorCal, this year has been pretty bland in comparison. Some really impressive golf (Stenson and Sabbatini's final rounds come to mind), but not much drama or excitement so far. And the Masters would have been the worst in a while in my opinion if it weren't for the fortuitous Woods/Mickelson pairing.

[Thrash13]

  RichF said:

Plus, on the European Tour:

This is a great point. The overall excitement around the golf world is pretty high right now. The PGA Tour has been solid, but all these youngsters coming up is worth mentioning as well. And can Paul Casey maintain his great play? He has always been very up and down, and right now he is WAY up.

[RichF]

  Thrash13 said:

This is a great point. The overall excitement around the golf world is pretty high right now. The PGA Tour has been solid, but all these youngsters coming up is worth mentioning as well. And can Paul Casey maintain his great play? He has always been very up and down, and right now he is WAY up.

That's why I purposely put the European Tour in: a lot of Americans don't have the luxury of being able to watch each and every tournament of both PGA and European Tours.

I do, and watch as much as I possibly can each week...cos I'm sad like that.

[NorCalGolfer]

  NorCalGolfer said:

Uhhh...ok here we go .... last year went as follows...

  RichF said:

Folks need to look at the bigger picture - my Top 5 picks:

The reason I'm quoting again is because I really want you to look at my post again. First off, I only mentioned Garcia because that was a really good tournament. I mentioned Kim because last year was where he became a star. And I didn't even mention Villegas because he didn't turn it on til the playoffs.

What sticks out about Nick Watneys win that you posted it? I agree with Phils, Tigers (which he did last year as well in MORE dramatic fashion), Angels and Henriks. I will admit I don't always get a chance to see some the European tourneys, but the 3 Irish Open?! I'll agree with the rest that you mentioned, but THE 3 IRISH OPEN!?! LOL!!! Come on man..just because an amateur won doesn't make it great. Talk about a depleted field. I really can't believe you put that in.

[mcfc_nick]

  NorCalGolfer said:

The reason I'm quoting again is because I really want you to look at my post again. First off, I only mentioned Garcia because that was a really good tournament. I mentioned Kim because last year was where he became a star. And I didn't even mention Villegas because he didn't turn it on til the playoffs.

so an amateur from ireland winning his own home open on the third sudden death playoff hole with his competitor in that playoff holing crucial 10 foot putts to keep that playoff going and denying lowry his win for as long as he could is not exciting? seriously come on man!

[RichF]

  NorCalGolfer said:

1 - The reason I'm quoting again is because I really want you to look at my post again. First off, I only mentioned Garcia because that was a really good tournament. I mentioned Kim because last year was where he became a star. And I didn't even mention Villegas because he didn't turn it on til the playoffs.

1 - No, I read your post and it seemed fine...but I don't agree with you that 'so far, this year', golf has been below par - it looks like you're just picking out the 4th day final sessions.

However, what is disappointing is that the only thing lacking for me, has been the guys from last year failing to carry on the form....Singh: done nothing. Kim: done nothing. Villegas: done nothing....which of course has paved the way for the new guys to be in the spotlight. 2 - The 3 Irish Open included: Sergio Garcia Robert Karlsson Graeme McDowell Rory McIlroy Oliver Wilson Martin Kaymer Ross Fisher Lee Westwood Retief Goosen Padraig Harrington Angel Cabrera Henrik Stenson Ben Curtis So, ummmm.....you kinda failed on that one...

[NorCalGolfer]

  RichF said:

1 - No, I read your post and it seemed fine...but I don't agree with you that 'so far, this year', golf has been below par - it looks like you're just picking out the 4th day final sessions.

The winner was at -17...

Rory McIlroy E Oliver Wilson -6 Ross Fisher E Lee Westwood -3 Padraig Harrington CUT I'm sorry, but I don't remember the following players playing in this tourney so I think YOU failed on this one my friend. Sergio Garcia Robert Karlsson Graeme McDowell Martin Kaymer Retief Goosen Angel Cabrera Henrik Stenson Ben Curtis

[NorCalGolfer]

  mcfc_nick said:

so an amateur from ireland winning his own home open on the third sudden death playoff hole with his competitor in that playoff holing crucial 10 foot putts to keep that playoff going and denying lowry his win for as long as he could is not exciting? seriously come on man!

The 3 Irish Open felt like a Nationwide tournament. Nothing against the Nationwide Tour, but it was just bland.

It's really cute how you Europeans are sticking up for your tournaments and I'll agree with you guys that there are some pretty good ones....but stop it with the 3 Irish Open. An amateur won with a crap field...wooppeee!!!

[mcfc_nick]

  NorCalGolfer said:

The 3 Irish Open felt like a Nationwide tournament. Nothing against the Nationwide Tour, but it was just bland.

dont get me wrong, the european tour is no way near as good or exciting as the pga tour but the events are always exciting towards the end of the final day which is where this one got exciting, however you are right that it wasnt the greatest of tournaments and there are plenty of better ones out here!

[RichF]

  NorCalGolfer said:

The winner was at -17...

F!*k my old boots!

I could have sworn those guys were there!! Anyways, I'm not going to turn this into the old 'PGA vs European' argument cos there's plenty of those aroundon the forum (and for the record, I watch both in equal measure), but....combined, I feel we've had some great tournaments thus far in 2009, hardly 'dull' compared to 2008.

[RichF]

  RichF said:

Folks need to look at the bigger picture - my Top 5 picks:

Add to this,

The Memorial : Woods, 3 back on 4th day, making a charge and winning the tournament by birdie-birdie.

[iacas]

  RichF said:

Add to this,

Four back to start the final round...

[Golf_Predictor_Guru]

Kim, Harrington (more tinkering), Villegas, Singh (injured early on, to be fair), Scott and Garcia (won HSBC Champions this season, but last year!) have all done squat this year (as you Americans say!). Z Johnson (yawn!), Casey & Ogilvy (earlier in the season) playing well and Tiger coming back to his best.

To add to the debate on the 3 Irish Open - if you are Irish (like me!), it sure was exciting! Lowry played the 18th amazingly well several times in a row under the most pressurised of circumstances to defeat Rock in the play-off. He also hit a 62 in round 2 which was incredible for an amateur in a pro event, regardless of the field quality. OK, the tees on some holes were moved forward in anticipation of crap weather (which duly arrived for the weekend!), but it was still some feat.

Despite what that moron said in an earlier post ,as others have stated, it was a decent enough field where even multiple major winners couldn't even make the cut. OK, being on the right side of the draw helped, but watching it to see how the young Irish amateur would cope over the final 2 days certainly was enthralling to us here!

As a matter of fact, as my site shows, the field for the 3 Irish Open was far stronger than that for the US tournament that week (the Valero Texas Open)

Irish Open:
8 from top 50 in WR
13 from 51-100
17 from 101-150
22 from 151-100

Valero Texas Open:
7 from top 50 in WR
9 from 51-100
6 from 101-150
11 from 151-100

That's almost double the number of top 200 players in the European event than the US one, so there!

[NorCalGolfer]

Uhhh...okay. I posted this thread 2 weeks ago. I honestly don't think I'd have made this thread today. But prior to last weekends tournament...YAAAAAAWWNNN!!

[PEZGolf]

  dalirahma said:

From my perspective, I think some of the marquee players are a tad bit off and many lesser known players are filling the void. Brian Davis? Dustin Johnson? John Merrick? Never heard of these guys until recently. Zach Johnson is playing great. No offense, but yawn. He's not the most exciting player.

I agree with you. How many people can rattle off the names of the winners of more than three tournaments? You know what has added excitement to the year?---the play of Freddie "Boom Boom" Couples. He is still a crowd favorite and having a good year. It would be great to see him win on the regular Tour and the Champions Tour like Fred Funk, Raymond Floyd, Hale Irwin, and a few others have done. Kenny Perry may do it as well.

[RichF]

Final Day at the US Open '09: leader Barnes goes into meltdown, emotionally-charged Mickelson has a charge, previous non-cut-maker Duval ties the lead with 3 holes to go, Glover keeps his cool to win by 2 shots.

'Sounds exciting to me'

Chalk another one up for 2009!

[NorCalGolfer]

wtf?! that crap was terrible. weather n all...