Official Thread: 2009 U.S. Open (Bethpage)

[Chilli Dipper]

Barnes just made one of the ugliest swings I've ever seen on the second hole, and the results were even uglier. He's not winning this tournament.

[eahollis4]

His swing is looking more like a bowel movement. He was too far ahead of that those first two tee shots. He had to flip his hands to catch up. not a good way to play golf under pressure. We will see plenty of blocked tee shots and quick hooks from Barnes tommorow.

[Prairie Golfer]

Barnes just made one of the ugliest swings I've ever seen on the second hole, and the results were even uglier. He's not winning this tournament.

It looked like one of my good swings.

[McGolf-Doggie]

Barnes just made one of the ugliest swings I've ever seen on the second hole, and the results were even uglier. He's not winning this tournament.

Ay yay yay...

Painful. I hope he gets his head together tonight.

[iacas]

BTW, we'll be doing a live blog tomorrow morning at 9am EST. On the main page of the site.

[Cara1975]

Wow, Tiger is really turning it on, anything could happen tomorrow and I have to work!

[nevets88]

Johnny Miller's repeated mention of Duval's 882 ranking - okay, I get the picture. It's one thing if Duval was someone we never heard of and had no history, but he does have a history, a 59, and a major, so it shouldn't be that surprising.

Duval reminds me of Mats Wilander, who was a quiet sort, won the Australian, French, US Open and then disappeared into oblivion.

I normally like the opening video "essay" of the past US Opens, for example the 99 US Open that Payne Stewart won. More dramatic. This years' was very bland.

Loved seeing the full flight of the tee shots on #1, similar to Wood's 3 iron on the 18th @ Doral, was it? If you've played the hole, you really get a gauge on how far the pros hit it, because where the pros are teeing from is about the same as where you'd tee off from.

The behind the ball cam was a cool angle. It's amazing how much the clubhead sometimes twists after ball impact.

[Alex B]

For the second consecutive year, Rocco Mediate has gone off in the penultimate group for the final round of the US Open. Only for the 2009 edition, he's in the second-to-last group going off the back nine -- which means that he's in 3rd or 4th place if you turn the leaderboard upside down.

In all seriousness, we may see a funny situation tomorrow. Since the USGA sent players off 1 and 10 at the same times, the wave going off 1 could finish first and leave us with a few stragglers to finish off the championship. This scenario is unlikely, of course, because the front-nine wave has a lot more at stake (and thus will likely play slower) than the back-nine wave. But don't be surprised if Andres Romero and Jeff Brehaut conclude this year's US Open on the 9th green, waging a wild battle for a share of 58th.

[Chilli Dipper]

We've had those situations all week. The USGA filled the final pairings of the first wave with local qualifiers, presumably so ESPN could obsess over Tiger Woods' second round Friday night without worrying about showing the last hour or so of play. Thanks to the delays, though, those players took center stage on Saturday afternoon, leading to a long discussion among the NBC commentators about how one of the local qualifiers looked like David Eger (a former USGA and PGA senior administrator, U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, and current Champions Tour player with whom the crew was obviously familiar, but whose references only 37 people watching at home understood).

The worst thing for all parties involved is Rory McIlroy going on a tear. He was the first player to tee off on the tenth hole, and he's 2-under through 10 holes, 2-over for the tournament. He still has most of the front nine to play, and the outward half of Bethpage Black is clearly the easier half. Shooting 30 or 31 is not out of the question, and Rory is someone who can do it. What if he posts -2 or -3 as the first player back in the clubhouse?

[lobsterzilla]

why again do you hate rory so much ?

[nico002]

holy hell Ricky Barnes what a shot

[RC]

Keep your fingers crossed. My daughter in the city, and friends at Brookhaven think it could be rain free until late in the afternoon. The Weather Channel has possible rain at 3 pm.

So, with greens finally into the 13s, who knows what might happen. This could get exciting.

[Chilli Dipper]

why again do you hate rory so much ?

I'm not disparaging Rory one bit; I wouldn't even take the scenario into consideration if I didn't think he could do it. I'm saying the USGA wouldn't be too pleased with a potential winner finishing on 9 while the final pairing still has 10 through 18 to play.

[alf174]

I'm saying the USGA wouldn't be too pleased with a potential winner finishing on 9 while the final pairing still has 10 through 18 to play.

I gotta believe they know that there is always that risk when you start 1/2 the field on the front and 1/2 the field on the back.

[mcfc_nick]

ive gotta say ricky barnes has one of the ugliest swings ive ever seen!

[RC]

If you want to know what lazy hips will do to you... watch Barnes. He is trying to guide the ball with his upper body, swaying forward with no turning brace under him to keep the club going toward the target. Hitting it hard is not helped with all that upper body movement. It only gets worse unless the player figures it out and firms up.

[Chilli Dipper]

I'm liking two-thirds of my pick last night of a tie between Mahan, Mickelson, and Watson at the end of this round.

[RC]

Fisher is acting pretty collected.