WOW! Talk about a letdown...Worst major I've seen, so far

[hawkeye]

umm most majors aren't "exciting" after 2 and an eight of a round....I don't recall too many majors being amazing after 1 or 2 rounds.

It's the 3rd day of a major now - it's "moving day" - it's just about anyones. The guys on +1, +2 can post a score and be in contention for the final round.

Could still be one to remember....

[mcfc_nick]

this hasnt been a letdown in golfing terms anyway! ive thoroughly enjoyed watching this week but the only reason why t may seem to be a touch boring is because of the weather delays! nobody would be saying it was boring if we had played golf all the way through this week!

[iacas]

I love the atmosphere it makes it fun, special.

I get the feeling that a lot of players say "they like it" so that the fans don't pick on them.

i.e. Behaving the opposite of Sergio in '02. Complain and you get the worst of it. Embrace it - for real or "pretend" - and they go easier on you.

[Prairie Golfer]

Sometimes you just need luck in weather and who shows up at the top of the leaderboard. Bethpage had good luck in 2002 and we'll see what happens this year. Pebble Beach has had four of the best U.S. Opens ever, but the USGA could get unlucky next year.

[iacas]

Bethpage had good luck in 2002 and we'll see what happens this year.

I'm not sure I'd say that. Sergio complained about the rain, the final round had a two-hour (IIRC) delay... etc.

I honestly think the weather in 2002 and now 2009 might push the USGA's return to Bethpage back a few years. Instead of the next available spot (2017?) they might wait awhile - 2020 or something.

[lobsterzilla]

^ completely agree. said the same in the other thread

[Prairie Golfer]

I'm not sure I'd say that. Sergio complained about the rain, the final round had a two-hour (IIRC) delay... etc.

It was on the other point (Tiger 1st, Phil 2nd) that the USGA was lucky. Frankly, the USGA has spent a little too much time in New York this decade so it may try to spread things out a little. Hopefully, the renovation at Cog Hill will give Chicagoland a better option than Olympia Fields or Medinah.

[iacas]

Hopefully, the renovation at Cog Hill will give Chicagoland a better option than Olympia Fields or Medinah.

I've heard that the problem there is the infrastructure (parking, room for corporate tents, etc.).

And the USGA will not be going to Medinah. No way. Not since the PGA has kind of claimed it for themselves.

[billysandy]

The major has now found its feet i think and i can't wait to see what happens

[soup]

The major has now found its feet i think and i can't wait to see what happens

I agree. They've gotten great scoring weather and The Black won't break. I'll say we'll have 10 players within 3 or 4 shots of the lead by the time they sign off tonight - everyone between 2 under and 5 or 6 under.

[PEZGolf]

I agree. They've gotten great scoring weather and The Black won't break. I'll say we'll have 10 players within 3 or 4 shots of the lead by the time they sign off tonight - everyone between 2 under and 5 or 6 under.

You are right, and David Duval and Phil and The Goose are in the thick of it. The other past Major winners are not there because their play is simply not good enough. They do not belong there.

[CG031]

So does everyone think it still sucks? My opinion has changed a little bit. The players are no longer posting ridiculous numbers because of the Open pressure. Tomorrow will be very, very good.

I can feel it.

[AlCzervik]

Dont like it? Dont watch.

[zeg]

It's looking a lot better from where I'm sitting (3000 miles away, that is). It looks like it may settle into a nail-biter, and that's really what I love in a tournament-- when it looked like Barnes was going to run away with it... well, I like to see the underdog take it, but it's more exciting when he wins it in a close shoot-out than walking off. My ideal? 2 or 3 of the big names (probably Phil, and let's throw Duval in and, as unlikely as it may be, how awesome would 7 straight birds from Tiger to get back in the thick be?) get back to the top and we go to a Tuesday playoff. That could turn it back into a US Open for the ages...

[Parker0065]

Well here is the problem: making the cut and being -8 and making the cut and being +4 are not the same thing. The telling stat for the tournament is that about 12 of the top 15 after round 2 were from the second wave of the first round. That's statistically relevant so it seems pretty clear that one group got shafted.

Actually it looks more like one group was just flatout playing better golf than the other!

Bottom line is you don't hear the players whining about it because they knows this kind of thing happens in any and every tournament that weather comes into play. I personally have not heard one single interview where a player said "man did we get shafted". Some of them might be thinking it, but they know they've also been on the good side of "the shaft" from time to time. Golf has been played in the elements for a few hundred years, it's part of the game. You can't cancel a US Open and say well lets come back in two weeks because Al Rouker says the weather will be good then,,lol! Besides, don't worry, some of those early leaders are starting to leak oil now that they've started the final round! I wouldn't count all those first wave guy's from Thursday out just yet. Could be a great finish tommorow!

[PEZGolf]

Re: the weather favoring any group. In the end, over time, it all even outs. When Payne Stewart won the rain shortened AT&T; in 1999, he was asked about "lucking out" and not having to play the last round. He reminded everyone that he finished second to the Shark a few years earlier when The Memorial was shortened to three rounds and Payne was really playing well and charging. "I could have won that thing. But---in the end, it all evens out."

Weather is part of golf. I also have not heard any of the players say he got the "short straw" and it was so unfair. Everyone there knows no one can do anything about the draw or the weather itself. They have to accept since they have no choice.

So let us forget that, and get ready for a real roller coaster ride today, as the leaders falter and someone will come charging up to win our "National Championship".

[NotAStick]

Bottom line is you don't hear the players whining about it because they knows this kind of thing happens in any and every tournament that weather comes into play. I personally have not heard one single interview where a player said "man did we get shafted". Some of them might be thinking it, but they know they've also been on the good side of "the shaft" from time to time.

They all know it and are thinking it, but they are way past whining about it. Golf is a game of breaks and if you whined every time you ended up in a divot, or a sudden gust of wind knocked your ball down in to a nasty pot bunker, you wouldn't be a pro golfer.

Tiger, talking about all the "mud balls" he had to play was about as close as you will hear to "whining" from a seasoned tour veteran. And believe me, that was a shocking amount of whining coming from him, because he really did get shafted to some extent. But, that's how it rolls and maybe 5 years from now, Tiger will win because he's on the favorable side of a tee-time draw.

[chad1043]

How did you like people questioning the rule about when Ricky in the Fascue? I actually think he was trying to cut the stuff down to get a better stance. He did it again the beginning of the final round near the green. He takes a few steps back from the ball and starts swinging away. Enough that the NBC guys made a comment. What do you all think?