Official US Open Thread

[bruce]

Man that was a tough trek,well played McDowell,great victory.

[James_Black]

Great work Gmac!

I thought he'd bottle it on the 18th but he stayed calm and got a par.
I don't envy the guys who played the course that week, those were some crazy holes.

[Ben]

Am I the only one that was about as choked up as Watson was while walking to the 18th green? If it weren't for the fact I was at my Dad's house with him there I'd probably have been balling my eyes out. That was rough. Tom Watson kicks ass!

[The Recreational Golfer]

My point about the Mark Rolfing interview is this. I addition to being a great champion, Jack Nicklaus was modest in victory and gracious in defeat. Tiger? Not. This isn't the first time I've seen him behave this way, or the second. What's so hard about acknowledging the winner, like Phil did? Do we not have to be a sportsman anymore?

Yes, Rolfing's question was kind of dumb, but those are the questions reporters get paid to ask. The rule is, though, they can ask anything they want and you can answer anything you want. They own the question, you own the answer.

[Tiger Spuds]

My point about the Mark Rolfing interview is this. I addition to being a great champion, Jack Nicklaus was modest in victory and gracious in defeat. Tiger? Not. This isn't the first time I've seen him behave this way, or the second. What's so hard about acknowledging the winner, like Phil did? Do we not have to be a sportsman anymore?

What did Tiger say, exactly?

[Alex B]

From Phil's post-round interview :

Q. What was it about Pebble Beach today that was so difficult that nobody was able to sink their teeth in and shoot a 66?

PHIL MICKELSON: I'm not really sure. I kind of know, but I would rather not get into it. It just doesn't sound good. I mean it was just tough. It was a tough day on the golf course.

Do you think Phil was referring to the bumpiness of the greens or something else?

[jamo]

For reference, here is Tiger's press conference: http://www.pgatour.com/2010/r/06/20/...ipt/index.html

Also, right after the round as he was walking, he was asked something to the affect of "what kinds of things do you take out of a disappointing round like this?" The interviewer never said "positives". Tiger replied that "we" made 3 mental errors that cost us the US Open.

[Ben]

Do you think Phil was referring to the bumpiness of the greens or something else?

Possible, but in my opinion, quite unlikely. Phil, and Tiger for that matter, are both SoCal kids. They are used to playing Poa Annua greens. They weren't complaining about it at Torrey Pines...

[laconic517]

From Phil's

i bet it was some of the pin placements/firmness of the greens

[billysandy]

If you shot a terrible round would yo be ready to answer a question about how you failed? No, no one would want to.

Garrigus did.

[mjtoal]

Garrigus did.

He did indeed. Good guy who deserves a win soon.

Some players have always been prepared to man up and be interviewed. Others want to sulk or kick the dog. Being a bad loser is not evidence of how bad you wanted it.

[iacas]

He did indeed. Good guy who deserves a win soon.

He won't get it. That was his one shot, his best shot, and I would bet a hundred bucks against 20 he never wins a regular event on the PGA Tour (Fall Season and Opposite Field excluded).

But yeah, let's compare the reactions of a guy who has never won and who is rarely on TV to a guy with 73 wins, 14 majors, and who is on TV constantly. That's an accurate comparison.

[Easy]

A US Open in which one of the best players in the world does not win, demanding shots when pulled off do not reward with at least 50/50 chances at birdies, and routine putts were at the mercy of lucky bounces -- Not my cup of tea. I don't mind a course set up to challenge the best players in the world; the US Open has traditionally been the harderst test in the west, but I am not a fan of bumpy greens, holes that require luck as much as skill to birdie, and tracks where the best players are not likely to win. However, I am very happy with the first and second place finishers who withstood their travails and were the best players in the tournament under these conditions, and who conducted themselves with calm and class. I applaud their accomplishments.

Agreed. It's like watching a low scoring football game (both NFL and Soccer atm), boring as batshit. People like to watch Birdies and clutch putts not professionals scrambling and struggling to make par. They lose there mystic.

[mjtoal]

He won't get it. That was his one shot, his best shot, and I would bet a hundred bucks against 20 he never wins a regular event on the PGA Tour (Fall Season and Opposite Field excluded).

You are missing the point. Tiger lacks the grace or charisma to give a decent interview whether he wins, loses or draws.

You might wonder why after all the interviews Tiger has had, that he hasn't learnt to say something interesting by now. Or perhaps IMG/Nike haven't trained him properly.

[Zeph]

You are missing the point. Tiger lacks the grace or charisma to give a decent interview whether he wins, loses or draws.

Lacks grace? Is he supposed to do a twirl? What would you suggest he says, which is interesting to you? He answeres the questions asked to him, it is the purpose of an interview.

Tiger says it like it is, if he is happy with his round or not, I really don't see the problem with that. He enters every tournament with one goal, to win it. Of course he will be disappointed more often than not, but that is probably one of the reasons he has won so much.

[mjtoal]

Lacks grace? Is he supposed to do a twirl? What would you suggest he says, which is interesting to you? He answeres the questions asked to him, it is the purpose of an interview.

Twirls not necessary, thanks. Saying something of substance rather than just trotting out clichés in a weary and contemptuous manner would be good, though.

[kafka01]

People like to watch Birdies and clutch putts not professionals scrambling and struggling to make par. They lose there mystic.

If you approach it with the right mindset its still very enjoyable, i mean you have 20 under 90% of the year, so nothing wrong with making pros look like one of us hacking it from one spot to the other, and having to write down the quadruplebogey after the dust settled :).

[sonicblue]

Twirls not necessary, thanks. Saying something of substance rather than just trotting out clichés in a weary and contemptuous manner would be good, though.

As soon as reporters start ASKING something original, I'll expect an original reply. It's not Tiger's, or Phil's, or anyone other player's job, to articulate the vagaries of their round, their performance, or anything else. They're GOLFERS, not orators. Every post-whatever interview I've seen in ANY sport in the modern era of media, sucks goat balls. We're inundated with statistics, replays and comparisons in real-time throughout the contest; what more could the post-interview POSSIBLY provide??

Recreational: exactly how old are you, and how many post-round interviews with Jack have you seen? I think now that Jack is a nearly-completely-out-of-action 'legend' of the game, we tend to romanticize his career a little. My recollection, I've heard people say Jack was pretty competitive, ornary bastard in his day. On the flip, though, IMHO, I see Phil's Romper-Room/Crayola/Disneyworld bs nice-guy post-round interviews as fake. No way you practice like these guys do, endure 6-7 hours per day at the hardest course in the world, deal with media expectations, only to fall 3 or 4 strokes shy (out of 280+ strokes), and trot off and go, "welp, ya know, Mark, it was just tough, but I'm happy for Graeme." Bullshit. If that's who you truly are, then fine, but that sounds 'made for TV' if you ask me, and moreover, I don't see that as 'better' than a guy who comes off and says, "you know what, I'm really angry and disappointed at my play." To me, there's an element of genuiness there. Just because he doesn't manage - in the 15 second sound-byte - to congratulate the winner, doesn't mean he doesn't feel or think that. Sins of commission are one thing, but for the love of Zeus, now we're piling Tiger with sins of OMISSION as well Lastly, for the record, there is NO WAY he said 'we made 3 mental mistakes.' I heard that chat with Rolfing live, and he absolutely said "I made 3 mental mistakes." If there is one thing I think I can infer about Tiger, is that he is HIGHLY unlikely to ever blame someone else for his performance, and I can't IMAGINE he'd call out Stevie (which is who I would imagine any 'we' would have to refer to) in a public forum.