Pebble Beach/US Open

[CalBoomer]

Living in the SF Bay area, I had the opportunity to see the first round of the US Open at Pebble Beach. For actually watching golf--seeing the swing at the tee, the flight of the ball, the ball landing--nothing beats television. You almost never get to see all three in person at the event. What you do see, however, is what a monster the golf course was. Even television did not do it justice. Insanely penal, for any of a variety of mild mis-hits. I was only surprised that there were actually three rounds of 66. The disasters on Sunday were really no big surprise. It will be interesting to see what the celebrities/jocks did on the layout. I will be very surprised/impressed if any of them broke 80. Anybody know when that will be televised?

[kafka01]

Do you refer to the Golf Digest Challenge? They already broadcasted it before the final round - and boy oh boy did they got slaughterd on that course.

I agree with you, the course really didnt look too scary on TV, but when i first saw these amateurs hacking their way over the course, i changed my mind..

BTW - why would you ever sent a woman there - let her play from the tips (initally i thought she could tee off from ladies tees) and expect her to break 100 - thats ridiculous. Most LPGA players wouldnt have broken 80 that way.

[CalBoomer]

Thanks for the info. I looked it up on Google. Only one of the participants broke 100! Maybe the re-done set-up was a response to Tiger's all-world performance in 2000, and they really wanted to prove that Pebble was a serious challenge as an Open venue. If that was their goal, they succeeded. I'll bet those Sunday rounds really messed with a lot of those guys' heads. Although Tiger was not gracious when he said it, mental mistakes cost him--and lots of others--a chance to win. Like a war zone, the fewest big mental errors was the key to simple survival. By the way, I would be surprised if most women pros could have broken 90 on that layout.

[jimmizu]

I did the volunteer thing for the Open on a lark. I had a blast!!!
The practice rounds were so informal, I was 10ft from Tiger hitting his tee shot on 17 after listening to him and Stevie talking it through.
But you're 100% right, to really see the tourney, TV is better. In person you just have to stake out a good spot and let the show roll past.
Hint: The tv cameras are alway set up in the best spots. Get close to them. I was in the 18th grandstands right next to the tv tower when Tiger hit that 3 wood on Saturday. The stands exploded, a priceless moment to be there!

[zeg]

Hey, I was in the 18th grandstands for that as well... it was awesome. I had been there all afternoon, watching player after player come up short trying to reach in 2 from better spots than he was in. When I saw him setting up for that shot, I thought to myself, "oh god so much for Tiger tomorrow..." Wow, what a shot, and what a reaction. Great experience. Too bad he couldn't sink the putt or put together a better Sunday round...