2014 U.S. Opens (Plural!) at Pinehurst #2 Discussion Thread

[David in FL]

I don't have access to their books to see expenses, etc., but your suggestion was that cutting costs meant they should reduce price. My point is that cutting costs in one area primarily offsets cost in other areas these days. If their "dirt track" is priced too high, then golfers won't play it. Something tells me that they don't have much trouble filling tee times. Added: Let me put it this way. If you had a product that cost you $.10 to make and need to sell it for $.50 to break even, would you sell it for $10 if people are willing to pay that much?

Not if I could sell 4 times as many at $5..... ;-)

[nevets88]

Lucy Li press conference. Nice kid.

Can you beat your dad? Laughs tee hee hee. Brief silence, uhhhh.... NO. Continues laughing.

LOL

http://player.theplatform.com/p/BxmELC/gc_player/select/84_zU9f9ogl6?

[inthehole]

Lucy Li press conference. Nice kid.

Can you beat your dad? Laughs tee hee hee. Brief silence, uhhhh.... NO. Continues laughing.

LOL

http://player.theplatform.com/p/BxmELC/gc_player/select/84_zU9f9ogl6?

She's got alot of confidence for an 11 year old !      Can't image she has the length to compete with the LPGA women ... should be interesting to see how she handles it.

[CarlSpackler]

Not if I could sell 4 times as many at $5.....

I forgot to add that you are already running at full production capacity.

At any rate, my point is that they seem to be prospering at their current rate, so why would they reduce it? I certainly wouldn't.

[RonTheSavage]

She's got alot of confidence for an 11 year old !      Can't image she has the length to compete with the LPGA women ... should be interesting to see how she handles it.

While watching golf channel Stacy Lewis said Lucy probably shouldnt be playing. She dosen't blame the little girl but she blames the parents. She thinks this might be too much too soon for her to handle. My thing is the kid qualified right? Leave her alone and let her play.

[Pretzel]

She may have a different mindset than Stay Lewis ("I want to have fun and learn" instead of "I want to win"), but she still played her way into the tournament and showed she is as qualified as any to be there. I think it'll be interesting to see how she does, both now and in the future. I know if I made it into the US Open at age 11 I certainly wouldn't be concerned with trying to win the thing. To me, it almost sounds like Stacy Lewis is just being a bit of a spoilsport. She's looking at the girl's age instead of the way she plays. Just because one of those numbers is very different from the field doesn't mean that the second one has to be the same way. How is it much different than in 2007 when Lexi Thompson played in the US Open at age 12? I don't remember much of a fuss being caused then, and when Guan Tianlang played in the masters at age 14 there appeared to be a general feeling of "Good for him!" instead of "You shouldn't be here, even though you qualified through the normal means that everyone else has to go through, just because you're young." I can see both sides of the argument and would agree with Stacy Lewis if she got into the tournament in some weird fashion. However I believe this is a great triumph of the system of qualifiers. The qualifying tournaments don't care how young or old you are, but instead how good of golf you play. At the end of the day, shouldn't the US Opens have the best players period, regardless of age?

[cipher]

While watching golf channel Stacy Lewis said Lucy probably shouldnt be playing. She dosen't blame the little girl but she blames the parents. She thinks this might be too much too soon for her to handle. My thing is the kid qualified right? Leave her alone and let her play.

I agree, she seems to be loving it.  How can you take that away from her, or blame parents one does not know.  If they don't want her to play, others should have played better in qualifying.

[Valleygolfer]

I say if she has the skills, let her play and enjoy it. I don't think I want to watch another giggly interview again. Cute for some, annoying to others (like me). And yes, I understand she was probably nervous and should by all intents and purposes, cut her some slack.... but I can't. I will prefer to read about it now.

[cipher]

I say if she has the skills, let her play and enjoy it. I don't think I want to watch another giggly interview again. Cute for some, annoying to others (like me). And yes, I understand she was probably nervous and should by all intents and purposes, cut her some slack.... but I can't. I will prefer to read about it now.

Tough to cut an 11 year old some slack, I get it. Not sure why she is not more polished in front of the press.

[MS256]

While watching golf channel Stacy Lewis said Lucy probably shouldnt be playing. She dosen't blame the little girl but she blames the parents. She thinks this might be too much too soon for her to handle. My thing is the kid qualified right? Leave her alone and let her play.

I've seen plenty of parents in my life that were convinced that "Little Johnny" was good enough to be playing above his age group. Sometimes they even pulled enough strings to make it happen.

Very close to 100% of the time it was a mistake and Little Johnny didn't have the mental maturity for it (even if he had the skill). The difference was that all of those instances were in more physical sports than golf where a certain amount of danger was in play.

Golf? Hmmm, I'm not sure I see where it hurts anything unless the parents are pushing something on her that she doesn't want. Maybe it hurts her confidence by getting the heck beaten out of her by the world's best players but probably not. She's probably just happy to be there and will be a hero when she gets home.

And I haven't seen the interview everybody is talking about. I could easily change my mind if I knew more about her mental makeup and thought this was bad for her (as an individual).

[boogielicious]

She may have a different mindset than Stay Lewis ("I want to have fun and learn" instead of "I want to win"), but she still played her way into the tournament and showed she is as qualified as any to be there. I think it'll be interesting to see how she does, both now and in the future. I know if I made it into the US Open at age 11 I certainly wouldn't be concerned with trying to win the thing.

To me, it almost sounds like Stacy Lewis is just being a bit of a spoilsport. She's looking at the girl's age instead of the way she plays. Just because one of those numbers is very different from the field doesn't mean that the second one has to be the same way.

How is it much different than in 2007 when Lexi Thompson played in the US Open at age 12? I don't remember much of a fuss being caused then, and when Guan Tianlang played in the masters at age 14 there appeared to be a general feeling of "Good for him!" instead of "You shouldn't be here, even though you qualified through the normal means that everyone else has to go through, just because you're young."

I can see both sides of the argument and would agree with Stacy Lewis if she got into the tournament in some weird fashion. However I believe this is a great triumph of the system of qualifiers. The qualifying tournaments don't care how young or old you are, but instead how good of golf you play. At the end of the day, shouldn't the US Opens have the best players period, regardless of age?

Or maybe Stacy is actually concerned that it could be a bad experience for her.  There are plenty of promising young players that get disillusioned when it gets hard.  Stacy just gave her honest opinion.  Maybe cut her some slack too.

[Pretzel]

Or maybe Stacy is actually concerned that it could be a bad experience for her.  There are plenty of promising young players that get disillusioned when it gets hard.  Stacy just gave her honest opinion.  Maybe cut her some slack too.

I think that since the girl isn't expecting anything but to have fun, she won't be disappointed. I know I've never had a bad experience, regardless of how I play, when I just head out with the goal of having fun and learning a bit more about my game. It just came across to me that Stacy Lewis was being a bit negative, but that could be the opposite of her intent. Watching the interview it just seemed to me like the girl felt that playing in the US Open was more of a fun reward for doing well than an actual competition where she was going to try and win or get upset if she didn't. I do agree with Stacy Lewis if she was referring to the media attention. If she started getting all sorts of attention and they start to make her care about winning more than having fun (which she said was her goal I believe) then it could become a negative experience for sure.

[RonTheSavage]

I've seen plenty of parents in my life that were convinced that "Little Johnny" was good enough to be playing above his age group. Sometimes they even pulled enough strings to make it happen. Very close to 100% of the time it was a mistake and Little Johnny didn't have the mental maturity for it (even if he had the skill). The difference was that all of those instances were in more physical sports than golf where a certain amount of danger was in play. Golf? Hmmm, I'm not sure I see where it hurts anything unless the parents are pushing something on her that she doesn't want. Maybe it hurts her confidence by getting the heck beaten out of her by the world's best players but probably not. She's probably just happy to be there and will be a hero when she gets home. And I haven't seen the interview everybody is talking about. I could easily change my mind if I knew more about her mental makeup and thought this was bad for her (as an individual).

I saw the golf channel replay of the interview and I thought she did fine. I cant bash an 11 year old for giggling especially when I laughed out loud when she said her dad can no longer beat her on the course. I think it was a light-hearted cute moment. But I've become a big softy since having kids of my own!

[Wally Fairway]

I disagree.

Few are going to go to Pinehurst, and few will choose "not" to play #2 because it costs $50 less or more.

If it sets the example for the course near you, then great.

Plus, the waste areas require a good amount of maintenance. I just read an article that said the manpower and time is still the same, it's just doing different things. Water was cut 40%.

This - I've been a couple of times to the Pinehurst/Southern Pines area with a group to play for long weekends. The first time we couldn't get tee times at #2, the second time they went a day early (and I couldn't make that accomodation) and were able to play, but it was a full slot of tee times.

There are lots of choices in the area, and you can pick your price point and style of course you prefer to play. But if Pinehurst is selling out the tee times on No 2, why would they lower the fees?

[rehmwa]

("I want to have fun and learn" instead of "I want to win"), but she still played her way into the tournament and showed she is as qualified as any to be there.

.

.

To me, it almost sounds like Stacy Lewis is just being a bit of a spoilsport.

The little girl's quote was clearly a statement of respect for the pros.  She wants to observe them, play next to them, and learn what she can.  What a great opportunity

Seems she earned a spot by qualifying by the rules.  that also deserves a level of respect.  Particularly in a game the relies on people respecting rules explicitly.

I hope it's a positive experience for the kid.

Edit:  I have to say that Stacy's position has been consistent over the years.  So I believe she is expressing something she feels genuine about....FWIW

[k-troop]

I think Li being in the tournament says more about the quality of women's golf than it does about an 11-year old girl or her parents.  11 year olds qualifying for the US Open, and the reigning US Women's Am champ has shot in the 80s as many times as in the 60s this year in her college schedule.  Women's golf is simply not deep.  At all.

[newtogolf]

I don't disagree with Lewis but she has the best interests of her LPGA peers at heart not Li's.  No one wants to lose or shoot worse than Li and it's even worse if you're losing to her and she's in your group.  For the pro's having an 11 year old on the course is a no win situation.

If Li tanks people will say, she's is 11, what would you expect and if she does well, then what does it say about the pro's that Li finishes ahead of.  I plan to watch tomorrow and Friday just to see Li compete in the same way I enjoyed watching Matt Fitzgerald play last week against the men.

[Pretzel]

I think Li being in the tournament says more about the quality of women's golf than it does about an 11-year old girl or her parents.  11 year olds qualifying for the US Open, and the reigning US Women's Am champ has shot in the 80s as many times as in the 60s this year in her college schedule.  Women's golf is simply not deep.  At all.

You wouldn't believe the number of women's golf scholarships that go unfilled each year. The insane part about it is, division 1 girl's golf teams get 6 full-ride scholarships per team to give out (which can be divided up into half scholarships or smaller if needed) and they have many go unused. Men's golf in division 1 only gets 4 scholarships per team, and they have to cut the scholarships of their best players in order to give new recruits a bone so they pick their school over another. It's really quite absurd when you compare the two. I had a friend who tore her ACL playing soccer her junior year and required surgery. She can't play soccer anymore, but took up golf as soon as her knee could handle it. She nearly got a golf scholarship to Purdue having picked up golf only the year before, and could still get one with another year's worth of improvement and applying again next year. There's another girl in our district, who is currently going into her junior year, who shoots in the mid-high 70's in every tournament she plays in. She will have her pick of the schools she wants to go to for free, barring a select few. Men's golf is another story. Last year my school graduated four seniors, all who were on the team that placed second in 4A state and one who shot the only under-par round in the whole 4A state tournament. Not a single one of them, if I remember correctly, got a golf scholarship larger than what could pay for a couple classes each semester. It's just nuts the difference in depth of field between the two areas, because at the high school and college level they are playing two entirely different sports (95 will make varsity for 4A women's golf in our district, but you better be breaking 80 to get on varsity for boy's golf)