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

[SteveBamford]

With the crown shaped greens repelling all errant shots into chipping areas, it looks to me like this will be a chipping and putting contest. GIR grinders with no short game would seem to be at a dis-advantage.  Mickelson and Snedeker are obvious but what other players do you think Pinehurst will suit?

[atb5079]

With the crown shaped greens repelling all errant shots into chipping areas, it looks to me like this will be a chipping and putting contest. GIR grinders with no short game would seem to be at a dis-advantage.  Mickelson and Snedeker are obvious but what other players do you think Pinehurst will suit?

Luke Donald. Delaet, Horschel, Furyk. But Luke will never win a major so Furyk

[phillyk]

In Golf Digest, they talked to the director of something or other having to do with the tournament and how the course is to be laid out.  They said the fairways will be cut longer than in the past, the green -side approaches will be cut shorter than fairway, and the greens will roll around a 11.5 I think they said.  Which is slower than in the past, probably to keep them somewhat nice for the ladies.  Also with the re-design, the fairways are wider they said.  The keys, it looked like, are playing the greens smart by not attacking all the pins, and keeping the ball in the fairway.  The guy also said with these additions, he thought scores would be lower than in the past.  I mean, if Tiger Woods 2014 is a good example, I'd shoot -22 anyway...

[ChrisP]

Hope that's

In Golf Digest, they talked to the director of something or other having to do with the tournament and how the course is to be laid out.  They said the fairways will be cut longer than in the past, the green -side approaches will be cut shorter than fairway, and the greens will roll around a 11.5 I think they said.  Which is slower than in the past, probably to keep them somewhat nice for the ladies.  Also with the re-design, the fairways are wider they said.  The keys, it looked like, are playing the greens smart by not attacking all the pins, and keeping the ball in the fairway.  The guy also said with these additions, he thought scores would be lower than in the past.  I mean, if Tiger Woods 2014 is a good example, I'd shoot -22 anyway...

Hope that's not true. I like when they make it a challenge. I hate it when they ease up on these guys. They shouldn't have to change anything from what they did in '05.

[BallStriker]

Pairing are out..........always entertaining......anyone else got any thoughts....sure there are more

Best Players to have Never Won a Major Group

Stenson, Kuchar, Westwood

Best Players to have Never Won a Major Group II

Sergio, Day, Snedeker

US Open Champions Group

McIlroy, McDowell, Simpson

US Open Champions Group Part II

Goosen, Ogilvey, Glover

Masters Champions Group

Watson, Schwartzel, Scott

Open Champions Group

Els, Clarke, Oostuizen

PGA Champions Group

Kaymer, Bradley, Dufner

One Major Each Group

Cink, Leonard, Yang

Young Guns Group

Speith, Fowler, Matsuyama

Two First Names Group (maybe a stretch)

Chris Kirk, Russell Henley, Brendan Todd

Six Foot Plus Group

Johnson, Dubiasson, Walker

Large Waistline Group

De Jonge, Stadler, Lowry

Bombers Group

Holmes, Woodland, DeLaet

Two Guys From England playing with a Guy Named English Group

Donald, Casey, English

[chasm]

Large Waistline Group De Jonge, Stadler, Lowry Bombers Group Holmes, Woodland, DeLaet Two Guys From England playing with a Guy Named English Group Donald, Casey, English

LOL. Very funny.

[Golfingdad]

I'd qualify Russell and Henley more as two last names than two first names, so you're probably right that that one is a bit of a stretch.  I like a lot of the others though.  Especially the 'fatties' group. ;)

EDIT:  Why are they allowing Mr. TBD to play in five different groups??  Seems a bit unfair, no??

[iacas]

EDIT:  Why are they allowing Mr. TBD to play in five different groups??  Seems a bit unfair, no??

That's Mac O'Grady.

He entered lefty, righty, sane, insane, and as Phil McGleno.

[Golfingdad]

That's Mac O'Grady.

He entered lefty, righty, sane, insane, and as Phil McGleno.

LOL ... that makes sense!!

[ChrisP]

Hopefully weather cooperates next week. Looks like they're calling for thunderstorms every day. Only 40%, but I live in Florida and 40% usually means you can bank on storms for a couple hours.

[atb5079]

Bring the rain and severe weather and that will most certainly close the feel down to lots more of the longer winners having a shot at winning this. Should be interesting. Maybe its time for DJ or Day to win?

[ChrisP]

While it is going to be interesting to see how Phil plays at Pinehurst next week, it's going to be interesting to see how Goosen does as well.

Retief appears to be in good form right now, and he's one of the better Open players of our generation. He played Pinehurst flawlessly for 3 rounds last time. However, is that last round he had there in '05 going to haunt him next week? He has not been the same player since that last round in '05. Unfortunately, it turned his career around in the wrong direction. Great chance for him to erase some demons next week.

[mvmac]

Duff

[atb5079]

ooooohhhhh its time for some OPEN talk boys

[ChrisP]

It's the Open....and I never remember a Championship more wide Open then this one.

Webb Simpson is a name to keep an eye on. He's played Pinehurst prolly more than anyone in this field and had a really good week this week at St. Jude. Coming in with good form. He's overdue to break back out.

I just hope and pray the big guns show up this week and we're not watching a Sunday showdown between Brendon Todd and John Senden (although I did take Senden in the contest). Best case scenario is Phil is in the hunt this week. That will get people fired up over the weekend.

[jdw1989]

Hi guys, new to the forum and really looking forward to the US Open this week, always a good tournament and a true test for players. If you can't hit the fairways you're going to struggle in any US Open and it's also refreshing watching a tournament where the winning score is pretty high, gets so boring watching people making birdie after birdie after birdie, at a US Open it's more about making sure you save your pars than making sure you're birdieing every hole. I want to see players struggle and in a US open players are pushed to their absolute limits.

These are my picks:

1) Stenson - Really fancy him for a major this year and when he's at his best he's not only very straight off the tee but he's also long and incredibly accurate with his irons. He played well in the Scandinavian masters in his last start and I expect him to go close.

2) Mcdowell - Very straight off the tee, good around the greens and a great putter, no surprise he's won a US Open before and played well in a few others, expect him to go close.

3) Furyk - Like Mcdowell he's very straight off the tee, his iron play is incredibly accurate when he's on form, if anything lets him down it's his putting and the fact he's choked when in some good positions in the last few years. It would be nice to see him put one away though.

4) Z. Johnson - Not much different to the reasons I've chosen Mcdowell, pretty straight off the tee, good iron play but an incredibly good putter and if he's on form there's no doubt he'll be in with a chance on the final day for me.

My 5th pick is my outsider of the bunch, although I expect he'll be tipped by alot of people to have a good week. It's Billy Horschel, one of the straightest off the tee on tour and high up on the greens in regulation stats, he's a streaky putter but there's no doubt if he can get it going he's a contender for a tough US open which relies heavily on good stats in the 2 areas mentioned above. Also he's coming off a good week at the St Judes classic.

[boogielicious]

Welcome to the site @jdw1989 .  Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

[atb5079]

Whoa. I didnt realize Adam Scott is 15th this year in total putting. That combined with his other great stats we already know about and I think he just might have a nice week here. They're saying the fairways are a lot more open than most Opens which just might put a lot more players in this. Long but errant drivers like DJ and Day might move up on the list with that now.