2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay Discussion Thread

[saevel25]

Well, I felt bad for DJ but the playoff used for the U.S. OPEN is my least favorite. Aggregate hole playoff as at TPC is the best format in my opinion.

I don't mind it. It's traditional. I do like how they did the TPC playoff this  year.

DJ hit his 4 foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to force a playoff 4 inches past the hole.  4 inches...  On a four foot putt?  I've not heard anyone talk about that...  I have heard a ton of people say, maybe the green cause his miss...  If you watched closely you'd notice some greens like 7 and 13 were fantastic with no poe annua.  The 18th was a very good green and where they put the pin looked excellent.

You don't hit this putt 4 inches past the cup.  I really like DJ and wanted him to hit the eagle putt, but I can't see anything but nerves when you lag a 4 footer.  I miss one of those and it might cost me $5.  That cost him over $1 million... :-(

DJ misread that putt as well. It looks like he gave it right edge, but probably was 3-4 inches outside right edge was the correct read. If he wanted right edge he should have hit it much harder.

4-6 inches past the cup is good speed for putting if you actually have the correct read.

[boogielicious]

Article on Chambers Bay playing easier than it appeared.  I agree.  People have complained also about the way the greens played and looked.  But Pebble Beach greens looked blotchy when McDowell won there with a higher score.

7 numbers that proved Chambers Bay actually played pretty easy as far as U.S. Open standards go

by Alex Meyers

We heard a lot of complaining about the setup. We heard more whining about the greens. But despite all the griping, low scores were there for the taking at Chambers Bay -- more so than at your typical U.S. Open. Here are some numbers that prove the course wasn't as difficult as we all anticipated.

25: Number of players under par in the first round, the most since the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

29: Back-nine score of Louis Oosthuizen on Sunday, who tied a U.S. Open record. The South African birdied six of his last seven holes and nearly stole the tournament from everyone.

132: Oosthuizen's total for his second and third rounds after opening the tournament with 77. The 132 is a new record low for anyone in the middle two rounds at a U.S. Open. And his 199 total for the final three rounds broke the previous record by three shots.

6: Number of players who made 18 birdies for the week, including winner Jordan Spieth and runner-ups Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen. That's an average of 4.5 per round. Only Jason Day (4.62) averages that many birdies per round so far this season.

8: Number of players who finished under par, which other than 2011 at soggy Congressional, matched the most since the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, where five under was also the winning score.

16: Number of players in the field who hit at least 75 percent of Chambers Bay's greens in regulation for the week. Henrik Stenson leads the PGA Tour in greens in regulation this season with an average of only 73.26 percent.

71.29: Final-round scoring average, the lowest average of any round in any U.S. Open. Ever.

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2015/06/7-numbers-that-proved-us-open-was-pretty-easy.html

[Lastpick]

The problem with the greens at Chambers Bay is that there were two types of grass.  Fescue lays down and pou  stands up making for a very erratic putting surface

[Lastpick]

Wow.  In this Age of Universal Obesity, people will pay $300 to walk a course?  And the course can find caddies who can also walk ten miles?

Sounds like the 1950s have returned.  Maybe they all smoke cigarettes as well.

Poor caddie is going to have to carry bag beer at these prices.

[newtogolf]

Agreed ... But they also use that format at the British and the PGA. It should be the case for all 4 (5 ;)) majors.

The "correct" ending yesterday was for DJ to make the eagle putt. It was one of the most exciting US open finishes I've watched and that would have turned it into an immediate classic.

Oh well ... It was still awesome and I can't wait for the next major now. :)

I like the 18 hole playoff mostly because it evens out the playing field.  If they had just gone back to 18 DJ would have had a significant advantage given his distance.  I doubt Jordan would ever have a real eagle attempt at 18 where as DJ did.  It would be even more significant advantage for DJ if 18 was played as a par 4.

IMO, all majors should be 18 hole playoffs to ensure the best golfer wins.

[RandallT]

Article on Chambers Bay playing easier than it appeared.  I agree.  People have complained also about the way the greens played and looked.  But Pebble Beach greens looked blotchy when McDowell won there with a higher score.

Quote:

7 numbers that proved Chambers Bay actually played pretty easy as far as U.S. Open standards go

by Alex Meyers

We heard a lot of complaining about the setup. We heard more whining about the greens. But despite all the griping, low scores were there for the taking at Chambers Bay -- more so than at your typical U.S. Open. Here are some numbers that prove the course wasn't as difficult as we all anticipated.

25: Number of players under par in the first round, the most since the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

29: Back-nine score of Louis Oosthuizen on Sunday, who tied a U.S. Open record. The South African birdied six of his last seven holes and nearly stole the tournament from everyone.

132: Oosthuizen's total for his second and third rounds after opening the tournament with 77. The 132 is a new record low for anyone in the middle two rounds at a U.S. Open. And his 199 total for the final three rounds broke the previous record by three shots.

6: Number of players who made 18 birdies for the week, including winner Jordan Spieth and runner-ups Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen. That's an average of 4.5 per round. Only Jason Day (4.62) averages that many birdies per round so far this season.

8: Number of players who finished under par, which other than 2011 at soggy Congressional, matched the most since the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, where five under was also the winning score.

16: Number of players in the field who hit at least 75 percent of Chambers Bay's greens in regulation for the week. Henrik Stenson leads the PGA Tour in greens in regulation this season with an average of only 73.26 percent.

71.29: Final-round scoring average, the lowest average of any round in any U.S. Open. Ever.

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2015/06/7-numbers-that-proved-us-open-was-pretty-easy.html

Good article. Seems to me that the best course setups significantly differentiate between good playing and bad playing. If you plot the scores, I'd like to see a wide, flattish curve where the best scores indicate someone who was absolutely on their game and the worst scores indicate someone is even just moderately off.

I'd be interested if Chambers Bay did that, because my sense was that there was a very wide range. Good scores were out there only if you were on fire, but so were bad scores. If you stunk it up one day, you could get right back in it (see Oosthuizen), but you'd need to be at the very top of your game. Chambers Bay seemed to have the ability to discriminate being totally on your game from being slightly off, and it forced you to earn your way back with aggressive, exciting play.

Also, as a tournament nears the end, I prefer not having too many people within 5 or 6 shots, because the drama is too distributed. It detracts from the tournament when lots of guys who play a couple hours before the leaders are in the thick of it somehow.

Chambers Bay seemed to filter out the right amount of people who had a legitimate shot on that last day (bonus that they were mostly all the big names who we think have earned the chance to win majors over time), yet still gave some a shot from well back (see McIlroy).  The leaderboard had the right amount of players competing the final day, with still a sliver of hope for that miracle comeback, but you had to be dialed in to near perfection. When players were slightly off, they paid the price (see Grace, Day, Reed- all on their game for much of the tourney), but when they were on, they could rise up quickly.

I don't know how they did it, but the course seemed to do these elements just right, more so than the typical PGA tournament somehow. I have no stats to back any of this up, but it was just a feel I had while watching. It was all "scripted" pretty darn well, and my guess is that Mike Davis innately has a lot to do with that. On the whole, I think he and his team pulled this off quite well.

[BruceMGF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I doubt Jordan would ever have a real eagle attempt at 18 where as DJ did.

He did have an eagle attempt.  It looked real enough to me.  And Dustin is hardly guaranteed to have 12 feet for eagle every time he plays the hole.

Quote:

IMO, all majors should be 18 hole playoffs to ensure the best golfer wins.

I agree with that.

[DutchGolf]

I like the 18 hole playoff mostly because it evens out the playing field.  If they had just gone back to 18 DJ would have had a significant advantage given his distance.  I doubt Jordan would ever have a real eagle attempt at 18 where as DJ did.  It would be even more significant advantage for DJ if 18 was played as a par 4.

IMO, all majors should be 18 hole playoffs to ensure the best golfer wins.

Also agree that that format better ensures that the best golfer wins. However in terms of organization it is probably easier to do the playoff on the same day over a few holes. How do they do that with spectators? Do they have to sell tickets for the playoff again if it is the next day? Also the TV channels have to adapt their schedule and I think we know the influence TV channels can have..

[Golfingdad]

I like the 18 hole playoff mostly because it evens out the playing field.  If they had just gone back to 18 DJ would have had a significant advantage given his distance.  I doubt Jordan would ever have a real eagle attempt at 18 where as DJ did.  It would be even more significant advantage for DJ if 18 was played as a par 4. IMO, all majors should be 18 hole playoffs to ensure the best golfer wins.

Gonna call you Mr. Short Term Memory ;). 10 minutes before Dustin had his 15' eagle putt Jordan had a 20 footer.

[newtogolf]

Gonna call you Mr. Short Term Memory ;). 10 minutes before Dustin had his 15' eagle putt Jordan had a 20 footer.

Joe Paradiso

[BruceMGF]

Also agree that that format better ensures that the best golfer wins. However in terms of organization it is probably easier to do the playoff on the same day over a few holes. How do they do that with spectators? Do they have to sell tickets for the playoff again if it is the next day? Also the TV channels have to adapt their schedule and I think we know the influence TV channels can have..

They were able to do 18-hole playoffs in the days before cable TV (only three networks in the US).  Surely with an entire channel devoted to golf, TV coverage isn't a problem.

How does TV handle the NBA, NHL and MLB, where a playoff series can last anywhere from 4 to 7 games?  A golf tourney that may last a fifth day can't be that much of a problem.

[Mr. Desmond]

It was a weird tournament, like most US Opens.

Spieth --

T1 in number of Birdies (18)

2nd in lowest number of Bogies (9)

T32 in doubles (2)

T1 -- No Triple Bogeys

T23 - in putts per green in regulation

What also stands out is GIR T5 at 76.39%

DJ was T30 in GIR (70. something) , T1 with Spieth in Birds, no eagles, T18 in doubles (1), T10 in bogies (12), T8 in putts per green in regulation

[DutchGolf]

They were able to do 18-hole playoffs in the days before cable TV (only three networks in the US).  Surely with an entire channel devoted to golf, TV coverage isn't a problem.

How does TV handle the NBA, NHL and MLB, where a playoff series can last anywhere from 4 to 7 games?  A golf tourney that may last a fifth day can't be that much of a problem.

Oh yeah they can handle it, but it will probably cost extra money, not only for the TV Channels, but also for the USGA, as can be seen here: http://www.golf.com/ap-news/usga-vows-stay-18-hole-playoff

[Golfingdad]

Getting old sucks, for some reason I thought Justin had a longer putt for eagle.  I knew he used his putter but in my head it was one that I considered very unlikely of going in.

Who? ;)

[Jack B]

Lucky to have an expert on board. You must make a fortune helping struggling golfers like DJ.

Such a nice warm welcome. You must be the ambassador for The Sand Trap.

[newtogolf]

Who? ;)

See?  No I couldn't even get Jordan's name right.

[Golfingdad]

See?  No I couldn't even get Jordan's name right. :doh:

Haha. I'm getting old too and have been forgetting things a lot more as well .... So I'm gonna stop picking on you now cuz I know the feeling. ;)

[Jack B]

It could have been nerves or fatigue.  I tend to putt this way when I am tired (which is more often than not at my age). :-P I wished he had taken his time and forced a playoff.  Watching him and Spieth go around again would have been fantastic.

Boogielicious, yep. I do the same thing and when it slides by on the low side and I wonder how I could I do that.... I was really hoping he'd win it with the eagle putt. I couldn't imagine an 18 hole playoff could have had a more dramatic ending, but we'll never know.