2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay Discussion Thread

[ScouseJohnny]

Changing the par from 1 and 18 during the tournament was ridiculous. Another example of arrogance on the part of the USGA>.Again, why an AMATEUR group can decide how PROFESSIONALS play their game is beyond me anymore. I think the pro tour needs their own rules.

Well then, all the PGA Tour has to do is convince its members and the viewing public that the Players is a more significant tournament than the U.S. Open and your complaint would be resolved....

[newtogolf]

Changing the par from 1 and 18 during the tournament was ridiculous. Another example of arrogance on the part of the USGA>.Again, why an AMATEUR group can decide how PROFESSIONALS play their game is beyond me anymore. I think the pro tour needs their own rules.

Augusta National decides how the Masters tournament is played, R&A; decides how the Open is played, do you have an issue with them too?

I'm pretty sure this wasn't the first nor will it be the last tournament that changed what par was for a given hole based on the distance from the tee boxes regardless of who is running it.

[ChrisP]

Oosthuizen's performance makes me thinks he'll defend his win at St. Andrews.

We'll see. The field in 2015 is a lot stronger than 2010, IMO. You've got a much better Rory who played St. Andrew's just as good as Louis did for 3 rounds in 2010. You've got Spieth and a better Dustin Johnson and a lot of other strong players.

[nevets88]

I did not know that. Lowry wore black all 4 days paying tribute to kids who died in balcony collapse in Berkeley.

http://www.the42.ie/shane-lowry-black-berkely-tribute-2174715-Jun2015/

[dbuck]

I enjoyed the tournament and liked watching Chambers Bay. I think it is a great and interesting course. I don't have much problem with the conditions except the greens. They should have been better. Yes everyone had to play them, but they should have been more consistent.

If I were to play the course, I would prefer it a little greener, which they probably do normally.

Is Pebble Beach mostly Poa? In the south, poa is a weed and we do all we can to kill it. Obviously that is not the case in other parts of the country.

The only problem I have with changing the par, is playing to a green not designed to accept a type of shot, if you have no run-up choice. Otherwise what you call the hole is not that important, because these guys are gonna make what they make. The +/- to par was initiated I believe at the Masters, and its main benefit is to instantly see how a given player is to the field. Other than that, to me, par is just a number, and the guy with the lowest strokes over 72 holes wins the tournament.

Par is sometimes defined as the number of strokes in which an expert golfer should complete a hole, allowing 2 putts. With these guys, every hole at CB fell within that definition.

[ccotenj]

[QUOTE name="saevel25" url="/t/81357/2015-u-s-open-at-chambers-bay-discussion-thread/1908#post_1159028"]   Not even close to being the new Tiger. When Jordan starts winning 20-40% of the tournaments he enters, and by a large margin then we might start talking about him being the new Tiger.  [/QUOTE] Plenty of people here were saying that what golf needed was a bona fide American superstar - that the problem with relying on Rory to "move the needle" is that he's a European. Well, watching the last two majors it looks to me like you've got what you were asking for.

the "problem" there is that while jordan has played some spectacular golf, he has the charisma of a turnip... and part of being a "superstar" is charisma... and yes, he's a long way from "new tiger"... people are already forgetting how frigging dominant tiger was...

[nevets88]

Twitterverse anticipating 4.8 overnight rating, up 45% over last year, better, but still low-ish and nothing like the ratings Woods garnered.

[ScouseJohnny]

the "problem" there is that while jordan has played some spectacular golf, he has the charisma of a turnip... and part of being a "superstar" is charisma...

and yes, he's a long way from "new tiger"... people are already forgetting how frigging dominant tiger was...

Maybe he's not the new Tiger. Maybe he's the new Jack. Didn't it take people a while to warm to Jack, back in the 1960s?

[ccotenj]

one comment on the "flexibility" of the course.... frankly, i don't want the setup guy to "design" the golf course... multiple driveable par 4's on one 9 is a good example of why "setup guys" shouldn't be given the "flexibility" to re-design the golf course at will... i have no problem when the designer mixes a driveable par 4 in, fwiw... because he DESIGNS it that way, with risk/reward... on the 2 yesterday, multiple "poor" shots were rewarded, and you had to hit a truly brutal shot to be punished...

[ccotenj]

[QUOTE name="ccotenj" url="/t/81357/2015-u-s-open-at-chambers-bay-discussion-thread/1944#post_1159219"] the "problem" there is that while jordan has played some spectacular golf, he has the charisma of a turnip... and part of being a "superstar" is charisma... and yes, he's a long way from "new tiger"... people are already forgetting how frigging dominant tiger was...[/QUOTE] Maybe he's not the new Tiger. Maybe he's the new Jack. Didn't it take people a while to warm to Jack, back in the 1960s?

no, he's not the new jack either... yes, it took them a long time to warm up to jack, primarily because he beat the stuffing out of palmer...

[ChrisP]

Just went back and watched the end. Kinda funny....Mike Davis went to shake Dustin Johnson's hand and DJ just totally blew him off. Don't know if that was intentional but found that interesting. I'm sure he wasn't the only one.

[Wally Fairway]

Quote:

the "problem" there is that while jordan has played some spectacular golf, he has the charisma of a turnip... and part of being a "superstar" is charisma...

and yes, he's a long way from "new tiger"... people are already forgetting how frigging dominant tiger was...

Not sure what you are meaning, or what you want - I think the kid has plenty of charisma. He is very animated on the course, he is well spoken, he has a very clean look (thanks to his Under Armor contract) and doesn't look like a walking billboard. Sure he is young, but he isn't going all Horshel or Bubba to the press when he has a bad day.

He played the interview circuit quite well after winning the Masters.

[MrDC]

DJ blowing off the ceremony like that was pretty uncool, I wondered if he made that putt would Jordan have done the same? doubt it, I bet Jordan would have been sitting right there like a man, DJ lost some points with that move IMO.

Jason Day asking if he should putt out at the end, and then after DJ said "I don't care" he asks again? that was kind of lame, of course you should putt out there Jason, your putt means nothing, just get out of the way and let the last player making a putt for the trophy have a clear green, go stand over there>>>>

[Crim]

Jason Day asking if he should putt out at the end, and then after DJ said "I don't care" he asks again? that was kind of lame, of course you should putt out there Jason, your putt means nothing, just get out of the way and let the last player making a putt for the trophy have a clear green, go stand over there>>>>

I agree with this. It's like Jason Day had a mental lapse there, just putt the ball or put a goddamn mark down. Stop asking DJ multiple times what he wants.

[newtogolf]

DJ blowing off the ceremony like that was pretty uncool, I wondered if he made that putt would Jordan have done the same? doubt it, I bet Jordan would have been sitting right there like a man, DJ lost some points with that move IMO.

I agree, never liked sore losers and lost some respect for DJ in his handling of the situation.  I know he was angry about the quality of the greens but they weren't the reason he missed the birdie putt, he was missing short putts all day.

Jason Day asking if he should putt out at the end, and then after DJ said "I don't care" he asks again? that was kind of lame, of course you should putt out there Jason, your putt means nothing, just get out of the way and let the last player making a putt for the trophy have a clear green, go stand over there>>>>

I think Day asked DJ twice because he realized if DJ missed the eagle putt his ball would be near where Day would take his stance to putt out and didn't want to trample the green.  I think Day also realized a lot of time had elapsed and that it could have been weighing on DJ.  IMO Day was being a good golf partner by asking.

[saevel25]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrDC

DJ blowing off the ceremony like that was pretty uncool, I wondered if he made that putt would Jordan have done the same? doubt it, I bet Jordan would have been sitting right there like a man, DJ lost some points with that move IMO.

No issue with it. Not sure it is even common for the runner up to be at the ceremony. I know some majors do a top amateur for the tournament. Maybe Louis just wanted to crash the party ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrDC

Jason Day asking if he should putt out at the end, and then after DJ said "I don't care" he asks again? that was kind of lame, of course you should putt out there Jason, your putt means nothing, just get out of the way and let the last player making a putt for the trophy have a clear green, go stand over there>>>>

By rule,

Quote:

c . Playing Out of Turn

If a competitor plays out of turn, there is no penalty and the ball is played as it lies. If, however, the Committee determines that competitors have agreed to play out of turn to give one of them an advantage, they are disqualified .

I doubt that the USGA would invoke this rule. Still it is common to ask your competitor if it is OK to hole out when playing out of turn.

I am also wondering if Jason Day knew he might be further away if DJ missed the putt. In that scenario, Day might have putted before DJ's birdie chance giving him a good read on that putt. DJ might have known to play the ball outside the hole on that short putt. If you think of it that way, Day might have been giving DJ an extra chance to realize an advantage he would have playing in order.

[Chilli Dipper]

As far as I'm concerned, the bottom line on the greens is this. The conditioning of a course's greens can be described as a disaster if it prevents the tournament from determining the best golfer. There have been occasions in recent years where a PGA Tour venue's greens have resulted in disaster. East Lake's greens in 2007 would have been unplayable if it were hosting any other event than the Tour Championship's 30-player field. Quail Hollow's greens were in such bad shape in 2013, a player who had never had a top-25 finish on tour (and hasn't had one since) managed to take the victory against a marquee field. While it's unfortunate that Chambers Bay's greens did not live up to the typical U.S. Open standard, that amounted to an inconvenience, not a disaster. If the leaderboard had been filled with amateurs and mini-tour qualifiers while the world's best had no response, it would be a different story; one glance at the final results disproves that notion easily. The greens were playable, but inconsistent: in fact, the challenge of adapting to the changing surface probably did more to ensure a final round of elite pairings. Does Chambers Bay need to find a solution to their greens in order to host championship golf in the future? Absolutely, and I hope they do. This would be a great place to host the Presidents Cup one day.

[Valleygolfer]

If Dustin sank the put he would have to wait to celebrate and Day would have wait for things to settle. Day just wanted to get out of the tournament and Dustin's way.