2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Discussion Thread

[natureboy]

17 minutes ago, iacas said:

Congratulations Dustin Johnson. With the monkey off your back, I suspect you'll have many more good chances to earn more majors.

He hit a bunch of clutch shots in both Opens. The drive and approach on 18 last year were even better IMO.

I don't think the rule was misapplied. I do think the 'gut reactions' and perhaps uneven application do indicate an issue with the rule itself. I'll join that discussion

I agree this should be the lasting image for the tournament rather than DJ soling his putter:

Edited June 22, 2016 by natureboy

[Natural Patrick]

1 hour ago, natureboy said:

He hit a bunch of clutch shots in both Opens. The drive and approach on 18 last year were even better IMO.

I don't think the rule was misapplied. I do think the 'gut reactions' and perhaps uneven application do indicate an issue with the rule itself. I'll join that discussion

I agree this should be the lasting image for the tournament rather than DJ soling his putter:

That is an Awesome picture for sure!

[Buckeyebowman]

22 hours ago, 70sSanO said:

While interesting I would tend to disagree with this experiment based on how much air a hair dryer puts out.

But I am still wrestling with the fact that we live on a planet that is rotating at 800 mph or so (Pittsburg latitude) and speeding along at 65,000 mph.  I would think that the sheer forces in nature could have some effect on a millimeter of movement.

I wonder what is the approved distance from the ball for it not to be caused by the player... A foot? 5 feet? 10 feet?  If a player is 10 feet away and the ball moves a millimeter, what is the official cause of the movement.

John

Interesting point yourself! I once read an opinion somewhere that "no golf ball is ever completely at rest". Internal changes due to heating or cooling. The"odd" blade of grass under the ball. A bug sticking its head up to have a look around, or an earthworm tunneling through the soil underneath.

Of course, most of these changes would be on a scale far too small for us to perceive directly. But once in a while, they might.

[iacas]

@ay33660, does this settle the case for you?

http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-34,d34-3-7

 

Quote

34-3/7 - Referee Determines Player Did Not Cause Ball to Move; Committee Subsequently Changes Ruling

Q.A player's ball in play moves and he is unsure whether he caused it to move in breach of Rule 18-2. The player asks for a ruling from a referee. Based on the evidence, the referee determines that the player did not cause the ball to move and instructs the player to play the ball as it lies without penalty. After the player plays, the Committee assesses the same evidence or additional evidence that was not available at the time and determines that the player had caused the ball to move. What is the ruling?

A.Rule 34-3 does not prevent a Committee from changing a ruling (see Decision 34-3/1). As the player caused the ball to move, he was required to replace the ball with a penalty stroke under Rule 18-2. When he failed to do so, he played from a wrong place. However, as he did so at the instruction of a referee, he does not incur the general penalty under Rule 18 for playing from a wrong place. Nevertheless, he does incur the penalty stroke under Rule 18-2 as he caused the ball to move before the ruling from the referee. The player must continue with the ball played from the wrong place. (Revised)

 

I mean, it's basically exactly what happened.

[saevel25]

The media people for the tournament get into a lottery to play the course on the Monday after the tournament. The course left the pins in from the Sunday locations, and cut and rolled the greens to Sunday's speed. Here is one of the guy's write up of how hard he found the course ;) 

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/06/i-played-oakmont-after-the-u-s-open-and-it-was-insanely-difficult

 

[David in FL]

Apparently we weren't the only ones to notice Paulina...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/paulina-gretzky-stuns-skin-tight-184700671.html

Some GREAT comments about the cameraman!  

[DeadMan]

A former collegiate golfer and 4 handicap played Oakmont on Monday, and shot an 89 from the same tees the pros were playing: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/06/i-played-oakmont-after-the-u-s-open-and-it-was-insanely-difficult

Really puts it into perspective how good these guys are.

[saevel25]

39 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

A former collegiate golfer and 4 handicap played Oakmont on Monday, and shot an 89 from the same tees the pros were playing: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/06/i-played-oakmont-after-the-u-s-open-and-it-was-insanely-difficult

Really puts it into perspective how good these guys are.

I beat you to that . See the post two post above 

[70sSanO]

Sooooo...

Did the USGA even consider the R&A in this decision or non-decision for a penalty?

I don't think so, but it is did put them in an interesting situation since there was definite international flavor on the leaderboard of the US Open.  There has to be an undercurrent where European players surely want to win the at the US Open, and US players want to win the Open.  If DJ isn't penalized and wins by one, are there unspoken rumblings from abroad?

At the end of the day the USGA has to be so relieved that DJ played so well down the stretch and Lowry and Grace faded.

John

[DeadMan]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

I beat you to that . See the post two post above 

To be fair to me, I skip over anything posted by an Ohioan

[saevel25]

26 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

To be fair to me, I skip over anything posted by an Ohioan

11-1 since 2004  

[mtsalmela80]

3 hours ago, DeadMan said:

A former collegiate golfer and 4 handicap played Oakmont on Monday, and shot an 89 from the same tees the pros were playing: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/06/i-played-oakmont-after-the-u-s-open-and-it-was-insanely-difficult

Really puts it into perspective how good these guys are.

One 89 was actually posted in the open, as well as several 84 and 85. Even Snedeker put up an 80. Although I suppose under tournament conditions, that 89 would have been a lot worse, perhaps.

[saevel25]

32 minutes ago, mtsalmela80 said:

One 89 was actually posted in the open, as well as several 84 and 85. Even Snedeker put up an 80. Although I suppose under tournament conditions, that 89 would have been a lot worse, perhaps.

They did play it under tournament conditions. Read the article. The played it the Monday after, they had Sunday's pin placements, and the greens were put at the speed they were on Sunday. 

 

[mtsalmela80]

22 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

They did play it under tournament conditions. Read the article. The played it the Monday after, they had Sunday's pin placements, and the greens were put at the speed they were on Sunday. 

 

Under competitive conditions I meant, as in the pressure of competition, anyhow for a former college player who just came out to Oakmont for the first time and played it as hard as it was setup for the us open, Id say an 89 is a damn good score.

[Big C]

That reminds me a bit of the Torrey Pines Open in 2008. They had a celebrity foursome that included Tony Romo (2 Index), Justin Timberlake and Matt Lauer (both 6 indexes). 

To his credit, Romo shot an 84, which is impressive by any stretch. But the other two shot a 98 and 100 respectively, and a random 4 (8 index) ended up carding a 114. 

[saevel25]

48 minutes ago, mtsalmela80 said:

Under competitive conditions I meant, as in the pressure of competition, anyhow for a former college player who just came out to Oakmont for the first time and played it as hard as it was setup for the us open, Id say an 89 is a damn good score.

Gotcha. 

 

[iacas]

4 hours ago, 70sSanO said:

Did the USGA even consider the R&A in this decision or non-decision for a penalty?

No.

[DeadMan]

30 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Gotcha. 

Going off the published course rating and slope for the championship tees at Oakmont, that was an 8.6 differential he shot. I'd assume the course was rated when it was not in US Open condition, so you could argue it was maybe in the high 7 range with the US Open conditions.