2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive

[colin007]

4 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Not to mention Tiger spotted the field 3 strokes right outta the gate.

Yeah, how many of us were ready to slam the trunk after the second hole of Thursday's rounds? Lol

[rehmwa]

7 hours ago, Zeph said:

Scott was in it too. He didn't birdie 17, but bogied 18. A few small changes and they are three in a playoff.

Yes - this is what I was rooting for the whole time.

 

In general - As for "a shot here, a shot there and things are different" - well, duh.  but still fun to think about what ifs

[Zekez]

22 hours ago, Valleygolfer said:

Is this a real number?

Lol.  It's a silly old saying around my parts in response to the cost of something.

21 hours ago, iacas said:

My dad used to say that all the time. It's a corny nonsense amount.

From the Pittsburgh region??

[iacas]

9 minutes ago, Zekez said:

From the Pittsburgh region??

Johnstown. So kinda.

[Dr. Manhattan]

11 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Not to mention Tiger spotted the field 3 strokes right outta the gate.

 

Koepka was also about +2 through the first 8 holes Thursday. Both of them made incredible comebacks over the last 63 holes.

I wonder what the Friday afternoon weather did in the grand scheme of this tournament. Koepka shot 63 Friday morning before the weather and was fortunate to only play 18 holes Saturday. Likewise with Adam Scott, Gary Woodland, and others in the Top 10. Meanwhile Tiger, J-Thomas, Fowler were among those who had an insane amount of golf on Saturday. 

Luck of the draw with those early Friday tee times for Koepka, Scott, and others. Was it worth 2 shots? Not sure, but I bet it was worth at least a shot in Koepka's favor compared to Tiger. 

[Rkrider99]

Wow, what a week. I just returned to Florida last night after a week in St. Louis. Started with Monday's practice round. Got to see a bunch of great players. Tuesday, got up, and it was raining a little bit. Having coffeee, getting ready to leave we were informed by our PGA Championship App that the horn had blown at Bellerive and everyone is off the course. We decided to relax and not go. Probably a smart move. Went back Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we were lucky to see the clouds, and head for the exit right before the horn blew,  and Saturday. By that time, I didn't think we had any more energy to walk, or to fight the crowds, so we put our Sunday tickets up for sale. Sold within 5 minutes for face value. Took it easy in the recliner with a nice drink in hand for Sunday's round. What a finish. It was a blast and I would do it again. My only complaints was the parking situation, and crowd control.

[brocks]

On 8/14/2018 at 6:14 PM, Dr. Manhattan said:

Luck of the draw with those early Friday tee times for Koepka, Scott, and others. Was it worth 2 shots? Not sure, but I bet it was worth at least a shot in Koepka's favor compared to Tiger. 

It's probably just confirmation bias, but it seems to me that Tiger has had way more bad breaks than good breaks this year.  A lot of his missed fairways last week were drives that were so good that he gave his club a twirl and picked up his tee, only to have the ball just trickle into the rough in the last couple of yards, and end up in a lie so bad he either had to lay up, or his approach couldn't hold the green.   It seemed like his ball never bounced over a bunker like the other guys, it always dove right in.  He had the worst weather draw of any of the final top ten players at the Open, plus a lot of bad bounces there.  He seemed to hit an amazing number of approaches that were a couple feet away from being perfect, but were one inch on the wrong side of a ridge that caused his ball to roll 40 feet away. 

To be fair, that drive on 17 last week would have been in the creek if it had been a little better, so he did get a break there.  And I'm sure all this evens out over the course of a career.  But sometimes not over the course of a week, so it may have cost him two majors. 

I'd like to think the golfing gods are getting his bad luck out of the way, so the floodgates can open next year.  Let's see if he can play the Masters without clanking one off the flagstick and into the pond.

 

 

[JonMA1]

I can't agree that luck had anything to do with the outcome unless you want to argue it was "bad luck" that Koepka played perhaps his best golf at the same tournament where Tiger finally played well enough to win any other time.

I have to agree with this (at least for round 4)....

On 8/13/2018 at 8:29 PM, ChrisP said:

it felt like Koepka was always in control of that tournament.

I kept waiting for Koepka to buckle or to go through a bad stretch and he didn't. He missed some greens and a couple mid-range birdie putts late on Sunday, but he just appeared to be in control of his game.

All this means is that it will be even more impressive when Tiger gets his next win. There is a lot of talent in the field in addition to BK. Tiger seems capable of playing above that level.

[Dr. Manhattan]

3 hours ago, brocks said:

It's probably just confirmation bias, but it seems to me that Tiger has had way more bad breaks than good breaks this year.  A lot of his missed fairways last week were drives that were so good that he gave his club a twirl and picked up his tee, only to have the ball just trickle into the rough in the last couple of yards, and end up in a lie so bad he either had to lay up, or his approach couldn't hold the green.   It seemed like his ball never bounced over a bunker like the other guys, it always dove right in.  He had the worst weather draw of any of the final top ten players at the Open, plus a lot of bad bounces there.  He seemed to hit an amazing number of approaches that were a couple feet away from being perfect, but were one inch on the wrong side of a ridge that caused his ball to roll 40 feet away. 

To be fair, that drive on 17 last week would have been in the creek if it had been a little better, so he did get a break there.  And I'm sure all this evens out over the course of a career.  But sometimes not over the course of a week, so it may have cost him two majors. 

I'd like to think the golfing gods are getting his bad luck out of the way, so the floodgates can open next year.  Let's see if he can play the Masters without clanking one off the flagstick and into the pond.

 

He was pretty fortunate on the tee shot at the 9th hole as well. Announcers were saying it might be going out of bounds. Even looked like Tiger thought it was in pretty serious danger, like he might be planning to hit a provisional. Instead it stayed in bounds by the cart path. The dirt lie was certainly a better spot to end up than in the thick rough. Allowed him to curve the iron shot and pull off that incredible birdie.