wannabe

GO JORDAN!!

Grace hits it against the Road Hole Wall

Poor Jason. He looks like he could vomit at any second. And then he bombs his drive past DJ's on #7. Amazing.

Horschel spoke his mind in the post-round. Paraphrased. "I should've been 6 or 7 under today, but the greens were so bad blah blah blah" "I lost some respect for the USGA today" The agony of defeat. Ha! Oh Billy. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/golf-devil-ball-golf/billy-horschel-performs--these-greens-are-terrible--interpretive-dance-194600809.html

I know, Makes no sense. Fox's whole coverage has been glitchy, nicest I can put it.

No worse, in fact probably better, than Torrey or Pebble late in the day. The only real complaint that's justifiable this week is the fan experience/access to walking all the holes. Seems they could've build more walkways/structures to make that happen. Like it or not, the USGA's priority is around preserving par and providing the sternest test of golfers - physically and mentally - of the year. That's been accomplished. The "fairness" is relative, and if truth be known, I bet the USGA places a higher priority on the test than the fairness aspect. Overall, thumbs up.

Rosy == Justin Rose == England ;-)

Beware the injured/sick golfer. Way to go, Jason!

The crowd is crazy lively for a Thursday. Love it.

Makes sense. The train whistle/horn might catch someone in a backswing, but that's probably rare, too, and might be something they regulate around the course. Wonder how many trains have been hit by errant shots, accidentally or otherwise...

Just saw a train go by the course right next to the 16th green! I did a quick google search to see if it would be running during the tourney, and Yes it will be. Wonder how much of a distraction this will be for the players? Related, I also found this article - apparently there will be protesters out on the water, not protesting the open, but protesting the trains in general. what some people will do for attention. http://mynorthwest.com/11/2761342/Bomb-train-protest-planned-at-Chambers-Bay-for-US-Open

what was Patrick Reed's expletive the announcers excused?

Golf travel bag - GTB Caravan - perfect for the trip and the money - cost the same as it would've to rent clubs at the destination I was visiting. Dozen Balls - Wilson Staff Duo - loved these! And for kicks - picked up some cool ball markers (the placing on the green kind) that were brass, each with the name of each guy in my foursome enameled on them. There was a whole kiosk at checkout with a few hundred guy and gal names to choose from, and the gang and I were all on there. Impulse buy, but when I presented them to the group on the first green, it was worth it.

That's the missing piece of this puzzle that makes "these guys are good" the biggest understatement in sport. Not just mid to low 60's, but from tournament tees, with tournament rough, greens, pin placements, etc. Aside question for the OP -- do the qualifier guys get any opportunity to practice on the course or at least walk it to look for landing spots, trouble, so they can plan their shot placement and approaches?

nice info in this thread. recently played a course where the gps on the cart told you in big letters whether you were ahead of pace, on pace or behind, and by how many minutes. there were also a regular stream of rangers on the course keeping people aware of their position and the position of those around them. pretty cool. for non-cart users and courses without the gps systems, there ought to be something similar - even if it's just the ranger - as a way to keep folks informed. I find that slow play can inadvertently creep in when guys are trying to follow etiquette and honor/order of play, instead of playing ready. Each course and group should discuss pace of play prior to starting the round, so no one gets upset when honor is not followed, etc. Allowing groups to play through, when it makes sense, should be a no-brainer.

Interesting thread. I've always just taken my driver and turned it around backwards, grip away from me, and swung it to get the 'whoosh' sound and get my speed up with some practice swings. Kinda the same thing as using a light club I guess. I have also used two clubs as slow warmup/stretching.

Best round of his PGA career, tie for best round on that course. Ridiculously impressive. These guys really are in another stratosphere.

really great stuff here, guys. I'm looking forward to taking some of these drills to the range, especially the toes up, ankle roll, and limbo/bat signal drills. Seems like a really excellent way to categorize and focus on what's important.

Haven't read all of the thread, so pardon if I'm being redundant, but here's my take on this whole discussion. Seems like what Brandel's calling Tiger out for is more about spirit than technicality. In golf, there's a tradition that favors the integrity of the game beyond any doubt about scores and results. Over and over again throughout the life of the sport, golfers are revered for disqualifying themselves, calling penalties on themselves, etc. My understanding is that even for those situations where the was even the shadow of doubt about rule infraction, the good golfer was the golfer who fell on the sword and DQ'd himself. Golf has a noble air about it, and this is why. Brandel is calling Tiger to this higher view of the game and his actions within the spotlight of this great sport. Tiger's been in some situations where other golfers would've disqualified themselves, no questions asked, just due to the cloud of suspicion surrounding the event, regardless of whether the golfer believed they were within the strictness of the rules, the rules officials got it wrong, what some machine shows, etc. Their own consciences and the call of the game was to a higher standard than just what's written in the book or decided by a committee or recorded by a camera. Brandel may be calling him a cheater, but I think he's actually aiming for something that is supposed to be worse in golf: he's calling him a man of low character. With this -- and for Tiger, who has told us all along that winning is all he cares about -- I agree. If Tiger can bend the rules in his favor to get the win, he will. That's not the way golfers are supposed to do it.

In light of the Tiger situation at the Masters this weekend, anyone changing their minds on this? Anything new to add to the discussion as a result of the decision to keep Tiger in the tournament by the Masters Rules Committee? I'm still thinking through my position on the poll question. My off the cuff response is to vote no, but I'm still assessing and am very open to all sides of the issue.

watching round one on tv now. Man that kikuyu grass is crazy weird for predicting lie & reaction.

Anyone watching? Man that kikuyu is crazy grass.

Anyone know if there is a set policy for listing players on the leaderboard when they have the same score? How is it determined in which order the players are listed? I've tried to figure it out on my own, to no avail. If there's a link out there which covers this topic, please share. Thanks!

After reading the whole thread, I vote yes. I like to think of this as all the golfing world's dedication to preserving the integrity of the sport. This practice won't increase, either. Players have always known that this is possible even before t.v. and the internet, it's happened before, and they and their caddies will continue to hone their knowledge, police themselves, or else face strokes or DQ and the accompanying media swirl when they don't call themselves out on a rules violation. Paparazzi proliferation is a non-issue, because most if not all tourneys prohibit electronic devices brought onto the course during a tourney. Too risky for a cell phone to go off during a backswing, which would really impact the tournament. I believe Bobby Jones would have welcomed a rules violation he committed to be brought to his attention, regardless of the source, and if verified, he would gladly have been assessed the proper ruling and associated penalties. As I think he stated when asked about calling a penalty on himself, paraphrased, "not calling the rule on myself would have been the same to me as robbing a bank".

Big congrats! Now that you've achieved that goal in 2010, I think you have to up the ante for 2011! In addition to the 3 pars, what were some other notables about the round that got you into double digits for the first time? What improvements to your game allowed you to get below 100?