it is dangerous to take recent history and project the future going forward, but I don’t think Rory Mcilroy is sleeping that well tonight. I am talking about golf and not his girl friend. Rory’s girl friend is very nice looking.
Rory was bragging that he was the number 1 golfer in the world. Jordan Spieth is having a much better year.
Rory has to win the next two majors to keep his place.
I also noticed that Jordan said if he puts the practice time in St Andrews, there is no reason he won’t win the British Open. I was surprised Jordan said that. Modesty is not long lasting with these athletes.
I did just watch a special on Jack Nicklaus and it was pointed out if you don’t believe you are going to win, you won’t.
Another Fox fail: When Jordan talked about/thanked his Dad at ceremonies, Fox had camera all over guy left of his mom…but Shawn Speith was to her right…oops!
Rory’s girlfriend is short term because my daughter is after him. He doesn’t need to win majors to be #1 - lots of smaller wins gets you there too. Michelson was the king of second place finishes for years. Spieth is cute, and the first one he mentioned was his sister; she can’t attend the big golf tournaments he’s in because of her special needs, but he’s always thinking of her. My daughter would go for him but his girlfriend is more long term and a smartypants too.
Joe Buck tried to elicit a negative response about the course from Spieth during his post game interview. Spieth immediately talked about the crowd being so great. He talked about his caddy being local and how he felt the crowd was, pulling for them. Congrats to the kid and his handlers for being ready for that question and redirecting it to something positive. I really dislike Joe Buck. Was glad to see him shot down.
Not impressed with the camera crew. They had a difficult time following the ball. I actually thought the course was a great choice because it was so different. I understand the players frustration though as it seemed the greens were not consistent.
Will enjoy following Spieth and the other 21 year old on the tour.
I may actually follow Spieth now at the British Open. DH as appalled at the idea and tried to get me to promise not to. The one interesting point from the commentators that I heard (and this likely was done as well or better on previous broadcasts but I’ll never know) was how the golf guy explained what happened form wise with hips and club face on those botched drives and puts down the stretch. There were also a few where they talked about where and how the guy hit the ball out of the sand or rough that made a difference in how it carried. More of that would grow the viewership, I think, along with a course like this that is technical enough that the unschooled can actually see that they’re doing more than just whacking the ball around the grass. Every mistake is magnified here with the slopes and hardness of the greens so it really hi-lights the technical points.
I hated the stupid red line. It was distracting plus, I like to see the ball. And I didn’t like that there was nothing to show what the hole look like and where the green was in relation to the tee or the pin placement. Terrible camera coverage.
True - it felt like there weren’t enough graphics or descriptions of the holes as they went along. They may have done that on the earlier days but I didn’t watch until Saturday.
Do you wonder what’s tougher for these guys, losing like Johnson did or losing like Oosthuizen? Whose shoes would you rather be in?
This line jumped out at me.
Louis Oosthuizen 77 - 66 - 66 - 67 – 276
Too bad about the lousy start. Oosthuizen tore it up after Thursday.
With Johnson, the three-putt was brutal sad you can essentially narrow it down to that one putt costing the title.
With Oosthuizen, losing by one and then thinking back to all of the shots he probably left out there on Thursday, it’s a different kind of torture. If Oosthuizen even shoots a 72 he runs away with the win.
As a golfer, I’ve thought on shots I’d like do overs on, though, so maybe it all washes out the same.
Only thing that was uglier than the awful course was the coverage by Fox. Annoying to the eyes and the ears. What an an all around parody of a US Open. We already have a British Open.
I couldn’t get over the ugly course. A few things that bugged me - I couldn’t tell from looking straight down at the tee where the ridges and hills were. It also looked like they were putting like they were on mini golf course and hitting it to go up the hill by the rocks and rolling back down again.
What a nailbiter. I don’t know how anyone golfs with people watching let alone the cheering and whooping up. I said the same thing about how far away the stands were - I’d need binoculars at that distance.
The course was a public links course. One of the 14 public courses where the US Open has been held. Since the course was so hilly and the terrain so challenging I don’t believe they could get the crowds much closer in a safe way.
I liked the course. Every golfer had the same challenges so it was pretty much fair ( there was some luck involved).
It was fun to see them challenged with something new.
Not sure the US Open was the best tournament to play there but there you have it. Enjoyed it.
I now have 2 reports in from people who went and said it was great. One couple went Saturday and had such a great time that they went back Sunday. They said it was beautiful in person, so while very different from a traditional course for sure I also think that it just didn’t photograph well.
Saying it did not photograph well is an understatement. It was just fugly on television. It is easy to understand what people who saw it IRL and spend several hours might have a different opinion. Also, few people who paid to attend an event want to criticize, and especially if they are local.
Regardless of the visual part that was UTTERLY subpar, the coverage was abysmal and part of that stems from the fact it was a municipal course that does NOT lend itself to an event such as the US Open. Not because it is a public course, but because it is an ugly one with a very questionable design. There are amazing public courses in the US, starting with Pebble Beach.
I doubt that the USGA will repeat the same mistake any time soon. At least to such a degree. And this after being extremely lucky with the final drama. Extremely lucky to avoid a snooze fest.
All in all, there are several dozens of courses that would have been better in the US. This one belongs in some third world country.
Well . . . one of the people got free tickets from a client and loved it, and the other couple purchased a second day after having such a good time. They may both be locally biased but it isn’t related to feeling like they needed to manufacture a sense of fun to feel like they got their money’s worth.
Rory’s girl friend is very nice looking.