I have to say, when we moved out here to the PNW adapting to the different golf courses was a real pain. I lived in NY and VA, playing tons of golf with a single-digit handicap.
First, the “Texas hook” that is played by most tour pros is lousy strategy for this style course. Lee Trevino, with his high-flying power fade, may have done well her.
Second, reading greens is way harder here. Due to our latitude and shorter growing season, the topography is more important - shade, wind protection, drainage, all come into consideration. The mottled colors made it real hard to judge curvature. It wasn’t unusual for someone to hit the ball on the wrong side of the hole expecting the opposite of what happens. Lots of gross putting errors on display.
I enjoyed seeing their tools tested differently from other tournaments. Credit to Jordan Spieth’s caddie for his typical NW humility, but I can see how having a local helping read the course could make a difference.
More Fox fails, this time at the trophy presentation. Immediately as O’Toole hands the cup to Spieth, the Fox reporter shoves him aside verbally, and it felt like physically, and booms “Your champion, ladies and gentlemen!” and proceeds to take over the show. Then after the interview, the sound cut to the lame-os in the booth, even though Speith was clearly speaking to the crowd. We might have been interested in that, Fox.
@xiggi - I heard multiple players say that they loved the course, except for the greens which is a problem that obviously has to be addressed. As for it being a municipal course, yes, it is owned by Pierce County,but it was actually designed with the Open in mind. Re ugliness:
People don’t like change. American viewers are used to lush verdant pictures on their TVs and American players are used to soft, easy to predict greens. But the Open is supposed to be the ultimate test for the best players in the world. It should be difficult. It should push players to their limits of creativity, their playing ability, their adaptability, and IMO this course was an excellent test of that. And in fact the best players rose to the challenge. The players who let it get in their heads didn’t fare so well. Billy Horschel did himself no favors by throwing tantrums on course.
I am sure that people will express different opinions. Spieth might have liked the 18th hole in the final round before calling it the dumbest hole ever.
Perhaps it’s a battle of designers! In the meantime, while some players might have liked (especially if they did well when throwing caution to the wind and playing with more abandon than sense) it is obvious some did not like it with comments such as putting on broccolis! There are known courses that have challenging greens and they DO look good!
I offered an opinion as a viewer who found the entire tournament unappealing. As I said the scenery was just horrible, the commentaries were atrocious with Joe Buck being himself, Norman being “speechless” and a bimbo interviewer who was as talented as the clueless producers and cameramen. When focusing on Day’s vertigo, they found a way to miss most the real drama and action.
In so many words, the US Open should mean something and should not be an attempt to be a bastardized version of the British Open. It surely deserved a lot better than this crappy course and a network of glorified amateurs and poorly chosen commentators. The entire thing was an unmitigated disaster and they were lucky to have an ending that MIGHT have saved the day. They could not even find someone who could “explain” the issues with the last two holes putting.
But heck, there are plenty of people who find bulldogs pretty or beautiful!
Was the post round TV personality a pro golfer?
Why was she dressed in a golf skirt?
Being Fox, I am shocked she wasn’t in a bikini.
Would Brad Faxon be better utilized as the post round interviewer?
He could ask intelligent follow up questions.
But I am guessing Fox would rather have all 3 pros behind the desk to prop JoeBuck up.
Way to ruin the trophy ceremony JoeB!
I agree with a lot of what you say, xiggi, and TBH I went back and forth all weekend on whether I loved or hated Chambers Bay (and I’m still not sure, but I feel like I have a better understanding of the vision). Although for me at least, I don’t know how much of the entire experience was tainted by the truly horrible job that Fox did. It did seem to become the Jason Day Show for quite a while yesterday; for example, spending long minutes of air time showing him walking to the next hole while ignoring other top players who were actually on course. And I would like to see them lose the interview bimbo too, but I recognize that since this is a Fox endeavor, that will never happen.
I was busy this weekend so only caught the end of the last two rounds. I kept saying the course looked like a lunar landscape, but that’s OK; I don’t need perfect, lush, green courses. However, it made it more difficult to see the ball to find the hole, etc., and Fox did nothing to help. It’s like they had never seen a golf broadcast. Where were the good graphics?
I always am amused how many people hate on Joe Buck. He just doesn’t bother me like he does so many, including my older son.
The woman doing the interview accomplished Fox’s goal, I think … the first time she came on, my brother said to my son, “Have you seen this girl doing the interviews? She’s pretty good looking.”
Input from two more people who were there and have played the course themselves (both women in their late 60s). They said it was breathtaking (in a good way) and a stunning venue in person. One said that it did get hot by mid-afternoon. They arrived at 8am and marched around a good portion of the day. My impression from everyone so far is that the venue is much better in person than it appeared on TV.
It seems that the guys at the top of the leader board were guys who you would expect to be there which flies in the face of the comments about shear luck and randomness. It was challenging and some demonstrated winners rose to the occasion and some other guys didn’t.
To be clear, it’s not that I disagreed with your POV regarding the design of the course. I also think that if the broadcast had been more interesting, one would have spent less time looking at the scenery. Perhaps, one becomes jaded by the coverage on other stations. The failure, perhaps, was that the reporters were unable to dissect why such a difficult course made sense for the US Open. Or maybe they did but I was switching away out of boredom.
You hit the nail on its head with the Day saga. When Spieth tapped in a birdie putt to take the lead at 5-under on the 12 hole, Fox missed it They were hardly talking about Adam Scott or brought up Oosthuizen when it was almost done. All in all, it was a clumsy affair.
PS Fwiw, I do not dislike Joe Buck. I think he forms a good pair with Troy Aikman --who happens to be the best left. Some dislike his baseball coverage, but I think that he is also surrounded by clowns who are both distracting and usually NL biased. But, my opinion also is biased as I happen to find the coverage of my “home” team to be superlative in terms of knowledge and entertainment. I think that most find their local BB coverage more entertaining than the national coverage.
I agree that the people who are saying it was luck who finished on top are just wrong. It’s like in a football game when people say, “It would have been different if it hadn’t been raining” – everyone is playing in the same rain so what difference do the conditions make?
One issue with the greens is that, if technically everyone plays on the same surface, there was an element that introduced luck and a lack of predictability. The greens require a good read but also a good dose of luck to avoid bumps. A parallel would be to play a football games on a field that has HIDDEN holes. There were putts that jumped in the air for no good reason or were halted by grass growths. Challenging the skills of players is different from subjecting to a green that requires a bit of luck. Many misses made no sense.
If such greens were that appealing, many would borrow the idea. But there is a reason why most do not like to play on waffle irons.
Isn’t The U.S. Open supposed to be really hard?
The winner finished at 5 under.
The complaining – by the golfers, fans and media – to me, is for complaining’s sake.
Bad greens maybe akin to a baseball umpire completely unable to call balls and strikes consistently during a game in terms of both importance to outcome and the fact it’s a valid if useless complaint.
Do you think there is a difference in the way golfers are treated by the media?
I can’t imagine football or baseball players spending this much of their time whining about the field conditions.
What the narrative would be?
Could you imagine an infield being a little bumpy and infielders whining that they can’t field the ball – Or better yet, a field goal kicker claiming the grass was a little too high and that’s why he missed kicks costing his team the game.
They would run the whiners out of town.
Well, imagine you have a two foot put. The green should not have some areas that are way worse than others. So your two foot put is totally bumpy (like broccoli) which can send your ball on a different trajectory unless you really whack it. You cant whack it because the greens are so darn fast. The guy you are playing with had a two foot put but his put is smooth sailing with no bumps in it. The ball runs true. So he can tap it in.
That is where the luck comes in. Same great shots onto the green…totally different playing surface. Luck.
Speaking of whining, what was with Speith’s whining about the 18th, and the USGA bending to his wishes? What difference did it make to him whether it was a par 5 or par 4? The fewest strokes wins the hole regardless. Can you golfers help me understand why this was so critical to him?
Holly Sonders (post round interviewer) came from the Morning Drive on the GOlf Channel, and is a fairly good golfer herself. She played at Michigan State IIRC. She was pretty good on the Golf Channel. Surprised she jumped to Fox.
With the limited air time she saw, I wonder if she still thinks this was good move. Maybe football season will be better to her…
But, I cringed watching her this weekend. The awkward hug with Phil on the first day. Really? Act like a professional journalist! I mean, can you imagine Phil getting a hug from David Feherty, Chris Berman or Roger Maltbie?? And some post round interviews were just dumb: asking Els & Kisner about Jason Day, but not a word about their rounds. Huh?
Lots of tweets about her—but sadly the only positive ones were those that thought she was good eye candy.
Which appears that’s all Fox wants her for.
And the other female on course reporter (Juli Inkster, a very successful and knowledgeable golfer)…she maybe had a dozen on air comments in 4 days, at best. But since she’s mid fifties and not wearing a mini skirt, Fox was not compelled to call on her much. What a waste of her talents.
sigh…I hope Fox gets their act together quickly…the US Senior Open is this weekend and the Women are in July…
I’ll be watching with trepidation. I gotta question the USGA on signing Fox for 13 years of covering these majors…I hope it was worth all the dough they are supposedly getting…
