💬 Is This US Open Any Fun to Watch?

[TUSKtimes]

Maybe some of y'all are watching this bloodbath of a tourney on your favorite Fox channel, but this is one ugly golf tourney. They have effectively taken the players skillset out of the equation as surely as they've taken the green out of the grass. Bad shots, good shots seem to be getting the same degree of reward. Player after player is hitting the fairways and still often can't get close to the green and no where near the flag. I'm watching triple bogey after double bogey and it's just par for the course. The US Open is not fun to watch folks when reading greens and shaping shots is a waste of time. And these Open folks think this stuff is fun for the consumer to ingest.

And it will be particularly sad today without many of the best golfers in the world. No Tiger, Speith, McIlroy, Rham, Day, Garcia with a +8 cutline. It's off to moving day and unfortunately, we know which direction they mean in this Open.

 

[TerryP]

@TUSKtimes, Aight. There's a little a lot A LOT of hyperbole here. The cut, +8. It's a it's four bogies per round for the last place guy. No, no one is tearing up the the course. Because they are shooting for birdies instead of playing the damn course.

I'd bet all of these guys would play this course better if you took the pin out on every hole. Let 'em play for the middle, for a safe landing, and go from there.

They're making it harder than it is on a tough course, mind you.

And yes, I like watching these guys grind it out around a golf course. It's one of the highlights of the sport--the reason you can be worn out after 18 and so relaxed at the same time.

 

[Tidestalker]

Doesn't bother me at all when the course is so difficult! In terms of taking the skill set away from these players, I think courses like this do the opposite. Forces you to use every ounce of creativity and mental toughness they have... And quickly exposes weaknesses!

At the end of the day though, they're all playing the same course. Impossible for it not to be fair. I dig the higher numbers and watching the dudes that can maneuver without blowing up. RTR!

 

[TUSKtimes]

@TUSKtimes, Aight. There's a little a lot A LOT of hyperbole here. The cut, +8. It's a it's four bogies per round for the last place guy. No, no one is tearing up the the course. Because they are shooting for birdies instead of playing the damn course.

I'd bet all of these guys would play this course better if you took the pin out on every hole. Let 'em play for the middle, for a safe landing, and go from there.

They're making it harder than it is on a tough course, mind you.

And yes, I like watching these guys grind it out around a golf course. It's one of the highlights of the sport--the reason you can be worn out after 18 and so relaxed at the same time.

I somehow knew you would get nostalgic for the old days. Laying the ball on an uneven frying pan with the wind whipping in every direction is only one of the problems this tourney has provided. McIlroy said it best, the USGA believe these golfers are better than they are. Right now the best golfers in the world are reduced to looking like you and me and that's never a good thing, aesthetically speaking. The ball just disappears in the fescue and takes a search party to literally find it. That's not anywhere near a one-stroke penalty that is an all-day sucker that just keeps giving.

This bunch at Shinnecock have probably learned their lesson about letting the greens get as hard as a superball but the stimpmeter and wind will probably tell the rest of the story this weekend. If the best players are reduced to defensive putting the next 2 days, no way anyone will find the passing lane.

 

[BamaFan334]

@TUSKtimes, Aight. There's a little a lot A LOT of hyperbole here. The cut, +8. It's a it's four bogies per round for the last place guy. No, no one is tearing up the the course. Because they are shooting for birdies instead of playing the damn course.

I'd bet all of these guys would play this course better if you took the pin out on every hole. Let 'em play for the middle, for a safe landing, and go from there.

They're making it harder than it is on a tough course, mind you.

And yes, I like watching these guys grind it out around a golf course. It's one of the highlights of the sport--the reason you can be worn out after 18 and so relaxed at the same time.

I somehow knew you would get nostalgic for the old days. Laying the ball on an uneven frying pan with the wind whipping in every direction is only one of the problems this tourney has provided. McIlroy said it best, the USGA believe these golfers are better than they are. Right now the best golfers in the world are reduced to looking like you and me and that's never a good thing, aesthetically speaking. The ball just disappears in the fescue and takes a search party to literally find it. That's not anywhere near a one-stroke penalty that is an all-day sucker that just keeps giving.

This bunch at Shinnecock have probably learned their lesson about letting the greens get as hard as a superball but the stimpmeter and wind will probably tell the rest of the story this weekend. If the best players are reduced to defensive putting the next 2 days, no way anyone will find the passing lane.

You just like watching Tiger is your issue. It's not the courses job to tailor itself to a specific player. We routinely watch the world's best destroy courses, so why not make them play to par, or have to grind out par? Plenty are playing near par or within a few hiccups of par, si just because the guys you like to watch aren't there, doesn't mean othet guys aren't playing the course right. I'm with @TerryP on this one, play the course, not your game.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

The greens are a bit much no doubt. Justin Thomas has to get the putter working for him and today! JT has played much better than his score and his putting is the reason he isn't closer to Johnson. Those players that had afternoon tee times on Thursday and then Friday AM got screwed a little due to the wind was worse for both of those sessions.

 

[TerryP]

McIlroy said it best, the USGA believe these golfers are better than they are.

The course is beating him up. Think about this career and how often the course just beat his brains in--figuratively and literally.

Funny to me in a sense...a few minutes after I had posted that I hear Andy North saying "if they'd remember to shoot for the middle the greens...forget the pins as if they were not even there."

Personally. Cry me a river about thick fescue. What's the difference in being in bounds, but in the woods and in bounds but in the fescue. Easy to lose your ball in either scenario at your local track.

Those players that had afternoon tee times on Thursday and then Friday AM got screwed a little due to the wind was worse for both of those sessions.

Breaks of the game, ya know? It's pretty similar to what happened to the Bama ladies in the NCAA's--mother nature at her finest for one of their rounds.

 

[T&B]

Bad shots, good shots seem to be getting the same degree of reward

This is what I don't care for. Sure, make the course difficult - that is standard operating procedure for a US Open, but when a good shot simply rolls off the green for seemingly no good reason thats a bit ridiculous in my opinion. This isn't miniature golf. The greens shouldn't be something out of a theme park.

Make the fairways narrow as hell, and make the ruff nearly impossible to escape, but hitting a green should be safe passage.

 

[TerryP]

but when a good shot simply rolls off the green for seemingly no good reason thats a bit ridiculous in my opinion.

Even still, it doesn't dispute this. They landed on the wrong portion of the green.

 

[TUSKtimes]

You just like watching Tiger is your issue. It's not the courses job to tailor itself to a specific player. We routinely watch the world's best destroy courses, so why not make them play to par, or have to grind out par? Plenty are playing near par or within a few hiccups of par, si just because the guys you like to watch aren't there, doesn't mean othet guys aren't playing the course right. I'm with @TerryP on this one, play the course, not your game.

And Jordan Speith and Jason Day and Justin Thomas and many others. It's kinda like Nascar for me. I always end up with plan B. This is like watching Alabama play defense for 4 quarters. No one enjoys a good defensive game more than I do, But it's also nice when we have the ball. The US Open, unlike any other major just wants you on your heels, playing defense.

 

[bama alum]

Wow! Phil...I'd say he's a tad frustrated. I've hit a putt back like that a few times; then again, I'm not a professional...Or even have a handicap (besides myself) for that matter. Phil's my favorite golfer, so seeing him react like that is...



I get it though.

Edit: So that penalty was a protest? Ooooooooooooooooooooooooookay...

 

[planomateo]

What the hell was Phil thinking? It was ruled he didn't try to stop it - SERIOUSLY?

 

[bama alum]

He was frustrated. He cheated, yeah... But he knew it and immediately accepted the consequence. Cheated...Eh.

 

[bama alum]

Right now, everyone but Stenson is having a score meltdown.

 

[Tidestalker]

Wow! Phil...I'd say he's a tad frustrated. I've hit a putt back like that a few times; then again, I'm not a professional...Or even have a handicap (besides myself) for that matter. Phil's my favorite golfer, so seeing him react like that is...



I get it though.

Edit: So that penalty was a protest? Ooooooooooooooooooooooooookay...

That was crazy.... If he's trying to turn that into a "protest", seems ridiculous. The guy was blasting putts by the whole all day! It wasn't just that hole... Take a little off Phil, damn.

 

[TUSKtimes]

I predicted that the tourney would cross the line on moving day and yesterday afternoon it certainly did. Those meltdowns by the best players that happen to be left said all that needs to be said. The course was too unfair. When you simply cannot attack a course at any level the course is unfair. The USGA saw and heard what the players think of their tourney and that has to be embarrassing as well.

USGA CEO Mike Davis asked for a “mulligan” after Saturday’s round, which didn’t appease at least one golfer.

Ian Poulter✔@IanJamesPoulter
Is that an apology ?
Just grow a set of balls and say we £€¥#ed it up again...
You don’t get mulligan’s in business at this level. how can this team keep doing this without consequences.​

Cara Banks✔@CaraBanksGC
Mike Davis: “It got too tough today in some areas. If we got a mulligan, we would have slowed the greens down this afternoon. Confident we can slow the golf course down going into tomorrow” ... Not what you usually hear heading into a final round at the U.S. Open!​

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

Only 3 golfers were under par on Saturday.

 

[planomateo]

Grown ass men whining about the course...LOL.

Ian taking this to twitter, smh.

 

[TUSKtimes]

Grown ass men whining about the course...LOL.

Do you play golf? The morning group finished their round 4 strokes better than the afternoon group. The 2 players who make up the last group today were in that morning group and frankly, Friday night was just happy they made the cut. The course got away from the USGA again. Davis said they were taken back by the amount of wind. How was that? It was predicted, just like today. It's been by the same sea for over a hundred years, and you had to have an idea the wind might blow? No, what happened, again, was, they let the greens dry out to the point it got like glass, again and it got away from them. They put out some ridiculous flags near the edge of the greens with no way to hold the ball on top or get close. How do you lose a major in 2004 at Shinnecock and let that happen again?

People woke up this morning wondering if Mickelson should have been disqualified for his personal gesture to their abject stupidity. The only disqualification worthy of that would be Mike Davis and his merry band of nitwits who think this is good golf at a major.

 

[planomateo]

Do you play golf? The morning group finished their round 4 strokes better than the afternoon group. The 2 players who make up the last group today were in that morning group and frankly, Friday night was just happy they made the cut. The course got away from the USGA again. Davis said they were taken back by the amount of wind. How was that? It was predicted, just like today. It's been by the same sea for over a hundred years, and you had to have an idea the wind might blow? No, what happened, again, was, they let the greens dry out to the point it got like glass, again and it got away from them. They put out some ridiculous flags near the edge of the greens with no way to hold the ball on top or get close. How do you lose a major in 2004 at Shinnecock and let that happen again?

People woke up this morning wondering if Mickelson should have been disqualified for his personal gesture to their abject stupidity. The only disqualification worthy of that would be Mike Davis and his merry band of nitwits who think this is good golf at a major.

Yup I play golf. Just think it's funny that a guy playing for $2M+ is whining. He's pissed at the crowds too...not just the course.

Course conditions change throughout the day / days.

#ButtHurtIan