Some thoughts on the Open

[rich76]

If any of you were able/cared to watch the final round, you were treated to pressure golf at it's best, leaderboard changes (on the back 9) that were almost too hard to keep up with and one of the first tournaments in a while that made it hard to go out and cut the lawn or wash the truck etc. The combination of GARSE choking... HARPA hitting darts... ROMAN making putts...GRERI's low round of the day...and some real fine golf from CURBE and MAHHU at one of the most difficult courses in the world made for a very entertaining round to watch.

IMO GARSE will be in a serious funk for some time (ala MICKP after his USOpen debacle). The new bellyputter is a serious improvement for him.

ELSER came close...but needed to make 2 of the 3 makeable putts that he missed then he, too, would have been in the 4 hole playoff (which btw IMHO is the very best way to determine a winner) The US Open has the playoff - 18 holes - the next day. Makes it tough for the fans to get off work...the marshalls to change their plans...and the players don't get their day of rest (and for you knuckleheads that don't think they need it.. is the most discreet thing I could think of to say).

[SiteWolf]

It was quite entertaining to watch, certainly...didn't see as much as I prolly should have but did see the last few holes and the playoffs.

Sidenote being....I had no idea Padraig was related to Joey College..tho you can see it in their look despite the relation being 2nd cousins...

I also wonder if anyone has ever won a major after hitting the water not once but twice on the last hole of regulation.

[-mmm-]

Originally Posted by SiteWolf

Sidenote being....I had no idea Padraig was related to Joey College..tho you can see it in their look despite the relation being 2nd cousins...

Hes also the cousin of Dan Harrington, who finished 3rd at the WSOP the year Moneymaker won it and he also had another top 10 finish the next year.

Interesting that one family can have three people in sports/games that are as varied as those and that are uberly hyped up by ESPN.

[rich76]

Not sure about hitting the water twice but I remember a few yeears ago TOMDA 3B bogeying the 72nd hole and winning by one.......

[notredame79]

to me, it looked like garcia was over-reading the break on some of his putts toward the end of regulation. his putting stroke seemed to be ok, imho.

[P562045]

What a difference a few years make.

The last time they played here [1999?] Tiger was way over par and tied for 7th. This year Tiger was under par [-2?] and tied for 12th.

This is the second straight major cut that Phil has missed.

[P562045]

I only watched Sergio play a couple of holes around the middle of the final round and he seemed way off to me. It only took him a couple of holes to have more bogeys then in the first three rounds combined. I am kind of surprised from what I saw that Sergio even made it close.

[jon_mc]

Originally Posted by coolpeter72

What a difference a few years make.

The last time they played here [1999?] Tiger was way over par and tied for 7th. This year Tiger was under par [-2?] and tied for 12th.

This is the second straight major cut that Phil has missed.

Having had the weekend rained off over here, i spent the entire time sat on my backside watching the Golf (hooray). The main difference between the two Carnoustie tournaments was the weather (it was much, much calmer this year) and the set up of the course. They let the rough grow to biblical proportions in '99, and the very nature of the 'links' course meant that landing the ball on the fairway was virtually impossible (links courses are by definition not flat, the balls were landing and bouncing into the long stuff even with iron shots, let alone woods and drivers.)

This time around they offered three scenarios, take driver and pray, take fairway woods and be lucky, take irons and be good. This led to some of the best golf i've seen for a long while. Players in the same groups were often 100yrds apart on the same holes, hitting 200+yard second shots on a regular basis, rather than uncorking Bertha up the middle and hitting wedges all day. Really wish i could have gone, but the main problem with Carnoustie (and the possible reason they haven't yet confirmed wether to go back with the Open) is the transport links and infrastructure. After the debacle of '99 where everyone was complaining, i'm certain they were worried about the same thing happening this time around, and if it had i'm sure they would have lost their place in the roster, crowds were down from the last two Open's as it is, which is a pity, because the tournament was a beauty.

[rich76]

Great post Jon...were I able to get over there for it we could have met up...had some bangers aand mash...washed it down with some serious Irish beer...get banjo'd and go on a mission for some batty rider......

Anyway, after seeing some interviews with GARSE after it was over he looked like a baloon knot. All he did was blame everyone and everything else for his not stellar play. The pressure was thick...he couldn't handle it ...and he cried like a little girl.

I had to wait 15 minutes for the guy to finish raking two traps that doesn't help - When you're one shot in front, hitting a 3 iron into a green where there's danger everywhere, having to wait at least 15 minutes to hit your shot doesn't help. It doesn't help at all. I wasn't very happy about that (caddies do not rake bunkers.. every pairing has their own "raker" that stays with their group) SERGIO it was 7 1/2 minutes and you landed in one of the traps he just RAKED you jackass. if you landed in an unraked bunker and got a bad break you'd really be hollering like 2 little girls.

My shot on the par 3 hit the flag and bounced 20 feet away...for everyone else it lands a foot from the pin
SERGIO! If your shot din't hit the pin it would have rolled 20 yards over the freakin green you jackass!

There are more but those are the ones I remember best.....he claims he is "cursed and NOT a choker"

IMHO...his whining like he has will follow him for quite some time....I remember the US OPen at Bethpage and he used to waggle his club 20+ freakin times and the fans were chanting for him to swing already...it ate him up...but he did stop it.....

[jon_mc]

Until it was clear it was Padraig after him, i was rooting for the Spaniard all the way. I know he's a whingeing so and so, but the pressure did for him in the end. Not sure if you got anything other than highlights, but Saturday's round was a joy to behold. He took irons off tees, hit the middle of fairways, and stiffed so many 4 and 5's into greens that i was off my seat, he played the course like a man with a three or four shot lead, and seemed to be comfortable doing so. (And it was a joy to see someone have to play golf like we do, hitting long shots to greens rather than wedges). Come Sunday however and he looked like a man with the world on his shoulders. He tried to do the same thing but it just wasn't happening, and when the putts stopped dropping he didn't have the balls to change it up until taking 3wood off the last when he was a shot behind. The most telling moment for me was after driving off at the 17th. Padraig had just pushed a 3wood of the 18th tee throungh the 17th fairway and into the stream off of the bridge that Sergio had to walk across to play his next shot. Padraig had a wry smile on his face as they passed within 3yrds of each other, Sergio stuck his head down and bowled past without even a nod of the head. At that moment i knew he'd bottle, even after Padraig stuck another in the stream further up the 18th.

Couldn't see El Tigre ever losing from three up, even in the form he's showing at the moment.