Olympic: a good U.S. Open venue?
I had a few post-U.S. Open discussion points I wanted to throw out there, but it’s obviously a little after the fact now. I should have a put something up earlier this week, but when I tell you I’ve been sick and barely been able to make it from my bed to the bathroom, I’m not kidding. I caught some sort of bug in San Francisco — thanks to the awesome weather — and naturally it got worse flying cross-country, not to mention the general exhaustion.
I still don’t have much of a voice, so don’t make fun of me if you see me at the Travelers this weekend (I’m trying to get my butt up there!). Good news is I’m pretty sure I’m no longer contagious. I mean, it’s been over a week.
Again, my apologies for the interruption in your regular programming.
In case anyone is still interested in discussing, what were your thoughts on Mike Davis’ setup of the U.S. Open, particularly the final round? What did you think of the curve ball he threw at the player by moving the tees on No. 16 up 100 yards, where they had never practiced from? That hole probably cost Jim Furyk the tournament, but he knows he only has himself to blame.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the eventual champion (Webb Simpson) watching from the locker room and hoping that Graeme McDowell and Furyk missed their putts. G-Mac had a shot to tie, but it all grew kind of anti-climactic when Furyk made a mess of 18 and G-Mac misread his birdie putt. Webb played great over the weekend, but it’s way less pressure to post a number when you’re a few groups back than when you’re ahead.
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Moving on.
The next major (my favorite one) is just around the corner (or four weeks away): the Open Championship at Lytham.
The Claret Jug is actually on tour in NYC today. If I weren’t hacking up a lung, I may have gone to check it out...here’s a pic via ESPN and The Open’s Twitter:
Speaking of which, Webb is skipping the Open to be with his wife Dowd when she gives birth to their second child in late July. Dowd said last Sunday that she was going to get induced the week before the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational because Webb wanted to play at Firestone.
“After winning, it’s certainly a little harder not to go, because I’d love to go and try to win another major,” he said. “But in the grand scheme of things, in the grand scheme of life, it’s a decision that I know that I’ll always be happy that I made.”
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Meanwhile, inclement weather has suspended play in Hartford at the Travelers Championship. I swear, this happens every year. Pumped for the heat wave to break. One good thing about being sick? The indoor air-conditioning was awesome (but I could feeling the steam room trying to make its way inside).
I think it’s safe to say Fredrik Jacobson really, really likes TPC River Highlands. The defending champ is in prime position for back-to-back victories at the Travelers Championship after posting scores of 65-66.
Beloved Masters champ Bubba Watson fired a four-under 70 on Thursday, his first under-par round since Sunday at the Zurich Classic in April. Unfortunately, Bubba followed the 66 with a 71 on Friday. U.S. Open champ Webb Simpson is in the mix for the second week in a row, trailing Jacobson by four strokes.
At least half the field didn’t finish the second round due to the stop-and-go weather delays. They’ll return on Saturday morning to finish. Woot.
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Oh, guess what? Lee Westwood is coming to America! What? Seriously? Yes, really.
Westwood is moving his family to the U.S:
“There are a number of reasons, but the main one is I haven’t got that much time left at the top and I want to give myself the best chance of staying there as long as I can,” he said. “I am moving to America at the end of this year because with our weather (in England), it is hard to practice when you want to practice.”
Well, that certainly makes sense. It took him a while, but he’s finally yielded. I am pretty sure Westwood is one of the few top players in the world that didn’t have a second residence in the U.S., particularly somewhere warm, like Florida.
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Oh, more pictures of The Squawking Bird Man from last Sunday…
I wonder how that night in jail was…
(Getty Images/David Cannon, Jeff Gross)
“I wasn’t a huge fan of the eventual champion (Webb Simpson) watching from the locker room and hoping that Graeme McDowell and Furyk missed their putts…….” -that’s a pretty ridiculous comment. The US Open has frequently been about posting a number and watching others fall apart. That is what the difficult course setup does for you. He played the same course as everyone else, to say it was easier for him to post his number is asinine. The final group were two former champs, not some wobbly need rookies. They weren’t scared by seeing someone post one over when they still had three holes to play. Had either one of them been able to play par golf in, the result would have been different. The fact that Furyk hit a 20 handicap duck hook, and McDowell lost his ability to read a putt shouldn’t detract from what Simpson did.
Are you kidding? Major championship pressure is very real — just take a look at the history books and you’ll see that the final groups on Sunday tend to struggle, even if they’re represented by some of the best players. And no one is saying that Webb didn’t deserve to win — just that this U.S. Open didn’t have as exciting an ending as many were hoping for. Go back in time and think of all the great outcomes there have been — the excitement of the 2011 Masters, when nearly a dozen players exchanged the lead on the final day; Rory’s redemption after a record-breaking performance at Congressional; yet another hugely popular win for Northern Ireland at the Open; Keegan Bradley’s unbelievable comeback after a disastrous 15th hole to win the PGA as a rookie; the prestigious Green Jacket going to… Bubba Watson! By comparison the ending to this U.S. Open was, well… meh.
Of course the pressure is real. But to say that Simpson wasn’t under the same or greater pressure than the last two is stupid. He knew very well what he was trying to do in posting the number he posted. You think he was hanging around after he signed his scorecard for shits and giggles. He knew he had a very real opportunity to win at his score.
I’m not denying that Simpson was under tremendous pressure, especially coming down the stretch once he made some birdies. But it’s also asinine to say that Furyk and McDowell should have been able to par in without breaking a sweat. Furyk knew that, at age 42, that may have been his last chance to win the U.S. Open. And McDowell may well have been under the additional pressure to make it a three-peat win for his country.
And I certainly don’t think Webb was hanging around for shits and giggles. I don’t know why you would say that.
And also, while it may not fit your definition of exciting, I found the finish to be very exciting. The tournament came down to the last two players on the last hole with a chance to force a playoff. That is exciting to me. By your definition, anytime a player that isn’t in the final grouping wins a tournament, it’s anti-climatic. I enjoy watching good golfers shoot good scores on hard courses to win tournaments, so I enjoyed the end of the tournament very much.
By my definition? What are you reading? Anyhow, it’s fine to say that the conclusion to this Open was exciting, and I can see that. Regardless, I think it’s safe to say that the finish on Sunday won’t be very memorable in comparison to the finishes of recent past majors. Simply put, the tournament ended on Sunday and there’s not really much to say about it. Webb’s win was a good one, but not a remarkable one (again, by comparison); no one will deny that.
“The US Open has frequently been about posting a number and watching others fall apart….” -The US Open winner has come from the final pairing in 10 of the last 13 years, and from the penultimate pairing in 2 of the other 3….
Ah yes, the last thirteen years, it’s not like they’ve been playing this tournament for more than a century or anything.
I can go further back if you’d like — the point is that it’s fairly rare for a player to win after waiting in the clubhouse for any length of time. So your claim is complete bogus
Just looking at the previous opens played at Olympic, two of the four champions came from a group other than the final group. The point is, that due to the difficulty of the course setups, posting a score and watching the leaders falter is far more likely than at the other majors.
You can’t really go back too far with this last group/next-to-last group stuff, at least as it relates to the U.S. Open. The USGA had players paired after Friday for a 36-hole final on Saturdays up through the 1964 U.S. Open, when winner Ken Venturi (and most everybody else) nearly fainted from heat exhaustion. Tee times weren’t reset after 54 holes until 1965. That is really only as far back as you should look.
BTW, the U.S. Open (and any major) is all about keeping your nerve, just ask Jean Van de Velde.
Wow, sorry to hear you’ve been under the weather since you left. The USOpen was a bit of a disappointment for me personally. I looked at it like this. Get Bubba’s autograph , cool Shake tiger’s hand awesome. Get my picture taken with Stephanie Wei… Priceless!!
None of the above happened but that would have made it perfect!
Sunday I spent 8 hours planted in the 1st tee bleachers from 7 am until the last group went through at 3:10, it was worth it. I saw a lot including this bird nut hanging around the 1st tee bridge. I was there Wed, Thurs & Sun. Saw some great things with my dad including Quiros’ ace at 7 on Wed, Phil’s walk of shame back to the 9th tee on his 2012 USOpen opening hole.
Webb’s game is solid which helped him win the title. Plus he was in a great position to post a number and wait. I thought Jim would hang on. Moving up the tee on 16 should have had nothing to do with him losing it. He is a pro after all and it was the same for everyone else.
Will moving to the US help Lee Westwood win a major?
I doubt it. He’s going to be another Colin Montgomerie IMO.
Hey, Webb posted a number and it held up, good for him. And he was just watching, not pulling for anyone to miss. Obviously he wasn’t disappointed when they did but that the hell.
Bird Man didn’t spend the night in jail. They hauled him inn and the boss cop gave him a talking to and then let him go.
I have a picture of myself holding The Open Championship trophy! Two people who have won The Open in the modern era went on to fall completely off a cliff almost immediately afterward. Can anyone name the two? And who do you think actually took the biggest fall?
Ian Baker Finch?
Todd Hamilton?
you really think Webb was pulling for them to miss their putts?……and where was he supposed to be watching from?…..it’s not sudden death….how many others have listened to the crowd reaction while hitting balls on the range….and had more of a reaction of joy…..i thought he and his wife were very humble…..must be the GMac love…..
He was watching from the TV in the clubhouse, moron…….
Yeh! we are half way to a baby jesus slam.
I think moving 16 forward was a bad move. All we heard about was the “Longest hole in major championship history” and I think they should have played it from there the final day. Happy that Webb won, all that matters is what you shoot, not when you finish. Will Lee continue to play second rate international tournaments to try and add to his win total? I don’t see him winning a major at this point. When he needs the clutch putt, he can’t make it.
Hey Ricky Bobby, you are right! Look out for Rickie or Ben Crane in British Open?
I walked 16 several times all four days and even on a couple of the practice rounds. It made no more sense to have the tees at 670 than it did to have them way up. The rough was plenty penal and green was hard to hold from many angles. Leave tees somewhere in the middle and make it a realistic but still difficult par-5.
It definitely “made sense” to have the tees at 670, but only because Mike Davis was boasting forever about how the USGA wanted to have a true “3-shot par 5″ in the tournament… if he’s going to insist so firmly on it, it makes sense to actually go through with the plan. So it’s hard not to be skeptical of the decision to change the hole so drastically.
Since the SFPD declared the Bird Man had done nothing illegal, why wasn’t Mike Davis charged with assault?
It was a long week and Mike Davis, I think, did a great job with preparation for the U.S. Open.
He may not want to see the video or even any pictures of the aftermath, but I’m guessing Mike probably would not say it was his finest moment, either. He looked as angry as Bird-Man was oblivious. The Englishman showed why drunks often walk away unscathed from car accidents.
Hope Steph didn’t pick up avian flu from Bird Man.
MmmmuuuuuiisssssIT! MmmmmmmmiiisssssIT!
I don’t recall Mr. Simpson saying that from the locker room, but he certainly is free to think that.
What made it seem odd is that it is the only event where a playoff is not something the guys need to worry about if they are in contention – other events they are at the range or putting or whatever – One of the best/worst scenes was the 04 Masters, where they kept showing Ernie putting as Phil finished, and then the look when he heard the result. So this is the only one where they are often literally “in the clubhouse” to watch the conclusion. I don’t see that it detracted from the finish, especially since it still came down to the final group to at least possibly tie or even win with a miracle shot.
You don’t like Webb Simpson rooting in the locker room.Lets be honest
most guys on tour aren’t exactly rooting for other guys to make putts let alone cuts .Maybe Webb Simpson is a little too conservative for your liberal bias
“But In the grand scheme of things … it’s a decision that I know that I’ll always be happy that I made.” Playing god with the birth of my child so I can play at Firestone. That is really beautiful. Brings a tear to a father’s eye, Webb. I only wish I could have thought to induce the birth of my daughter so I could have seen Daniel Radcliffe’s opening night on Broadway. What was I thinking? At least now I’ll have my priorities straightened out.
I don’t see how a golf writer who posts pictures – LOTS of pictures – of tour caddies’ detailed yardage books can buy the horseshit argument going round that the players were caught totally unawares, flatfooted, and unprepared for Sunday’s tee on 16. There is more detail in those books than in the average military assault plan, and Furyk can hardly blame his awful hook on anybody else.