***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Didn't see it started yet so let's get it rolling. I was there today for practice rounds, first time ever at a tourney it was pretty sweet I might be going Sunday which would be money.

My pick to win (besides Tiger of course) is Vijay. Although he didn't play very well today.

Anyone else going?

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

I was there on Sunday in 2004 and 2006, and at a practice round in 2002. Phil should be happy I'm 8 hours from Pittsburgh.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Anyone think Monty has a chance this year, or has that ship finally sailed after losing out last year?

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone think Monty has a chance this year, or has that ship finally sailed after losing out last year?

[/ QUOTE ]

The ship sailed away with his approach to the 72nd hole at Winged Foot. Monty turns 44 later this month. Nicklaus won his last major at 46 and Monty is no Golden Bear.

I look for big things from Toms, Cink, O'Hair and Ryan Moore.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Woody Austin to contend...
Jim Furyk ftw.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

The obvious choice: Tiger Woods (11/4)

Some strong contenders: Zach Johnson (44/1), Jim Furyk (17/1), Luke Donald (32/1)

Some lighter darkhorses: Steve Stricker (80/1), Scott Verplank (95/1), Tim Clark (110/1)

Some dark darkhorses: Troy Matteson (275/1), Joe Durant (350/1)

Feeling Lucky?: Olin Browne (500/1)


Odds courtesy of WSEX.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Can't wait to see just how tough Oakmont is going to play. Saw a brief clip of an interview with Robert Allenby yesterday and he thinks we'll see some players shoot in the 90's. I love watching golf where par is a good score on most holes and requires more of a though process than just bomb it and fire at the pin.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

I agree with you. I'm wondering how Adam Scott will do since he seems to be playing good lately.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Can't wait to see just how tough Oakmont is going to play. Saw a brief clip of an interview with Robert Allenby yesterday and he thinks we'll see some players shoot in the 90's. I love watching golf where par is a good score on most holes and requires more of a though process than just bomb it and fire at the pin.

[/ QUOTE ]

Often very difficult courses require less thought process than courses that offer more latitude. Also the USGA often makes the set up more penal and by going penal takes away the architectural character of a course, thereby reducing strategy and thought. One example is the recent short par 4 where they grew so much rough the only play was to go for the green. Apparently the USGA didn't realize that having 4 foot deep rough at the narrow lay up spot and less rough near the green made it so laying up offered more risk and less reward than bombing it. Another example was where they grew rough on strategic areas at Pinehurst or Bethpage. When a hole is designed to offer a perfect approach angle from near a fairway bunker, growing 20 yards of rough up to the fairway bunker removes the strategy. So on the tee there is less thought required. Also if the fairways get so narrow that everybody misses them, there isn't that much to do or think about. OTOH, Oakmont was designed to be penal and is well-designed not merely tricked up. So this year should require more thought than at courses that are simply made tough through a tricked out set up. The USGA is moving in the right direction at some of the half par holes. Often half par holes are ones that offer a birdie chance, the USGA though seems to go the other way. Having the 288 yard par 3 and a par 4 not much longer is kind of cool. People get worked up about it, and that is a test in itself. Par really doesn't exist and is irrelevant when you think about it. If a player can go out there and just play the holes without regard to worring whether he has to make a 3 on an alleged par 3 or a 4 on a 500 yard beast of a hole, he will be ahead. Hard to do I guess when you see over par numbers go up, and it makes things sound less dramatic.

I thnk the amount of thought required to play needs to be separated from the idea of difficulty and the mythical concept of par. What you want to do is challenge and separate players and make them think. Sometimes that leads to high scores, other times not. I think any obsession with making good players shoot bad scores is misplaced. You want to see great players use their skills and brains. That might mean grinding pars at Oakmont, but it may also mean giving them a choice and eagle opportunity on par 5's at Augusta or choices where to put the tee shot at Pinehurst. Look how well the Open went last year at Hoylake.

Also, any course can be made more difficult in relation to par, as the USGA does by setting par at 70 a lot. Calling a couple of holes par 4's instead of par 5's is the same thing as making the first hole a par 2 really. So a guy shoots par instead of 8 under. Was the course really a better test?

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

HDPM, good post as always. Although I do fixate on the +/- par number, and as such get annoyed with the USGA's obsession with turning courses into par 70s. I like seeing chances for eagle once or twice per round - look how well Baltusrol went two years ago with the two par-5s as the last two holes.

As for favorites, in golf it is a frivolous discussion. There's Tiger, and then there's about 30-50+ other guys not far behind him who could win if they get hot this week. More interesting bets are pools where you pick or draft several players and their aggregate total decides the winner.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

brag: i've got vip tix on saturday
beat: 20.99 years old [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
variance: can't wait to pick up a sweatshirt/fleece thing for the poker room with the squirrel logo on it

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

I'm so [censored] pumped up for this.

ligastar,

I don't think Monty will win this, but the not for the reasons you listed. I wouldn't be shocked to see him there near the end if he plays well. Drives the ball on a rope and that's gonna be huge this week.

HDMP,

Good post

kkcountry,

I'm very, very jealous.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Monty's played like crap this year, & just fired his caddie. Local knowledge

Sounds like a story tailor-made to be beaten into the ground Sunday afternoon. Ditto an Els resurgence.

There's Tiger, Goose, Furyk, Paddy, & Vijay; bold I know, so how about....Phil, Ogilvy & Adam Scott all miss the cut?

Steve Stricker & Ben Curtis are my longshot picks. Zach Johnson winning would be hysterical, too.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Don't get me started, HDPM...

What the USGA did to Shinnecock in 2004 and Bethpage in 2002 still gets me hot.

(My mate and I were at the 7th at Shinnecock on the Sunday in '86, we each took three different players to win as the final groups played through, and neither of us picked Floyd -- that's how wonderful the competition was, and the course required no tarting up whatsoever...)

My each-way-six pix this time 'round:

Furyk
Harrington
Scott
Donald
Goosen

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Sandy,

Judging by your posts here and in the Wilt thread, you are at least seventy years old. Is this correct?

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Johnson winning would be hysterical, too.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think he's a pretty decent pick outside of the obvious big guns.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

63.2 ...

However, the nice lady at the hospital, at the crack of dawn this morning, checking my cranky prostate, observed that my birth date must be a typo, because I couldn't be older than 43. And she was sincere, bless her...

And I do have two 9-year-old daughters running around here...

And I did row some 350,000 meters in May on my C2...

So what's a few years here or there?

The bigger question is: what the heck am I doing here?

The answer is, fundamentally, poker.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Johnson winning would be hysterical, too.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think he's a pretty decent pick outside of the obvious big guns.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. Wouldn't be shocked if the leader board is fairly similar to Augusta; Zach, Tiger, Goose, Rory, Kelly, none would be a giant shock to win. Pretty decent five man draft, actually.

Hell, throw Monty in for shetz n giggles, and I'll change my prediction to one of those six. Or if we're playing "No Tiger", I'll take the other five.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

I'm pretty sure I watched the entire Golf Channel Pregame or whatever yesterday. Might have missed 10 or 20 minutes. They NEVER mentioned Goosen. Even when they were showing tee times he wasn't mentioned. How do you not even mention a TWO-time champion? Let's just talk about Phil's boo-boo and Tiger's baby for two hours. Goosen, ftw!!!

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Did you guys hear about Immelman making an ace on the 288 yd par 3 during Tuesdays practice round? I hope there's video footage of that somewhere. Too bad he didn't pull that off during the tournament or that video would probably be replayed hundreds of times a year.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
As for favorites, in golf it is a frivolous discussion. There's Tiger, and then there's about 30-50+ other guys not far behind him who could win if they get hot this week. More interesting bets are pools where you pick or draft several players and their aggregate total decides the winner.

[/ QUOTE ]

tuq,

You have described a pool I've been running now for 6 years. I have 50 participants and each major is a separate contest with monies given to 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Two years ago I added a player of the year (poty) component. The poty wins money and takes receipt of the "hickman cup" for the year. His/her name is also inscribed on the cup which is actually a trophy.

Each participant gets 72 points to choose their 6 man rosters (it must be exactly 6 golfers). My pool has a twist though in that at least 4 of your golfers must make the cut for you to make the cut. Typically about 38% of the participants miss the cut every major. You take your lowest 4 scores and that is your team score (for example, if all 6 of your players make the cut you throw out your two worst scores).

I started a blog for my pool and to begin a golf blog too. My squad for the U.S. Open is (Zach Johnson - 15.8 pts; David Toms - 14.5 pts; Stewart Cink - 13.8 pts; Sean O'Hair - 12.0 pts; Ryan Moore - 9.8 pts and Nick Dougherty - 6.1 pts). You can see the Player Point Values for the U.S. Open at my blog and get a feel for how competitive such a pool can get.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Did anyone see Johnny Miller's interview on PTI? He said that a 63 was totally capable on that course and that the players were blowing the course out of proportion.

Is he on drugs or are the players just cry babies?

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Did anyone see Johnny Miller's interview on PTI? He said that a 63 was totally capable on that course and that the players were blowing the course out of proportion.

Is he on drugs or are the players just cry babies?

[/ QUOTE ]
I saw that. I don't know the answer to your question but I'm curious to find out.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Did anyone see Johnny Miller's interview on PTI? He said that a 63 was totally capable on that course and that the players were blowing the course out of proportion.

Is he on drugs or are the players just cry babies?

[/ QUOTE ]

Miller is high on himself, that's all.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]

As for favorites, in golf it is a frivolous discussion. There's Tiger, and then there's about 30-50+ other guys not far behind him who could win if they get hot this week.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that this is true for most any given week on tour and even for the PGA and most British Opens. But looking at the list of Master's and US Open winners in the last 15 years it's pretty much (>90%) a list of top ten golfers at the time or dude's destined for the hall of fame. The harder the course/conditions the more this seems to be true.

That's why I enjoy watching the Masters and US Opens so much. Great golf on great courses where the winner usually is a great golfer exihibiting why he is great.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm pretty sure I watched the entire Golf Channel Pregame or whatever yesterday. Might have missed 10 or 20 minutes. They NEVER mentioned Goosen. Even when they were showing tee times he wasn't mentioned. How do you not even mention a TWO-time champion? Let's just talk about Phil's boo-boo and Tiger's baby for two hours. Goosen, ftw!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
I watch more golf than the average joe, but not as much as a lot of you guys. And I can't for the life of me figure out why Goosen hasn't won 5 or 6 majors. He is a stone cold assassin on courses that make other players look like fools. What is his weakness?

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

He's a terrible putter (for a pro)

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Goosen 2007 (PGA)

Money List $868,404 54th
Driving Distance (Yards Per) 290.4 51st
Driving Accuracy 52.6% 177th
Total Driving 228 154th
Greens Hit In Regulation 60.3% 150th
Putting(Per Hole) 1.8 124th
Sand Saves 43.4% 143rd
Birdies (Per Round) 2.8 152nd
Eagles (Holes Per) 252 89th

Goosen 2006 (PGA)

Money List $2,617,453 19th
Driving Distance (Yards Per) 297.6 34th
Driving Accuracy 57.3% 176th
Total Driving 209 125th
Greens Hit In Regulation 65.5% 92nd
Putting(Per Hole) 1.8 73rd
Sand Saves 49.5% 90th
Birdies (Per Round) 3.2 64th
Eagles (Holes Per) 154.3 38th

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

anywhere to get some decent updates? it's almost a joke on pgatour.com

tiger and ogilvy are playing together but some reason i guess ogilvy is still on the 8th hole and tiger just finished the 14th . Guess they're only tracking Tiger.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

tdk,

Hmmmmm. This is why it sucks that this isn't a PGA Tour event - the pgatour.com leaderboard rules, with the auto-updating, the one-click for scorecard and hole info, and other good stuff. Also, the ESPN.com leaderboard kept loading crappy in Firefox and on principal I didn't try it in IE.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

try foxsports.com. seems to be the closest to real time updates i've seen while stuck here at work.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

I confess to knowing little about Johnny Miller. That said I know of his great Oakmont win.

Maybe I'm being a fanboy, but Tiger has all these [censored] majors. Nicklaus has more. But Johnny where are you on the list. [censored] you. You ain't no Tiger.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

pgatour.com links to a leaderboard on golfsurround.com. It loads fast and seems to be up to date.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
anywhere to get some decent updates? it's almost a joke on pgatour.com

tiger and ogilvy are playing together but some reason i guess ogilvy is still on the 8th hole and tiger just finished the 14th . Guess they're only tracking Tiger.

[/ QUOTE ]


The official site is getting slammed as I haven't been able to access their leaderboard now for 3 hours. ESPN not doing a good job of updating us with everyone's score with the scroll at the bottom. Sux.

An ESPN reporter standing 10 yards from Lefty on the practice range says Phil is openly complaining about pain in his wrist ahead of his upcoming tee time.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
try foxsports.com. seems to be the closest to real time updates i've seen while stuck here at work.

[/ QUOTE ]
Cosign, this one works and has Cabrera five holes ahead of the "official" site. Link.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

www.bbc.co.uk/golf

They keep a blog of the action although the leaderboard isn't being updated as frequently as desired. Tiger finished round 1 at +1 and imo would be about 33% to win the tournament. I can't see anyone finishing lower than -3. I like Tiger to win now I was tbinking he would be 5 or 6 off the pace after day 1.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

I'm loving where Tiger is at right now.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

Anything can happen. But my prediction is:

Tiger 4 back after round 1.

Tiger 2 back after round 2.

Tiger leading by 1 after round 3.

Tiger wins by 3 after round 4.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

I'm just glad that I woke up late enough that I missed out on Chris Berman doing most of the commentary, just unbearable.

Re: ***Official US Open Thread (Oakmont)***
 

[ QUOTE ]
An ESPN reporter standing 10 yards from Lefty on the practice range says Phil is openly complaining about pain in his wrist ahead of his upcoming tee time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Typical phil. Next he's gonna complain that his man boobs are throwing him off balance.

The biggest complaint you'd EVER hear from a real competitor is "I didn't play as well as I'd like to have this week."

Phil is just setting up a reason why he's not gonna win.