***Official Open Championship Thread*** - Page 17

HDPM · #**161** 07-23-2006, 02:38 PM

Great win by Tiger. Beautiful to watch him play. And there was some exciting golf down the stretch; DiMarco really hit some clutch shots and putts. It was no mistake we saw great players down the stretch playing good golf shots, they were able to play the course and not vice versa as the old saying goes. And that was because Hoylake is an excellent course which allowed the players to play their game and find a way around and didn't eliminate strategy with a stupid set up.

Tiger referenced this in his speech. Nice dig at the USGA and PGA Tour brainless set ups. He sounded complimentary of the course and R&A, but there was a dig in there I think. And many of his answers to press questions this week have stressed how nice a course that requires creativity and shotmaking is.

The critics have said two main things about Hoylake it seems to me. One is that it isn't a test because driver isn't needed really. The other is that scoring will be too low. As to the first, there is some merit in it, but this needs to be addressed by a ball roll back, not mangling a great course or moving the championship to a 7900 yard Rees Jones abomination. And I will finish the post with a little quotation from 1936 about the ball and you can judge how well Hoylake has stood the test of time. As to scoring in relation to a fairy, i.e. "par", who cares? Would the golf course get better suddenly if the R&A did what the USGA does and make 2 par 5s par 4's and Tiger's winning score were 8 shots higher in relation to the par fairy? Golf's roots are at match play where bizarre and unfair holes were valued for their interesting characteristics. The huge focus on fair card and pencil golf for professionals has contributed to a mindset that affects how we view the game and how courses are designed and/or set up. This is not always good. This week at Hoylake we got to see compelling and interesting golf. Even though driver wasn't necessary for some players, control of the golf ball and shotmaking were required. What is so wrong with that?

Now for a quotation from the best of the golf writers.

"It is very easy to talk and very difficult to do anything. A course that should make the modern man play brassy shots to the green would leave the ladies with little to hope for but dull five's while some of us would never get up at all. We read that for the next Open Championship Hoylake is to be over 7,000 yards long; such stretching of the course may be necessary, but it is not in the least cheering to hear of; it opens up no real way out of the difficulty. Perhaps there is no way, but, if there is, it lies in doing something to the ball and not to the course." Bernard Darwin, 1936.

Hoylake was great, so was Tiger. And Tiger would be the favoite with hickory and gutta percha, hickory and the Haskell ball, steel and the balls in any era, and in this era of the optimized clubs and super ball. So I think we should allow the great ones to show it, and Hoylake did that, and Tiger showed it.

Bill Murphy · #**162** 07-23-2006, 02:52 PM

The clown at CNNSI.com was ripping the course early last week; saying the winner was likely to be a Paul Lawrie type, and the Open wouldn't be back there for another 39 years.

Tiger, Dimarco, Els, Furyk on top.

LOL

junglewarfare · #**163** 07-23-2006, 03:02 PM

HDPM for world golf commissioner.

You golf posts are always awesome, I really enjoy them, thanks.

andyfox · #**164** 07-23-2006, 06:14 PM

Tiger both outplayed and outthunk everyone this week. He and DiMarco both played beatifully today, everybody else wasn't up to the task. The bottom line is that Tiger has exactly what Jack Nicklaus had: more talent and more brains than anyone else playing.

In Tiger, Federer, and Anneka, was may be witnessing, right now, in their prime, the three greatest in their sports to ever play the game. Certainly Tiger and Federer are the most talented to play the game, what they do from this point forward is up to them. What they've done up to this point would lead you to believe they'll end up #1 both in the record books and in people's minds.

tuq · #**165** 07-23-2006, 09:10 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Tiger both outplayed and outthunk everyone this week. He and DiMarco both played beatifully today, everybody else wasn't up to the task.

[/ QUOTE ]
Andy,

Nice. What a fuggin frustrating round to watch, although to be fair I didn't expect Els or Garcia to make much of a move (although if nothing else Garcia could have worn something that didn't make him look like a slightly underripe banana). If anyone surprised me by not showing up it would be Furyk, but some days you just don't have it.

DiMarco = two for two in stepping up to Woods in majors in the last year plus. Dude is tough as nails.

EDIT: I hate to admit weakness on a poker site filled with so much testosterone, but the Woods breakdown when hugging Stevie Williams got to me a bit.

EDIT2: I hope they don't wait forty years to come back to this course. Three par-5s on the back nine (including two of the last three holes) is way better theater than the par 70 tracks the USGA dishes out every year.

andyfox · #**166** 07-23-2006, 11:05 PM

Sergio: Yeah, you gotta wonder what goes through a guy's mind when he gets up in the morning: Hmm, final round of the Open, let's see, what to wear, what to wear . . . Oh, yes, my yellow shirt and pants with my white belt . . .

As for DiMarco stepping up, well, he didn't win either time. Had a better player "stepped up," they would be criticized for not winning. Still, one can't help but like Dimarco, he seems to be 100% person and 0% bullsh*t. As for Furyk, he's a good player, but simply not in Tiger's class, so you can't expect him to "step up" as often as Tiger does.

I too enjoyed watching the golf on that course. Goods shotmaking was rewarded and there was more than one way to get the job done. A 56-year old made the cut and shot even par and the winner didn't hit driver all week.

battschr · #**167** 07-24-2006, 12:00 AM

[ QUOTE ]

I hate to admit weakness on a poker site filled with so much testosterone, but the Woods breakdown when hugging Stevie Williams got to me a bit.

[/ QUOTE ]

HDPM · #**168** 07-24-2006, 12:03 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I hate to admit weakness on a poker site filled with so much testosterone, but the Woods breakdown when hugging Stevie Williams got to me a bit.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

maxpower72 · #**169** 07-24-2006, 02:35 AM

EDIT2: I hope they don't wait forty years to come back to this course. Three par-5s on the back nine (including two of the last three holes) is way better theater than the par 70 tracks the USGA dishes out every year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why is everyone so excited about the par 5's on the back. All three were par 4's. Is going one under par by hitting three wood, six iron and two putting really more exciting than calling it a par. (Don't get me wrong the USGA has gone too far with their abolition of par 5's)

By-Tor · #**170** 07-25-2006, 02:54 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I hate to admit weakness on a poker site filled with so much testosterone, but the Woods breakdown when hugging Stevie Williams got to me a bit.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

I was ball'n right along with him...hard not to. Still chokes me up a bit to even think about it...

Was an incredible momment.