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

[RacersEdge]

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I classified last year as better than good for Tiger, so a great year could be 2 majors I guess, especially ones where a player wins the opens as Jones mentioned once. I don't think he would consider many one major years great. Excellent, very good, etc.... I guess it depends. You KNOW Tiger would never consider a no-major year great. Maybe if he beat Nelson's record or something insane. But Tiger is about winning majors. Also, when I am talking great years, I mean special ones, years Tiger can expect maybe 2-3 of or something. Years that can at least be discussed with the best, Hogan's '53, Jones's slam, Nelson's '45, that kind of year.

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so... a year in which he has.. 7 (?) tournament victories in a row, 2 of which being the PGA Championship and Open Championship.. that is just a "better than good year?"

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Well, I think HDPM may have short-term memory loss or something, since last year was great. WHICH IS WHY in this thread I contended that his year thus far hasn't been up to HIS standards. Let me try again: if he AND the writers paid to cover the sport both agree that there is something lacking, then maybe they're right? This tournament - particularly the weekend - was exactly the type of event in which last year he would send the others packing early while coasting to victory.

Yet despite Tiger blowing a final round lead in the Masters - playing in the final group - and despite being a complete non-factor in the only other truly big tournament thus far, The Players, I get lit up for simply agreeing with both Tiger and those that cover the game that he's not in peak form. This week was no different. He was like a racecar stuck in fourth.

Also, I don't get the nationality thing. Why would or should I care more if an American won it? This isn't the Ryder Cup. Good for Cabrera, he's a chubby smoker from a country wanting for national heroes. That's a great story and I'm happy for him.

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I really think he doesn't give a crap about the Players. Agree with everything else you said though.

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The problem is Tiger could be dominating the world - like he is - and still say he needs much work on his game. They are not mutually exclusive categories. Remeber, this is the guy who won the Master's by 12 shots, and decided his swing needed a whole new re-design.

[tuq]

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I really think he doesn't give a crap about the Players.

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I think he actually does care about it.

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Yeah, aside from the fact that he grinds over/cares about EVERY event he plays in, that really is a special event. If not the best field all year it's in the top two (I think the PGA may have a better field). It's at an infamously difficult but respected course and the winning scores are on par (no pun intended) with most majors. Tiger may be chasing Jack's major victory total, but The Players is a huge event, way moreso than Torrey Pines or the Buick events that he plays in.

[suzzer99]

I'm so [censored] pissed. I was camping all weekend, totally looking forward to coming back and watching today's action on Tivo. For some reason the picture cuts out - right as the leaders make the turn. But I still have sound for the back 9. Yay. In 4 years I've never seen Tivo do that.

So I get to follow the action via this thread instead. So freaking annoying.

[RacersEdge]

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I'm so [censored] pissed. I was camping all weekend, totally looking forward to coming back and watching today's action on Tivo. For some reason the picture cuts out - right as the leaders make the turn. But I still have sound for the back 9. Yay. In 4 years I've never seen Tivo do that.

So I get to follow the action via this thread instead. So freaking annoying.

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The entire broadcast is being replayed right now on UniHD channel - goes until 3:30 CST.

[thedarknight]

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I classified last year as better than good for Tiger, so a great year could be 2 majors I guess, especially ones where a player wins the opens as Jones mentioned once. I don't think he would consider many one major years great. Excellent, very good, etc.... I guess it depends. You KNOW Tiger would never consider a no-major year great. Maybe if he beat Nelson's record or something insane. But Tiger is about winning majors. Also, when I am talking great years, I mean special ones, years Tiger can expect maybe 2-3 of or something. Years that can at least be discussed with the best, Hogan's '53, Jones's slam, Nelson's '45, that kind of year.

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so... a year in which he has.. 7 (?) tournament victories in a row, 2 of which being the PGA Championship and Open Championship.. that is just a "better than good year?"

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Well, I think HDPM may have short-term memory loss or something, since last year was great. WHICH IS WHY in this thread I contended that his year thus far hasn't been up to HIS standards. Let me try again: if he AND the writers paid to cover the sport both agree that there is something lacking, then maybe they're right? This tournament - particularly the weekend - was exactly the type of event in which last year he would send the others packing early while coasting to victory.

Yet despite Tiger blowing a final round lead in the Masters - playing in the final group - and despite being a complete non-factor in the only other truly big tournament thus far, The Players, I get lit up for simply agreeing with both Tiger and those that cover the game that he's not in peak form. This week was no different. He was like a racecar stuck in fourth.

Also, I don't get the nationality thing. Why would or should I care more if an American won it? This isn't the Ryder Cup. Good for Cabrera, he's a chubby smoker from a country wanting for national heroes. That's a great story and I'm happy for him.

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DUde are you [censored] kidding me...what is exactly LACKING that the writers have said...i mean seriously? Compare last year to this year, Tiger is actually better considering last year he had already missed the cut at the US Open. The funny thing is that IF he is lacking he is getting seconds in the major championships. While the 2nd ranked player in the world, Mr. Phil Mickelson was LACKING during this year's majors and what has he produced?

THIS is freaking golf, not everyone is going to have it all the time. The fact is Tiger is more consistent than ever, he's not blowing the competition by 20 strokes or whatever, but his variance of rounds is now among the lowest. He just puts himself in contention, whether that is blowing the field by 20 strokes doesn't matter to him as long as he can be in position to win, which he usually does.

[BadBoyBenny]

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Yeah, aside from the fact that he grinds over/cares about EVERY event he plays in, that really is a special event. If not the best field all year it's in the top two (I think the PGA may have a better field). It's at an infamously difficult but respected course and the winning scores are on par (no pun intended) with most majors. Tiger may be chasing Jack's major victory total, but The Players is a huge event, way moreso than Torrey Pines or the Buick events that he plays in.

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I agree with everything you said but I don't think Tiger has much respect for the course. He has been pretty consistent in saying that he prefers traditional layouts.

[CrazyEyez]

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For all the cryin' about Augusta & USGA setups, in both cases this year the guy who clearly played the best won.

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I think Oakmont was absolutely perfect. If they could cryogenically freeze the Sunday conditions I would be happy having the Open there every year.

That said, the course to me was different than the past few opens and even Augusta this year. Those other courses seem more like they take a very difficult course, and ramp it up by turning the greens into glass. At times it seems like you could hit a great tee shot, hit a great approach, and still get [censored] over by the greens. With Oakmont, they had an insanely difficult course tee to green, but the greens were playable.

I'm not saying the greens were easier this week. But to me, it's more fun to watch and a better test of skill to have greens that are a little slower or more receptive, but have more break vs. ones that are a little flatter but you tap it and it rolls 20 feet. On some of these other setups, it's a chore to hold the surface with a wedge. And you're hoping you start it on the right line with the putter, and then the speed almost doesn't matter because you need to hit the back of the cup to stop the ball.

A lot of this had to do with Oakmont itself. You don't really need to mess with the setup because it's designed so well already. I'm going to parrot Johnny Miller but some of those cross bunkers are brilliant. You can't drive in the rough, then hack something out and chase it up the fairway as far as you please.

[tuq]

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DUde are you [censored] kidding me...what is exactly LACKING that the writers have said...i mean seriously? Compare last year to this year, Tiger is actually better considering last year he had already missed the cut at the US Open.

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OK, since we're both convinced that the other person sucks at this thread, let me be a little clearer, maybe we'll get on the same page. I am not comparing calendar years here, I am comparing the sick run that Tiger had at or before the British last season right on through the early portion of this year with the Tiger Woods who:

- completely melted down on the back nine at Bay Hill
- held the final round lead in the final group at the Masters and couldn't close it out
- held the final round lead in the final group at the US Open and couldn't close it out

I'm fine chalking this up to variance within reason as he can't simply win them all, but last season he wasn't shoving wedges from the middle of the fairway into bunkers, or airmailing greens from 120 yards.

Here is the link to Tiger's 2006 results. Incredibly sick end of season. If you think he's still playing at that level for some reason then you're not looking closely enough.

[.Alex.]

I think Tiger played very well this week and would have won most of the time under similar conditions. His third round was one of the greatest ball-striking rounds I've ever seen, considering the circumstances. If he sinks a single putt over 10-12 feet IN THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT, he wins. You can say it's his fault he missed those and of course you're partially right, but I think there is just a lot more variance in making putts compared to the other aspects of the game.

[thedarknight]

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DUde are you [censored] kidding me...what is exactly LACKING that the writers have said...i mean seriously? Compare last year to this year, Tiger is actually better considering last year he had already missed the cut at the US Open.

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OK, since we're both convinced that the other person sucks at this thread, let me be a little clearer, maybe we'll get on the same page. I am not comparing calendar years here, I am comparing the sick run that Tiger had at or before the British last season right on through the early portion of this year with the Tiger Woods who:

- completely melted down on the back nine at Bay Hill
- held the final round lead in the final group at the Masters and couldn't close it out
- held the final round lead in the final group at the US Open and couldn't close it out

I'm fine chalking this up to variance within reason as he can't simply win them all, but last season he wasn't shoving wedges from the middle of the fairway into bunkers, or airmailing greens from 120 yards.

Here is the link to Tiger's 2006 results. Incredibly sick end of season. If you think he's still playing at that level for some reason then you're not looking closely enough.

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heh I don't think you suck at this thread. I have eluded to all those mishaps you've already mentioned..it's just really difficult to sustain that high level of play, especially at a tough golf course like Oakmont. He was never the outright leader at the US open, and at the masters I don't recall him having the outright lead, if he did it was at most 1-shot..that doesn't mean he should DEFINITELY be winning it.

Comparably, it's not flawed to compare calendar years since to my memory he seems to pick it up from the British Open into the Fall. His ridiculous winning streaks have started towards the latter half of the season..so comparably the 2006 season to the 2007 season, he's actually better and maybe he could start gearing up towards the end of 2007 like he did last year.

But yes, he's not having that aura of invincibility he had winning 7 friggin' tournaments in a row, and piping each flagstick like at Hoylake. However, I just don't think Tiger matches up that well at the US Open, out of all the majors it'll probably be the one he wins the least. Also, all things considered, finishing 1-1-2-2 in the last 4 majors is not that bad.

Tiger remarked at that feat with a little sarcasm saying "yeah I could've improved on that, but it's not too bad..."