It's one of the things I don't like about this tournament. I have no problem with difficult, but they push it so far at times that they cross the line into unfair. The tourney is supposed to identify the best golfer that weekend, and sometimes I feel that instead it identifies the guy that didn't get unlucky. It is our national championship and as such gets points in the hierarchy, but I actually prefer the philosophy of all three other majors over the USGA's.
Note: I am speaking about the US Open in general. I haven't seen much so far and have no idea what you are talking about with Mahan.
I get this sentiment, but i disagree. What i love about the us open is that it crowns the best player under the absolute most difficult conditions. Has the usga crossed the line to unfair at times? Definitely. But typically the setups are fair and brutal; i.e., if one hits fairways and greens, he has no complaints. They do, of course, require near perfect precision to hit fairways and greens. The rough--and particularly the rough around the greens--is what makes it the most complete test in golf, imo. As for mahan, he yanked an approach left, 3-chipped, and 2-putted for triple. Nothing spectacular about it, just too fancy trying to go high out of the rough to a short side pin. He actually finished out the round really well after that.
True. He only ended up +5 on the day. Funny thing is he's still in the hunt as of right now. There are 28 players within 5 strokes of the leader and with the course set up like it is, that could mean a wild weekend.
Lee Slattery and Chez Reavie both fired 70s today and are sitting at +9 and +10. Ouch. Shows how unforgiving one round can be. Along with those two, some big names missing the cut are Quiros, McIlroy, Watson, Mickelson, Donald, DJ, and Oos-howeveryouspellit
Is there anyone who actually believes that Donald is the #1 golfer in the world? Phil made the cut at +7 btw.
This is the point in a us open that I get depressed, saddled with the realization that the most likely scenarios are: 1) Tiger locks in on cruise while everyone else withers away. Or 2) It turns into a two man contest between tiger and someone who obviously wont beat him. Option 2 makes for better tv drama, but is slower and more painful. Toms and furyk both have the mettle to go head-to-head with tiger, but im not optimistic if he keeps grooving it off the tee.
Maybe it's just bad timing, but does anybody else think the NBC coverage sucks? Since I turned it on, I've gotten about 25% golf and 75% Bob Costas.
This is standard for majors before the leaders go off. There just arent that many people with a realistic shot so its been a long wait.
Wow. All three leaders bogeying 1 could let a bunch of people into this thing. Birdies a little easier to come by out there.
