Meet The New Phold, Same As The Old Phold

[Bill Murphy]

*sigH* It was looking like a playoff, it really was. 7 was just a crapshoot for everybody all week, but the 3-yack on 17 was vintage Phold. And he even took his time on the comebacker, too. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

Phold got a bit unlucky w/his chip on 7 and the birdie putt on 14. He played well enough, and Goose was a rock, but still. Very similar to at least three of Phold's other silver medals.

The bogey on 18 Saturday was what really killed him. Classic highside push; seen it before at Pinehurst, Augusta, Southern Hills, ACC, etc. Being in the final group down by 1, instead of penultimate group down by 2 would've been a huge difference. Funk was a good draw for Phold, but Els had to be a dream for Goose, esp. w/all the hoopla of the two most popular guys in front of him instead of right beside him.

Props to The Pulse, who certainly had to be the worst possible guy for Phold to try and catch under any circumstances.

Further props to the grounds crew for doing their best to speed up the swampy 7th green by rolling it Friday night, and also to Els for his wise strategy of keeping his game tuned by playing for the prior five weeks. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[andyfox]

The course was brutal. Nobody broke par. It just wore everybody down, most sooner, some later. All those tough putts, Phil finally just didn't handle it, like everybody else, all except Goosen. Goosen's putting on the back nine was superlative. He didn't leave himself the big breakers, but still, he made everything he needed to, even long putts for bogeys. And he got a couple of breaks when he really could have been in jail.

It's hard to win. You need to do better than all but one other guy (or team) for people to call you Phold. Were the Lakers terrible chokers this year, or simply second best? Were the Yankees pholders, or did they lose to a team that just did everything a little bit better in the World Series?

Anyway, good thing Phil won Augusta before this happened. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Bill Murphy]

Phil didn't really choke, but, dang, ya just hated to see it all get away that quick, and after such a great run of holes. The course was insane, and Bear in his prime would have had a tough time catching Goose at an Open Sunday spotting him two strokes.

FWIW the Lakers & Yankees were both fat, lazy, over-confident, & overrated(in retrospect anyway), and were clearly outplayed & definitely outcoached. /images/graemlins/ooo.gif