US Open underway
 

Tiger birdies the 10th (his first hole) to get off to a nice start.

Re: US Open underway
 

..and boggies 15th and 16th

Re: US Open underway
 

Some of the pros will be complaining about these greens. I don't think I can blame them.

Crybabies
 

Why do they all complain about how difficult the course is? Shouldn't the better players have an advantage on a difficult course? What difference does it make if you shoot 72 and everyone else shoots 73 and higher, or if you shoot 61 and everyone else shoots 62 and higher? Don't you still have a one shot lead?

It's like if Derek Jeter complained, "Santana was too hard to hit. Where's Aaron Sele?"

Somebody is going to win by shooting a lower score than everyone else. Stop bitching and play.

Re: US Open underway
 

I can't even explain how much I'd pay to not have Chris Berman in the booth for this thing. The weekend NBC coverage can't come soon enough.

Re: Crybabies
 

I think the typical US Open setup hurts the top players. When you force any shot in the rough to be a chop shot back to the fairway and when you force all puts to be super-touchy lag puts, you are reducing the differences between the players. Since the better players are superior in most areas, taking away their edge in recovery shots, taking driver out of their hands, etc., just reduces their overall edge since those aspects of their game are forcibly equalized to the rest of the field.

Re: Crybabies
 

Did you see holes #7 and #10 last year's final round?
Sometimes bitching is justified.
But I've heard mostly positive things about Pinehurst.

I agree with Clarkmeister about the unplayable rough minimizing the best players' advantage.
However, that shouldn't be a problem this year.


Hopefully the course will get a little water this year.

Re: Crybabies
 

I don't think it the difficulty of the course that gets top players tweaked, but the "gimmicky" factor. When TW hits a 9 iron to the middle of the green and 5 feet from the pin and it bounces of to 30 yards over the green, he ends up in same position as the average pro who just misses the green by 30 yards. The rock hard greens evens out the players.

Look at the British Open froma couple years ago. The deal there was the fairways were hard and slanted, so whether you hit the fairway or not with your tee shot, you end up in the roughly (pun intended) the same place. Who won it? Unknown Ben Curtis.

Re: US Open underway
 

[ QUOTE ]
I can't even explain how much I'd pay to not have Chris Berman in the booth for this thing. The weekend NBC coverage can't come soon enough.

[/ QUOTE ]

Since I'm stuck at work, I would write something like, "Please tell me he isn't doing the stupid nickname thing with the players." but we all know he is duty-bound to do it.

...and to whoever was assembling that top 10 - make sure you include Rocco, Cook, and Steve Jones. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: US Open underway
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I can't even explain how much I'd pay to not have Chris Berman in the booth for this thing. The weekend NBC coverage can't come soon enough.

[/ QUOTE ]

Since I'm stuck at work, I would write something like, "Please tell me he isn't doing the stupid nickname thing with the players." but we all know he is duty-bound to do it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, so far we've had John "short order" Cook, "Ground control to" David Toms, and K.J. Choi "to the world", among other gems. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]