Golf

1kiwi

We are going to see some pretty high scores in the US Open.

Last time it was held at Oakmont back in 2016 Dustin Johnson won with a score of -4. The official cutline was +6
Jim Furyk, Shane Lowry & Scott Piercy all finished T2 on -1
Sergia Garcia & Brandon Grace were T3.
Jon Rahm finished as the leading amateur on +7 and Scottie Scheffler was also in the field as an amateur but missed the cut.

1kiwi

@JK said in Golf:

Feature groups (3 I think) coverage starts at 11ish tonight, general coverage from 4am tomorrow NZ time

Not sure which early tee groups are the features but there are certainly some good ones. Lowrey. Rory and Rose prob one of them. Bryson (hah maybe!) and Schaufelle (my pick to win) may be another.

11.18pm NZST
Ludvig Aberg, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama

11.29pm NZST
Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Jose Luis Ballester (top amateur in the world)

11.40pm NZST
Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy

taniwharugby

@1kiwi was the rough as bad as it is now?

Rory said he had a practice round, birdied the last 2 and played ok shooting 82....

In a way it is good, showing these guys up form time to time, but I dont think anyone wants to pay to watch multiple players shooting mid-high 80s!

I've seen comments saying that 15-20 handicappers would struggle to break 200, bit of an exaageration I think, but then Scheffler described his 10 handicap mate as 'not a very good golfer' - the gap between the top guys to your bang average touring pro to top amateurs to club scratch golfers to everyone else is huge.

JK

Fizzzzzzing!

1kiwi

@taniwharugby said in Golf:

@1kiwi was the rough as bad as it is now?

Rory said he had a practice round, birdied the last 2 and played ok shooting 82....

In a way it is good, showing these guys up form time to time, but I dont think anyone wants to pay to watch multiple players shooting mid-high 80s!

I've seen comments saying that 15-20 handicappers would struggle to break 200, bit of an exaageration I think, but then Scheffler described his 10 handicap mate as 'not a very good golfer' - the gap between the top guys to your bang average touring pro to top amateurs to club scratch golfers to everyone else is huge.

I think the rough at Oakmont has always been long. It is one of the toughest courses around.

JK

I think they are just making more of a big deal about it this year.

Was a good little vid re the history of the golf on PGA channel that told the story of how they always wanted the course hard and sometimes would put new bunkers in overnight to strengthen it. And then decided to take out all the trees.

JK

Do you play @1kiwi? where abouts are you a member?

1kiwi

@JK said in Golf:

Do you play @1kiwi? where abouts are you a member?

I play but not currently a member anywhere. More of a try to play a round a week these days unfortunately due to other commitments.
Do you play yourself?

JK

A round a week! How good.

Yep do play a bit but too sporadically for my liking. Sometimes 3 or 4 times a week, other times once a month! Think 25 or 26 rounds so far this year. Did set a goal for 50 birdies this year (last year got in the low 40s) but I'm well behind where I need to be.

1kiwi

Regarding the US Open
Jack Nicklaus once said that he liked to keep an ear to the ground ahead of the US Open for the invariable complaints that ensued about the difficulties the championship typically presents. He figured that a negative mindset equaled one more player he wouldn't need to worry about when the chips were down.

"A difficult golf course eliminates a lot of players," the four-time champion said. "The US Open flag eliminates alot of players. Some players just weren't meant to win the US Open, and a lot of them know it."

Source: USOpen.com

taniwharugby

I once played in a big tournament at St Andrews in Hamilton, and they had the longest thickest rough I had ever encountered, and had a big influence on my scores.

And yep, I had convinced myself it would be a problem before I even played.

JK

@taniwharugby said in Golf:

I once played in a big tournament at St Andrews in Hamilton, and they had the longest thickest rough I had ever encountered, and had a big influence on my scores.

And yep, I had convinced myself it would be a problem before I even played.

I played one at Royal Auckland as a junior that was set up super tough. Fairways were unlike anything I had ever played on before. But the rough was horrific and just a total trap for the never ending slice I had back then. Didnt have the strength to smash it out well either.

sparky

Ryan Fox birdies the first!!!!'

sparky

Fox loses a shot at the third.

Ho hum! It was fun while it lasted.

taniwharugby

@sparky ha I even looked at that, think he was paying about $6 to birdie the first...

JK

+2 first round for Fox which isnt bad considering some of the scoring. Puts him T33

JJ Spaun leading at -4.

At the moment it looks like more players will shoot 80 or more in the first round than under par

1kiwi

Sepp Straka & Shane Lowry both post +9 rounds
Justin Rose didn't fear much better at +7
Other notable names
Jason Day, Tony Finau , Patrick Cantlay & Justin Thomas post +6
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau is at +3 alongside Scottie Scheffler and Rory +4
Previous winners Brooks Koepka is T3 at -2 and Jon Rahm T6 at -1

1kiwi

@JK said in Golf:

+2 first round for Fox which isnt bad considering some of the scoring. Puts him T33

JJ Spaun leading at -4.

At the moment it looks like more players will shoot 80 or more in the first round than under par

Currently 16 players who have shot 80 or over

KiwiPie

It can go wrong quickly - Sam Burns was -3 late in his round and dropped 5 shots in the last 4 holes.

taniwharugby

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