Saturday randomness…
Pray the golf gods are kind tomorrow…the smack upside the head to Rory at the Masters was enough.
An 8 shot lead is way different than 4.
Tiger is not here to scare him early like at the Masters.
Phil isn’t here either – well not the Phil golf fans know and love anyway. Is the combination of age and psoriatic arthritis taking its toll?
Where were the roars?
All four current major title holders made the cut – the closet is 14 – that’s right FOURTEEN strokes behind McIlroy.
World #1 Luke Donald – 21 back. World #2 Lee Westwood – 9 back. World #3 Martin Kaymer – 17 back.
Wow!
Two years ago at Bethpage we heard those crazy New Yorkers chanting “Let’s go Phil!” all over the place. Today we heard a changing of the guard with “Let’s go Rory!” time and again. (somehow “crazy Marylanders or DC-ers just don’t sound right )
Many are ready to crown a new king…I am thinking there might finally be a worthy heir to the throne. But know this…Rory has won exactly two professional tournaments! One PGA at Quail Hollow and one European at Dubai. Let’ really talk about this in another 10 to 15 wins. Another major or two?
Saturday is moving day and a few players actually made moves – Lee Westwood and Jason Day to be exact – but most likely it is too little, too late. Had they done this Friday it might have been a different story.
It was hot and humid and I think I drank a gallon of water. Congressional is a tough walk on the fairways because it is very hilly. It is really tough where we walk at the ropes because most of the fairway rough slope up gradually and then way up at pretty good angles. Add to this they are mounded if that is a word. Think of walking up and down a camel’s back or Dolly Parton’s anatomy leaning at a 30 degree angle.
There is a definite lack of excitement this year – many reasons for this no doubt. But one may be that the USGA has set up the course to protect its precious rough to the point where the spectators are so far removed from play it is ridiculous. If you are not in a grandstand your chances of seeing much around a green are slim. And if you are close chances are the green is raised and there are more of those mounds (smaller of course) so you cannot see the cup. When the crowd is 15 or 20 deep and every eyeball can see the action it is awesome. This was not the case today.
When we got to 18 I expected to see an enormous crowd. Not there. Don’t know where they went. If you watch you know that 18 is backed by a pond so there is obviously no crowd there. But there is great viewing not only from the 18th hole stands but #10 is right next to it and there are huge grass areas for sitting to see both greens. It’s pretty cool – I imagine TV showed this. But my friend Rick wrote to say how empty it looked. Felt that way too.
We have been with Rory for two days and he is at this moment a machine. He is in the zone. With few exceptions every drive, every approach, every putt is close to perfect. The young man is putting on quite a show, a clinic even by Tiger’s standards. He deserves to win. No one else is even close. I wish him the very best tomorrow.
A few thoughts on the course and the USGA...
The USGA has to be apoplectic. This is NOT supposed to happened at the US Open - 14 under? In three days? I feel sorry for the field next year at Olympic - the fairways will be 3 yards wide, the rough will be 18" long and the greens will be resurfaced with granite. Jeff chatted with the USGA official who set up the course today and he said the greens which are less than 2 years old are too young. They roll well but they are just too soft. They will not hold anything and with the rain they have had each day they hold everything. I'm surpised. Did the USGA know the greens needed to be redone when they awarded the tournament to Congressional? If so, what were they thinking? If not, why not? That said, Rory's performance is still stellar.
In closing tonight you have to be here or maybe you can feel it too that the golf world is a bit off kilter at the moment. We who love the sport have been spoiled for years by Tiger and Phil and though time always marches on we want the excitement to continue. Happy are we to add Rory and those lovable Europeans to the mix. Love him or hate him, golf needs him back.
The USGA’s & PGA’s new prayer…
Now I lay me down to rest
Please golf gods bring back the best
We miss the roars
We’re on our knees
Tiger get well, oh please oh please!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Very interesting comments from USGA officials about the "easiness" of the course - especially the greens. It DOES look more like a Quad Cities with the ball marks on the greens and the short iron back-ups. But as McDowell said in a post-interview, "At level par, I'd be in the hunt most years." Rory IS being very Tiger-like. And did you know it's been 90 years since there have been back-to-back, non-US winners from the same country? England in 1920-21; Northern Ireland (probably) these past two years. Thank you, Bob Costas!
ReplyDelete