Looking at the 9th Green
Thursday! The 117th
US Open begins! It was a glorious June
day. Fluffy white clouds, a light breeze
and mid-80s. And we did not work a shift
so we were able to be where we wanted and enjoy the day. Which we did.
There were many players who also enjoyed the day – Fowler and
Casey come to mind. And those who did
not. DJ, Rory and Jason are on the
outside looking in. Then there is Xander
Schauffele. I admit I had never heard
of him but I do love his name. Tommy
Fleetwood? He’s not related to Mick but
looks like he could be in a rock band.
There are two amateurs under par.
Welcome to the US Open where there is almost always a crazy leaderboard
the first day.
Many of the boys tamed Erin Hills today. The course which needs the winds to show its
teeth was treated unkindly by Mother Nature.
I believe the USGA started out with a relatively benign setup as
well. I have not seen a single minute of
TV coverage so I do not know how long 18 played today but we watched easily 10
groups go through and there was not a single lay up. This hole is 670 yards! Martin Kaymer airmailed the green! I need to find out how long it played. In its defense it was playing downwind but it
is hard to describe it as wind. Is there word – downslightbreeze?
The funniest thing that happened was on 18 when Jordan’s
second shot was heading for the bunker and hit something hard and bounced a bit
backwards and landed in perfect position maybe 25 yards from the pin. He comes up and looks in the trap and got a
tiny bit rattled – where’s my ball? Someone
pointed behind him and his reaction was funny to watch. Shaking his head with a bit of embarrassment
at his good fortune he just smiled.
Unfortunately, he was not able to make the birdie he was served on a
silver platter by chipping 4’ above the hole and putting it 3’ past. He could not get anything going. But then he has a ton of company.
We saw a good portion of the early field go through 9
including Rickie who went off rather early.
Many hit the green. Quite a few
went long but not a single one hit the green in the correct place. The most popular landing saw at least 10
balls and every single player mis-read the putt on the high side. Now I don’t feel so badly about having
green-reading dyslexia.
As always Thursday brings a huge crowd. The choke points were hard to get through
which by Sunday will be next to impossible.
9 green and 18 green are close together and that’s where people want to
be. 18 has the same huge grandstand
(with chairs!) we had at Chambers Bay. The
par 3 9th has a chair-grandstand which is very large by par 3
standards. So yes, thousands of people
milling around the same area nearest the entrance means…oh boy for the weekend.
Phil. Missing for the
first time since 1994. A generation
ago. Hope he enjoyed his daughter’s
special day as he should. It is
interesting on several levels. Phil to
this day has never been to Erin Hills. I
find it odd for the man who wants this title more than any other and whose Open
prep is second to none. Did he not want
to play here? It is truly a monumental
walk and at 46 maybe a bit too much. He
did not like what he heard about it? Who
knows whether the graduation could have been scheduled differently but the sun
is surely setting quickly on his chances to win the Open. I do not think it was right for him to wait
until the last second to withdraw. Poor Roberto
was kept on pins and needles but came in with an even par round. Good for him.
Happy # 47 tomorrow Phil! The
crowds miss you.
The weather tomorrow looks almost the same as today so I am
anxious to see if the players can continue to tame Erin Hills or if the USGA
will find a way to toughen it up. Even
though some of the game’s stars struggled mightily yesterday all those 5, 6 and
7 under par rounds could not have made them happy. They may be retreating a little from the idea
that par should win our national championship but they certainly do not want a
15 under par winner. Can’t wait to find
out.
Night…
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