2013 PGA Tour Discussion Thread

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

Gaskins and Stevens were just talking about how badly Tiger was playing and how he has no chance of making the cut

 

And I was like, I remember my first US Open. He's got a fantastic chance to make the cut and really isn't out of the tournament at all...lots of guys have yet to play and the way the course is, wouldn't be surprised if E was the lead at the end of the day.

Luke Donald is -3 with only seven holes left to play so he will probably be under par and Phil would have a chance but that's probably about it. If Tiger can even get down one more stroke to +2 he'll probably be in the top 20.

Tough course yesterday. Tiger ended up T-13 even staying at +3. +2 is T-10. Sounds like the course is at least as tough today and probably tougher. Might be whoever can shoot 70 and not 73 today.

Gonna stick with my Horschel prediction. Although he will have to dodge a lot of top echelon golfers. Gonna stick by -1 279 also, though its looking more and more like +1 might win this.

[tschu]

Yeah if the wind blows again 70 will be a good score

[tschu]

Here's my lowdown on Merion:

 

It's interesting. It's reeeeally interesting, at least compared the last two snooze courses of Olympic and Congressional. But it comes at a price; the general consensus (not said publicly, but word of mouth and some pointed comments have let the cat out of the bag) that the course is too old, too dated, too short, to defenseless, that the USGA has had to manipulate the hell out of it in order to get it to play tough. There's no graduated rough, they have manipulated many of the fairways to funnel players shots into one spot (force them to hit shorter clubs off the tee or else try to hit a 20-yd wide fairway with the driver), mess with the sight lines and playing angles, put the pins in gimmicky locations, so on and so forth.

 

Most of the challenge comes from the fact that this course was very much designed to be played with a ball that could be easily curved and shaped. Now it's just not easy to do that with modern equipment. Add in the fact that the course punishes the longer hitters disproportionately, and you can see how people are thinking that it's a gimmicky mess, at least if you're playing in it.

 

However, from a spectator point of view, this is awesome. Holes 15 thru 18 are awesome (even if 15 and 17 totally suck as golf holes) spectator-wise. Gonna be a great finish tomorrow. The course is still really unique - I haven't ever seen anything like it. Love the quarry hole too!

[tschu]

lol @ sergio hitting 3 balls out of bounds at 15. Told you that hole is sh**ty and gimmicky (OB is literally 2 yards left of the fairway. Literally 2 yards).

 

Nice birdie from Tiger to start his day!

[tschu]

Gawd Tiger, you suck

[NUance]

lol @ sergio hitting 3 balls out of bounds at 15. Told you that hole is sh**ty and gimmicky (OB is literally 2 yards left of the fairway. Literally 2 yards).

So that's a sextuple bogie for Sergio? OUCH!

 

[tschu]

Now rooting really hard for Michael Kim (a)

[B.B. Hemingway]

Here's my lowdown on Merion:

 

It's interesting. It's reeeeally interesting, at least compared the last two snooze courses of Olympic and Congressional. But it comes at a price; the general consensus (not said publicly, but word of mouth and some pointed comments have let the cat out of the bag) that the course is too old, too dated, too short, to defenseless, that the USGA has had to manipulate the hell out of it in order to get it to play tough. There's no graduated rough, they have manipulated many of the fairways to funnel players shots into one spot (force them to hit shorter clubs off the tee or else try to hit a 20-yd wide fairway with the driver), mess with the sight lines and playing angles, put the pins in gimmicky locations, so on and so forth.

 

Most of the challenge comes from the fact that this course was very much designed to be played with a ball that could be easily curved and shaped. Now it's just not easy to do that with modern equipment. Add in the fact that the course punishes the longer hitters disproportionately, and you can see how people are thinking that it's a gimmicky mess, at least if you're playing in it.

 

However, from a spectator point of view, this is awesome. Holes 15 thru 18 are awesome (even if 15 and 17 totally suck as golf holes) spectator-wise. Gonna be a great finish tomorrow. The course is still really unique - I haven't ever seen anything like it. Love the quarry hole too!

 

I agree. I've never seen a course that roams on both ends of the spectrum when it comes to difficulty from hole to hole.... It allows some easy (real easy) scoring opportunities, but the harder holes will likely take those away.... It looks like (-2) could win the tournament....

[Mavric]

lol @ sergio hitting 3 balls out of bounds at 15. Told you that hole is sh**ty and gimmicky (OB is literally 2 yards left of the fairway. Literally 2 yards).

So that's a sextuple bogie for Sergio? OUCH!

 

Very Tin Cup-esque. Went right past a snowman to hit double figures.

[Mavric]

If Phil can't win the Open on his birthday after entering the day with a one shot lead, I just don't think it's meant to be.

[tschu]

Phil leading

+

Phil's birthday

+

Father's day

+

Bob Costas

+

Peter Jacobsen

+

Jimmy Roberts

=

a totally unwatchable NBC broadcast.

 

And this pace of play stuff is hilarious when combined with the MasterCard commercial that they keep playing where some woman is playing from the men's tees. PACE OF PLAY INDEED

[KJ.]

While we're young?

[QMany]

Why are they going off so late? With any weather delay, which is expected, they might not finish.

[NUance]

Merion is just crushing these guys today. Pretty funny watching the best golfers on earth struggle around the course.

[Mavric]

Merion is just crushing these guys today. Pretty funny watching the best golfers on earth struggle around the course.

Especially Steve Stricker - one of the best ball strikers on tour - going OB then shanking an iron on the same hole. Ouch.