How about a US Open thread?

Cafe Society
21

Man, does Reteif Goosen own this event or what? :slight_smile:

Seriously, that’s what great about the US Open. It’s so hard and can eat your lunch so quickly that having the best swing or the best form guarantees jack. The winner is whoever can put it together for four days one some of the worst conditions imaginable. Gotta love it.

I was kinda rooting for Els at the beginning, but now I’d be surprised if anyone other than Goosen won. He’s been rock-solid through three rounds, and two shots is a big lead here. I’ll be pulling for him Sunday, if only because he took way too much crap for failing to win it outright the last time with a three putt from 12 feet on 18 (honestly, that’s all I heard for like a solid week).

22

Someone said earlier in the thread that this is playing like a links course which is good for Goosen and Els. It’s all about keeping the ball down and out of the spinach and getting good rolls rather than trying to air it out. If it’s windy, the field could back up even more tomorrow. If Goosen shoots par tomorrow that might be good enough to win it.

Of course there’s always the possibility that one bad shot could cost him two or three strokes. It’s a penalizing course.

23

That would light a fire under Tiger I suspect. I would love to see the two of them go head to head when they are both at the top of their games.

As for the tournament, I think Maruyama will follow up his 74 with something low. I’m not sure he’ll go lower than Els, this seems to be his tournament (the open in general, hasn’t he won it twice or so?) so I think he’ll go low as well. I’m not to sure about Goosen, he’ll shoot around Par I suspect and I’m not sure if that’ll be enough because Mick will shoot a 67 or there abouts.

My guess is that there will be a playoff at around 6 under with a few of the four I’ve mentioned. They are big names, that would be great if it happened.

24

There will be no playoff. The winner will shoot 4-under and he will be right-handed. I have foreseen this and I have money on it. You can trust me, I’m right on these things at least one-third of the time.

(I know Phil is right-handed, but he plays as a lefty so he is out)

25

yeah, 2/3 of the way through the forth round, I’m so far off it isn’t even funny. In the history of the world, few people have been more wrong.

26

Is it just me, or is this course a smidgen unforgiving?

27

Damn you Mickelson, you sinister bastard. I bet on -4, but also against Phil. C’mon, Goosen, suck it up.

This course is insane.

28

Phil needs to do a Caddy Shack imitation when Goosen is putting … “miss, miss, YAAA!!!”.

29

Heh Heh Heh.

Never a doubt. Drinks are on me tonight, fellas.

30

Good call, Murc.

That’s the Lefty we all know and love, the guy who can always be counted on to three-putt with a major on the line.

Nice, steady performance by the Goose.

Call me crazy but I love it when the course is this ridiculous. It’s fun to watch the pros get humbled like weekend hackers.

31

Sweet Giorgio Zott on an wholegrain bagel, he did it! :smiley:

Man, this is unbelievable…I tell you what, forget whatever stupid monkey Mickelson may have had on his back, Goosen was hauling a friggin’ rhinoceros. Every analysis, retrospective, discussion etc. about his breakthrough 2001 US Open win, every single damn one, that I’ve ever heard, was condensed to “3-putt on 18 from 12 feet”. Never mind that, oh he still won the flippin’ tourney. Sports Illustrated (yeah, that Sports Illustrated!) said that the tourney would be “forever remembered for the Van de Velde-ian finish”.

Can you imagine living with that? To have your triumph, your moment in the sun, the great achievement you worked your butt off for, being completely ignored because of that one mistake which had absolutely no effect on the final outcome?

Well, anyway, Goose, congrats. Go on, celebrate. Strut. Pat yourself on the back. Stick it in the noses of those mindless blowhards. Take all the time you need. You’ve earned it, man.

And how. Eleven one-putts. On greens that were so difficult, seemingly half the field whined their heads off about them. Save after save after save. Never a hint of a choke. Never an ounce of confidence lost. It was downright breathtaking. And he not only won outright, but with a shot to spare. He attacked by 18 without remorse, and the outcome reminded me far more of Nicklaus than Van de Velde. Just a hell of a win…what more can I say?

Oh, and it’ll be really interesting exactly how the news outlets play up Mickelson’s 2nd place finish. Before his Masters win, this would’ve been a no-brainer (Chokleson blows it again! Should shoot himself and get it over with, but would just barely miss! Silver coffin! Tiger punching bag!). Now that the seal, as Trunk put it, is broken, they can’t play that angle anymore…and furthermore, he’s become insanely popular. So…“Popularity and a chip in on 17th instead of what actually happens gets you a first ever US Open championship?” “Face turn, but in many ways the same guy?” “Tiger extremely lite?”

Gawd, I love this game. :slight_smile:

32

Great weekend of golf.

To bad that Saturday wasn’t Sunday. THAT was some day of golf. Tons of different guys with the lead. Guys percolating up and sliding back down. One of the best days I’ve seen.

Still, Sunday was good. It just happened to be good between 2 people. I only wish Goosen and Micky were playing together. It was good because it was so mentally tough on these guys (which is why golf is good anyway).

I think that Goosen’s performance on the back 9 should be remembered as one of the greatest exhibits of putting ever. Everytime I thought, “oh well, he’s got to give on back here, BOOM!, dead center.”

Great tournament.

And, I’ve been hearing you didn’t see this type of popularity since Arnie. Hey, Tiger got at least that much attention at a lot of places. We’ll see if the TV ratings for Mickelson being the hunt on Sunday are where Tiger’s were.

33

I think Mickelson was smiling a little too much the whole time. That signalled to me that he was going to lose. His lack of concentration was bound to lead to a mistake. He even admitted, later on, that he was playing the best golf of his life. But he took it too lightly. You would never see Tiger smile like that while walking down the fairway in such a tight match. Goosen showed that the 1st one wasn’t a fluke. The guy was the epitome of concentration. While the other golf greats were putting up 80’s and crying about the course, Goosen (who wasn’t even playing his best) was draining putts dead center. I think only one went in the side door. Hats off to Retief. With 2 Majors, he joins a very exclusive club and he definitely deserves it.

34

Today, Ron Sirak of Golf World published an interesting article about the course set-up for last weekend. He is a bit snide toward the players, but I think he makes some fair points.

Only thing unfair: The whining

In the end, I think it reads as high praise for Goosen (and Mickelson).