Nothing to add since your guy missed the cut, eh? Thought you might be capable of discussing golf, rather than your one trick. Guess I was wrong. And the millions consist of others besides you.
What a train wreck of a round! Should make for an exciting Sunday, with 4 tied for the lead. Hope too many of them don’t fade early. Could be brutal going down those final holes.
Thought it odd the USGA essentially admitting they messed up.
Re: Phil, yeah, my buddies and I have discussed whether situations existed where you could intentionally break rules to your advantage. Never expected to see such a blatant example from someone the caliber of Phil.
DJ is gonna drive me crazy. Hoping for a duel between mim and Koepka. Gonna be weird with the final pairings the way they are.
Ugh. I tried tuning in, but I simply can’t listen to the US Open anymore. Just too much white noise from the crowd; I even heard a couple of goddam chants. Look, a two-by-four isn’t a peanut butter sandwich, a cruise ship isn’t a puppy, American Ninja Warrior isn’t Jesus Christ Superstar, and golf isn’t baseball. Why is this so hard to understand? I’ll have it on muted tomorrow. If I see anything I feel compelled to comment on, I will.
Mickelson was given the appropriate penalty per the rulebook. Justice was served. Dunno why anyone’s so hellbent on giving him grossly disproportionate punishments, and as someone who’s received more than a few in my lifetime, I find this attitude absolutely repulsive. You want draconian pileons and grossly unequal treatment, there’s always sumo.
Ah, heck with it…y’know what…after reading this, what I really think would help would be if several top players and several top PGA officials met and had a quiet, friendly discussion about the difficulty of the US Open and what exactly constitutes “too difficult” or “unfair”. Seriously, how difficult should it be, and what would make it more fair? I haven’t heard anyone even attempt to define these in concrete terms, and if nothing else, it would be fascinating to see the thought processes that go into designing a major course. When Texas Motor Speedway had its first NASCAR race and seemingly almost everyone was screaming to the high heavens about the “bad design” of the course, the most frustrating thing was that no one seemed to want to bother explaining why the design was so horrible (I sure as crap couldn’t see anything) and what it would take to fix it. (The only thing I remember seeing was “the wall just comes right up”. And?)
I agree about the crowd noise. I’ve long been surprised that the Masters, at least, did not eject the yahoos who shouted out after drives.
IMO, the intentionality is an issue. I’m not a stickler for the rules - I golf for fun and wager modestly with like-minded friends. But I assumed the rule was intended to address a situation where the ball moved inadvertently - say the wind blew it when you addressed it. But I really don’t care how the USGA chooses to apply such a rule.
I know someone posted the winning scores - and I read it. But I was still surprised to hear of the past winners at +5. Personally, I enjoy one week when the pros don’t go low. But IMO there should not be a pin position where you cannot stop a putt - like above the hole on 18. The pin placements were the only thing I objected to.
As for Phil, I think the penalty has to be DQ. It looks like the 2 stroke penalty must be for an accidental hit while the ball is moving unexpectedly. Think about it, if he actually sunk that shot while the ball was moving, he would have ended up with a better score. You can bet plenty of hackers will be using that strategy today on golf courses around the country. On a downhiller that starts slow and then speeds up, just sprint to the hole and park your putter a couple inches past the hole, and then deflect it in if it misses the hole. Take the easy double bogey.
Yup, Phil should have been DQ’d and were it Bob McNobody III he would’ve been.
The difficulty of the course is irrelevant, the state of his round is irrelevant. In golf you play it how it lies and setting out to deliberately cheat like that should see you thrown off the course. The rules give the organisers every chance to DQ him, it is as clear a major breach of golf etiquette as I’ve ever seen and if they set this precedent now then shame on them.
When every stroke counts and relates directly to finishing positions, dollars and tour points, those finishing directly below Mickleson might be regretting not taking the same actions themselves, or maybe they will do it? on those holes where stopping close to the flag is very hard, just position your caddie and deflect it in. Two stroke penalty at worst.
On the other hand, if this really becomes a legitimate strategy, it would be funny watching out-of-shape golfers jiggling while running to the hole. Who says golfers aren’t athletes?
Phil could’ve declared his ball unplayable, suffered a one stroke penalty and then take the putt again close to where it was originally. That would’ve been a non-controversial strategy and with conservative play he could’ve ended up with the same score on that hole.
Why do you say this? There’s nothing about “accidental” in the rule. Making a stroke at a moving ball is penalized with a two-stroke penalty. Making a stroke is an intentional act.
The penalty for Breach of Rule 1-2 is a two strokes (or a loss of hole in match play). The kicker is that the rule includes a clause for certain violations: “In the case of a serious breach of Rule 1-2, the Committee may impose a penalty of disqualification,” the rule reads.
yep, exactly. and that was serious, consider that no one speaking on the subject had ever seen anything like it before and Mickleson plainly stated his intention to cheat…well if that doesn’t count as “serious” I don’t know what is. What more could he have done to make it serious?
It brings the game into disrepute without a shadow of a doubt and Mickleson now has a massive asterisk against his name.
Re: Lefty, in light of the intentionality, I sorta view it as a “conduct unbecoming” issue. But I’m not gonna question the USGA’s enforcement of their rules.
I always thought Nike had exclusive endorsements with their golfers, that the swoosh would be the only logo they wore. Anyone else ever hear that? But today, Reed had some software logo on his right sleeve.
Koepka played well. Someone coulda offered his wife/GF suggestions on how to dress… :rolleyes:
BUT, Rule 1-2 only applies if the situation isn’t covered by another rule. Since the situation is covered by the law governing taking a stroke at a moving ball, 1-2 isn’t relevant.
A fact being missed by a number of people who are offering opinions on the issue.:dubious:
You have to seriously stretch credibility to think that 14-5 applies and not 1-2 for Mickleson’s situation. He stopped the ball rolling off the green, on purpose and premeditated. Plus, rule 33-7 gives the organisers the opportunity to disqualify for a serious breach of etiquette anyway. Which it was.
