no time to lament on a shit year so far for me. PIETERS 2 weeks back capping it off with WDing thru 8holes at the NORDEA.
quickly on to the US OPEN this week, where OAKMONT will play host for this event and has held the most US OPENs, going to show that this course is truly a great test as a US OPEN venue. some may not like the tough/outrageous conditions, but to realize how good some of these players are at certain aspects in golf, this course will dissect what youre not good at, and expose it. to make up strokes during the week is to do something a little less worse than other players in the field, that is golf in a nutshell. normally its the other way around in most PGA events. sometimes DAVIS the head of the USGA will go overboard, but typically when its said and done, youre still getting the rightful champion at the end of the week, spite the tricked up layout and the saltiness of it, CHAMBER BAY still produced a great champion in SPIETH last year.
for OAKMONT, it truly is a piece of art in the golf design world. you can get counterfeit and copy cat hole designs, but OAKMONT is a 1 of a kind golf course. dont get me wrong greens are fast as can be, rough as thick as can be, but the hole design isnt really tainted due to the increased distance that the clubs and balls provide players today. sure there is a 300yd par3, but anyone who comes up to that hole can feel like anything 250 and short that lands will have a good shot rolling up to the green, and if you are short, the green isnt elevated so you least have a pitch and putt to save par still. for most part, the course plays about as fair as you can possibly ask for for something so demanding. i think when you compare this course to say CHAMBERS BAY last year, if you shot 80 on OAKMONT you wouldnt feel nearly as pissed off as you would be if you shot 80 on CHAMBERS BAY.
fairways are on the wider side, think that trend started more with PINEHURST, same with CHAMBERS last year, MERION the year before PINEHURST, fughettaboutit. basically going from ROSE, to KAYMER to SPIETH, ROSE being the better of the drivers of the 3, but SPIETH with the better short game, and KAYMER displayed it all basically at PINEHURST. something will show at the end of the week that will prove vital to the winner, and this week i think its going to depend on the irons into the greens. sure thats said for most tournaments and could be said for any US OPEN, but this week really you have to be on the $ with your irons. distance control is so key and being able to get it to stop where you want is just whole other equation that is up the golf gods.
rambling on with this write up, wet weather to start should allow the players some flexibility if they are to mishit some of their irons shots into the greens, for most part there should be low scores on day1, will play longer but after that for the day1 leaders there will be total carnage it looks as it looks to dry out as week goes on. you really need a player who is just feeling his oats coming in and he will just take care of business on the weekend when in the spotlight. of course who that is is everyones best guess, but when you dissect each players year coming in, you start to see where some have faded on the weekend, and others have lurked up the leaderboard in certain weeks. for most part DAY should be the heavy favorite of the big3 simply providing that very thing at SAWGRASS which played extremely dry in rd3, and little less so in rd4, of course most know about DAYs past year, so not really going out of the box here. SPIETH and MCILROY may keep themselves around this week with their particular strengths, but arent quite hitting their stride all around like they have shown in spurts in the past. while some may say MCILROY dominated a wet US OPEN at CONGRESSIONAL, dont believe he changed his putting stroke 2different times before then and with SPIETH, for most part i cant really say anyone really challenged him at the DEAN and DELUCA quite like WILLETT did at the MASTERS, so the pressure really wasnt that high up for him. both MCILROY and SPIETH did just come off wins, so hard to say they arent playing well, but on OAKMONT i dont think their current form is good enough.
outside of those, CABRERA won in 07, ELS in 94, LARRY NELSON in 83, JONNY MILLER in 73, NICKLAUS in 62, HOGAN in 53, few other champs but im sure you golf dorks get the idea. great iron players! hell even PAULA CREAMER won the LADIES US OPEN in 2010!
with that, enjoy everyone, should be another memorable US OPEN.
US OPEN(+7.9u)
33/1 H. MATSUYAMA(.5u) -- to win/thruday1/ L (mc)
100/1 J. DUFNER(.5u) -- to win L (t8)
3/1 H. MATSUYAMA(1u) -- top10 L
9/1 J. DUFNER(1u) -- top10 W
16/1 J. DAY(.5u) -- to win/thru3/ L (t8)
day(-110) / mcilroy(1u) -- tour mu W (t8 - mc)
matsuyama(-120) / rose(.5u) -- tour mu L (mc +12 - mc +8)
kuchar(ev) / stenson(.5u) -- tour mu W (t46 - wd thru 18holes)
koepka(+105) / garcia(.5u) -- tour mu L (t13 - t5)
field(-115) / lowry(1u) -- 4th rd W