118th US Open Walking Thread, presented by Johnnie Walker

Every pro golfer on earth owes Fleetwood a debt of gratitude for missing that last putt. If he'd shot a 62, next year at Pebble the USGA would've put half the pins in Monterey Bay.

 

It would have shut Johnny Miller the fuck up though.

 

One of my favorite Miller lines, though, is describing first-time major winner...

He said at least this is not a guy who one-putts everything for a weekend.

 

Brooks Koepka has matched Andy North: two U.S. Opens and one other tour win.

 

Maybe Mickelson's ultimate penalty should be that his "move" - any attempt to negate a bad shot or putt from the fairway in - be deemed a "Mickelson."

"I'm going to take a Mickelson on that one."

 

I saw Strange give Koepka a big hug...yet Strange was decked out in his broadcasting gear, thus becoming a journalist making himself part of the story. The horror!

 

Was going to say I never heard of Brooks Koepka, but I'm sure I said the same thing last year.

 

I eagerly await the day someone shoots 62 at a U.S. Open.

 

Not around a computer on Saturday, so my Phil takes ...

1. As one poster noted earlier, he had five holes to figure out how to explain his idiotic play at No. 13. The obvious answer would have been the best: "It was in the heat of the moment and I lost my head for a second. I'm sorry." It would have been over at that point. But no. The dumb ass had to double down on the stupidity and admit that he broke a rule to gain an advantage (he didn't want to chip from the bottom of the hill and thought a two-stroke penalty would have been a better outcome ... the very definition of cheating), and then got defiant by suggesting critics "toughen up." Yeah ... how tough was it to slap a ball in motion because you didn't want to face a tough chip?

2. The suggestion that he did it as some kind of protest against the conditions is even more idiotic, if that was why he did it (and he didn't say that was the reason). You really want to protest the set-up? Play the hole out, within the rules, and then get on your soapbox after the round to explain how ludicrous the 10 or 11 was.

3. He didn't use the rules to his advantage. Letting the ball roll down the hill, then taking an unplayable lie and bringing the ball back to the original point is using the rules to your advantage. He broke a rule to cheat. And then admitted it. He should have been disqualified under Rule 1-2, but the USGA (like Augusta National with Tiger and few years ago) invoked rule 33-7, which says a rules committee has the discretion not to disqualify someone. But if Brian Stuard or Michael Putnam had done the same thing, I think they would have been bounced.

4. And critics need to stop it with the rules of golf being too complicated. There are only 34 of them (granted, with variations within each rule) but if you want complicated, I give you the NFL and what is and isn't a catch or the NBA and charging/blocking.

5. Celebrating the par at No. 13 on Sunday like he won the freaking Masters was another case of petulance. If he had scored a 10 on the hole the day before, then that display might have been funny. But it was another FU to golf.

6. With every one of these rules situations comes the bullshit from casual or non-golf fans that the rules keep people from coming to the game or staying with it. If the worst you can say about golf is that it has a set of rules and has a culture of adhering to those rules, with a sense of honor from the participants, then so be it. Golf is not a team sport, on a fixed field or court of play, with referees who monitor every second of the action. Golf needs its participants to enforce the rules on themselves and to protect the field. It can't work any other way.

7. Obviously Phil thinks that with his starry-eyed fans, he get away with both the act and the ensuing bullshit he spouted. Maybe so. But he's not bigger than the game. Would Arnold or Jack have acted the way he did?

8. And the 13th on Saturday was only part of his week of Petulance. He blew off the media on Thursday (Rory was the only other guy who did), then flat-out lied his ass off when he said later he wasn't asked to talk (not true, according to friends of mine who were there covering the tournament). He then refused to talk after Sunday's round.

9. The moral of all this is that Phil isn't nearly as smart as his fans think and he's certainly not as smart as he thinks.

 

I contend that Fleetwood's 63, in those conditions, was a way better round than Miller's 63 in 1973 on a wet course ... about 4-5 shots better.

 

The hatred I have for Johnny fucking Miller borders on the irrational. Miller's 63 at Oakmont was pretty sporty. The wet course in a way makes it harder. With no roll, the wedge you were hitting into holes is now a 7-iron.
That being said..........I agree with you.
Fleetwood played out of his mind.........parred both par 5's........missed 3 or 4 very makeable putts.