111th U.S. Open Championship

Even worse than Berman, think about the pairing of puffing Berman with that clown Curtis Strange ("Not even Hogan did back to back, which means.......I'm king!"). Strange comes across as the perfect example of the white-bred country clubber golfer; someone who has no clue what its like to hit balls off the astro-turf at 8 pm in the summer sky with your buddies or teeing off at the local muni at 7 am so you can get back to your family at a decent time and don't have to endure a 6 hr round. I thought he was gone/retired, damn.

 

woke up this morning and saw someone stole the cloth off of my pool table in the middle of the night. Then I saw Phil Mickelson's pants and everything started to add up.

 

2 story-lines of Day 1.

1. Bubba Watson's pants.
2. Rory McIlroy going blitzkrieg; -4 through 10, and has the easiest part of the course. God, I hope he shoots 62 and beats Millers mark. Granted, he will shoot 92 on Sunday to lose by 20, but still........kid is dialed in right now.

 

It's been less offensive this year than in years past, but he still doesn't belong on the grounds.

 

It looks like he's wearing jeans.
My decision of start McIlroy in the SportsJournalists.com league has paid off thus far.

 

He is, where he's been for the last couple months.

Absolutely true. In fact, Riviera has been lobbying to nab an open for more than a decade. It was in the running for the Open that went to Torrey Pines in '08.

Much of the hurdle Riviera has to overcome isn't infrastructure-wise, although getting in and out of the place is anything but easy. The hurdle is the memory of the '95 PGA and those brown, crusted, spike-riddled greens combined with scores that were ridiculous. Guys like Michael Bradley and John Adams were throwing up 63s and 64s. Brad Faxon shot 63 on Sunday, which got him a spot on the '95 Ryder Cup team.

The course redeemed itself somewhat with the '98 Senior Open. In fact, David Fay did a sit-down with me and another reporter at that event and said that Riviera was "worthy of hosting an Open." Even with some ill-advised tweakings done to attract an Open, the course could absolutely host one. Just grow the kikiuyu rough up, speed the greens up and stretch things out a bit and it would more than hold its own.

 

10 Pebble
11 Congressional
12 Olympic
13 Merion
14 Pinehurst
15 Chambers Bay
16 Oakmont
17 Erin Hills

That good enough for you?

 

It would be now, hondo.

Erin Hills has no business getting an Open -- especially ahead of Riviera.

 

I'll be pulling for Alex Rocha to follow Thursday's 2-under round with another good effort on Friday. He's a 33-year-old Tour rookie, a former Mississippi State All-American who nearly quit playing a couple of years ago.

As Michael Corleone once said in another context, it would make a great story if Rocha hangs around to the weekend. I'm thinking the air would get prety thin for him by Saturday, though.

 

Will be interesting to see how they handle it after the PGA mess at Whistling Straits.

 

McIlroy's looking absolutely sick, including sticking an eagle from about 150 out on No. 8. Up to -10.

 

Maybe I should have stuck with my -8 pick.