112th U.S. Open at The Olympic Club

Do the men play first?

 

The Women's Open always is after the men's Open.

 

They could rent some lawn mowers and trim the rough back a little.

 

I think it's fun once a year to watch the golfers battle Old Man Par. Not every week needs to be the Bob Hope or Phoenix Open. My only fear is that the USGA gets too big of a hard on about what Rory did to Congressional last year. 500-yard par 4's and 675-yard par 5's......those don't mean shit compared to what they could do to these pins/greens at Olympic.

 

But that really doesn't say as much about the difficulty of the course as it sounds.

From 2004 through 2010, the men's Open had a seven-year stretch where the best score was -4 and there were two winners at +5. Sounds like the course was horribly difficult, right? However, if the USGA had set up the course exactly as it did and set par at 72 like just about every other tournament, all of those scores would have been below par, the +5s would have been -3s, and a decent amount of other golfers would have been below par as well.

I guess golfers are susceptible to that psychology, but I have never understood the idea that changing par to 70 can materially change the way anyone plays the course.

 

Last year was a total fluke of a course rendered benign by rain and cool temperatures. It rarely was above 80 degrees for the entire week, which is completely out of whack for the weather in suburban D.C.

 

Worst idea in the 118 years the USGA has been in existence.

 

Does Casey Martin still ride his cart or did the PGA snobs manage to guilt him into trying to walk?

 

As someone who regularly visits the in-laws in Maryland/D.C. I can say that weather being below 80 in summertime is very rare. The norm is usually 90 with 95% humidity. One minute its a deluge, an hour later its a sauna.

The "O" Club is on my doorstep now and I cannot wait to watch it on HD. Friends are marshaling and I have no inclination to bust my b*tt to park at Candlestick Park and shuttle it 30 mins. over to the dunes of the Olympic Club. In '98 the neighboring Lake Merced CC gave up one course to become a parking lot and that was bearable but Candlestick? Really? Its a great course, with sidehill lies and not fluffy bermuda grass lies in the fairway, but small treacherous greens. A beautiful test of golf.

To all the visitors, enjoy the City (by the Bay)! Looks like it will be gorgeous and not much fog. Take a cable car ride to the top of the hill, go to the top of Coit Tower, walk the Golden Gate, and if you can hit the lobby of the W Hotel Sat Night about 11 pm with the DJ spinning, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

 

He has a note from the Supreme Court that says he can ride.

 

The USGA and PGA Tour are not the same. The latter organization went to court to block Martin using a cart. The USGA didn't. As I remember '98, they weren't unhappy Martin and his cart were in the field. Not at all.