118th US Open Walking Thread, presented by Johnnie Walker

I enjoy watching the guys grind over 4 footers and have to keep it in the fairway and try to save par from the fescue. Having guys putt the ball off the green is stupid. USGA got it right the first two days, that was US Open golf IMHO. Day 3 was ridiculous. Day 4 was better (didn't have to put pins in exactly middle of the green all of the time.) 2018 would have been fine if it just didn't have the stupid Sat PM conditions.

I love the British Open (what I grew up saying), the rolling and putts from 90 yds. So long as we avoid Sat at Muirfield in 2002 (thought Tiger could have done the Slam that year).

 

Agreed.

 

The thing that irks me is the changing mid-stream. You want to be the be-atch of all golf tournaments and have a +8, +9, +10 win the thing, then so be it. I do kind of fall in the camp of seeing these guys struggle like average joes. But stick to your guns. Don't cave to public pressure after three rounds and go "Sorry, we fucked up." Jeez, show a little backbone. You can carve out a niche of being something like nothing else. But, instead you have the delayed penalty ruling, the award ceremony where the woman did come across as blitzed, whether that's true or not, and then the reversal this year. You look like a bunch of complete jackasses who don't have a clue what they are doing. And maybe they don't. It shouldn't be that hard to know what the conditions, (wind, green speed, etc.) will be like during the tournament. But, whatever, stay the course, so to speak.

 

The USGA is not a competent organization. And I can say this as well. As a reporter, it was a million times easier to deal with the people at Augusta or the PGA than with the USGA. They're running a goddamn game and they act like they are the inner circle of the Vatican.

 

Phil did not take his medicine on the course and he admitted it. He said he purposely stopped a moving ball because he believed the two-stroke penalty would result in a lower score than he would have gotten had he played the ball where it would lie, at the bottom of the hill. You don't know Tiger's intent because he said he did not intend to break the rules. Phil told everyone his intent.

 

And Phil got to keep playing thanks to the USGA's mental gymnastics. So what's your point?

 

Phil hit his ball, saw it rolling, then decided to run after it and hit it before it went down the hill. He had exactly four seconds to make that decision. You really think he had time to think, "Gee, if that rolls off the green, I'll get a worse score than if I stop it"? Riiiiiight. Better bet is he lost his mind for a second and doesn't want to cop to that.

And you're right, we should just believe Tiger for what he said. He's always been an honest, straight-up guy.

Are you Steiny?

 

Now do Phil’s insider trading.

 

Well, that’s what Phil said he was thinking.

 

If a requirement to play in a Tour event meant passing a rules test, at least 90 percent of the names we know would be out of work.

 

You mean the incident that was investigated and no evidence was found nor charges filed?

Now, if you want me to do his gambling, you may be on to something. But since he's a gazillionaire, if he wants to blow millions betting football and at the card table, that's on him, no?