Hacking at Oakmont

[mattdavis11]

The U.S. Open is my favorite sporting event. Racing can't compare, not even close. These guys have real talent.

This course appears to be a monster, despite yanking 5000+ trees out. If you haven't heard, I'm sure Johnny Miller will tell you all about it and his 63 in '73 this weekend if you tune in. He's an icon there now. Pure Poa greens...... man.

La Tigra looks to be in the deep grass crouching, I hope that it stays that way. Hopefully he'll cruise to an 80 or 81 tomorrow. It sure was nice to see Cabrera birde 18 to knock Phildo out, along with all the other +11 duffers.

Has anyone here played Oakmont?

I love the game of golf, and am rather proud to say that my last round was -2, which was last fall. I only play 3-4 times a year, but yet still hooked. Haven't teed it up this year, yet.

Tiger's out, who wants who?

[HardDrive]

Any discussion of golf that involved scores is not my cup of tea. Lets focus on what really counts: Drunken vandalism with the cart.

[tabs]

I get my moneys worth when I am on the Golf Course. I get to hit the ball a lot of times...and get to chase it from one side of the course to the other. On courses that I have played fairly often I get to know all the trees on a first name basis.

[schamp]

-2 and only play 2-3 times a year. With that kind of talent you could play the tour and make couple of mil a year. Miller's 63 at Oakmont may be the best round of golf ever played. Remember it was on a Sunday, the US Open, and at Oakmont and has so far stood the test of time - 34 years. I am not big on miller and his mouth but he could play. I would not count tiger out just yet.

[cmccuist]

HIstorically, if Tiger's not leading or tied for the lead after Saturday's round, he wont win. He needs to jump over 12 other players and make up 5 shots today to get the lead.

Too bad Lefty has a bad wrist and missed the cut. Els, Janzen, Lefty, Furyk, Vijay, and the rest of the big names are scuffling.

Even par will win it.

[widgeon13]

Just back from two 12 hour days at Oakmont, rough is long 5"(+) and greens are lightning fast and will only get faster w/ no rain in sight.

[MisterB]

I was at Oakmont on Thursday, the fairways are like greens, the rough is luscious, thick and on steroids, and the greens like marble top counters...... just unreal. These conditions just make the pro's whine and cry for a week. I just can't stand Phil complain that the course is to blame for his pain.

Ed

[widgeon13]

MisterB, I think I saw you there, didn't you have a 107th Oakmont baseball cap on??

Friday morning while I was there, it took me 20 minutes to get over the spectator bridge, what a bottleneck, fortunately everyone was calm and in a good mood. Oakmont is a pretty *****ty spectator course, from my perspective, hard to get around and some of the green views are from quite a distance. We did enjoy it though, now to watch today and tomorrow on the TV, great to have been there and seen those greens in person.

Tiger just cranked it w/ driver off the 1st tee. Fairways are very narrow and a lot of guys are hitting irons off the long par fours, leaving 180yd+ to some of the greens. Tough track!

[Wickd89]

Love golf but it does not take any courage to walk 18 holes... ;-)

Both Tiger and Hamilton are geniuses in their respective sports.

Remember, Hemingway once said " there are only two sports in the world, Bullfighting and Motorracing, the rest are just games."

[mattdavis11]

180 is just an 8 iron, or an easy 7. However, 7200 yards is quite long for a par 70. I do like that the par 5's are only reachable by the extremely long knockers. I don't think I could get home in two on twelve unless a hurricane was at my back. TV doesn't do the greens justice, or so I understand.

[widgeon13]

Well, ***** for that matter, it doesn't take courage to play many sports but it (golf) does take heart, stamina and great skill. Golf is better than fencing.

Hemingway was a good writer but I have known some gentlemen who would make him look like Casper Milktoast.

Think back on Ben Hogan coming back from a serious automobile accident, told he would never walk again. He won a major the following year.

Motor racing is not a sport in my book, it is simply an expensive pastime, most of the time, the one with the most money wins, not the case w/golf.

[mattdavis11]

If golf isn't a sport, then there is no such thing as a sport. No other activity in the world uses more muscles as the human body does in a single swing of the golf club, if done properly. It's also very challenging mentally. It's a game of inches, where the few between your temples matter the most.

My prediction on Eldrick is going so well!

[the]

Originally posted by cmccuist
HIstorically, if Tiger's not leading or tied for the lead after Saturday's round, he wont win.

Is that really true? I wonder what the stats are for that. It seems like if he's at least within striking distance after Saturday (particularly if he's in the last group), he wins often. But I don't know the actual numbers.

I agree, if golf isn't a sport, there's no such thing as a sport.

Motor racing is a sport, but not a very pure one, in fact it's probably the least pure of all sports. Hard to think of other sports where winning is so heavily dependent on the equipment and the rules, instead of the athlete.

And as far as Hemingway's other "sport," I don't really count cruelty to animals in a rigged "game" a sport.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by Wickd89
Love golf but it does not take any courage to walk 18 holes... ;-)

Both Tiger and Hamilton are geniuses in their respective sports.

Remember, Hemingway once said " there are only two sports in the world, Bullfighting and Motorracing, the rest are just games."

It was actually three. He included mountain climbing as well.

The modern punk-ass equivilent is "if you can't die, it's not a sport", seen embazoned accross "extreme sports" fans' tee shirts around the world.

Hemmingway was right. The modern punks are right. It used to be "sport" entailed some risk to life and limb.

I find golf about as exciting as I find baseball. I find baseball about as exciting as I find watching grass grow. Neither qualifies as "sport".

[the]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins

I find golf about as exciting as I find baseball. I find baseball about as exciting as I find watching grass grow. Neither qualifies as "sport".

I assume you mean you find watching golf and watching baseball as exciting as you find watching grass grow.

[Jim Bremner]

golf,


a good waste of earth.

[scottmandue]

Bow hunting moose... now there is a sport.

I like golf, tried playing it and I suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck... took lessons and everything.

[nostatic]

I can't hear you over the whine of a V8 at 19K rpm...

[Jim Bremner]

I would pay $1,000 of my own cash

to ride my kx250 HARD on a decent golf course while guys are getting ready to play.

I wonder how much the dvds would sell for

[MRM]

Originally posted by HardDrive
Any discussion of golf that involved scores is not my cup of tea. Lets focus on what really counts: Drunken vandalism with the cart.

+1