When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
With the continued chatter about the USGA surprising the field by playing the par-5 16th much shorter, it's worth understanding that at least one contender, Michael Thompson, had a preview of the setup in 2007.
Of course, you'll also notice in this video of Jamie Lovemark teeing off in the U.S. Amateur that the fairway is much, much wider. Thanks to reader Kevin for this:
Michael Hiestand notes this about NBC's final day 6.6. rating up against the NBA Finals.
The U.S. Open on NBC Sunday drew a 6.6 overnight. Predictably, that's up from last year's final-round coverage -- by 29% -- when the event's finish wasn't close and, more importantly, it didn't run in East Coast primetime.
But compared to two previous West Coast U.S. Opens that has similar primetime schedules -- in 2008 and 2010 -- NBC's Sunday coverage was down. It was down 22% from 2008 and 4% from 2010.
Jeanne Moos scores the hard-hitting exclusive with the "Jungle Bird" who reveals that no charges will be filed by San Francisco Police. They watched his U.S. Open trophy presentation act in the station and deemed it not worthy of further prosecution.
This is mildly disturbing:
Some fascinating comments from Jim Furyk about his surprise at playing 16 tee from the 575 yard plate (Mike O'Malley has the short version of the tournament turning point in this GW Daily item).
Even though Mike Davis has been open about this possibility and course setup spontaneity, and even though the tee is right next to the 10th green, Furyk still sounded a bit peeved by the move. Which is why I love when Davis does this. Some view it as contrived because a human being is doing it instead of a surprise wind shift orchestrated by Mother Nature.
Q. 16th hole. Tell us everything from the tee box on.
JIM FURYK: The tee was a hundred yards up. So I'll be quite honest, it was 99 yards up from the back of the very back tee. I know the USGA gives us a memo saying that they play from multiple tees, but there's no way to prepare for a hundred yards. So there's no way that you're, I thought that they put the tee up like they did, maybe 65 yards up on Friday, but to get to a tee where the tee box is a hundred yards up and the fairway makes a complete L turn, I was unprepared and didn't know exactly where to hit the ball off the tee. And I took a little bit more of an aggressive route with that 3‑wood.
In hindsight, I like the way Graeme played the hole. He played it 2‑iron, 2‑iron, and sand wedge. And I don't know what to say, other than there's no way anyone else in the field was prepared for the tee to be that far up. I just didn't handle it very well. And I'm not sure I hit the wrong club off the tee, but probably hit the wrong shot off the tee. And that probably as much as anything forced me to make a poor swing.
Q. How unsettling is that to get up on the tee box and really not have a clear picture of thousand manage that hole?
JIM FURYK: It's awkward. That happens, that's happened quite a bit in the setups here in the last six and seven years and I want to be clear, I really like the way Mike sets the golf course up, I think he's done a great job. But there's always one round where, towards that late in the day, where you grab a hole and it's much different than you would expect it. And there's no way when we play our practice rounds you're going to hit a shot from a tee a hundred yards up unless someone tells you.
But the rest of the field had that same shot to hit today and I'm pretty sure no one hit as shitty a shot as I did, so. I did the best, the worst job of handling it and I have no one to blame but myself. I should have hit a different shot off the tee and if anything you need to miss that fairway to the right to never to the left. So it makes mine twice as bad.
But is there anything wrong with moving a tee so far forward on the final day of the U.S. Open? Especially when there's been a suggestion the hole will be moved forward and the tee is visible from a hole played prior to it? Is that enough of a leading question?
Sean Martin wrote about No. 16 and points out something lost in the tee placement: Sunday's "sucker" hole location and explains why certain players like John Peterson played to the center of the green.
Soak up the lyrical writing and sharp observations from Lawrence Donegan's final game story and Guardian appearance in Monday's piece from Olympic Club. He's leaving the paper to spend more time with his family. And for the first time in five years since that euphemism typically reserved for "he was fired," it's actually the truth.
From Martin Kaufman's review of the television coverage at Olympic Club, a long overdue question for the Worldwide Leader...
• I’m sure Andy North is a nice fellow – he is, after all, from Wisconsin – but I have no idea how he has held that prime ESPN gig for so many years. The man seems determined not to say anything remotely interesting. When I see him on the ESPN set, I can’t help thinking: Is this the best that the self-proclaimed “worldwide leader in sports” can do?
Kaufman also highlights some new additions to the Curtis Strange lexicon.
Does winning mean they expedite discussions about a ban on anchoring the putter to your torso, or does yet another major win ensure the governing bodies will not touch this one?
I lean toward the latter option.
Before we move on from Olympic Club and its storied history, the latest State of the Game podcast features Rod Morri and Mike Clayton in conversation with Neil Sagebiel about his book on Jack Fleck.
Tim Rosaforte puts the finishing touches on the impressive play of 17-year-old amateur Beau Hossler and his amazing week in this Golf World Daily column.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
