2009 U.S. Open Round 1

I filed this primer for GolfDigest.com on what to look for now that the telecast has started.

Post your comments as the round commences. Or, for as long as it commences.

I'll be Tweeting when I'm not in the press center. Here's some form of the feed, though it seems a bit slow. You can always go to my Twitter page.

Comments

[dbh]

This from the US Open Updates page:

'Inclement Weather Ticket Policy

1) If play has commenced (i.e., if one player has played his first shot), it is the policy of the USGA that tickets will not be refunded or exchanged for a later date.

2) If play has not commenced at any time during the day for which the ticket was issued, ticket holders may use their ticket from the cancelled round for admission to the 2009 U.S. Open Championship on a later date.'

That's quite the rigid policy!

[rydercup]

It's way too early in the tournament to be thinking about a tie-breaker. What the heck, there's a rain delay in golf! The idea of wading through an 18-hole play-off on a soggy Monday doesn't seem to be terribly appealing. The U.S. Open powers that be won't ever change their format. However, the British Open (best of 4 holes aggregate score) would seem to work as long as the final rounds started at 1:30 or 2 PM.

[Butch]

Re Bethpage bog flog...chip-off and Tiger Woods video game notwithstanding, they may have to come back in September.

[dsl]

For anyone who has played the course, can you comment on how 'long' it really plays?

Looking at Geoff's pic of #18, it seems to be a downhill tee shot, followed by an uphill second. I would assume, then, that 18 plays pretty close to the yardage on the card. Is this how most of the course is, or are there a lot of holes that are shortened by elevated tees?

[Tammy]

Turn out the lights, 'cause Thursday's party is over.

[Farmingdale]

I was at Bethpage today. We followed the first group out all the way to the 10th tee and then had a prime spot and on the 10th teebox and were waiting for Tiger to come through when they called it. It rained all morning from 6.55am until about 10am, not crazy hard, but enough that they were squeegeeing greens from #2 onward. At about 10am it started raining hard and at 10.15am they blew the horn, strictly because of water on the greens. As we were walking in we went down #5 fairway and it was standing water EVERYWHERE, #2 fairway was a complete river.

USGA says there is "no way" they will play lift clean and place at any point in the Championship, they may end up eating those words. If they insist on no LC&P they will be there until Tuesday, maybe longer -- not kidding, it's a disaster out there.

Repeat, a disaster.

[Farmingdale]

Furthermore, the USGA just are not on their game this week. Today our bus driver had no clue how to get from the Farmingdale station to the course, literally no idea. We had to direct him in as he'd never been there before and the USGA had not given him a map/instructions.

Then we go to the entrance, the ticket scanner doesn't work, thing shot craps on the first customer.

Then we go to merchandise tent, not open until 7am. Must not have occurred to them that people may want to buy some stuff, check it, and then watch the first groups go out. I saw a whole bunch of people get turned away before 7am. They lost a big sale with my buddy because we never made it back there.

Then we go to the info booth for pairing sheets, no pairing sheets...we never were able to locate a pairings sheet.

Then we go to get a beer about 10am, no beer until 11am! (I guess that one is probably out of the USGA's hands, sorry)

On the flipside, I feel bad for them with this weather, nobody deserves this.

[keith86]

No beer till 11 that's bullcrap wouldn't happen in my house.

[dsl]

Farmingdale - how did folks seem to be reacting to the 'no rainchecks' ticket policy? Any reversals on that?

It just occurred to me that play was suspended only 15 minutes into the TV broadcast. I was just about to go watch whatever action the DVR managed to capture. Dang it.

[dbh]

dsl,

I've been following the live updates re. the ticket policy
The one I posted above, verbatim, is no longer on the page and neither is the reiteration of the policy that got posted about 2 hours later. Seemingly there's been a little revisionist history making going on.

Late in the day came this:

Ticket Policy
3:49 p.m. - All, I'm afraid I can't comment until I receive an official word. Officials are conversing now. Hopefully I'll know more soon ....

So I'm guessing the natives are restless!

http://www.usopen.com/en_US/news/articles/2009-06-18/200906181245323106125.html

[Farmingdale]

dsl, the thought never even occurred to us until after we had left for the day, but it did occur to us. We did speak with a couple other people on the train about it (refunds/exchanges )but nobody was certain what the policy was/is. That, and the policy of "no LC&P", look to be severely tested this week...

Wonder what the policy says about Tuesday tickets?

[dbh]

It's official:

5:02 p.m. - Here is the decision about the tix:
Thursday tickets will not be refunded or exchanged.

Gotta love the use of 'tix'. :(
I feel like I'm getting a crash course in how not to run an enterprise.

Source:
http://www.usopen.com/en_US/news/articles/2009-06-18/200906181245323106125.html

[Chuck]

Just a few days ago, commenting on the Pinehurst selection for paired Mens/Womens Opens, Geoff wrote:

"Obviously two weeks in a town with limited accommodations, limited food selection and a limited volunteer base strikes me as a glaring weakness. And there's the dicey weather."

Okay, Geoff. Back to you out on Long Island...

[thusgone]

that rigid ticket policy is shameful. common decency requires that thursday's passes be honored for the third round next tuesday!

[Tighthead]

As much as I loathe LC&P, I would like to see the bluecoats forced to use it.

[JohnV]

Lift Clean and Place is not needed. It is just a way for players to get the mud off their ball when they aren't in casual water.

If you have casual water, you can lift the ball, clean it and drop it somewhere.

I do wonder if they might be asking themselves why they announced the Pinehurst plan this week of all weeks.

Farmingdale,
I guarantee you the USGA told the bus driver's company how to get there. They didn't tell him. In general, bus drivers are clueless. I had one who, in trying to find Ft. Worth from Dallas got on a freeway going the wrong way and another who couldn't find his way from Stanwich CT to Shea Stadium. Since these were at USGA championships I suppose I should have blamed them rather than the local bus company.

[Morg]

In case anyone has forgotten, it rains quite a bit in Scotland.

[Morg]

The USGA hired several bus companies for transportation to and from the parking areas. Many of the drivers are from out-of-state. Even NYC does not have an endless supply of transport providers. Parking is a significant improvement over 2002.

If you've ever been to a Jets or Giants game, you'd understand the "no beer before 11am" policy. The "In the hole!" guy always has a beer in hand.

I think that everyone should give the maintenance crew at Bethpage and those coordinating conditions at the USGA the benefit of the doubt right now. The Hempstead sand drains rather well. We'll see if USGA green specs measure up though. They had fans on the 14 green on Tuesday. Pin placement will be affected as well.

[Morg]

Geoff, Jeff Brehaut may pull off something spectacular this week, esp. with these conditions. I watched him hole three chip shots in a row out of right front bunker on 9 during one of the practice rounds. The guy has a terrific short game... and like you mentioned, he is such a nice guy as well.

[dsl]

Lerner interviewed an USGA official at the end of the 'live from' and they touched on the ticket issue. I guess when you consider the logistics, it makes sense not to honor Thursday badges on Friday. Still, that has to be disappointing.

Morg - love the Scotland comment. Although when you look at the pictures, it's hard to see how they could possibly keep playing.

[Farmingdale]

As for the bus issue, JohnV this seems to be a consistent problem, no? Maybe they should have a chat with the bus company in advance about making sure the drivers know where to go? Seems simple. Now that I think about it on Tuesday the bus in front of us was also manned by a driver that didn't know where he was going...they had to pull over and then follow us in. Sure, there aren't enough local bus drivers but every bus/driver I've seen out there this week was from the MTA, no out-of-staters. Is it a little thing, yeah. Is it something that could easily be avoided, absolutely. But it's the USGA's party, their watch.

As for the course, Craig and his crew clearly have done every single thing possible and then some to create optimal conditions. This is just terrible luck. And unfortunately it doesn't look like their luck is going to change anytime soon. It really is a shame.

[Farmingdale]

The first group played the front 9 in almost exactly 2hr30mins (we followed them from the 1st shot). So the 3hr15mins estimate for 10 holes is incorrect. And group-1 was on the 10th green before group-2 got to 10 tee box, group-2 were really the laggards. It was tough out there man, rained the entire time from about 4 minutes before Rickie Fowler hit the first shot right up until they called it. Many times the players had to wait while the greens crew squegee'd so they would have been around quicker without that. Tell you what, Rickie Fowler plays FAST, Bo Van Pelt avergage speed, Casey Whittenberg is SLOW...but Casey was playing the best!

When the horn blew at 10.15am group-1 was only at the 12th tee box, this because of a huge delay on 12. When we got to 10-tee there were literally like 4 groups waiting on 12-tee. I went over and asked the marshall what was going on and he said the second group off the 10th tee that morning had to wait 25 minutes for a ruling and it was jammed from that point on. Given that snafu the 1st group was probably look at 5hr30mins minimum for the round.