"What we've learned is you've got to have moisture down six inches, 12 inches, 24 inches to get a consistent dry where it doesn't go from really good to literally baked out, unplayable in a matter of minutes."
Tim Booth writes up the outstanding U.S. Amateur final, but doesn't quite capture just what a dynamic and well-played match it appeared to be.
Ryan Lavner captures the joy of the Uihlein family after Peter's 21st birthday win over David Chung.
The golf course looked fantastic on NBC, perhaps a product of a few more production touches saved for the weekend and someone in Orlando not cranking up the green saturation. It also appeared to play better and in an odd twist, Chambers Bay may actually be better off hosting events in June instead of August when there is more moisture in the soil.
From the post round press conference with Mike Davis, Tom O'Toole and Jim Hyler of the USGA:
You know, Chambers Bay came in so incredibly dry that we'd never had any ‑‑ this course is pure sand. If you dig down six inches, if you dig down a foot, if you dig down five feet it's sand. And what's interesting is you could have never gotten another course with any type of other grass like this here you could have kept it like this for months on end and the grass is just dormant.
What we've learned is you've got to have moisture down six inches, 12 inches, 24 inches to get a consistent dry where it doesn't go from really good to literally baked out, unplayable in a matter of minutes.
That's what we learned. So Tuesday night what we ended up going with the superintendent and our agronomist said recharging the greens, we essentially flood the things, absolutely flooded them. So we got water down 12 inches, 16 inches, 24 inches, and that allowed Chambers Bay to, essentially, you know, dry out on a much more even keel basis.
As for the green question, Hyler was asked and answered this way...
Q. It was obvious during the week on the TV the course was a good deal greener than it is in reality. I wondered what your reaction to that was? Were you disappointed by that?
JIM HYLER: We noticed on the broadcast I think the first day or whatever it was with the TV, I looked at it and said that's not what I'm seeing outside. We found out that something was going on with the local feed.
Other parts of the country it was exactly what we were seeing. I'm not sure what the technical issues were, but other places it showed up just like you see it outside. So we had sort of the same thought, but it got straightened out, I think.
Asher Wildman also notes the impressive attendance for the week, which came through on television for Sunday's final match.
Sunday, August 29, 2010 at 09:01 PM
Reader Comments (10)
Not to take anything away from those kids, but it struck me that we were watching two very, very privileged young men battle it out. NBC tried to play up Chung's story like some sort of rags to riches tale:
Grandparents were immigrants, moved to 'New York' - exact location unspecified. Dad had to get out. Got an internship in quiet Fayetteville and got his family out of there. Nice. But wait, Chung fondly remembers playing Pinehurst No. 2 with his dad? What's going on here? Oh - of course. Dad's a Doctor...
Well, I guess that's maybe kinda less rich than CEO. Right? That makes Chung the scrappy underdog in that match.
You pose a great question. Our city chmpionship (Austin TX) is just a competition of professional amatuers, with all the college and HS players who go 3-5 rounds a week.
At least a mid-am has been added, but at this moment it is not 4 rounds, which IMO. takes away from the deal.
ChambersBay matches were fun to watch, and some pretty exciting shotmaking .
digsouth
But, a great match (and two decent ones yesterday, including the defending champs Luke Donald like start to the round), but about halfway through the telecast I realized why I really enjoying the telecast: No Johnny Miller on NBC!
Also, I'm a lawyer in a private practice. Most lawyers I know would actively discourage their child from going into law unless they really wanted to do it. As one our senior partners told his daughter: Don't do it just because you didn't take enough pre-med or engineering classes."
In my imagination, I can see myself playing Chambers Bay and executing all manner of linksy shots around those unique bunkers. In reality, I think I'd go there and spend 5 hours cursing my swing, the wind and that damn gray sand.