Tiger And Evening Golf At Masterful Merion

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During the late evening restart Tiger Woods made it clear that he experiencing serious pain in his left wrist. I walked with the all-star pairing of Woods-Rory McIlroy-Adam Scott in the storm cloud-filtered light as they tackled their final three holes and Woods’ favoring of the wrist overshadowed a rejuvenated-looking McIlroy and an intense Scott (who had a wonderfully spirited exchange with caddie Stevie Williams about the 10th tee strategy).
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2013 U.S. Open First Round Open Comment Thread

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A little late but now that we have hole locations and setup notes, oh, and golf, the U.S. Open at Merion is under way!

ESPN is scheduled to sign off at 7 ET, but that may change.

First Round setup notes:

(Click to enlarge)COURSE SETUP: ROUND ONE OF THE 2013 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

The following are details on the course setup for Round 1 of the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, from Mike Davis, USGA Executive Director.

Green Speeds – Today’s green speeds before the rain were in the 13- to 13½-foot range on the USGA Stimpmeter. They will likely settle out in the mid-to-high 12s when play resumes.

Rough Grass – In anticipation of today’s weather event, the closer-in (roughly 18 feet in width) rough grass in the drive zones, as well as the closer-in (9 feet in width) greenside rough on some of the holes, was mowed last night.  

Weather Affecting Course Setup Decisions – Hole locations for Round 1 were chosen based on the forecast for heavy rains. Further, teeing grounds and hole locations that have more slope were chosen based on the forecast for winds predominantly out of the south for Thursday. However, winds will switch to predominantly from the north on Friday (when we will likely still be playing Round 1). The intent is to provide fair conditions with the knowledge that there will likely be wind in opposite directions for Round 1.  

Total Course Yardage for Thursday (tee marker settings to flagstick) = 3,760 yards out; 3,206 yards in = 6,966 total yards

Hole-by-Hole Information:

Hole 1 – 340 yards; the hole location is front left, which presents very fast putts coming down the hill from the center of the green. 

Hole 2 – 567 yards; the hole location is in the right-back portion of the green.  

Hole 3 – 246 yards; anticipating southerly winds on Thursday, tee markers are placed on the front of the back teeing ground with the hole location in the center, right lower section, hugging the right bunker.

Hole 4 – 640 yards; hole location is on the right side; putts coming from the center of the green are very fast.

Hole 5 – 499 yards;  the hole location is front left; putts coming from beyond or to the right of the hole are extremely fast.

Hole 6 – 489 yards; the hole location is in the center-left portion of the green, hugging the left bunker.

Hole 7 – 382 yards; the hole location is in the center-rear portion of the green.

Hole 8 – 360 yards; the hole location is in the front-left portion of the green.

Hole 9 – 237 yards; the hole location is two-thirds of the way back on the left portion of the green over the front-left bunker.

Hole 10 – 301 yards; tee markers are on the back teeing ground; from this tee, the players are able to see the flagstick; the hole location is front right just over the subtle false front, up against the back bunker.

Hole 11 – 375 yards; the hole location is in the back center; the putts in this area are very flat.

Hole 12 – 386 yards; tee markers are placed in the very front of the back teeing ground anticipating northerly winds on Friday; the hole location is in the front left portion of the green; putts from the center of the green are very fast coming down the hill.

Hole 13 – 102 yards; tee markers are placed on the very front portion of the right (lower) teeing ground; the hole location is just over the front bunker; this hole location should produce a fair number of birdies and perhaps even an ace.

Hole 14 – 446 yards; the hole location is in the right portion of the green; putts coming from the center of the green are very fast.

Hole 15 – 413 yards; the hole location is in the back “trough” on the left side of the green; this area has a pronounced pitch from back to front.

Hole 16 – 440 yards; the hole location is in the back left portion of the green.

Hole 17 – 243 yards; the tee markers are placed on the back teeing ground; the hole location is on the left portion of the green.

Hole 18 – 500 yards; anticipating a southerly wind for Thursday, the tee markers are placed on the front portion of the penultimate teeing ground; the hole location is in the right portion of the putting green, which is difficult to access but rather easy to putt up to.

R.I.P. Miller Barber

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Richard Goldstein with the NY Times remembrance of a fantastic player and character.

Barber didn’t seem a prime candidate for pro golf success. He was pudgy, he had hay fever, and his form was ungainly at best.

His right elbow flew outward on his backswing as he raised the club to the outside, bringing it high over his head, the shaft almost perpendicular to the ground. (In a classic backswing, the right elbow remains close to the body and the shaft ends up almost parallel to the ground.) After that he looped the club head inside and produced an orthodox downswing.

Fellow players likened Barber’s contortions to an octopus falling from a tree or a man trying to open an umbrella on a windy day. But he usually got the club face square to the ball, producing long drives and superb iron shots.

A PGA Tour video celebrating Barber.



Instructor Carl Welty captured this video of Barber at La Costa.

2013 U.S. Open At Merion: Thursday Is Derecho Day?

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I'm already tired of hearing about this storm that's going to take a course draining well and making a mess of Merion, if forecasts are to be believed.

Jay Coffin explains the meaning of a derecho, which is expected to halt play sometime after lunch and begin a property evacuation of sorts at the 2013 U.S. Open.

Golf Channel's Golf Central story previewing the weather and day one. (I had it embedded but it's another of the automatic video players that threatens to get you in trouble in the office.)

 

AJGA Teen Fires 61; Makes Nine Straight Birdies!

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Thanks to reader One Universe for the tip on Colin Kober's 61 at the AJGA event in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He's listed as class of 2016, so he's 15 or 16.

The 11-under round came on a 6608 yard course with a rating of 72.2 and a Slope of 131.

Even more amazing for the Southlake, Texas resident: nine straight birdies. Nine!

He leads by two.

Johnny Gets USGA Green Light To Mention The Grain This Week

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Mike Davis on the Merion greens and Johnny Miller, who talks about grain on greens reduced to dirt. But the USGA Executive Director says NBC's lead analyst has room to speak about grain this week. And knowing Johnny, he will!

And I think one of the things that's neat, Johnny Miller is going to have fun this week, because there's grain in these greens.  If you get downgrain on these things, they really go.  And if you're putting up to it, it's really slow.  I think when he does mention that on television, he's going to be right this week, that there's grain.  And I think that's neat.

This was also interesting consider that Merion's greens are not of the USGA spec variety, but instead, native soil greens with amendments.

And the putting greens, these are like modern putting greens in the sense that the drainage work they've done is just marvelous.  They drain as well as any putting greens I've seen.  The course itself drains beautifully.  There's a lot of surface drainage to this golf that Hugh Wilson just laid this course out on the land, like I mentioned, and there's been a lot of drainage put in over the years by Matt and his staff.  They're as equipped as possibly they could get for that rain event.

Report: USGA Expecting To Lose $10 Million At Merion This Week

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Bloomberg's Michael Buteau reports.

Ticket sales were limited to 25,000 a day, down about 45 percent from the typical 40,000-45,000. Fewer fans means less revenue from concessions and merchandise. The USGA, which governs the sport in the U.S. and Mexico, is expecting to lose $10 million on the event, according to a person with knowledge of the organization’s finances. The person was granted anonymity because the information isn’t public.

“I don’t think we’ll make up for the loss,” Sarah Hirshland, senior managing director of Business Affairs for the USGA, said in a telephone interview. “Clearly these line items will look different this year.”

Hirshland declined to say how much money the event would lose.

Just A Mood Brightener For Your Midweek Blues: Sergio Garcia Sat Down To Pen Tiger Woods An Apology Note

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There is justice!

I'm not sure why the mental image provides such pleasure--maybe it's the thought of Sergio ala Nicholas Cage in Adaptation working through writers block and taking an hour just to write the words Dear Tiger,--but the handwritten note was the big reveal from Tuesday's U.S. Open press conferences at Merion.

Sam Weinman with the lowdown and final chapter in the saga between these lovebirds...well, until they are paired together.

When bad weather rolled in Monday afternoon, Garcia lost track of Woods and never got a chance to see him again. That left him to leave a note for Woods in the locker room. Whether Woods read it or not is something he wasn't willing to acknowledge -- only saying that Garcia never apologized to him in person and that he had bigger things to worry about.

"It's already done," Woods said. "We've already gone through it all. It's time for the U.S. Open."

Should you want, here are parts of their press conferences. Starting with Sergio.



And Tiger.