Videos: Muirfield's 5th and 6th Holes

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The players get a reprieve at the 559-yard 5th where a benign opening to the green allows those hitting the fairway to have a go in two, assuming the wind is favorable.

The view from the 5th tee (click to enlarge):


Hopefully you've made birdie at the fifth because the 467-yard sixth is narrow with fantastic contours that almost guarantee an unlevel lie and obscured views to a green. The second shot is framed by Archerfield Wood as a backdrop, which distorts depth perception. The hole also features an old stone wall just under 300 yards off the tee and at the dogleg, adding to the fun here.



Bunkers out of play for today's players before the fairway narrows and the rolls begin:

The wall at 300 or so yards from the tee:

Videos: Muirfield's 3rd And 4th Holes

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Counting down to Muirfield kicked off with the 1st and 2nd hole analysis by Golf Monthly with Strokesaver flyovers, so we move on to the 3rd and 4th holes.

At 377 yards the third features a tee shot that must be less than 289 yards to avoid the pinching bunkers. The left side opens up the best angle of attack for front and middle holes to a 44-pace deep green.

The fourth features a new and quite difficult tee at 227 yards from a new more leftward angle into the right-to-left shaped green. The old tee, now one of six on the hole, played more into the length of the green and hopefully wil be used if the wind is up since this exposed green complex would be difficult with a short iron approach.

A zoomed-in view from the new back tee shows the alignment of flagsticks at four, twelve green and the thirteenth.

A view of the approach shows why run-up approaches will be difficult if not impossible due to the slope taking balls to penal bunkers short right of the green.

Houston Chronicle: Equal Pay For U.S. Open Winners

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Here's something you don't see everyday, a newspaper editorial board advocating change in golf. In this case, it's the Houston Chronicle suggesting that winners of the U.S. mens and women's Opens play for the same purses.

A national championship is a national championship. The money should more fairly reflect that for U.S. golf's national championship. Wimbledon and the U.S. Tennis Open have decreed parity for men's and women's purses. Why not the USGA, the keeper of golf's history and grand traditions?

Phil: Merion The One That Got Away Most

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Jason Sobel with some frank commentary from Phil Mickelson on his recent second place finish at Merion in the U.S. Open, including 2013 moving to the top of his list of ones that got away, his continued dedication and the shot that was his undoing.

The par-3 13th and his wedge shot there as well as on the 15th.

“I misclubbed on 13,” he admits. “I never should have hit a pitching wedge; I should have hit a gap and take the back out of play. Because if I overcook to the pin, it goes long, so that was a misclub. … We had a lot of wind. We had wind swinging in and left to right. It picked up when we got there. I thought, ‘Gosh, if I hit a gap wedge into this wind, I wonder if it will carry.’ It just kind of came up at a bad time. That’s when the rain came. I started putting on 12 and the wind and the rain picked up. We got to the 13th tee box and I ended up taking one more cl

Videos: Muirfield's 1st and 2nd Holes

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Thanks to Golf Monthly and Strokesaver for these looks at Muirfield's first two holes, starting with the straightforward but difficult 448-yard opener.

And the 365 second hole, with a horrible new bunker added to the front of the cluster of three guarding the green to discourage players from driving the hole when downwind. That would be one of the R&A's "The Treatment" bunkers. The rough up the left side also negates a play to the best angle of attack at a green with a distinct right to left and back to front tilt. Other than that, I think it's a splendid preparation of a really nice hole.

Johnny's Silverado To Host PGA Tour Starting In '14

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Ron Kroichick with the exclusive news that Johnny Miller's renovated North Course at Silverado resort in Napa will be hosting the Frys.com Open starting in 2014, and not the Frys' brothers ultra private Institute disaster course across the highway.

The Rickie Fowler generation won’t remember this, but Silverado hosted one PGA Tour event (1968-80) and another, the Transamerica, on the then-Senior Tour (1989-2002).

Home to the legendary J.C. Snead-Dave Hill fistfight on the range! Oh sorry, go on...

Miller joined Silverado’s new ownership group in 2010. He promptly renovated the North Course, with an eye toward bringing back high-level professional golf.

"I guess the excitement/ adrenaline rush of getting another opportunity to play in the greatest golf event in the world clouded my judgement"

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Kudos to David Higgins for authoring a first-person statement exclusively to GolfCentralDaily.com on his 15-club DQ during from Tuesday's Open Championship qualifying playoff.

I decided to go the range to warm up again and hit a few balls. I just took driver, mid iron and wedge. It was still raining really hard so I kept the rain cover on my bag.  My caddy for the day, Monty, a local man that knows north Berwick like the back of his hand, had done a great job all day and was up for the playoff.

We headed for the tee. I hit a good tee shot, and good second to about 15 feet. I was hunkered down reading my putt when the thought suddenly came into my head, "fu€k, did I take that other rescue out if the bag?"

I stood up and felt a bit sick in my stomach as I walked over to the bag to check. And there she was looking up at me! "Bollix"..........

USGA "Pleased" PGA Tour And PGA Of America Saw The Light

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A statement released today after the PGA Tour and PGA of America came on board with the anchoring ban. No acknowledgement of the suggested extension for the amateur game. 

“The United States Golf Association is pleased with the decision by the PGA Tour and The PGA of America to follow Rule 14-1b, when it goes into effect in January 2016, for their respective competitions. As set forth in our report, “Explanation of Decision to Adopt Rule 14-1b,” the game benefits from having a single set of rules worldwide, applicable to all levels of play, and the acceptance of Rule 14-1b by the PGA Tour and The PGA of America supports the game in this regard.”

 Translation: as it should have been all along until you guys decided to get all independent minded...

"Gullane, North Berwick, Dunbar and Musselburgh were the settings for the kind of blazing shoot-outs that would have made the Gunfight at the OK Coral resemble a playful stooshie with water pistols."

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It's hard not to get your Open juices flowing when reading about the 288 lads who made the valiant effort to qualify for the 12 Open spot up for grabs, especially when Nick Rodger is giving accounts of their efforts from Scotland's Golf Coast: North Berwick, Dunbar, Gullane and Musselburgh.

The Open can't come soon enough!

Oh and a special nod to His Montyness for a fine effort off playing in the Senior TPC Sunday and making it to East Lothian to open with a 69 only to understandably fade to a second round 76.

By the time he had completed 12 holes, the big man was five under and on a roll. His bid for one of the three Open tickets was motoring along nicely but the wheels began to shoogle with bogeys at 13, 14, 16 and 17. Despite a birdie putt of 15 feet on the 18th in a two-under 69, the face and the shoulders were beginning to crumple towards half mast and the mood would become increasingly sombre during the second round.

An average splash-out from the greenside bunker on the eighth led to him thundering the offending club back into the bag before he turned round and booted the rake into the sand pit. The silence was so tense that even that aforementioned butterfly was trying desperately to control its flatulence. In the end, a weary 76 for 145 meant he slithered down the field while the assembled scribblers steeled themselves to approach him in the same tentative way as you would edge towards a sleeping lion.

There would be no startled roar and savage bite, though. "Five-under and I threw it away; I played very badly," he groaned in a resigned, downbeat assessment before beating a glum retreat.

You can view full results from the four courses here.