US Open Golf

Starts tomorrow. Usually it's brutal and some massive scores get posted but they've been hit by the tail end of the hurricanes hitting the States so the fairways are a lot softer and the greens pretty receptive.

I can see Tiger winning by a street and I backed him months ago at 7-1 so I'm doing McDowell 22-1 as his record in US Opens is brilliant and Scott Stallings and Kevin Streelman both 125-1 eachway. Stallings has finished 4th, 4th and 2nd in his last 3 tournaments and Streelman has had a 1st, a 2nd, a 3rd, a 6th and a 10th place already this season. 

I'm also doing Paul Casey to be 1st round leader at 150-1 eachway 4 places, as he's looked like he's regaining his old form for about a year now but he just fades away.

Hopefully a thrilling finish on Sunday night again!

Skybet have Tiger at 11/2 and next best is Adam Scott at 20/1 ! Rory is 22's I think. You have to hit the fairways in this one or you'll post a cricket score. Difficult to see past Tiger with his wayward driving behind him. 

Gonna study it a bit more tonight then have a few wagers.

Weather could be a big issue and I am not keen on the two tee start, nowhere near as big as either the Open or the Masters imho, will have to split my viewing between this, the cricket and an IRB JWC game, hard life innit ?

In case anyone hasn't bet yet, Paddy Power are offering 7 places e/w if you place the bet on your mobile.

I've had a fair bet on Kuchar and Rose e/w, smaller bets on outsiders Stallings and Molinari e/w, then  a couple quid win on Westwood and Snedeker.

Will 'R' Lee ever reel in a big one?

Lord Tisdale wrote:

Will 'R' Lee ever reel in a big one?

No, not now. He doesn't know how to win big tournaments regularly. He gets himself into great positions and then doesn't know how to play. He isn't sure whether to attack or defend and he usually ends up limping home with another top 5 but no cigar.

You see him standing over 20 ft putts and you just know he's going to lag it to make sure he doesn't 3 putt.

He's 40 now and living in the States and yet he's still only won 2 US Pga Tour events. I think it's just a confidence thing because he's wons loads in Europe and if he's ever playing a tournament in Asia I always back him. He's won 10 tournaments in Japan or Asia so he must feel comfortable and perhaps not under so much scrutiny.

Having said that he'll probably do a Darren Clarke now

i dont know much about golf however i took a punt on mcilloy finishing in the top ten

Greenjock wrote:

Lord Tisdale wrote:

Will 'R' Lee ever reel in a big one?

No, not now. He doesn't know how to win big tournaments regularly. He gets himself into great positions and then doesn't know how to play. He isn't sure whether to attack or defend and he usually ends up limping home with another top 5 but no cigar.

You see him standing over 20 ft putts and you just know he's going to lag it to make sure he doesn't 3 putt.

He's 40 now and living in the States and yet he's still only won 2 US Pga Tour events. I think it's just a confidence thing because he's wons loads in Europe and if he's ever playing a tournament in Asia I always back him. He's won 10 tournaments in Japan or Asia so he must feel comfortable and perhaps not under so much scrutiny.

Having said that he'll probably do a Darren Clarke now

Westwood is definitely past his best, but Clarke and Ernie have shown recently that you can be way past your sell by date and still pull one out the bag.

Plus he hits the ball straight, which will always give him a chance depending on if his fragile short game holds it together.

I'll leave this thread now 'cos I always tape the golf and watch it a few hours behind 'real-time'. I don't do adverts.

Czarcasm wrote:

I'll leave this thread now 'cos I always tape the golf and watch it a few hours behind 'real-time'. I don't do adverts.

"tape" it?

Well it's been good to watch so far. The greens and fairways are now speeding up nicely so even perfect drives are running out and into the rough meaning a bit of guile and course management is needed. 

It's wide open at the moment. Tiger is only 4 shots off the lead despite being 3+ and you could give probably 40 players a chance of winning, except my eachway picks 

I've still got Tiger,  but to have more of an interest I've also backed Hunter Mahan at 33-1 eachway, who's sat 2 off the lead at 1+.

Rory Mcilroy, Phil Mickelson, Luke Donald, Steve Stricker, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Ernie Els are all still right up there with a decent chance so it should be a great weekend.

Banking on our Justin to rise to the challenge tonight now. I ain't that confident as he's choked a couple of times recently when I've stood to make a nice tidy sum. I may edge my bets with Mahan and Schwartzel as they are looking good and can still be had at 7/1 and 5/1 respectively with e/w for 3 places.

Got a sneaking feeling that Stricker may do it,the course suits his game and it's very puzzling that a player of his class has never won a major,this could be the time.Still wide open but Tiger ain't going to do it-5 years without a major,is Jack still going to stay as the major king after all? Tiger isn't getting any younger-i wouldn't bet against him winning at least one more major but four? Big ask IMHO.

Well I'm right in there with Mahan one off the lead and playing in the final group with Mickelson.

Really surprised to see Luke Donald available at 10-1 and also Jason Day at 16-1. For me there are 9 players in with a shout, and that just still includes Ricky Fowler who is only 4 off the lead and you can get 33-1 on him, 1/4 odds and 3 places.

It's brutal now with a huge slice of luck needed on most holes, and it might benefit someone like Fowler or Day just grinding out a level par or 1- round and then just sit back and watch the others feel the pressure, a bit like Paul Lawrie did when winning the Open.

Mickelson and Schwartzel the only previous major winners in with a shout which will count for a lot when it matters on the back 9. 

One player under par after 3 rounds and the US Open organisers like to have level par as the best score possible so they're bang on the money. Makes a change from watching the usual target practice golf you see week in week out.

Shawn Stefani scores the first hole-in-one of the tournament, with an absolute fluke!

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Greenskin wrote:

Got a sneaking feeling that Stricker may do it,the course suits his game and it's very puzzling that a player of his class has never won a major,this could be the time.Still wide open but Tiger ain't going to do it-5 years without a major,is Jack still going to stay as the major king after all? Tiger isn't getting any younger-i wouldn't bet against him winning at least one more major but four? Big ask IMHO.

And Steve duly notches a triple bogey on the second!

Well done Justin Rose. Kept a cool head over the last two holes and played well all week.

Also well done to Hunter Mahan, missing that little putt on the last made a big difference to my bet, now it's a dead heat for 4th which means I lose half of what I would've picked up! Prick 

Geddon Justin bhey!

Tenner e/w at 28's pays £350! He's cost me a few quid recently when I've backed him with a fair bet. He's come up trumps today tho. Well deserved. Happy days.

Czarcasm wrote:

Geddon Justin bhey!

Tenner e/w at 28's pays £350! He's cost me a few quid recently when I've backed him with a fair bet. He's come up trumps today tho. Well deserved. Happy days.

Very nice. He's become a world class player over the last couple of years. So glad Mickelson didn't win, although it's tough to have come second six times now in the US Open. Be interesting to see if Rose kicks on now and wins more majors.

I hope he does. He's done what Donald and Westwood failed to do - win a Major while they were at the peak of their game. Luke and Lee had Woods in the doldrums as well when they were soaring, so they may just have missed the boat.

A tad harsh on LukeLee imho, each one of these majors starts nowadays with 60 or 70 players with the game to win the thing, all golfers know that on their day they are potentially 10 or so shots better than their modal score and that on very rare occasions they can put two rounds together, obviously your pro is more likely to get two blinders, a tour pro three, then come the perennial winners of the biggest tourneys followed by the once in a generation geniuses, yer Hogan's, Palmer's, Trevino's, Nicklaus's, Player's, Watson's, Els' and of course more recently the Tigger's.

My view is that the ultimate prizes are far more hotly contested today than they were say thirty tears ago, making Tigger's period of domination that much more significant in record book terms. LukeLee and Rosey are all very good players who maintain a level of performance which sees them regularly at the top of the world standings, but winning one of the three Majors, the PGA sucks for me, gives you just three shots a year for the ten or fifteen years you might be at your prime, allowing of course for the slumps that or injuries everybody has, that means maybe twenty shots at the prize in a career, these three have had Els,Tigger and Phil Mick in with them that have won at least three biggies, PM with just the three Masters, it is my contention that in a previous generation Els or PM would have had a load more, they just drowned in tigger's wake, had he not got injured and decided to set a new doughnut sellers shagging world record, pickings would have been even thinner.

Rory Mc is the new kid on the block and he is on the scoreboard already, but to my mind he is a different level to the other three, when he puts together a couple he takes the worls apart, the other boys don't have that in their lockers.

Anyway, that said, it was great to see a Brit out grind the Yanks and the other Colonials around what would have to be said was an interesting little course, despite it suiting what there once was of my game, a driving and chipping on to a receptive green competition holds little interest for me, some of the courses they build nowadays, all about how far you can smash a ball with these new clubs, are dullness personified, Merion was hard and penalised poor shots while the greens presented problems other than being 15 on the Stimp, four excellent days golf despite the weather and the right winner, roll on the Open.

You see Tis, you don't have to talk utter bollocks all the time.

Every US Open is set up with a premium put on hitting fairways and greens. The rough is utterly brutal, so there's simply no need for courses approaching 8,000 yds. Merion actually played shorter than St Mellion down the road from the back tees. It was a superb tournament to watch. Par 3's of around 100yds should be nothing for these players, and yet some of them still cracked. I thought is was a little bit rediculous though to have a Par3 at 256 yds up hill in to the wind that some of the players weren't even getting there with Driver. That's a bit silly.

As you say Tis, roll on the Open. May try and squeeze in a couple of days up there...

Czarcasm wrote:

I thought is was a little bit rediculous though to have a Par3 at 256 yds up hill in to the wind that some of the players weren't even getting there with Driver.

I thought 249 was the max for a par3, either way if the wind gets up that is just part of the game, play short and get down in two more, simples.

Czarcasm wrote:

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Yes, there was a 286 yard one in '07, apparently it is pretty much at the discretion of the Golf Associations.