Us Open Thread: Tiger or Phil or the field?!

[Delenar]

I just found this side of the forums and although I doubt many of this boards regular viewers are golf fans, I figured I would try a thread to see if there is any dicussion.

Phil Mickleson should be interesting to watch, he's going to be questioned both mentally and physically. Mentally because of the choke-job at last years open, and physically because he's got a messed up wrist that he admitted he still has pain with.

Tiger is obviously the favorite as he always is, but the rough is apparently worse than ever this year and Tiger has difficulty keeping the balls in the fairway sometimes, and a ball in the rough could mean triple bogey at some of these holes. Also Tiger tends to struggle with Par 70 courses because he can't dominate the par 5's, only 2 of them on this course. Although he did miss the cut last year, so perhaps some added motivation for him.

Of note as well is the longest par 3 in US Open history at around 300 yards.

Bodog odds:

Tiger Woods 5/2
Phil Mickelson 7/1
Retief Goosen 18/1
Jim Furyk 22/1
Ernie Els 18/1
Vijay Singh 18/1
Geoff Ogilvy 25/1
Adam Scott 33/1
Luke Donald 40/1
Sergio Garcia 40/1
Padraig Harrington 33/1
Henrik Stenson 33/1

(A whole bunch of other names at 40/1 or worse)

The Field ( Any Other Golfer) 7/2

My pick to win is Goosen, with my dark horse being Mike Weir.

[Akileese]

Well, I heard players are complaining the course is absolutely BRUTAL (calling it one of the hardest courses in the history of golf). On top of that, the first hole is said to be the worst in history. In courses like this, I'll take the field not because I doubt Tiger's ability, but because so much can go wrong. This isn't like Augusta where almost everyone will take Tiger because he owns the course. This is the U.S. Open and the course rotates.

Field for me.

[kegkilla]

i'm gonna go out on a limb here and take michelle wei

[darksensei]

Originally Posted by kegkilla

i'm gonna go out on a limb here and take michelle wei

I might not understand golf, but I hear she always gets the high score.

[Grimmlokk]

Surprised Phil's odds are still that good after all the wrist injury talk.

Anyhoo gimme Paddy Harrington=)

Unrelated really: My dad is a USGA member and Oakmont is right near us so he volunteered to work for the tournament. He's like handing the golfers towels and shit. He's been a lifelong golf freak so it's pretty cool for him. Been watching them out there practicing this week.

[AngryGerbil]

Originally Posted by Akileese

Well, I heard players are complaining the course is absolutely BRUTAL (calling it one of the hardest courses in the history of golf). On top of that, the first hole is said to be the worst in history. In courses like this, I'll take the field not because I doubt Tiger's ability, but because so much can go wrong. This isn't like Augusta where almost everyone will take Tiger because he owns the course. This is the U.S. Open and the course rotates.

Field for me.

I'm a passive golf fan. That said...

I Google/Wiki'd this. It's at Oakmont apparently, which this year makes it the most used course in US Open history at 8 times. The greens are supposedly what makes it so hard. A great quote from Lee Trivino, "Any time I two-putted at Oakmont, I knew I was passing someone on the leader board."

So, being the passive fan I am, who is the best putter among the pros? (I really don't know) That's who I'll root for.

[Grimmlokk]

Well a couple weeks ago when Phil won...umm...the one thing...he was driving for shit. Spraying balls all over the course. But through three rounds he had like zero three puts and he held everyone off based almost entirely on putting. Overall he leads the tour this year, but as I said he has some wrist issues coming in this week. Or elbow I forget. Anyhoo he's getting cortizone shots. If he's on there's basically no one better right now.

Of course you can say the same thing for Tiger, who is 11th in putting and only .31 behind Phil(1.715 vs 1.746). Neither one is driving particularly well this year. Tiger playing better with the irons and getting to the green though.

Justin Rose might be a good pick. I don't think he's particularly long off the tee, which will hurt him on the long par 4's at Oakmont I guess, but he's money on the green(2nd) and great at recovery. So go with him=P I'm sticking with the Irish lad.

[MorinkhanMT]

Always gotta take Tiger first, when he's on, he's unbeatable, no matter how hard the course is playing or who's in the field.

That said, I'm going to echo a lot of the ESPN/Golf Digest types and pick Jim Furyk as my non-Tiger winner. He's as consistent a fairway-and-greens guy as you get, which is key in a US Open.

[Thorpe]

With the conditions of the course, I'd take Phil over Tiger. If Phil's short game doesn't suffer to much from his injury, he'll be in contention.

[Delenar]

Woods is in at +1 which is a very good early score it seems, only a few people in at Even and -1.

My pick Goosen in at +6, my dark horse Weir in at +4.

*edit* Oh and their super-slow motion cameras are teh win. Really good feature in golf since the swing mechanics are so hard to see in normal time.

[Jooka]

I wonder if Phils injury is more psychosomatic after what happened last year.

[Grimmlokk]

Harrington +3, not in horrible shape I guess. My suggestion for Gerbil of Justin Rose is at even par on the 9th so far(started on back 9).

[Blumpster]

lol bye Phil, noob.

I'm going with Paul Casey. He's shown he can own this course.

Tiger needs to stay away from the woods, every time they have been disastrous, as the announcers say. Having boomer be the commentator actually makes golf fun to watch at times as well.

[Delenar]

Wow, Tiger put on a driving clinic today, hit his first *17* greens in regulation and only had a bogey on the 18th hole.

He missed 6-7 if not more makeable birdy putts and easily could have had a significant lead. As it is, he'll be in the final group and will try to make a comeback to win a major for the first time ever. (He's 12 for 12 when he is tied for or ahead going into the final round)

[Thorpe]

IIRC Tiger is now 0 for 29 when trailing going into the final round.