US Women's Open - ESPN Fudging the numbers at 18 ?

by courtgolf on Jun 26, 2008 3:02 PM EDT

Ok - #18 at Interlachen is supposed to be a 530 yard par 5, dogleg to the right - carry over a fairly sizeable lake. No problem - the fairway rolls around the left side of the lake.

I watched Cristie Kerr and Maria Jose Uribe hit their second shots. Uribe, according to the ESPN announcers, had 266 left to the pin - which means she hit a tee shot 264 yards. Kerr hit after Uribe, so her second shot was a few yards shorter.

Both women hit their shots to the green - Uribe's shot was magnificent rolling to pin high.

Fantastic ! Until you think about it - there is NO WAY she hit her 3-wood 266 yards off the ground when she couldn't hit her driver that far off the tee. She may have had 266 yards to the flag following the contour of the fairway AROUND the lake, but there is no way she had 266 to the flag on a straight line OVER the lake.

Her shot was a great shot - but don't tell me that she hit her 3-wood 266 yards like that - then brag about how great and how long these women are today. You have to get the facts straight - you can't give the audience bad information like that. Eventually, it will be proven wrong. (then again - this is the media we're talking about - and admissions of inaccuracy are about as common as a palm tree at the south pole)

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I heard that number too

and assumed Uribe was going to lay up. No LPGA player – not even Ochoa – goes for the green from 266. Somebody mis-spoke or misread their SkyCaddie.

by hound dog on Jun 26, 2008 3:33 PM EDT 0 recs

Sky Caddie

Is the ESPN crew pushing Sky Caddie ? I thought that was just xxx Golf Channel. Sky Caddie would give a number directly to the front, center and rear of the green, plus a number to the pin – but I don’t remember them talking about using sky caddie during the round.

I was guessing that they had a number from the drive and just subtracted from 530, which would be wrong because the yardage on the card represents the hole along the ground, not over the lake.

Where’s Chris Berman when you need him ? At least he would’ve distracted from the mistake by making up a nickname for Uribe. :-)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jun 26, 2008 5:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

sponsorship

Only when it’s a sponsor does Sky Caddie get mentioned. I wish mine gave a number to the pin, but it doesn’t. Announcers have the number to the pin calculated for them from the pin sheet for that day.

by dianemarie on Jun 26, 2008 9:19 PM EDT up 0 recs

pin sheets

sort of right. the pin sheets give the position of the pin on the green in yards from the front or back and left or right. The yardage books that the players have gives yardage to the front of the green, then the player/caddie does their addition and subtraction to get their yardage. The reporters walking the course either have to figure the yardage themselves, or they have an assistant stepping off yardage, or they have a GPS or laser device in their hands. The hosts at the desk have to depend on the course reporters relaying the information…or in the case of PGA events, they get the information from ShotLink.

That’s what I was talking about – I don’t recall hearing Sky Caddie mentioned by the on course reporters. They might not be using it this week.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jun 26, 2008 10:51 PM EDT 0 recs

should have said "range finder"

I hear “SkyCaddie” so much, it’s become my catch-phrase for “range finder”. Like “Coke” for any cola soft drink.

I’d rather listen to four hours of Bobby Clampett than four minutes of Chris Berman.

by hound dog on Jun 27, 2008 8:28 AM EDT 0 recs

range finders

The Wegman’s was on ESPN2, Sky Caddie was one of the sponsors, on-course reporters referred to Sky Caddie yardage. This week the Open is on ESPN, Sky Caddie is NOT one of the sponsors, on-course reporters DON’T say Sky Caddie.

In any case, on-course folks are carrying clipboards with a piece of paper showing how far from the front edge each pin is located. That information is gathered by someone calculating from the pin sheet OR someone going to each green that morning to pace off the distance OR using a daily press release from the USGA giving the locations of the pins (aren’t run-on sentences fun?). The on-course reporter only has to look at her/his Sky Caddie, note the yardage to the front, add the distance from the front edge that’s noted on the piece of paper (referenced above) on the clip board, then announce to the world the yardage to the hole. It ain’t rocket science (okay,it is if you count the GPS satellites) and it doesn’t have to be precise to the nearest foot.

If the ESPN on-course reporter got confused by the numbers as in CG’s example above and didn’t issue a retraction after the error, it’s not a conspiracy to defraud the viewing public. It’s a mistake and we all make them.

by dianemarie on Jun 27, 2008 9:25 AM EDT 0 recs

thanks D

I couldn’t recall hearing “Sky Caddie” during the broadcast, but I didn’t get to pay a whole lot of attention for the whole time.

Pin positions are determined by tournament officials before the tournament begins. (adjustments are made for weather and sometimes for scoring – if the players are struggling too much or making too many putts on a green, they can choose a tougher or easier position) They are stepped off and marked for the greenskeeper to cut. This is usually done before play starts that day so caddies can’t hang around after play is finished and map out positions and breaks. The pin sheets are just a piece of paper with 18 circles with two lines and a number for each line – steps from the front and steps from either left or right side of the green. (I know – the technology involved is staggering) :-) The sheets are handed out in the locker room and in the media center each day.

The “mistake” as you called it – would get a caddie fired if he/she gave that kind of information to their player. What was interesting about this particular “mistake” was the hype that followed from the host and analyst. They carried on about how amazingly long the women are instead of questioning the yardage.

Oh – nobody ever said “conspiracy” – let’s not overreact.

By the way – that was an excellent run on sentence – positively Faulknerian ! :-D

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jun 27, 2008 11:17 AM EDT up 0 recs

a mistake that got compounded

Andy North was the guy who said the pin was 266. As he usually does the booth job and isn’t down on the course giving the info, I assume he made a mistake somehow. Doesn’t really matter whether he was using a SkyCaddie or pin sheet or rifle scope to measure it. Now if Uribe and Kerr had already shown me they can average better than 270 off the tee, I might have given them a chance of blasting a 3-wood 250-260.

I agree with Court that this wouldn’t have been a big deal except both Judy and Dottie made it a big deal by using it as an example about how strong these “little” women are. Impress us next time by giving the correct info on how far they actually hit that 3-wood.

by hound dog on Jun 27, 2008 12:19 PM EDT up 0 recs