What A Trip to Funkytown and Twentyunderparville
by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 3, 2009 11:14 AM EDT
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PrintComing off of what may have become a crushing playoff loss in the Senior British Open at Sunningdale last week, Fred Funk hopped on a plane across the Pond and landed at Crooked Stick in Indiana with a renewed purpose. Having tried to guide the ball too much during the final round at Sunningdale, Funk committed himself to trusting his swing - one of the straightest in the history of golf.
That kind of straight, reliable ball flight worked for Funk as he won the US Senior Open with a record final score of twenty under par 268. With some rain and no wind and a par of 72, Crooked Stick had no chance against the Champ Tour's best. Seeing as though the 50+ tour is often referred to as a big putting contest, these guys were fully able to light up a very benign Crooked Stick.
Even amateur golfer Tim Johnson had gotten in on the act by setting the USGA's 36 hole scoring record for a championship. He ultimately finished 11th.
In fact, it was so bad that Armchair Golf Blog has a story about a criminal report filed against the field for robbing Crooked Stick. As Jeremy Piven says in his new movie, "In your country, we would chop your hand off because you are stealing from us!"
I'm sure the USGA was thrilled with the championship, but the winning score really sticks out like a sore thumb. Twenty under!
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Look Out for 2010
Due to the USGA’s usual insistence on keeping scores low, I feel bad for what the senior players are going to face next year. Expect to see Ian Woosnam go AWOL in the rough off of the first tee. The winning score next year might just end up being +5 or +10.
Been a Reds fan since 1996 and am desperate for a playoff run.
Agreed, But The Winning Score Is The Lowest Score
The USGA, and to an extent the other majors are all in love with even par as a target score. In the US Open especially, that leads to defensive and quite frankly boring golf.
At the same time, however, the winning score is the one that has the fewest strokes at the end of the event. If it is 288 or or 278 and the rest of the field is higher, there’s your winner.
I wish that each of the majors would have a couple decent risk/reward holes on the back nine. That makes for an interesting choice on Sunday of a major and would be more fun to watch. The Men of the Masters have gotten that and have made the Augusta National back nine more amenable to scoring on Sundays, after going the opposite way for a number of years. The Open Championship has almost always had it, but the weather dictates the conditions in nearly any Open so it is a crapshoot. The PGA, you never know what you are going to get. The US Open, however, is a slog, a long painful beating of every player in the field.
by Charles Boyer on Aug 3, 2009 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions
In recent years, the US Open has been set up to be very exciting on Sunday’s back nine. You have to give credit to Mike Davis for being willing to tantalize players and fans with visions of back nine grandeur.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 3, 2009 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions
True, But...
…the level of excitement Davis sets up the US Open to have pales in comparison to the Masters. Yes, it’s better, but it should be better still.
We’ll see what they do at Pebble next year, for two reasons: first, Tiger absolutely thrashed that course last time. Second, assuming relatively benign weather, there are some great scoring holes on the return to the clubhouse there.
No matter what, it’s gonna be great for those of us back east — a US Open in primetime is just great.
by Charles Boyer on Aug 3, 2009 1:04 PM EDT up reply actions
If I’m not mistaken, the last U.S. Open at Pebble Beach didn’t have much wind, at least when Tiger was out on the course. That made the course vulnerable, although Tiger did make a lot of long putts en route to his thrashing of the field.
That said, I don’t see any way Tiger doesn’t win the U.S. Open again next year at Pebble Beach and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him win the British at St. Andrews for the third time because he can overpower that course and take nearly all of its bunkers out of play. I’m not a fan of the Old Course and think it shouldn’t be used as a major venue anymore, but I know I’m alone in that opinion.
Been a Reds fan since 1996 and am desperate for a playoff run.
by Britain United on Aug 3, 2009 1:38 PM EDT up reply actions
People say that EVERY time Tiger tees it up. He is the odds on favorite. How many people said the same thing at Bethpage and Turnberry this year ? Now he’s won again and people are saying he’s on another roll. One in a row – that’s “on a roll”.
Why don’t you like the Old Course ? History, great layout, and there is a premium on shot placement to avoid bunkers. Hit any fairway bunker and you’re almost guaranteed a bogey.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Speaking of twenty uder. after last Thursday's 71, Tiger was
tied for 87th/115th. He stated in an interview, the course is such that twenty under par would win. Guess what he finished with..??
...from the land of pleasant living, Baltimore.
by One-Eyed Golfer Guy on Aug 4, 2009 2:05 PM EDT reply actions
SO !
The question now has to be…did he miss that birdie putt on the 72nd hole just to make his prediction come true ? :-)
If you listened to the media wizards, you would have thought Tiger was intentionally hitting his approach shots to the 25’-35’ range just to make the crowd roar when he made the putts.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
If Tiger Could Throw Down 30 Under, You Know He Would
One thing that makes Tiger great is that he never lets up and puts it into cruise control. If he has a three stroke lead, he wants four. If it is four, he wants five.
That doesn’t mean he will play stupid and risky golf, but it does say he will try to give every putt every chance to go in.
by Charles Boyer on Aug 4, 2009 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Need vs Want
After a few years on Tour – most notably the year 2000 – we pretty much stopped seeing Tiger throw up monster numbers. His schedule narrowed to the more difficult courses and the biggest events. He seemed to prefer not to HAVE to make a slew of birdies to win, but to be able to play steady golf between the pars of a US Open and the 8 to 12 unders that win most of the tournaments he plays. He matured away from the youthful birdie-fest tournaments.
Last Thursday, he said that the winner would be around 20 under, so he NEEDED to get to that number (after going low enough to make the cut, of course).
I was kidding about “missing” the birdie at 18 on Sunday – a shot a the media – not Tiger.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
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