Rory McIlroy Wants Every Week to be Unfun Like a US Open
by Ryan Ballengee on Feb 2, 2010 11:47 AM EST
in Pro Golf
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PrintPhil Mickelson's big "f-you, USGA" stunt this past weekend at Torrey Pines has apparently encouraged all of the other whiners in pro golf that don't want to lose their flop shot to speak out in public.
Joe Ogilvie sent a Tweet pleading for the USGA to leave those poor equipment manufacturers alone! He said it will cost some $20 million for the OEMs to conform to the new grooves. Seeing as though the OEMs pull in billions of dollars each year in revenue (not necessarily profit), $20 million is a drop in the bucket. How much would a ball roll back have cost?
Now, world number nine Rory McIlroy - just twenty years old - has suggested that the USGA and R&A reconsider instituting the grooves regulations.
"I think they are trying to bring the whole professional game and the Amateur game closer together," said the 20-year-old Northern Irish golfer in Dubai as he prepared for Thursday's start of the Desert Classic which he won last year.
"I don't see why they don't firm greens up and get the rough longer to bring scores down," said McIlroy. "They can make golf courses a lot tougher and turn 20-under winning scores into 12- under."
McIlroy did, however, add that he feared making scoring harder at professional tournaments could cause golf to lose spectator appeal.
"When I turn on the TV and I am watching a tournament I don't like to see guys struggling for pars all the time. I think people like to see birdies as well. I like to see birdies and people hitting the ball close to flags."
In other words, Rory would prefer to play the US Open each week than play with the new groove standard? What kind of masochist is this guy?!
Effectively, the PGA Tour has been setting up courses that way for the past five to eight years. Firm greens, smaller fairways, deeper rough, and tighter pins. The beauty of the grooves regulation was that course setup guys, like Mike Davis at the USGA, could lower the rough, widen fairways, and soften greens. They could bring back the potential for the flier lie that made hitting the ball into the rough more of a guessing game.
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who cares about grooves? this is all about control and money. if the PGA tour wants to make it tougher on the pros, forget grooves, how about making them play real golf courses every week? par was meant to be a good score. let’s bring that back. most courses that these guyys play now require no thinking for the pros. they pull out the driver on every hole that is not a par 3, hit is as far as they can, walk to their ball and fire a wedge at the flag. let’s make the rough penal. let’s make bunkers penal. let’s make reaching a par 5 in two risky. let’s make pro golfers THINK. i love watching the US Open. you have to have an all around game to score. that is what keeps my attention. unfortunately “sports fans” here in the US love “offense”. they want to see birdies and eagles galore. that is why we have what we have.
as for the “groove thing”, all i have to say on that is “Scott McCaron SHUT UP!” when someone other than your family tunes in to see YOU and your Broomstick Putter play, you can speak up.
What kind of a masochist is this guy?
A young very rich one. BTW there FG, rules are rules. Love it or hate it, the long putter is legal. Using it to disparage McCarron is inaccurate.
@ping
you just made my point!
ping eye2 wedges are legal also!
by freeze gopher on Feb 2, 2010 2:00 PM EST up reply actions
This is why you don’t ask these very young, mostly inexperienced pros questions. He’s barely old enough to remember “Carnastie”, and doesn’t remember Southern Hills. He wasn’t in the field at Oakmont to take on that knee high rough. He doesn’t understand the damage that happens to a course when you overgrow the rough, and mow and roll greens within millimeters of their life.
He hasn’t been around long enough to understand that tours don’t want all of any kind of tournament – that would be boring. If these guys have 33 weeks of 25 under, the fans will complain that they are playing pitch and putt courses – but if they play 33 weeks of even par, the fans will either say that the courses are ridiculously hard (which they would have to be to control these players) or the players really aren’t that good. Tours set up courses to give players and fans some variety.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
court
he didn’t say to make the courses unplayable.
how ’bout if we just grow some rough and make the greens a little more firm than a sponge?
by freeze gopher on Feb 2, 2010 2:04 PM EST up reply actions
show me a PGA Tour course, outside of Augusta National, that doesn’t have at least 4 inches of rough (or 2 1/2 inches of wirey burmuda) and greens that are rolled (and sometimes double rolled) so they run at least 12 on the stimp meter (aside from Kapalua which has to protect from high winds)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
4 inches of rough????????????????????????
what do you consider rough? these guys hit 3 irons out of it and stop the ball on the green. hitting the ball in the rough is supposed to penalize a player.
12 on the “stimp meter”. that’s a good one. if it is not a major the ball sticks on PGA tour greens like a dart. pros worry more about spinning the ball back off of the green than running through the green. you can not seriously think that PGA courses are set up tough enough.
by freeze gopher on Feb 2, 2010 2:34 PM EST up reply actions
That was last year – these new wedges don’t spin like the old ones. Balls are releasing and rolling forward more than just stopping or spinning back. Balls “stick” when the greens are soft from rain…which we have seen a LOT of so far this year. Did you not notice the Monday finish at the Hope ? Torrey Pines was still a little wet, but balls were releasing forward. and no – they don’t hit 3-irons out of the rough and have it stop. the ball might stay on the green, but only after rolling a long way.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
the greens are always soft except at the majors and yes they do hit 3 irons out of the “rough” and stick them.
by freeze gopher on Feb 2, 2010 3:46 PM EST up reply actions
if you say so – we’re apparently watching different tournaments.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Rory McIlroy says so too. i think he has a better view than both you and me.
by freeze gopher on Feb 2, 2010 4:15 PM EST up reply actions
I say,
give um 80 acres of hay, and a bunch of cows and let them go at it….STUB
Rory would benefit from harder courses (aka win more) because he is one of the best in the world, 9th by last count: Tough courses weed out the weaker players who can’t do what Rory can. There’s less chance of some nobody having an incredibly lucky putting week and taking the trophy.
I don’t know that tougher courses would hurt ratings – may actually help. Ever notice how the best players always rise to the top of the board when the course is really tough? A star-studded leaderboard going into Sunday is the best ratings recipe there is.
Top players won't play the Hope for that reason.
It’s not tough enough the skill required in a major is not seen. So, for me, making the courses too easy for these pros leaves me short changed.
there are a number of reasons why the top guys skip the Hope – but remember – they are playing 4 rounds with real amateurs (1 pro per group – unlike Pebble Beach where they play one pro with one amateur) who would take 9 hours to get around on a real PGA Tour setup. Those 4 courses are set up easy so the amateurs’ heads don’t explode along with the TV people. It’s only on the last day that the pros play together in regular groups and only a few hours to toughen up the course as much as possible.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
True dat (as opposed to Who Dat !). Slower greens make an average putter better – and the best players like the advantage of a tougher course.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
The only people
opposed to Who Dat is the NFL who somehow think they “invented it”……Remember “So Rocky, how’d you get the name Rocky”………give me the answer Court….
The Saints are in the SUPER BOWL....WHO DAT!
lol – he made it up while he was having dinner. so many good lines in those movies
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I wouldn't know, Court. I never
use condominiums.
I think he said
something like……“aaa, I just sort of invented it”……I know I’m getting old when those movies are now on “movie classics”……arggggggggg.
The Saints are in the SUPER BOWL....WHO DAT!
Hey Em
There was lengthy article in my newspaper today re NFL vs Who Dat – and NFL backing down. Go Saints!
Au contraire!!
“The Times joins them in cheering for a Saints win – a victory that New Orleans deserves both for its team’s sporting success and as a symbol of its own renewal. AND IF WE SHOULD HEAR A DISSENTING CRY FROM SOMEONE, WE WILL BE ASKING: WHO DAT?!
It won’t be shown on UK TV until 10.55 p.m. Sunday night, so after the opening ceremonies, I’ll be off to bed (early tee-time Monday a.m.) so just to wish you and Saints all the luck in the world, Em.
Too bad all the luck in the world
is what you offered, Wendy. They’ll need a tad more than that. Fourteen points springs to mind.
by TXQ on Feb 5, 2010 1:31 PM EST up reply actions
this is all pretty silly
Ping no longer makes money worth mentioning on the Eye 2, so if approached with the right carrot by the USGA, they’d probably agree to an injunction or some other legal hocus pocus that eliminates the exemption that resulted from a 20-year old law suit.
The players will bitch and moan for a year, then they’ll act like it’s no big deal. After all, real men can get the ball to spin out of the rough with a 1-iron, right?
Truth has a well-known liberal bias.
If the "Unfun" in the title...
…was in reference to the early 90s Jawbreaker record, the RB’s punk cred just went up by a few points.
"...it is well to remember that to miss a putt is not a criminal offense and does not prevent a man from being an excellent husband, father, and citizen." - Bernard Darwin
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