US Open - Chambers Bay

[KitsapGuy]

Jordan Spieth is only the 5th player to win The Masters and the U.S. Open in the same season.

The 21-year-old Spieth is the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923 and only the sixth man to double up, Tiger Woods being the last in 2002.

He is now halfway to the grand slam, with the British Open and PGA Championships to come later in the year.

 

[Jazzhawk]

I don't care what anyone says, I LOVED that Open. Great competition down the stretch and a great young champion claimed the crown.

 

[Tical21]

The theatrics were great. Feel terrible for DJ. Pumped for Spieth, great young kid.

I can't get on board with loving this tournament. Not with what happened to Snedeker's putt. Not with what happened to Jason Day's drive that he hit perfectly down the sprinkler line that ended up taking a right turn 40 yards into the fescue. I think it was Mike Lupica who called it "marbles in a bathtub." I can't be fully convinced that the golfer that played the best won. I'm just glad there wasn't a playoff. The whole thing was just kind of embarrassing. Now I wonder how long it will be before they give this area another crack at the tour. I might be jaded, but I just can't get over the whole fan experience. I'm just really glad I gave my ticket up for Sunday.

 

[bigtrain21]

Tical,

This is what they do at U.S. Opens. They make the course extremely hard to play.

Here are the top 3 scores for the previous 10 U.S. Opens with the number of players that finished under par in parenthesis

2005 (0)
1) Even
2) +2
3) +5

2006 (0)
1) +5
2) +6
3) +6

2007 (0)
1) +5
2) +6
3) +6

2008 (2)
1) -1
2) -1
3) Even

2009 (5)
1) -4
2) -2
3) -2

2010 (0)
1) Even
2) +1
3) +2

2011 (31)
1) -16
2) -10
3) -8

2012 (0)
1) +1
2) +2
3) +2

2013 (0)
1) +1
2) +3
3) +3

2014 (3)
1) -9
2) -1
3) -1

2015 (8) Chambers Bay
1) -5
2) -4
3) -4

This is exactly what the USGA wants. They want a challenging course. Chambers Bay actually played 2nd easiest of the last 11 U.S. Opens and if I were to go back even further it would be more of the same.

 

[Tical21]

Oh, I love difficult. The US Open is special almost exclusively because of this. But it also needs to be fair. What happens to one shot needs to happen to the next. Brandt Snedeker hit a great putt that hit some flaw in the course that made his ball jump up in the air, stop, lose all it's steam, and fall down a hill. In that situation, it was physically impossible to do any better. That isn't right.

Spieth had a putt that imperfections in the grass pushed away from the cup. He made an absolutely perfect putt with the perfect speed, on the perfect line, and flaws in the course decided the fate of the putt, rather than the player.

Jason Day hit an absolute perfect tee shot. He doesn't hit it quite as far as Dustin Johnson. There was nowhere that Day could have hit that ball that it wouldn't have gone into trouble. That isn't right. It's luck, or lack thereof.

I don't care if the course is hard. But it should be the same difficulty for everybody. If you play better than everybody else, you should win. With the conditions of the course, we can't say with 100% certainty that this was the case.

 

[DTexHawk]

I don't know if FOX used more mics around fans OR if the crowd was louder, more obnoxious and ruder than other tournaments. I hope FOX learns how to broadcast golf in the future.

Lots of drama, weird bounces, heartbreak, but very entertaining. Doubt the tour will ever return.

Never really was a fan of DJ, but he is a tremendous driver of the ball. Felt bad for him to lose that way and was looking forward to 18 holes today.

There were some better rounds shot than Spieth, but he was by far the best, most consistent and avoided the blow up round which eliminates many in the Open every year.

Congrats to Spieth, hope he continues his success and stays the upstanding young man that he appears to be.

 

[DTexHawk]

Sets up well for wee Rory, IMO. Northern Ireland and Scotland have a ton of tough links courses, so Rory's no stranger. Spieth has no chance.

Stick to scarf knitting. :lol:

Was just in the process of posting this and you got in before I could. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[drdiags]

Tiger is done. He had a shot at history but that time has passed. The next generation of top guns have settled in and the mystique that was Tiger for some no longer applies.

I thought McIroy was going to pull off a miracle back 9 but that miss that broke his string of birdies took the steam out. Was pulling for Day but you could tell it was not going to happen for him. I figured Johnson was sitting pretty only to see Spieth take it at the end.

Chambers Bay is taking a beating from the golfers and public.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

Tiger is done. He had a shot at history but that time has passed. The next generation of top guns have settled in and the mystique that was Tiger for some no longer applies.

I thought McIroy was going to pull off a miracle back 9 but that miss that broke his string of birdies took the steam out. Was pulling for Day but you could tell it was not going to happen for him. I figured Johnson was sitting pretty only to see Spieth take it at the end.

Chambers Bay is taking a beating from the golfers and public.

Interesting that OOstheisen (sp) got a 29 on the back with all them birdies. It was a tough course and he was able to do some damage. As the announcers said, if you got aggressive, you could score.

:sarcasm_on: Dont like Spieth no more...did not acknowledge the 12s. :sarcasm_off: :mrgreen:

:thirishdrinkers: :thirishdrinkers: :thirishdrinkers:

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The theatrics were great. Feel terrible for DJ. Pumped for Spieth, great young kid.

I can't get on board with loving this tournament. Not with what happened to Snedeker's putt. Not with what happened to Jason Day's drive that he hit perfectly down the sprinkler line that ended up taking a right turn 40 yards into the fescue. I think it was Mike Lupica who called it "marbles in a bathtub." I can't be fully convinced that the golfer that played the best won. I'm just glad there wasn't a playoff. The whole thing was just kind of embarrassing. Now I wonder how long it will be before they give this area another crack at the tour. I might be jaded, but I just can't get over the whole fan experience. I'm just really glad I gave my ticket up for Sunday.

Kinda shortsighted don't you think?


Things like greens and improving the spectator experience are fixable issues..........and Tim Rosaforte from the Golf Channel who spoke to a bunch of USGA officials yesterday has already reported that it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when the Open will come back to Chambers.

Here's what we know as facts about what happened the last week, it was one of the most memorable exciting Opens in recent memory. Not since Bethpage has the Open been wire to wire excitement with the most amazing incredible views and settings maybe ever? THAT'S what the USGA wants, excitement and interest in their sport in order to grow it. A little controversy isn't going to stop the USGA from coming back. In fact, it only adds to the ratings and buzz about their premier event.

I went three days, and yes it was next to impossible to see actual golf without being in a grandstand.............but again those issues are fixable. We still had a blast, and I was in awe of being this close to the stars of the sport. The NW deserves this sort of event, so I'm not going to get down on the Open or the USGA. IMO it was a home run.

 

[StoneCold]

It will be a shame if the USGA does not return to Chambers Bay. While I have to say part of this might be the homer in me, this was the most exciting golf I have ever watched. There is so much danger on this course that every shot has the potential to change the game. That part was great. The odd greens, the strange way that some fairways kicked good shots in to terrible shots and the gallery situation, all easily addressable, as others have noted, would make this one the of the best tourney course in the US.

SC

 

[CPHawk]

Chambers could have helped themselves with better greens. It's not like they didn't have years and years to prepare for this.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Chambers could have helped themselves with better greens. It's not like they didn't have years and years to prepare for this.

They did have years, 8 years to be exact to fine tune the fescue greens.

The problem is that they couldn't eradicate the poa annua weeds from growing on a lot of the greens, which is what was causing all the problems. Poa annua loves to grow during the day, causing the bumping putting, especially in the afternoon.

But like I said, a fixable issue...........and IMO was overblown by a LOT of the golfers as they became more and more frustrated with their own erratic play.

We sat in the 9th green grandstand all day yesterday, and saw golfer after golfer miss the same putts. Not because the green was in bad shape, but because they couldn't read the breaks. But in their mind it couldn't possibly be their own fault, gotta blame the green.

So Chambers and the USGA now have 10+ years to not only fix the fescue greens (or replant with a entire new strain), AND work out the unfair landing spots/breaks in some of the greens.

Bottom line for me, not a valid reason to never come back to Chambers. Not with all that went right, which is 80% of everything else.

 

[StoneCold]

There was a lot of "blame the greens" for misreads. Only a few puts that I saw actually hopped or rolled funny.

SC

 

[CPHawk]

There was a lot of "blame the greens" for misreads. Only a few puts that I saw actually hopped or rolled funny.

SC

Me personally, I just wish they had been green. Don't tell me they are "dormant," this is Washington how hard is it to keep greens alive? Even if it had been just as hard, I think normal smoes would have said the course looked great on TV. The usga is always going to push for a tough corse, I have no issue with that. Just wish they had the grass taken better care of, and provide a better fan experience. We golf fans in the PacNW would love to have major tourneys every few years, but we have to put our best foot forward when we do have them, so that they return more often. There's no reason Sahalee, Chambers, pumpkin ridge ect, can't host great golf tournaments a lot more than they do.

The course wasn't as bad as its being made out to be by the media, but at the same time I want them to return, and as we all know the media can control what happens and what people think.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

There was a lot of "blame the greens" for misreads. Only a few puts that I saw actually hopped or rolled funny.

SC

Me personally, I just wish they had been green. Don't tell me they are "dormant," this is Washington how hard is it to keep greens alive? Even if it had been just as hard, I think normal smoes would have said the course looked great on TV. The usga is always going to push for a tough corse, I have no issue with that. Just wish they had the grass taken better care of, and provide a better fan experience. We golf fans in the PacNW would love to have major tourneys every few years, but we have to put our best foot forward when we do have them, so that they return more often. There's no reason Sahalee, Chambers, pumpkin ridge ect, can't host great golf tournaments a lot more than they do.

The course wasn't as bad as its being made out to be by the media, but at the same time I want them to return, and as we all know the media can control what happens and what people think.

You have to understand the narrative from the USGA and Chambers Bay though first to understand why the course looked like it looked.

Chambers Bay was and is touted as a course ahead of it's time. It was a course designed and built for minimal water usage and dependency. Because fescue is native to the NW, it will grow and thrive anywhere on the course with very little water required.

Mike Davis has publicly said that in 25 years he wants Chambers Bay to be the forefather to a greener (no pun intended) more environmentally conscious way of building golf courses in the US. The downside is it's ugly to look at, and not what we're used to seeing golf courses look like...........especially in the NW.

 

[GeekHawk]

Oh, I love difficult. But it also needs to be fair.

Fair? Didn't everybody play the same course, in the same time-frame, under the same conditions? Sounds like the definition of fair to me. Actually, I like to play golf (not very well) but haven't watched much on TV. I never realized what a bunch of whiny bitches that pro golfers are. If you make a shot and it doesn't go where you think it should, that's on you. Should have hit it different if you didn't like the results. Jeez, you'd think they were denied their damn participation trophies or something. :roll:

The whiny ones should stick to playing in Iowa. Flat courses, and putting is like playing on a billiards table. You can't miss. Even I couldn't miss when I was there!

 

[Scottemojo]

The side slopes in the landing areas for drives were unfair. No ball hit down the middle should end up in sand. That was only a couple of holes, but still. My desire to play Chambers Bay as anything other than a novelty was fixed by that tourney.

That said, I have played Poana grass before, and it naturally gets bumpy by afternoon, and looks less than green while very well alive, so I don't care about that.

 

[kearly]

This event felt more like pinball than anything remotely associated with professional golfing. Most of the participants HATED it, and I probably would have hated it too. I can't remember ever seeing a major with more missed putts or laughably unfair ball rolls after landing. I think it kind of says it all when most of THE BEST GOLFERS IN THE WORLD couldn't even make par. Most of the golfers that went out there did everything right on a shot, only to be made to look like a clown.

[youtube]mCQumUTzxVc[/youtube]

I guess the fact that Spieth still won proves just how damn good he is. I loved his pandering to Hawk fans after his win, btw.

It also irked me that we finally get a big event in the Pacific Northwest and they host it on the ugliest course I have ever seen. A yellow, nearly treeless course that looks like a tidal flat. By the train tracks.

The best part was Rob Riggle's special coverage of the lone tree. Which someone once tried to chop down under the cover of night.

 

[brettb3]

This event felt more like pinball than anything remotely associated with professional golfing. Most of the participants HATED it, and I probably would have hated it too. I can't remember ever seeing a major with more missed putts or laughably unfair ball rolls after landing. I think it kind of says it all when most of THE BEST GOLFERS IN THE WORLD couldn't even make par. Most of the golfers that went out there did everything right on a shot, only to be made to look like a clown.

[youtube]mCQumUTzxVc[/youtube]

I guess the fact that Spieth still won proves just how damn good he is. I loved his pandering to Hawk fans after his win, btw.

It also irked me that we finally get a big event in the Pacific Northwest and they host it on the ugliest course I have ever seen. A yellow, nearly treeless course that looks like a tidal flat. By the train tracks.

The best part was Rob Riggle's special coverage of the lone tree. Which someone once tried to chop down under the cover of night.

And yet, this tournament had the 2nd most golfers finish under par at a U.S. Open since 2002. The U.S. Open is supposed to be the most difficult tournament in the world.