We knew early on that this wasn’t going to be an “ease into the Open” kind of round. With the wind blowing hard and a challenging setup, scoring at this U.S. Open wasn’t going to be low. There was plenty of ugly to be found on Long Island today and even the world’s best were made to look the fool.
The featured pairing of Mickelson, Spieth and McIlroy finished 25 over par. Enough said….they thought so too as none of them addressed the media after their disappointing rounds.
Big numbers for big names ran rampant across the fescue at Shinnecock: Bubba +8, Rahm +8, Scott +8, Day +9. Not the way those boys like to be in the news.
Tiger got things off to a great start with an opening triple bogey on his first hole. I’d like to say it got better but it really didn’t. 38 on the front and 40 on the back had Woods at +8 and shell shocked. But there is hope. The last player to triple bogey a hole in the U.S. Open and win….Tiger Woods 2000 (third hole, third round) so he’s got that going for him.
The USGA likes to “identify” the best golfers not “embarrass” them but today I think the setup was a shot across the bow of the players. Jason Dufner who shot a miraculous even par 70 despite his stuttering putting stroke pointed out that these greens were designed for green speeds “like a six” or thereabouts. And I think that the speeds on them were a bit too fast today. When players have three feet of break on a three foot putt at a speed of like…fourteen maybe… that’s too much. Combine that with the graduated rough that goes from ankle deep to knee deep to crotch deep in ten yards, shaved greenside areas that draw balls away from the green and players don’t have much of a chance. In fact players were better off slicing a drive twenty yards off line to play out of the trampled down areas rather than two yards off the fairway. I thought the setup to the greens was challenging enough but compounding that with the fastest greens possible (before they burn out) may have been over-kill.
Four players broke par and all are tied at one under. And considering the carnage that that Shinnecock had wrought today their rounds have to be regarded as superb. Dustin Johnson, Scott Piercy, Ian Poulter and Russell Henley were the only ones of 156 players that could get to red numbers. I guess the USGA is making up for last year’s winning score of sixteen under par. Mission accomplished.
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