PGA Championship: Plaudits, Peeves and Bizarre: Notes from the Gallery!

Plaudits:
~Great course and very fair set-up: Though I don't see why the "signature hole" Par-5 13th, beautiful as it is, forces players to lay up on their tee-shots.
There's something wrong with having the world's best hitting irons and hybrids off the tee on a par-5, so as not to hit the ball into a stream crossing the fairway at about 290 yards. Not surprising no-one can go for the green - ridiculous, and takes the challenge out of one of the most beautiful Par-5's in Championship golf.

~Billy Horschel!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Paul Casey thwacks his tee-shot on #8, but coincident with the crack of club on ball is "Hey buddy, whaddya think you're doing? We're hitting golf balls over here," as Billy Horschel and (Hunner's caddie) John Wood stride across the tee to berate a golf-cart driver (BBC Sport) who ignored marshall's instructions to stay still. Good for Horschel and Wood - but a clear reminder that half the marshalling was ineffective and half the hundreds of golf carts on the premises, some like this commandeered by the media, were way out of control.

~Nice of Graeme McDowell's Dad to chat for a couple of minutes; wish I'd had the balls to ask him why his son played so bl00dy slowly.

~Among players I hadn't followed before, Bill Haas and Billy Horschel were great to watch - Bill Haas for great golf, pace of play and congeniality, Billy Horschel for pure theatre, mixing birdies with double bogeys with equal panache. Also reinforcement that Hunner is great to follow when he's in the mood.

~Freddie Jac playing in plus twos and a trilby-ish chapeau. Different, if not elegant. A bit like his golf as it happened.

Peeves:
~Gallery kept much further from the action than in the previous four events I'd watched at Oak Hill; combined with the pushing back of some tee-boxes, that meant a serious loss of good spectating vantage points. On-course scoring 100% manual and arithmetically challenged. Primitive.

~Course very congested in parts, way over-marshalled at certain points on the course, way under-marshalled on holes well away from the clubhouse and late in the day.

~Seven Scots make the field, but carefully hidden from view, with four of them grouped in the final threesomes of their "wave". Lots of great groups to follow but a very real sense that style (Colsaerts, Fowler, Spieth for instance) rather than substance gets one in to "marquee" threesomes. Profiling?

~Why do American tournaments allow so many media inside the ropes with total disregard to the paying public; those following Ishikawa, Fujita and Matsuyama by far the worst and most disrespectful?

~Apart from McDowell who was tortuously slow, I hadn't appreciated on TV how slow Zach Johnson is. Deathly - but both McD and Zach played fine rounds when we watched them on Thursday.

Bizarre:
We got there first thing Thursday and followed McDowell down his first. He holed a thirty-footer for par and that was the longest hole out we saw in 12 full rounds of golf.

And three Bizarre things I never thought I'd see a pro do:

1).Lay up from the middle of the fairway on a par-4 - twice, on consecutive holes. Tim Clark (who made par by wedging it close from 100-ish yds each time.

2).Five-putt from four feet: Lucas Glover on #15. Tragic!

3).Great to see Casey challenging for the lead early in Round Two, but he fell out of love with his caddie late in the Round, possibly furious at hitting in to the drink on the Par-3 15th, hardly anyone's fault but his. Have seen player and caddie at serious odds during a round before but Casey was being a perfect pr1ck - who is his caddie? And how long before another divorce? Unacceptable behaviour on course, whatever the provocation.

Kwini - caddy Dominic ....... Highly rated but a bit on the officious side himself!
Interesting re media. Recall Phil Mick at Open complaining that in Europe too many media allowed inside ropes!

Oi, kwini, wonder how much the viewing figures will be affected by Furyk leading the tournament?

I also wonder how much part Fluff takes in the decision-making process.  Looks to me like he's just a bag-carrier these days.  Come to think of it, don't know how he's still able to carry one.

Glad you mentioned the scots.  Got a helluva shock to find there were any in the field never mind 'oop there'!

So happy to see Rory getting some confidence back.  Watching him and The Lip performing should just about compensate for having to watch Furyk shot for shot.

puligny ... don't know how they do it in the European tour events but Mickelson certainly can't have any complaints about The Open as the media is contained within a corridor down fairway sides.

puligny,
Casey surely not doing himself any favours though, not being "as one" with his caddie - the last thing any golfer needs is distractions in his own "team". Very happy to see him playing better though, but he missed a ton of very short putts when we watched him.


Mike Cowan still plays a pretty good game himself, not getting any younger of course. He and Furyk seem to consult a lot, half the problem with his pace of play, especially on the greens.

McIlroy playing with Westwood today - hopefully that will suit both, but not sure it will. Rory best in the field over his last 26-ish holes (-8!).

A perfect (almost autumnal) summer's day in store for Sunday at Oak Hill - low fifties right now, warming to mid seventies with light breeze. Should be wall-to-wall sunshine. Can't wait!

Kwini - agreed. Vital that player and caddy not experiencing tension! Caddy surname might be Bott - and from what I saw close up was having a very positive impact on Casey. Hope it continues.
Blixt or Stenson for the prize?

Casey and caddie antagonistic during final few holes of Round 2. Not a pretty sight.

Can't see Jonas winning, fun though that would be. Very HOT putter yesterday, but how long can that last, however good he is?

Stenson striping it! Hoping Rory and Lee are not too far back to get in to the argument.

I refuse to mention one of those until he has won it!!!
I hear Tim Clark has had a hole in one today. Obviously trying to get round the long putter ban! Same hole as Howard Clark in Ryder Cup, but now 50 or so yards longer! Surprised Tim didn't lay up!

Just saw Timmy's ace. He had to lay up on three Par-4's on Friday, the course was playing so long - 9, 17 and 18.
I don't see why Tiger gets off on not using his driver when he's leaving himself 220-yard shots in to the green. You're not going to win like that even if your name is Tiger Woods - see he's half red and half grey today, somehow seems fitting given the way he's handled the week.

Well so much for Lee or Rory, but a long shot entering today. This day likely belonging to a Yank, unless ...,

Tim Clark's ace was made with a fairway wood or a spoon.

kwinigolfer wrote:Just saw Timmy's ace. He had to lay up on three Par-4's on Friday, the course was playing so long - 9, 17 and 18.
I don't see why Tiger gets off on not using his driver when he's leaving himself 220-yard shots in to the green. You're not going to win like that even if your name is Tiger Woods - see he's half red and half grey today, somehow seems fitting given the way he's handled the week.

His final day "red" shirt as some sort of intimidation act is laughably limp and hysterically superstitious. No one is frightened.

Problem is it did have an impact, which shows the state of the opposition back when he was in his prime. The whole circus surrounding TW put people off and mentally scarred them early doors. Some even tried to wear a red shirt aswell to show they where not intimidated, but all it showed was the opposite!

Maybe in days of yore when he wasn't a bottle job in majors,
Post 2008 it's no more intimidating than Julian Clary wielding a knuckleduster.