PGA Tour: US Open in the (US's) Steel City: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).The USGA stages the US Open at its favourite course, Oakmont, this week, just a few minutes outside Pittsburgh famous for its sporting Steelers, its Pirates, its Panthers and even its Penguins, who this weekend won ice hockey's Stanley Cup. Ironic then that, just as Pittsburgh, the Steel City, celebrates its latest sports championship, it should parade a Stanley Cup made in Sheffield.

2).And golf's most recent Major winner, Danny Willett, also travels from Sheffield, much more under the radar than Lord Stanley's Cup, with media attention focussed on who didn't win the Masters rather than the steely performer who kept his head to win the green jacket.

3).This will be Danny Willett's first competitive visit to Oakmont but one would think he has just the game to thrive on US Open lay-outs. Three Englishmen earned a Top Ten finish at Oakmont's 2007 US Open, led by Nick Dougherty, followed by Casey and Rose. Nick's no doubt got more desirable thoughts on his mind, but Casey and Rose are among 17 golfers here this year who made the cut nine years ago, led by Cabrera, of course, and followed by local boy Jim Furyk. Others include:
Toms & Watson (T5), Snedeker (T23), JJ Henry (T26), Hanson, McDowell & Schwartzel (T30), Westwood & Jeev Milkha (T36), Ogilvy (T42), Zach Johnson (T45), Els (the 1994 winner, T51) and Dufner (62nd).

Ryan Moore, an injured Mickelson, Donald, Kjeldsen, Garcia, Goosen, Scott & Stenson all missed the cut.

4).Ernie Els was the 1994 Champion, US Open specialist Jeff Maggert top tenned, Furyk, in his first US Open, finished T28 (tied with Nicklaus), while Mickelson also made the cut.

Lastly, Bill Haas made the Q-Finals of the 2003 US Amateur here, while JB Holmes, Hurley, Levin, McGirt and Senedker also qualified for Match Play.

5).Oakmont remains the one and only golf course designed by WC Fownes; originally farmland on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, the members lined fairways with trees which have now been almost completely removed, restored to the members' idea of its original design. The rough will be deep and the greens will be fast, lightning fast, specially greased by the USGA with every encouragement from members who will be thrilled to see the best pros embarrassed rather than merely identified.
Conventional wisdom has been that it favours a high-ball hitter. Low-ball hitting Larry Nelson took a lesson from 1953 Champ Ben Hogan as he tried to adjust his swing specially for Oakmont prior to Nelson's 1983 win.

6).The course will play about 7,250 yards, to a par of 70, approximately the same as 2007 when top ten finishes by Furyk, Toms and Verplank proved that precision and putting were as important as length off the tee. Although many of the Par-4's will be 470+ yard brutes, six are short by today's standards and straight "driving irons", and less, will be equally important as accuracy with the driver. Five over par won it in 2007 and no-one is expecting anyone to finish 72 holes under par.

7).This will be the second year of Fox TV doing the coverage and let's hope their effort is more professional and watchable than last year's (when they weren't helped by the unfamiliar moonscape of Chambers Bay).
Joe Buck was dreadful as anchor man (Will Ferrell would have been an improvement), but Greg Norman has been kicked out in favour of Paul Azinger who has transferred from ABC/espn. Zinger is articulate and perceptive, but not good at getting to know the golfers off his parochial radar. A bit like Johnny Miller then.

8).This will also be the penultimate week for European Tour golfers to qualify for The Open Championship via the "top five not otherwise qualified, but inside the Top 20 of the Race 2 Dubai". As I read it, the current leaders are Luiten, Karlberg, Soomin Lee, Hend and Beef, followed by Dredge and Wang. Beef looks like the only one playing this week - last chance will be in Germany next week.

9).Phil Mickelson has famously earned/suffered six 2nd place finishes in US Open competition and he certainly warmed up well (with, yes, another runner-up finish) in Memphis. Kuchar is making a habit of getting close in Majors and has finished Top 30 in his last six US Opens; plus he's been in terrific form over the past three months.
At Chambers Bay we saw Americans (3), Aussies (3), South Africans (3) and Irish N&S (2) fill out the top 11 finishers. Would expect a similarly cosmopolitan leaderboard this year.

10).Imagine Rory will play well again, but does Oakmont favour him with his terrific driving, or take that edge out of his hand too many times? Kaymer is playing well again without winning and Stenson is overdue a Major.
Seven Europeans finished in the leading dozen at this year's Masters; five Englishmen, led by Danny Willett of course, plus Kjeldsen (good e.w. bet?) and Rory.
No idea of a winner, probably Day or Rory if they can maintain their focus, but don't like their prices, 16's bar the "Top Three". Schwartzel has been in good form most of the year and looks a good each way shout at about 66's.
But wouldn't it be appropriate if Danny Willett brought the USGA's trophy back to Sheffield? (No, it wasn't made in Sheffield.)

The ruling and incident were as dull as the tournament.

Amazing how long it took two balls to complete, like nearly five hours! I am one who doesn't usually mind five hours for three players but last night was ridiculous!

Kwini

I think your point about the USGA implying Westood, DJ, the on course rules official and the caddies were incorrect at best or at worst guilty of cheating is the main point here. As JAS has shown the rules allow for the committee to review what evidence is available and that is what the USGA did. The USGA's conclusion seems to be that DJ was not accurate when he said that he did not move the ball.

I can't see the Chamblee questioning of the USGA official as the site claims the video is currently unavailable, so can anyone summarize what justification the USGA gave for deciding that DJ and Westwood had not reported the movement of the ball accurately?


Got to wonder if DJ's laid back space cadet attitude meant that he more than most was best placed to brush off such a bizarre situation. I can imagine some players would have been too raging to bring home the win like DJ did.

McLaren wrote:Kwini

I think your point about the USGA implying Westood, DJ, the on course rules official and the caddies were incorrect at best or at worst guilty of cheating is the main point here.  As JAS has shown the rules allow for the committee to review what evidence is available and that is what the USGA did.  The USGA's conclusion seems to be that DJ was not accurate when he said that he did not move the ball.  

I can't see the Chamblee questioning of the USGA official as the site claims the video is currently unavailable, so can anyone summarize what justification the USGA gave for deciding that DJ and Westwood had not reported the movement of the ball accurately?


Got to wonder if DJ's laid back space cadet attitude meant that he more than most was best placed to brush off such a bizarre situation.  I can imagine some players would have been too raging to bring home the win like DJ did.

I agree, but this suggests that 'he more than most' and all credit to him may have been less affected than others. 

Lowry, to be fair, when later interviewed brushed off any suggestion of this but all the commentary continued to bang on about it. We'll never know but this in my opinion has put an unfortunate taint on what was a superb maiden victory.

My point really would be that, the ethos is that your playing partner is there "to protect the rest of the field" and, if anyone is in doubt to call in an official. Westwood immediately shouted to the official that DJ didn't address the ball, the official concurred and they went on their way.

JAS's admirable exhumation of the fine print of the rules notwithstanding, how does that apply on a routine basis? Of course, it can't, it's impractical and would kill the game as we know it. I haven't seen any pro not take issue with the USGA on this, except the say-no-evil Fox commentators. Outstanding, in my opinion, that the pros are so unanimous and in contempt of the USGA, and every pro should be offended that two senior colleagues were overruled in this manner.

It looked like Westwood did a great job not "getting in the way" of DJ and imagine he'd've been right be his side if things had necessitated a decision on a closer result.

The USGA got very lucky yesterday but they are not alone in waiting until after the close of play to decide on a result. Golf fans should be thankful the result isn't getting decided months later in a court of law like quite a few F1 results have been. Not unusual to check in with f1 news a few hours post race to find a rejigging of the results.

Everyone expects that sort of thing in the glorified engineering competition though Mac, no one expects it in a sport with supposedly well known and administered rules.

Super, I thought golf wasn't a sport?

A generic term Mac.

US Ryder Cup Team:
Spieth & Dustin are bankers to qualify for DLIII's team but the following 6 (and 10) places continues to be too close to call.
BUT: Because so many players are grouped close together, and Major double points, there's been some reshuffling, most notably Koepka reaching 3rd place. Then: Phil, Zach, Bubba, Sneds, Fowler. Followed by Reed, Kuchar, Holmes, Berger.

No significant changes to Europe's qualifiers, except the huuuge chance to make up ground that Westwood squandered.

I'm not excusing the USGA carte blanche but it does need pointing out that LW, who is meant to be protecting the rest of the field, and the local USGA Rules Official didn't know the ****ing rule and its full ramifications, ie that the immediate decision could still result in a penalty following a review.

Thank you JAS for making them clear.

The USGA's crime was not sorting it out much quicker than they did.

And no, they are not accusing LW or DJ of being liars. They believe that on the balance of probabilities DJ's actions very near to the ball caused it to move - eg no gusts of wind around. The rule needs to be changed perhaps to give the benefit of the doubt to the player rather than what seemed to happen yesterday. As it is they got lucky - DJ won by a wide enough margin for him to say "who cares".

Well done and congratulations DJ.

kwinigolfer wrote:US Ryder Cup Team:
Spieth & Dustin are bankers to qualify for DLIII's team but the following 6 (and 10) places continues to be too close to call.
BUT: Because so many players are grouped close together, and Major double points, there's been some reshuffling, most notably Koepka reaching 3rd place. Then: Phil, Zach, Bubba, Sneds, Fowler. Followed by Reed, Kuchar, Holmes, Berger.

No significant changes to Europe's qualifiers, except the huuuge chance to make up ground that Westwood squandered.

The Europeans ought to count the WGC in Bridgestone, Shane could win that twice in the space of a year and still not qualify, that would be a bizarre situation!

sirb,
But surely he's still earn 80 World points?

Eye,
Perhaps not literally "liars" but there's a time-tested honour system and that has been superseded by people who weren't there.

I didn't agree with the Tiger drop a few years ago at The Players, but Wittenberg was the playing partner and his decision was accepted despite visual evidence to the contrary that was far more compelling than in this case.

PGA Tour and USGA are different animals, of course, but the USGA has set a dangerous precedent; as it looks from here anyway.

Is there another sport (or pastime, Mac) where a dispute is not settled there and then, but subject to a review long after the incident has taken place? TMO's in rugby are there and then, football crossing the line is there and then, cricket.....and so on

Not talking about disciplinary procedures either.

Just think it is out of whack.

Re:  Comments about the slow play

I would like to point that Spieth's pairing took 4 hrs and 5 minutes.

kwinigolfer wrote:sirb,
But surely he's still earn 80 World points?

Eye,
Perhaps not literally "liars" but there's a time-tested honour system and that has been superseded by people who weren't there.

I didn't agree with the Tiger drop a few years ago at The Players, but Wittenberg was the playing partner and his decision was accepted despite visual evidence to the contrary that was far more compelling than in this case.

PGA Tour and USGA are different animals, of course, but the USGA has set a dangerous precedent; as it looks from here anyway.

B-Stone results do not count in either of the Euro Ryder Cup Standings.  Pelley made that perfectly clear when he took the B-Stone off the schedule.

And BTW...Decision 34-2 in the USGA rule book succinctly says this

USGA Rule Book, Decision 34-2 wrote:If a referee has been appointed by the Committee, his decision is final.

Hello!!

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!rule-34


And BTW....There could have been a more serious rules infraction.  Dustin's drop on #10 when a Temporary Immovable Obstruction was in his way.

It appears to me that the Dustin and the Rules official didn't even consider his nearest relief could have been in the other direction.

Dustin got relief to the short rough on #11....where his nearest relief might have still in the heavy rough in the other direction.

GPB, Re Spieth:
Is that Good, GPB, or Bad?
There must have been a lot of excrutiatingly slow play after that then.

I hadn't realised that about the Bridgestone's "World Points" - the whole thing stinks anyway, stupid clash by the WGC, and over-compensation by the E.T.

Compared to the leaders, it was good, (or better) as the trailing groups obviously took longer.

I think 4 hours to traverse a championship golf course is reasonable.  a Couple of long walks from Green to Tee. (going over the turnpike) and walking to the Championship Tees.

And you can only go as fast as the players in front of you.  When they have a difficult predicament, it trickles down to the trailing groups.

Plus they moved up tees in some cases bringing driving the green into play so it really started backing up on the second hole.

When the first bloke out plays as a single in about 3 3/4 hours, with apparent impunity, it's always going to be downhill from there.
Not a great week for the USGA - and that second hole panders to the long hitters who played it in half a shot lower than those who laid up. Stupid place for a short par four.

Are you talking about Justin Hicks on Sunday?  He was playing with a Marker.

So what? Surely they don't have to take all day? Perhaps the marker got done for slow play??

Spoke with a touring professional today (inside top 200 world rankings) at a corporate event. He did not compete at the US Open last weekend, but thought the ruling was a joke. To paraphrase ... "in this game we call penalties on ourselves. We have playing partners to help us and to help us protect the field. We do the right and honorable thing ... and then they override it? How many players do you think have their every shot televised and scrutinized?"

My favorite FOX (and I think it was Joe Buck) comment: " ... And player X (Bourdy I think) qualified at the Walton Health Club ..."

Hey, maybe there's a rowing machine on the property, but I've never seen one there.

Spot on both Shotrock; I mentioned the Walton Health Club a hundred or so postings back. What a berk.
Thought Zinger was good, and Faxon OK, but they didn't give much chance for the boys & girls on the course; Curtis and Juli Inkster did OK, but Scott McC was a bit nondescript and Ken hardly got a look in.
Buck was awful, anchor turned wanchor.
None of them let the pictures tell a story except during Ken on the Course cameos. Hopeless.

I received this in an email from the USGA:

USGA STATEMENT REGARDING DUSTIN JOHNSON RULING
The USGA wishes to congratulate Dustin Johnson on his victory and thank him, and the other players in the field, for their professionalism and grace throughout the championship. Dustin is a wonderful champion, a talented golfer and a gentleman.

Our team at the USGA has seen and heard a great deal of discussion and debate about the ruling on Dustin's ball moving during the final round of the 2016 U.S. Open Championship at Oakmont Country Club. In addition to the explanations we offered upon the conclusion of the final round, we add these comments.

Upon reflection, we regret the distraction caused by our decision to wait until the end of the round to decide on the ruling. It is normal for rulings based on video evidence to await the end of a round, when the matter can be discussed with the player before the score card is returned. While our focus on getting the ruling correct was appropriate, we created uncertainty about where players stood on the leader board after we informed Dustin on the 12th tee that his actions on the fifth green might lead to a penalty. This created unnecessary ambiguity for Dustin and the other players, as well as spectators on-site, and those watching and listening on television and digital channels.

During any competition, the priority for Rules officials is to make the correct ruling for the protection of the player(s) involved and the entire field. In applying Rule 18-2, which deals with a ball at rest that moves, officials consider all the relevant evidence - including the player's actions, the time between those actions and the movement of the ball, the lie of the ball, and course and weather conditions. If that evidence, considered together, shows that it is more likely than not that the player's actions caused the ball to move, the player incurs a one-stroke penalty. Officials use this "more likely than not" standard because it is not always apparent what caused the ball to move. Such situations require a review of the evidence, with Decision 18-2/0.5 providing guidance on how the evidence should be weighed.

Our officials reviewed the video of Dustin on the fifth green and determined that based on the weight of the evidence, it was more likely than not that Dustin caused his ball to move. Dustin's putter contacted the ground at the side of the ball, and almost immediately after, the ball moved

We accept that not everyone will agree that Dustin caused his ball to move. Issues under Rule 18-2 often require a judgment where there is some uncertainty, and this was one of those instances. We also understand that some people may disagree with Rule 18-2 itself. While we respect the viewpoints of those who disagree, our Committee made a careful and collective judgment in its pursuit of a fair competition played under the Rules of Golf.

In keeping with our commitment to excellence in all aspects of our work on behalf of the game of golf, we pledge to closely examine our procedures in this matter. We will assess our procedures for handling video review, the timing of such, and our communication with players to make sure that when confronted with such a situation again, we will have a better process.

We at the USGA deeply appreciate the support of players, fans, and the entire golf community of our championships and our other work for golf - and we appreciate your feedback as well. We have established an email address (comments@usga.org) and phone mailbox (908-326-1857) to receive comments. We thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

We all share an abiding love of this great game. Let us continue to work together for its good.

Very interesting! Thanks Grumps

I'm surprised they acknowledged the furore that this caused. Whether they truly learn from the experience remains to be seen.

My view is that there should only be a review of the circumstances if a referee had not made a decision. Once they have, the decision should stand, right or wrong. Double jeopardy.

I personally think that all the stands, tv towers and whatnot should be 'in play' and penalty drops needed. Tired of seeing them fire it into the stands knowing they'll get an easy drop. That one for the tv tower was a joke, and could easily have saved johnson 2 shots.

MontysMerkin wrote:I personally think that all the stands, tv towers and whatnot should be 'in play' and penalty drops needed. Tired of seeing them fire it into the stands knowing they'll get an easy drop. That one for the tv tower was a joke, and could easily have saved johnson 2 shots.

Takes relieve from the TV tower and then shoots over it.. hilarious.

kwinigolfer wrote:So what? Surely they don't have to take all day? Perhaps the marker got done for slow play??

Well Hicks did need quite a few more shots than average. He probably also spent the best part of an hour just looking for balls.

Thanks grumps.

So what the are admitting to is that they left the greens in such a condition that tacking a practice putt at the normal distance away from the ball caused a ball to move?


In which case they should have had posters in the locker room warning players that their usual pre shot putting routine could cause a ball to move and if it does move they would be penalized.

Dustin Johnson shouldn't be unfamiliar with different grass types..

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:I'm surprised they acknowledged the furore that this caused. Whether they truly learn from the experience remains to be seen.

In my opinion some rules of golf have needed change for a long time, I also feel some of the rules are far too complicated and it won't get rid of the stigma that it's an "old mans sport"

You're not wrong there SirB. Some 34 or 35 Rules that cover the game but when you look at the sheer number of pages in the Decisions on the Rules of Golf book then it's obvious that it ain't a simple game.

I think you could easily do it with a couple of dozen rules plus local rules printed on a scorecard.
Half of it is just to keep the rules chumps at the R&A in a job.

Funny comment on golfchannel.com following USGA's Mike Davis saying they bogeyed (golf speak for butchered presumably) the DJ situation and asking for a "mulligan".
"No, sorry Mike, just reviewed the Rules of Golf and mulligans definitely not allowed. Sorry."

Interesting comment from Chris Kirk:
"There has always been a large contingent of PGA Tour players that would like to separate from the USGA and make our own rules to play by."

Not so fast, Chris, you've still got to play, presumably?, the US Open and Open Championship to USGA and/or R&A rules.
And after the PGA Tour made a complete c0ck up of the greens preparation for Round 3 of The Players, be careful what you ask for.

Game over for Olympic golf. Stupid idea anyway.

Toothache?

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Justin Rose joined Rory, although he might finesse his decision and blame his back injury.

Time for one of the Americans to break ranks and just Blame it on Rio.

The risk of the Zika virus is minimal from what I understand, its all just being used as an excuse due to the scheduling. I have no issues with players pulling out just wish they would be more honest in their reasons.

Rory, you lost a fan. Ok if you don't want to play but please don't fill us with BULLSH!T!

I note on the BBC story that Vijay Singh also withdrew due to the virus. Isn't he a bit too old to be concerned about that?

pedro wrote:Rory, you lost a fan. Ok if you don't want to play but please don't fill us with BULLSH!T!

Were you ever a fan Pedro? I though you just slagged him off every chance you got.......

Rory is getting married in a few months, I'm sure he is thinking about starting a family. As an Irishman I would love to see him compete in the Olympics. As a father I think he is making a sensible choice not to take the risk and I think this is just the tip of the iceberg, I think a lot of people are worried by this virus and will withdraw.

He has another impending marriage? I seem to recall that happened once before. I know what Pedro is saying - I'm not a fan either but I think he may just have lost a few fans with this. Zika is just an excuse - he clearly didn't fancy it. Had he even declared who we was going to represent? That in inself wold give him a headache (or toothache). As others have said, if he doesn't fancy it (for scheduling or political reasons) then fine - but at least be honest about it

pedro wrote:Rory, you lost a fan. Ok if you don't want to play but please don't fill us with BULLSH!T!

+1, no desire to root for Rory any more. Some of the other Irish athletes have been very critical of his decision. Olympic golf should be confined to amateurs from now on imo, the pros obviously don't care.

I think others will join the eight who have already declined to be considered.
Hope y'all leave some contempt for them also.

Maybe, just maybe he is being honest.

Sorry, just a thought.