I'd be surprised if anyone comes within two shots, at this point. McDowell's game is made for a three-shot plus lead on the back nine of a major. Accurate long irons. He's not a high-risk, Dustin Johnson-type that would be prone to a sudden collapse.
They are, but I think Els or Mickelson needs to come within one to make McDowell play more aggressively, and neither has been able to putt for anything today. That said, if you leave yourself a 3-foot birdie putt like Els just did, you can overcome that...
Mickelson is spraying off the tee. If he has one weakness, then that has to be it. He seems to use his driver a bit too much even if there is not much to be gained from it. McDowell, Havret and Els are my pick for top-3.
just saw in the highlights some house around the 1st green is flying the state of Texas flag...nice :grin:
got to say, unless something changes, this is a really anticlimactic and dull finish to the US open. Leading up to this final round we had Phil and Tiger have back to back 66 days to get into contention, Johnsons huge drives and great run to grab the lead and mcdowells all around great play as well as ernie els. Every one seem capable of making birdie runs/great play to seize the title on sunday. Unfortunately today has been about everyone falling off their game, starting with Johnsons epic collapse to Tigers and Phil's less than stellar performances. Its like choke city at pebble today. hopefully something changes in the last few holes.
Yup, disappointing Open. Usually, what makes a US Open exciting are the really tough holes, because when someone hits a great shot, it can be a 2-3 shot swing. Instead, almost everyone - McDowell, Havret, Els, Tiger, Phil - bogeyed 14 and 17. None even flirted with birdie and only two made par (Phl on 17, Havret 14). All that said, McDowell is a very good player who has been hanging around in majors for a while. He was definitely going to win one eventually.
All in all, bad golf. I remember Johnny Miller saying late yesterday that he thought Tiger needed to shoot a 65 or a 66 to really have a chance. Turns out, a round of level par would've won it.
The ending was disappointing, but I enjoyed watching all 4 days of the tournament. It was up for grabs for anyone at the end, and only McDowell didnt blow it. I can't wait to play pebble again
no, golf is played relative to the course and today it was tough out there. congrats to mcdowell, he weathered the storm better than the rest.
Usually, that's true but this time, there are no excuses for the favorites. They played stupid and sloppy and putted like ****. That being said, congrats to McDowell and Havret. They played the most solid if not spectacular rounds and deserved to be the top 2. It's interesting to see what this result does to Dustin Johnson's confidence. He has been mentioned (even before this weekend) as one of the next possible superstars. This one might haunt him a long time.
the top five finishers all shot within three strokes of one another, none under par. again, it was tough sledding out there. i do agree about dustin, he choked big time.
I don't think it was necessarily "bad golf" either. The USGA ALWAYS makes the US Open especially tough on the pros, with obscene hole locations (like the famous #7 yesterday), and extra thick rough. While Pebble's weather conditions were relatively tame, its not like an Augusta where you can easily shoot a 66-68 if you are on your game and the weather is forgiving.
In general, yes, but I don't agree that the pin locations were any more difficult on Sunday than other days, and neither have the players from the interviews I've seen tonight. As they went down the stretch, NBC noted that the overall scoring average was lower on Sunday than all but one other day (that may have changed after the leaders finished). On Friday and Saturday, you had Tiger, Phil and Johnson all with rounds of 66, and McDowell at level par or better. It was bad golf in that none of them could get anything going on Sunday. Yes, I get that there's US Open pressure, but these guys have played plenty of important Sundays at a major. McDowell deserves props because he generally avoided major driving mistakes and made 5-10 foot par putts (well, on the front nine at least) that most others couldn't. But it wasn't the course that was primary cause of Phil, Tiger and Ernie missing all those 10 feet and under putts. The greens are tough, sure, but all three made their share over the prior two days and it was there for the taking. They just didn't execute.
The rough was in many places more forgiving than the usual Open setup. The course played very short and the weather was nice. All par 5's were reachable in two (well, maybe not the 14th). At least one drivable par 4 on the last day. The greens were fast but fair. There were no "impossible" greens as in the years past. 14th and 17th and the other long par3 were playable with good iron shots, which we didn't see much. Of course the course was tougher than the usual PGA tour resort courses made for fat and old people where there is no comparable rough and you can just boom the driver and hit lob wedges to the green and the whole sport becomes a putting competition. But when the top-3 players in the world all play this mediocrely and the eventual winner can just play it safe all the time, I think it can be said that the quality of golf was bad. Sure, if there were just a few average pros in the hunt the last day, you could say the course was tough. But the bar for Woods, Mickelson and Els should be set considerably higher.
