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How come he doesn't seem to be a factor at the Open? He did finish at -5, which I would take anyday, but it's almost like he just any other player - even though he's the #2 and has been a top ranked player for some time now. I didn't get to see him play, but I'd like to know what he's doing out there. Is he just getting bad breaks, or missing shots and scrambling?

We didn't see a whole lot of him, especially on the weekend. But if you look at his scorecard, he actually got off to a good start on Thursday with some birdies and an eagle in there. So, it can't be blamed on getting off to a bad start and not recovering.

His game isn't suited for those style courses and he apparently doesn't adjust well to them. He's never done well at the Open... maybe once. He doesn't have that low stinger in his bag like Tiger does. That's a start. He apparently has trouble keeping the ball down when necessary unlike Tiger, too. Much of the game is played on the ground over there and that doesn't work for "flop shot" Phil.

i noticed that too. for some reason, that style of play just doesn't bode well with him. these courses take him out of his comfort zone and takes away what he does best, fly the ball to the pin. what can i say but (in bowling lingo), he's a house player.

I thought it was CLUB player? As in Kingpin....

"Ish, you lost to a CLUB PLAYER!"

"You guys and your 10 frames. Where I come from, we play 15 frames."

Yeah, especially when you're trying to hit normal high pitches or even flop shots off of hardpan. The course I play every day here in Lubbock is sort of a links course with fast fairways, pot bunkers, etc. and it looks like a links, but the greens are nice and green and except in the winter, you don't have to land the ball short of the greens to keep it on. Part of that is because they've made some of the green complexes difficult in that there's usually an upslope in front of the green, and it's one of the few fairway areas they actually water so if you hit a shot in there that isn't ridiculously low, it will get caught up on the upslope short of the green. At any rate, around the greens there, it's hardpan pretty much. The grass is very thin and you have to get really lucky to find a spot you can play a high pitch from (typically the rough is about it).

well, since your from Mass. i can see why. your basically the only state in the union that has duck pin and candle pin bowling and calls sub sandwiches, "grinders" so a 15 frame game wouldn't surprise me. my wife is from Mass., so lets not go there. this is unusual, normally it's me giving the ribbing.

I really enjoy candlepin bowling over ten-pin. Something about being able to throw the ball hard at the pins. Not to mention, candlepin is all I've ever really played. Usually average around 100, nothing special. Just something Mrs. Dormie and I do for fun in the winter when there's no golf!

that's something i've never tried, i'll be near springfield in october for a week, maybe one wil be close by?

What's the difference between candlepin and duckpin bowling ? They have(had?) duckpin bowling in Maryland where I grew up. I tried it a few times. It was very frustraing. Small ball, no holes, 10 small pins, 3 balls per frame. 100 was not a bad score if I recall.

Other than his T3rd at Troon in 2004, Phil has never seriously contended at the Open. I would bet that at some point in his career, he'll win a Claret Jug, but to do so he'll need to get a bit stronger at controlling his ball flight in the winds and firm conditions. His high shot, high spin approach doesn't help him much on links courses and his vaunted short game is neutralized a bit when everyone putts or bumps it around the greens.

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Thatas funny stlcard_25! To be honest I don't think Phil is capable of adapting to the weather conditions and bump and runs of links golf. He attempts to play target golf in the other maors with his extensive practise at the venues

Phil was -4 after 10 holes during round 1. He couldn't seem to make the putts that he does when he's hot. Also he is very aggressive with the driver. With the tight out of bounds areas and deep pot bunkes in the fairways Holylake is NOT a golf course that where it's best to be aggressive with the driver. I think Tiger definitely proved that. Two other guys that are aggressive with their drivers; John Daly and V.J. Singh failed to make the cut.

I don't think the course really suited Phils game and Phil wasn't willing to adjust his game to suit the course.

I'm not trying to sound arrogant or anything, but Tiger is probably the only guy in the field who could play 3, 4, 5, and 6 iron approach shots into all those par 4's. Phil is a great player, but if he'd employed the same strategy he might have done better than he did overall but he still would have been 5 or 6 back at best. Tiger proved this week that he's one of the best mid to long iron players ever, and 99% of the field would have struggled if they used that same strategy (240 out on 17 at least 2 of the 4 days and plenty of 190 and 200+ yard approaches on other holes).

I imagine so, they are all over the place. I might say there is more candlepin bowling up here than 10-pin.