I didn't really see a thread for general discussion on the PGA...
Anyway, it was an interesting first day. I watched a special on the event last weekend and the way they were talking about the course, they made it seem like it was going to be impossible. One of the commentators expected the winning score to be 1/2 of what it was when Tiger won, some thing around -5 or -6. Sure there was minimal winds yesterday and the greens looked soft, but very few people shot themselves out of contention.
Maybe VJ didn't have the start he wanted. But there are about 60 players at -1 or better, still very much alive. Today will be the big day to set things up for the weekend.
It's nice that we'll get to see Tiger/Mickelson/Ogilvy's entire round today. Didn't see much of it yesterday, just the last 2 holes or so...
I cannot understand why the greens were soft given the near drought conditions in the midwest this year. I played a few tracks near there last week that were firm and fast through the green.
Soft and medium speed greens with the fairways running makes it easy at these guys level. It doesn't seem to play all that long. With the exception of DL III's misfortune, there really doesn't seem like you can get in trouble around there. Inside the tree line you can still gouge it up to the front of the green, not too many cross bunkers. If you're wild and inside the tree line they were saying the smart play is to hack it back into play, but maybe if you miss by a lot you end up on hard pan like Couples and can still curve it on.
Pretty boring course IMO. It's a great piece of land, awesome clubhouse, and the mature trees give it a old fashioned feel, but there really aren't too many risk/reward holes, and it's pretty much a straight forward layout with odd routing. The greens undulations are fairly modest by major standards. Most of us would struggle on a course carved out of a forest - I sure did when I belong to a club cut between mature pines - but it doesn't seem overly taxing for the pros.
Was really nice to see 6-7 of the teaching pros break par yesterday. Hope a few of them make it to the weekend.
Unless the wind picks up I think the winning score will be around 274-276.
This is shaping up to be a great great final 36. I know many folks think the Ryder Cup is the big golf highlight every 2 years but I will take any of the 4 Majors that have a strong leaderboard any day.
I'm not a big watcher of golf on TV but I never miss the Majors or the other 3 or 4 big ones.
This will be a great finish I hope.
I do watch the Ryder Cup but just don't get too fired up about it.
I think this will be another traditional Tiger Woods "Seabiscuit-like" performance. The first 1/4 of the race he positions himself somewhere near the middle of the pack.....the 2/4 of the race he starts to work his way up near the lead, especially on the backstretch getting into the top 5 or 10. The third part of the race he makes the turn and inches ahead, passing the leaders. By the time they hit the final turn and stretch, Tiger is pulling away. Sometimes he'll fool us and just pull ahead by day 1 or day 2, where you know you're done. But tomorrow, on the back 9, you'll see Tiger Woods grab the lead and never give it up the rest of the way.
I think this will be another traditional Tiger Woods "Seabiscuit-like" performance. The first 1/4 of the race he positions himself somewhere near the middle of the pack.....the 2/4 of the race he starts to work his way up near the lead, especially on the backstretch getting into the top 5 or 10. The third part of the race he makes the turn and inches ahead, passing the leaders. By the time they hit the final turn and stretch, Tiger is pulling away. Sometimes he'll fool us and just pull ahead by day 1 or day 2, where you know you're done. But tomorrow, on the back 9, you'll see Tiger Woods grab the lead and never give it up the rest of the way.
I hope you're right, but I would have liked it if he had played with DL3 tomorrow. The PGA actually messed this up. Tiger holed his birdie putt before Ogilvy holed his par putt at the 18th. They both shot -7 for two rounds, so doesn't the first one to hole out get to play later? Nevertheless, perhaps DL3 will avoid a collapse (essentially a sure thing when he plays with Tiger), but I smell trouble for Tiger's good friend Chris Riley. Playing with Tiger under major pressure is tough even on his best friends like Riley. If Tiger plays great tomorrow, DL3 might even melt down a little bit having to watch Tiger hit the shots from the group behind. Ogilvy looks to be playing great right now and he WILL be there on the back nine Sunday. Donald will too. The rest look like classic meltdown type players to me.
Is it just me or does Tiger look worn out halfway through the tournament? I wouldn't put it past him to win the championship anyway, but I would think it cannot help.
Is it just me or does Tiger look worn out halfway through the tournament? I wouldn't put it past him to win the championship anyway, but I would think it cannot help.
Maybe its Medinah. Remember how tired and worn out Tiger looked when he holed out on the 72nd hole at the '99 PGA and Medinah? Its a very difficult test of golf.
Personally, I would love to see a Woods-Stenson Sunday final pairing. Stenson is a monster when it comes to ballstriking. He could be a potential rival for Tiger for the next several years.
"Where's Ryan Moore?" Looks like he's working on a 67 to rally up to -6 for the tournament.
Also, DiMarco's making a charge. But all that means is that he may give someone a run on Sunday. Is there anyone who's had as bad a time trying to get a major win than DiMarco?
Last edited by gpickypick : August 19th, 2006 at 02:41 PM.
Also, DiMarco's making a charge. But all that means is that he may give someone a run on Sunday. Is there anyone who's had as bad a time trying to get a major win than DiMarco?
Or win....period. What's it been, since early 2002?
It's the back 9 on saturday....which is usually when Tiger starts to turn on the jets. But Luke Donald and Mike Weir are definitely playing amazing golf. Weir has been knocking on the door all year just ready to break out. He's showed signs of 2003. About time it's come together. Could we see a '99 repeat with Woods and Weir in the final pairing and Garcia lurking right there. Sergio seems to choke on every other golf course on Sunday except Medinah, so who knows.
Like I said in the post above, it's the back 9 on Saturday, and Tiger once again (just like the '99 PGA, '00 PGA, '01 Masters, '02 Masters, '05 Masters and most of his PGA Tour wins) has turned on the jets. Tiger "Seabicuit" Woods strikes again. It's amazing.
August 18th, 2006, 08:57 AM
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