Monday, June 19, 2006

US Open: Final Round

1. Johnny Miller comment of the day: Ferriedust (How many more Ferrie references can they come up with?)

2. It was not flattering at all to see that close up of Jim Furyk eating right before his round. Gee thanks NBC.

3. The network coverage came on at 12:30pm but we only saw about an hour's worth of golf until Phil Mickelson teed off at 3pm. The feature stories were nice, but once again I say, there were 60 other golfers in that event, it would be nice to see some of them. It was the toughest test in golf and they survived it. Give them some TV time people. And it was father's day, you'd think their kids would like to see their dads on Father's day.

4. Mickelslam - I am so tired of this word. And every time I hear it, I can't help but think of a breakfast platter at Denny's.

5. Ogilvy played the last three holes at par while everyone else in contention played them worse. He hit a good number of fairways for the most part, considering the course. He deserved to win the tournament. It certainly wasn't handed to him.

6. Montgomerie's 18th hole was painful to watch. I feel really bad for him.

7. Around 6pm, Phil had a two shot lead I think, and people were backing up so I decided to take the dogs for a walk. Part of that depressed thing about people making bogeys and doubles instead of pars and birdies. I ended up missing about 40 minutes of the tournament. But apparently, the last 20 minutes was all anyone needed to see.

8. Phil's 18th hole. I can't join everyone else by saying bad decisions were made etc because I don't play golf, so I don't know what kind of decisions were out there for a man in the lead on the toughest golf couse anyone's played in probably 32 years, since the last massacre at Winged Foot.

9. Golf Channel Poll: Player of the Year so far? It was a close vote by golf channel viewers with Phil coming out just ahead of Ogilvy. But I think Ogilvy should have the edge. Phil's won a major and the Bell South. Ogilvy's won a major (with one of the toughest courses in 32 years) and the matchplay event which had the top 50 in the world competing, and Ogilvy had to play more golf and come back from behind more than anyone else to win that event. You can't really say the Bell South event had that level of competition.

10. Since I will be attending a golf tournament later this summer, I thought I would scan the gallery to see what women were wearing and carrying with them. There weren't too many women in the gallery. Wonder if that is a characteristic of New York?

11. I still say this whole toughest course mentality the USGA has is bad for viewers. I didn't even watch the whole thing and if Phil would have won after missing all but two fairways, not only would I have had to re-think my decision to watch golf, but the USGA wouldn't be able to hide behind the old quote of not embarrassing the best players, but trying to identify the best players.

12. Steve Stricker gets his tour card (that's what Dan Hicks said). Good for him; he moved up from 80th on the money list to 59th and finished T-6.

13. David Duval moved up from 152 to 137. A few more good tournaments and he should hopefully keep his card.