U.S. Open at Pebble - Who ya got?

AsSiMiLaTeD

US Open starts today, who you guys picking?

Fireman32

Im going with the field.

geoffr

Phil. Dark horse - Cabrera

Lil'Abbey

I hate to say this, because I cant stand the man as an announcer, but I agreed with everything Johnny Miller said about Tiger on PTI on ESPN. He's a second tier hopeful in this tournament and he needs to suck up his ego and go back to using some of the shots he used to use (stinger) in order to hit more fairways. There is hope for him though and I'll touch on that when I address Phil.

Phil is the last player I ever pick in a US Open simply because his course management sucks balls. He probably would have 1/3 more victories if he wasn't such a mental midget on the course sometimes. Nothing that I have seen in his last few event gives me the least bit of confidence that he will keep his distance infatuation in his pants and go out and play smart. Someone from his camp has said he is only going to hit driver on a few holes and if he does that his chances get much higher.

Now here's the one variable I mentioned that could change everything and my predictions for both of these players. The rough is only 2 inches. For these two powerful fairway missing machines this could make all of the difference in the world.

Again agreeing with Miller when he mentioned Westwood. I'm a little apprehensive though because he won last week ( that shouldn't matter but it is a psychological barrier for most players) and he has had trouble finishing when in contention.

The nature of golf makes it hard to pick winners but with the rough at 2 inches it opens the field up quite a bit.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Tiger has addressed the critics of hiw swing, and has talked about going back to the swing he used in 2000. I don't know how true it is, but his statement has always been that he can't hit those shots any more because he can't get through his rotation as quickly and doesn't have the same club speed that he did ten years ago.

markmarc

With such a short rough, I give Phil a much better chance of winning. No question his "balls to the walls" approach made him look brain-dead at times, but in the past year I've sensed a realization that course management is no longer his achilles heal.

Tiger's excuse that he can't hit certain shots due to a lack clubhead speed is a crock. If he wants to get back on top he just needs to play every week, period.

TroyD

Ok, Mickelson has made some questionable decisions....but he's got, what, 35 or so tournament wins, 4 majors and 5 second place finishes in the US Open?? Tiger excluded, who else, active, is even CLOSE to that??

Fact is, he's played pretty well in the US Open....he's played well at Pebble, historically....so I'm giving him an better than average chance to win.

BDT

AsSiMiLaTeD

markmarc wrote: »

Tiger's excuse that he can't hit certain shots due to a lack clubhead speed is a crock. If he wants to get back on top he just needs to play every week, period.

Care to expound on that? So you know his body better than he does?

It's really not that far-fetched, as you get older your body is going to change and that's obviously going to affect how you hit shots.

I don't get why keep doubting his swing. I'm sure he's gonna do whatever he thinks gives him the best chance to win.

I seriously doubt he's saying "Well I could win by going back to my old swing, but that is sooooooooooo ten years ago, so I'm just gonna swing this other way that gives me no chance to win". That's ludicrous, I think he likes to win and I'm sure he's gonna do whatever he thinks gives him the best chance.

The same for me also goes with Phil. Yeah, sure sometimes he does make the stupid decision, and he does have a history of not winning this tournament. That shot he hit at the Masters earlier this year was an ill-advised shot, and yet nobody was questioning that after it landed on the green. He's alot of fun to watch and lately I've found myself rooting for him mroe and more.

I'm tired of people picking these two guys apart. Clearly they're the best two in the game (assuming Tiger eventually does get his game back, which my bet is he will eventually), why can't people just let them play the game and enjoy what they're getting to watch?

Although not so much thus far with Tiger this year because he's been so rusty, I really enjoy watching both these guys play golf, because they can both hit some unbelievable shots and are both usually just very exciting to watch. I remember last year when Tiger and Phil both made that run at the Masters, neither one of them won it, but it was sure exciting to watch.

TroyD

With Tiger, I see a couple of things....one, he's not as long as he used to be....or, more accurately, other guys have caught up.

Bigger than that, though, he isn't putting like he used to. He was the best putter in the game for a LONG time...now, he's just average.

BDT

AsSiMiLaTeD

They're streaming the Mickelson group now on usopen dot com

FTGV

Westwood.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Mickelson didn't fare so well, the second featured group of Tiger, Westwood and Els is now being streamed. Tiger hit a terrible shot off the tee on 2, and then hit an absolultely impossible shot to about ten feet from the pin from that bunker.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Watching the Woods, Els, Westwood group this morning, none of these guys' score reflects how they're playing overall. Actually Els is under par for the day, but Westwood has hit the ball much better than his even par score indicates. If Tiger could make a putt over 6 feet he'd be under par for the tournament...funny how much has changed since 2000

bruss

boy Dustin Johnson **** the bed in epic proportions huh?

AsSiMiLaTeD

Yeah

TW is having about as bad of a day. He had a great round yesterday, but the announcers this morning proclaiming that "he's back" sounded ridiculous at the time and even sound more ridiculous now given his horrid round...

Des Moines

The Northern Ireland bloke looks to be the only one not falling apart. I'm reconding it and delayed about an hour but I'm cheering for Ernie.