Thursday, June 16, 2022

U.S. Open

The leaders of the U.S. Open, tied at 2-under, about midway through the morning teetimers' opening rounds are Russell Henley of Macon, Georgia; Collin Morikawa of Los Angeles; Sebastián Muñoz of Bogotá, Colombia; Matthew NeSmith of North Augusta, South Carolina, and Jon Rahm of Barrika, Biscay, Spain. 

I'd happily yield the floor to anyone else who wants to start a more robust U.S. Open thread, but I figure I'll get something rolling for us given that you two have been doing all of the HP lifting the last several weeks. Thank you for that, by the way. I've been reading and enjoying everything.

Anyway, for now, at least ... U.S. Open comments flow ...

48 comments:

  1. I apparently jinxed poor Russell Henley. He double bogeyed No. 15 (his sixth hole this morning) just as I was posting this, and now he's E and T12.

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  2. David Lingmerth of Tranås, Sweden, has now been appointed to assume Henley's former seat in the five-way T1 at 2-under.

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  3. It's #grindtime for the 10-time-state-champion Madisonville-North Hopkins High School Marching Maroons (#whoyawith), so I've missed a little of The Country Club golf. Morikawa and NeSmith now are the co-leaders at 3-under.

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  4. Paddle ball appears to be a big deal around Brookline. Brookline Paddle, the website of the Brookline Platform Tennis Club, reports, "The next new membership application process will be held in August 2022." And you might already be hosed, anyway: "Players interested in submitting an application are encouraged to contact us through our website in May 2022 for the upcoming season."

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  5. I'm more interested in squash, anyway. Wikipedia, of course:

    Squash is a racket and ball sport played by two or four players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball. The players alternate in striking the ball with their rackets onto the playable surfaces of the four walls of the court. The objective of the game is to hit the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. There are about 20 million people who play squash regularly world-wide in over 185 countries. The governing body of Squash, the World Squash Federation (WSF), is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but the sport is not part of the Olympic Games, despite a number of applications. Supporters continue to lobby for its incorporation in a future Olympic program. ...

    Squash has its origins in the older game of rackets which was played in London's prisons in the 19th century. Later, around 1830, boys at Harrow School noticed that a punctured ball, which "squashed" on impact with the wall, offered more variety to the game. The game spread to other schools. The first courts built at Harrow were dangerous because they were near water pipes, buttresses, chimneys, and ledges. Natural rubber was the preferred material for the ball. Students modified their rackets to have a smaller reach and improve their ability to play in these cramped conditions. In 1864, the school built four outside courts.

    In the 20th century the game increased in popularity with various schools, clubs and private individuals building squash courts, but with no set dimensions. The first squash court in North America was at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1884. In 1904 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the earliest national association of squash in the world, the United States Squash Racquets Association, now known as U.S. Squash, was formed. In April 1907, the Tennis, Rackets & Fives Association of Queens, New York, which regulated those three sports (fives being a similar sport using hands instead of a racket), established a subcommittee to set standards for squash. In 1912, the association published rules for squash, combining aspects of these three sports.

    In 1912, the RMS Titanic had a squash court in first class, available for 50 cents ...


    I'm totally onboard for squash to be a charter event at either the first Autumn Olympics Games or Spring Olympics Games (please, God).

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  6. John Stewart Hagestad III, a 31-year-old amateur from Newport Beach, California, who reportedly "worked for some of the most prominent names in real estate and finance in New York and Los Angeles" after graduating from and playing golf at Southern Cal, has joined Morikawa and NeSmith at 3-under.

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  7. Boy, it's just not that hard to stumble into some garbage and suddenly stop having fun with something. I guess that's it for me for now; I need to get back to work, anyhow.

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  8. Amateur Hagestad is now alone in the lead, 3-under and a stroke ahead of six-player clump which includes Morikawa and Rory McIlroy of Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland.

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  9. Callum Tarren of Darlington, England, (of whom I don't believe I'd ever heard) just finished his first round at 3-under, and he's leader in the clubhouse and tied with Lingmerth (I'd heard of him) for the tournament lead.

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  10. They apparently kept playing golf during the third Jan. 6 hearing, and now Lingmerth and Tarren have been joined by Joel Dahmen of Clarkston, Wash.; Matt Fitzpatrick of Sheffield, England, and McIlroy in the T1 lead at 3-under. Fitzpatrick is the only one of the five out on the course; he just made the turn for his first-round back nine. Justin Thomas of Louisville is 1-under through 11 holes.

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  11. Our man from Moose Jaw, Hadwin, held that solo lead through the end of the first round, but he's off to a tough start today--par, bogey, bogey and par to slip back to a tie for seventh and one stroke out of the tie for second.

    The new U.S. Open leader, M.J. Daffue of Pretoria, South Africa, is two strokes ahead of the pack. He lives in Houston, according to his Twitter thingy: "Loving my job. Traveling the world. Living my dream. Chasing PGA tour status. Sinner saved by Grace. #PlayYourBest."

    M.J. Daffue went to Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. I used to go down there to cover WKU Lady Topper basketball games, and one time I picked up a T-shirt from the school bookstore. It was white with "L A M A R" in red block letters. I wore it for several years. I had a friend who regularly called me "Lamar" because of that shirt.

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  12. Well, it was fun while it lasted. After getting as far ahead of the field as three strokes, Daffue is back to a tie for first through 15 holes played today. Lamar shares the lead with Dahmen, Lingmerth, McIlroy and Tarren—all of whom have afternoon Eastern second-round tee times.

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  13. Here are the leaders' Official World Golf Ranking, per OWGR.com:

    3. McIlroy
    130. Dahmen
    296. Daffue
    445. Tarren
    592. Lingmerth

    OWGR No. 1 Scottie Scheffler of Ridgewood, N.J., is through 13 holes of his second round. He’s even for the day, even for the tournament and tied for 23rd, three strokes off the lead.

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  14. Some day or maybe in heaven, every golf course in the solar system will be covered by sensors and interconnected and feed back to a big OWGR engine that automatically collects your Honest-to-God Golf score wherever you score it, relates that score to the quality of course you are playing (and whatever other factors) and steadily updates the rankings of every player in the world. I would so love that.

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  15. OWGR No. 19 Brooks Koepka of West Palm Beach, Florida, is on the course and tied for low round (2-under). That has the 2017 and ’18 U.S. Open champion (and 2018 and ’19 PGA Championship champion) back to 1-over for the tournament. My favorite golf commentator, Michael Kornheiser, was wondering about Koepka’s performance this week. M. Kornheiser noted Wednesday that Koepka had received special permission from his current equipment sponsor to go back at least temporarily to using some equipment from his previous sponsor.

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  16. WRT the LIV controversy, my #hottake is that my family had a chance to move to Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s for Dad's work, and I'm so glad my parents decided to stay in Paducah.

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  17. New dude among the T1 tie at 3-under: Nick Hardy of Northbrook, Illinois. He and Daffue are on the last holes of their second rounds. Other four in the lead group of six start teeing off in about half an hour.

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  18. After his birdie on No. 13 to get to even, Scheffler eagled No. 14. So he's now 2-under and part of the big tie at seventh, one off the lead.

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  19. And as I type that, Scheffler putts out for birdie on the par-3 16th hole. The OWGR No. 1 and Masters champion a couple of months ago is now tied for the lead.

    Hardy has finished his round, at 3-under for the tournament.

    Daffue, though, bogeyed his 18th hole. He went out in 32 and came back in 40. He's done for the day, 1-over for the tournament and T12.

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  20. Mike Tirico of USA Network just told us that the OWGR came to be in 1986. In the years since, Tirico said, only one No. 1 has won the U.S. Open: Tiger Woods. He did it three times.

    Scheffler, still 3-under, is safely in the fairway with his tee shot on par-4 18th hole.

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  21. Only three golfers have birdied 18 today, and Scheffler has a chance to be the fourth. His second shot lands--oh, I never know--10 to 15 feet ... or maybe six feet ... or perhaps 40 feet ... from the cup. Whatever, he'll be putting--he has a chance.

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  22. The scroll at the top of OWGR.com is fun to watch. The first OWGR No. 1 was Bernhard Langer of Diedorf, Germany.

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  23. And just like that, there's Bernhard Langer on a USA Network promo for the U.S. Senior Open!

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  24. Scheffler's putt for birdie is about 20 feet and a little downhill, one of the USA Network commentators says.

    Missed just right.

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  25. Scheffler par. He joins Hardy with the clubhouse lead.

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  26. Weeks at OWGR No. 1, per the entertaining scroll atop OWGR.com:

    — Seve Ballesteros 61
    — Greg Norman 331
    — Nick Faldo 97

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  27. Tarren, the first of the afternoon teetimers among the leaders, birdies No. 3, so he’s our new solo dog, at 4-under.

    Lingmerth is on the course. McIlroy—the 2011 U.S. Open, 2012 and ’14 PGA Championship and 2014 British Open champ—gets rolling in about 10 minutes. Dahmen has about another hour to sit tight.

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  28. Weeks at OWGR No. 1, per the entertaining scroll atop OWGR.com:

    — David Duval 15
    — Ernie Els 9
    — Vijay Singh 32

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  29. So now we have a three-way, first-place tie at 4-under: Tarren, Lingmerth and the 2020 PGA and British Open champion, Morikawa.

    The defending U.S. Open winner, Jon Rahm of Barrika, Biscay, Spain, is 2-under through eight holes today. That has moved him into the T4 group, one stroke off the lead.

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  30. Weeks at OWGR No. 1, per the entertaining scroll atop OWGR.com:

    — Ian Woosnam 50
    — Fred Couples 16
    — Nick Price 44
    — Tom Lehman 1

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  31. Dahmen goes to 4-under, but then Lingmerth moves to 5 with a birdie on the par-3 No. 10. I thought his tee shot was going to go in! And so did he. In fact, this is the second of the last three holes where Lingmerth appeared to think he was going to have a ball roll into when it rolled just outside the cup.

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  32. So, as Tirico on USA throws to Dan Hicks on NBC, here’s where things stand on the top of the leaderboard in the second round at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.:

    1. David Lingmerth of Tranås, Sweden, 5-under (through 10 holes today)
    T2. Callum Tarren of Darlington, England, -4 (12)
    T2. Collin Morikawa of Los Angeles, -4 (9)
    T2. Brian Harman of Savannah, Ga., -4 (8)
    T2. Joel Dahmen of Clarkston, Wash., -4 (5)
    T6. Nick Hardy of Northbrook, Ill., -3 (18)
    T6. Scottie Scheffler of Ridgebrook, N.J., -3 (18)
    T6. Jon Rahm of Barrika, Biscay, Spain, -3 (9)
    T6. Aaron Wise of Cape Town, South Africa (but now Las Vegas), -3 (7)

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  33. Morikawa starts his back nine with a birdie on No. 10, so now he and Lingmerth, who holes a long, long par save on No. 11, share the lead at 5-under.

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  34. Paul Azinger says 23 of the last 25 U.S. Open winners have been within two shots of the lead after Friday.

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  35. Lingmerth bogeys his 13th hole today (No. 13) to slip to 4-under, and now Morikawa is in pretty terrific danger of doing same on his 13th (No. 4).

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  36. Yup, Morikawa misses. So we now have four co-leaders at 4-under: Dahmen, Harman, Lingmerth and Morikawa.

    And McIlroy just birdied his 12th hole to get back to 2-under and within Azinger’s two-strokes-of-the-lead guidance. Seventeen golfers are currently in that circle.

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  37. But no more! Dahmen breaks from the lead pack with a birdie on No. 8. Indeed, a lengthy eagle putt appeared to come up less than an inch short of falling, which would've given him a two-stroke lead on the field. And now we're back down to only eight golfers within Azinger's two strokes of the lead.

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  38. Well, I lost TV and internet service for a bit (still don't have TV), and now I see that Hayden Buckley of Chattanooga, Tenn., has joined Dahmen and Morikawa in the lead at 4-under. Buckley birdied four of his last seven holes today, including Nos. 17 and 18.

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  39. McIlroy and Rahm have joined the eight-player tie one stroke behind the three leaders.

    Harman has tumbled back to the 2-under crowd, which also now includes Keegan Bradley of Woodstock, Vt., the 2011 PGA Championship winner.

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  40. "Growing up as an all-state ski racer in Woodstock, Vermont, Bradley decided as a teenager to pursue golf over skiing."

    That's from Wikipedia. Keegan Bradley is 36 years old. That means Keegan boy might've been on a nearby ski slope, starting to rethink his life choices, the morning in the middle 1990s when mid-20s me happened to be eating a giant omelet in Woodstock, Vt. I was not conflicted about the event (it was delicious!), but it did encourage some rethinking of life choices by the person with whom I was sharing the breakfast table.

    So, ultimately, that Woodstock omelet played a not-insignificant role in my marrying the person I married. This is absolutely the truth, and it's funny how things work out.

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  41. Rahm joins the leaders at 4-under. Bradley gets to 3-under.

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  42. I am rooting for Keegan Bradley.

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  43. Morikawa birdies No. 17. He's 5-under and solo leader of the U.S. Open.

    I'm fine with Morikawa winning, too.

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  44. Apologies to GoHeath for not smelling what he was cooking in a separate thread, and I'm going to cap off this one here.

    But I feel I do owe it to Paul Azinger of Holyoke, Mass., my old dogs at super Wikipedia and my new dogs at cool Official World Golf Ranking to note the 12 golfers who are within two strokes of the lead going into today's third round: OWGR No. 259 Hayden Buckley of Chattanooga, Tenn.; No. 130 Joel Dahmen of Clarkston, Wash.; No. 371 Nick Hardy of Northbrook, Ill.; No. 50 Brian Harman of Savannah, Ga.; No. 162 Beau Hossler of Mission Viejo, Calif.; No. 3 Rory McIlroy of Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland; No. 7 Collin Morikawa of Los Angeles; No. 166 Matthew NeSmith of North Augusta, S.C.; No. 2 Jon Rahm of Barrika, Biscay, Spain; No. 216 Patrick Rodgers of Avon, Ind.; No. 1 Scottie Scheffler of Ridgebrook, N.J., and No. 44 Aaron Wise of Las Vegas (by way of Cape Town).

    That’s quite a group, with Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 7 in the thick. Of these, I think I’ll root for No. 1, Morikawa and my Hoosier bro. And though, at 1-over and T31, he’s out of the Azinger running, I’m also rooting for No. 5 Justin Thomas of Goshen North Oldham Middle and Louisville St. X.

    The end.

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