Thursday, June 13, 2013

U.S. Open -- Day One

Play was suspended this morning at 8:36 A.M. due to severe weather.  Ian Poulter is in the lead at 3 under -- he started on the back nine, and birdied holes 10, 11, and 12 before play was suspended.

And I'm annoyed that the USGA changed its scoreboard to stop identifying players by country.  I realize that it's embarrassing to see all those foreign players ahead of the U.S. players, but that's no reason to hide the data.

34 comments:

  1. The Guardian reports that play should resume at 12:10 P.M. Philadelphia time -- but more bad weather is expected later this afternoon.

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  2. I'm listening to ESPN Radio -- which is better than ESPN's television announcers, although it is not as good as the coverage you get on PGA Tour Radio for normal events.

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  3. Matthew's Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Golf team, the Siler City Samurai, today is Russell Henley, Phil Mickelson and Scott Stallings. Angel Cabrera, Brandt Snedeker and Josh Teater today wear my Ginger Reeves jerseys.

    The Reeves lead the Samurai, 7-3, in Spring Segment wins in the HeathPostdotcom league, but the Samurai still hold a 2,903-2,789 advantage in season points.

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  4. Merion does appear to be an extremely beautiful course. I love the scenery of the Mid-Atlantic Region, and Merion seems to be a lovely example of just how pretty this part of the country can be.

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  5. Charl Schwartzel, 3-under, is the leader. He was a last-minute cut by the Reeves in favor of Cabrera.

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  6. Ian Poulter of England and Tim Clark and Charl Schwarzel of South Africa are tied for the tournament lead at 2-under.

    Of HP note, Dustin "D.J." Johnson is even; Jason "Duff" Dufner, Ricky "Ricky" Fowler and Bubba "Bubba" Watson are 1-over, and Brandt "Sneds" Snedeker is 2-over.

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  7. Yeah, none of those guys is going to win.

    The press won't get much of a chance to torment Sergio Garcia for his recent comments about Tiger -- Sergio is already 7 over through 10 holes.

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  8. Sergio has just gone birdie-eagle, and he is now only 4 over par. The Guardian will be ecstatic.

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  9. Leaderboard at 2 P.M.:

    T1. C. Schwartzel (RSA): -2 (10 holes)
    T1. T. Clark (RSA): -2 (10)
    T1. M. Weir (CAN): -2 (6)
    T1. Mr. C. Pan (TPE): -2 (5)
    T5. P. Mickelson: -1 (11)
    T5. G. Coetzee (RSA): -1 (10)
    T5. I. Poulter (ENG): -1 (9)
    T5. J. Van Zyl (RSA): -1 (6)
    T5. K. Phelan (IRE): -1 (5)

    You can tell that this is a good tournament, because Phil is the only American near the top of the leaderboard.

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    1. Mr. Pan should have an (a) next to his name, because he is an amateur who plays for the University of Washington.

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  10. The commentators are all happy that Merion is holding up so far. The scores have not been very low. It looks as though the rough is extremely thick and high, and that makes a huge difference. The rough at Congressional two years ago was almost non-existent, and that was the main reason scores were so low.

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  11. And now it turns out that Kevin Phelan is also an amateur. The USGA's leaderboard is just terrible -- it doesn't identify countries or amateur status.

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  12. So far, the average round is about 4.4 shots over par -- just about the same as it was at the Open in 2012 and 2010. (At Congressional in 2011, the average round was only about 3 shots over par.)

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  13. Suddenly, ESPN's coverage went off the air -- but then I remembered that this is the rare ESPN/NBC partnership. So the next two hours will be on NBC.

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  14. Trevor Immelman ‏@TrevorImmelman
    The commentator's talking about Phil's "redeye" flight like he was sitting in a middle seat in economy....
    He owns a G4 boys.
    1:59 PM - 13 Jun 13

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  15. Well, NBC's coverage has been pre-empted for storm coverage. No city loves its storm coverage more than Washington.

    Anyway, here was the 3 P.M. Leaderboard:

    T1. P. Mickelson: -1 (14 holes)
    T1. C. Schwartzel (RSA): -1 (12)
    T1. G. Coetzee (RSA): -1 (14)
    T1. J. Kelly: -1 (13)
    T1. I. Poulter (ENG): -1 (12)
    T1. S. Stefani: -1 (10)
    T1. M. Weir (CAN): -1 (9)

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  16. Mickelson has since made two more birdies, and he now has the outright lead at 3 under under par.

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  17. Mickelson finishes his round with a three-under par 67 -- his lowest opening round at the U.S. Open since 1999. That's a great round -- and he was also able to complete his play without weather problems.

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  18. 4 P.M. Leaderboard:

    1. P. Mickelson: -3 (18 holes)
    2. J. Kelly: -2 (16)
    T3. N. Colsaerts (BEL): -1 (18)
    T3. M. Weir (CAN): -1 (12)
    T3. Mr. K. Phelan (a) (IRE): -1 (11)
    T3. Mr. C. Pan (a) (TPE): -1 (11)

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  19. After so much rough weather, Merion is now running in luck -- they were expecting another round of bad weather at 4 P.M., but now it looks as though that weather will bypass Philly to the south.

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  20. No one in the DC area has gotten to watch golf since about 3:05 P.M., as Channel 4 has been doing weather coverage the whole time.

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  21. Sergio, who was seven over par at one point, finishes with a three-over par 73. That's some good golf.

    Phil Mickelson says that this is the best set-up for the U.S. Open he's ever seen -- that the USGA wisely made the tough holes tougher but allowed the players to have some birdie opportunities as well. That's very encouraging, because that would imply that this tournament might feature lots of birdies and bogeys -- which would be preferable to the endless grinding pars you often see at the National Open.

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  22. OK, I'm off to Philadelphia to see this tournament for myself. Go Heath out.

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  23. Through three holes together, the standings in the Adam/Rory/Tiger supergroup are, 1, Scott 1-under; 2, McIlroy even; 3, Woods 1-over.

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  24. Mickelson's 3-under still leads. Luke Donald is 2-under through four holes.

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  25. Supergroup through eight holes: Scott, 2-under; McIlroy, 1-under, and Woods, 1-over.

    Lee Westwood, through 10, has now joined Mickelson at 3-under for the tournament lead. Scott is joined by Estanisiao Goya, Peter Hedblom, Allistair Presnell and Webb Simpson at 2-under.

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  26. Shelbyville's Brandon Brown is 1-under through two holes.

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  27. Supergroup: Scott, 3-under through 11; McIlroy, even through 11; Woods, 2-over through 10.

    Donald, through 14 holes, is 4-under; Mickelson and Scott are 3-under.

    Brown of Shelbyville remains 1-under through four holes.

    Josh Teater of Danville is 2-over through seven.

    Play suspended for darkness until tomorrow.

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