OT: The Open Conditions

[RockyMTblue2]

Last year with a baked out course the Open poised certain very difficult challenges and this year it is laughable - can you stand still over your putt and can you strike the ball before the wind decides to roll it all on it's own. Swell. Certainly why I tune in to watch. Not. 7 hours of ESPN anchors mumbling stuffish. Like playing billiards on a worn out felt in a hurricane.

 

[ChicagoGG]

Watching Dustin Johnson's ball roll away and Jordan Spieth kick his ball so Dustin's didn't hit it......Too weird. They shouldn't have been playing in those conditions. And now we are in thrall until Monday.

 

[LIUCHusky]

Watching Dustin Johnson's ball roll away and Jordan Spieth kick his ball so Dustin's didn't hit it.Too weird. They shouldn't have been playing in those conditions. And now we are in thrall until Monday.[/QUO

Watching Dustin Johnson's ball roll away and Jordan Spieth kick his ball so Dustin's didn't hit it.Too weird. They shouldn't have been playing in those conditions. And now we are in thrall until Monday.

You must have been seeing things if you thought Jordan Spieth kicked his ball. He ran toward his ball but never touched it nor did he try to kick it.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Actually, I guess it is in the eyes of the beholder, but it sure looked to me he was giving serious consideration to putting his foot into the roll path to stop it! Ridiculous conditions, which no one can control, but the misjudgments of the Committee, the you can stop play and you can go nonsense was just that. Gave the Royal and Ancient - the ancient part - a whole new meaning.

 

[HuskyJohn]

I noticed that the ESPN commentators were careful not to criticize the R&A for their decisions about starting and stopping play. They did criticize the committee for allowing some golfers to play several holes in high wind to their disadvantage while others waited on the 11th hole in wind for a half hour until play was halted.

As for the decision of the R&A start play under such conditions, someone noted that this is a business and having a Monday finish may make for better conditions but a price is payed in TV viewership and also impacts to some extent some who planned to play the next week in the Canadian Open.

The golfers tended to talk about how tough conditions were but didn't complain much about the R&A decisions. Ironically, we heard far more complaining from golfers who played in the recent US Open, not about the weather but about the "cauliflower" greens!

 

[BigBird]

It amuses me that the crowd (oh, excuse me... the "gallery") is expected to be silent so as to not interfere with a shot, but a hurricane is a "play on." For a while at least.

 

[Woof 101]

No offense to the OP but who cares? If a golfer does not have the balls to play in the conditions which are bad every year they should stay home. Why would anyone enter a competition that is obviously not favorable to the meek of the sport? Leave it to the best of the best to put on a show under any conditions. Other than life threatening of course.
Again, Rocky no slander, but if you are watching 7 hours of ESPN mumbling stuffish, you need to get a hobby.