Open Observations

As the loyal reader no doubt has noticed, we here at Unplayable Lies love our alterations...

By Any Other Name - It's rare that I link to the N.Y. Times, but to do so twice in a day will freak out certain friends.  But Shack points us to this Justin Rose profile by Karen Crouse, well worth a few moments of your time.  Like Shack, this was my favorite bit:

“I’ve learned to get all of my enjoyment from my relationship with the golf course and the shots

The Rose Family.

I hit,” Rose said, “and not the slaps on the back that I get.” 

That approach has allowed Rose to savor his Open title as if it were a dessert to be shared with relatives and friends and not the main course. In a richly symbolic gesture, the trophy was christened by Rose’s 5-year-old son, Leo, who ate scoops of vanilla and mint chocolate chip ice cream from it. 

With a mischievous grin, Rose added, “It holds five bottles of Champagne, just F.Y.I.”

That's good advice for us all, especially your humble blogger.  But of greatest importance, how does one get invited to the J.R. Challenge?  That was quite the itinerary...

Mean Greens - It's only Wednesday, but we've already exhausted the vocabulary of adjectives for these greens, which are hard to explain to those that haven't played them.  But after this week we can hopefully retire the term "turtleback."  First up, Joe Passov with a Golf.com piece on the four greens that will humble the pros, including this general description of the challenge:

The genius of Pinehurst lies in Donald Ross's confounding convex greens. The term "crowned" doesn't do them justice. They swell, ripple and heave, demanding superhuman precision. Our experts illuminate No. 2's four most devious surfaces, which are sure to humble the world's best putters.

The four greens he discusses are Nos. 3, 5, 14 and 15, and here's their graphic on the fifth:

Maggot would likely agree with Joe about No. 3, which he putted his ball off in the final round of our tourney.  

Joe includes comments from Bill Coore and Bob Farren, Director of Grounds at Pinehurst, so it's extremely informative.

At Golfweek, Brad Klein discusses the the process of prepping the course and greens for the tourney, with his lede:

It’s 5:15 a.m. at Pinehurst No. 2 on the last day of practice and already they’re mowing and rolling. Equipment operators have little headlights on their machinery, and they’re doing their best not to run into each pother. Some of them even have lamps on their helmets. Whatever it takes to steer clear of another mobile piece of rattling iron. The walkie-talkies are crackling with instructions, as if pilots are listening to air traffic controllers. It’s all part of a daily choreography: getting the country’s toughest set of greens ready for the world’s best players

And since everyone wants the numbers:

And what the numbers show this morning is very encouraging. Green speeds on the No. 2 course are all in the range of 12.7 to 13.1 That’s after double mowing and a single roll. Of course those numbers will change during the day. It’s called “bounce back,” the tendency of freshly cut and rolled turf to emerge from its morning treatment. If mowing is like a haircut, rolling is like ironing. In both cases, there’s a natural response – the turfgrass springs back. 

During the course of a day’s play there could be a shift of three-quarters of a foot in speed. If the morning groups play greens that start at 13 on the Stimpmeter, the last groups will be putting on greens measuring around 12.3.

And while most focus on the chipping and putting aspects of these severe greens, this may be the best explanation of the effect on approach shots:

There’s no set of greens quite like these at Pinehurst. Many of them are convex in shape – to say turtle-backed would not be an exaggeration. And structurally, that poses problems for players, since just about any shot hit to the side or deeper than half way is landing on a surface that’s tilted out and away from the ideal line of play. And with the greens exceptionally firm, even well-struck shots landing on up slopes are bouncing forward, not spinning back. So getting an iron shot close to the hole becomes a carefully calibrated matter of playing it with just the right strength into the upslope – or running it up through a minefield of bunkers so that it rolls out on the surface and not over.

I'll disagree with Klein over the efficacy of the ground game, as the grass is to sticky to reliably judge the release.   It's still fundamentally an air game at No. 2, just with the most exacting standards for success.

Lastly, the ninth green deathwatch continues, again per Brad Klein:

If there’s one green at Pinehurst No. 2 that is a candidate for going over the top, it’s the putting surface on the par-3 ninth. On the card it’s 191 yards, but the putting surface here is one of the smallest on the course, and it’s also the one with the most contour. 

USGA executive director Mike Davis confirmed to Golfweek that they are keeping a very close watch on the green. He also said that there are plans to move the tees up at least one day, possibly two, and play the hole from 145 yards. At that distance, the hole will be marginally more receptive, especially if the hole is cut on an anticipated right-side location, on a small shelf above a false front.

There's talk of moving the tee up for 1-2 days to ensure receptivity to shots, especially when the pin is in the difficult front-right location. Shackelford had this to say:

I'm not sure it can function entirely well because of the severity of the run-offs around the elevated, severely-sloped and smallish par-3 surface. 

Most shocking may be the trouble long and left, where short grass just feels excessive, particularly at the current heights.

I assume he means that if a ball runs off the green in that direction that the grass is so tightly-mown and the slope so pitched that it will run too far (or as our Pinehurst caddie was wont to say in his Southern drawl, "It'll run 'till it stops.").  

The Bubba Beat - Gary Van Sickle is touting the chances of our Bubba, with this as his thesis:

Watson is smart about golf, despite his small-town, hayseed image. (For which he can thank, at

least in part, his “Golf Boys” wardrobe choice: overalls with no shirt.) He gets almost no credit for his course management, no doubt because of his unorthodox swing and because he intentionally curves shots far more than most players. You don’t win the Masters twice without having a firm grip on strategy. Bubba’s golfing brain is underrated.

While undoubtedly true, saying the Bubba isn't as stupid as he looks in Golf Boy videos is damning with faint praise, no?

I'd like the Bubbamester's chances better if he hadn't announced that he was going to lay back off many of the tees.  Seems from my vantage point that if Bubba plays his second shot from the same place as the other, that he loses.  He wins when he overpowers a course, or at least that's his best chance of winning.

I also don't think he's the best chipper and putter, and his patience is going to be sorely tested by many BMIR's*, so he's not my guy this week.

The Oddest Couple -  My affection for Lydia Ko knows no bounds, but how can you not love this story?:

Mike “Fluff” Cowan has the unprecedented opportunity to be on the bag for back-to-back U.S. Open champions at Pinehurst. 

Cowan, the longtime looper for Jim Furyk, will also carry the bag next week for Lydia Ko, he confirmed Wednesday. 

“It’s going to be something of a learning experience for me,” he said, “but hopefully it all works out.”

I have enough trouble getting my arms around Ko and Fluff inhabiting the same universe, but this is just wacky cool!  Can't wait for the pictures of them together.

Ko has taken some heat for not settling down with a regular caddie, but in this case it plays to her benefit.  The only question is whether at his age Fluff will remember anything he saw the prior week.

The Fave - I haven't been big on Rory's chances this week, having nothing to do with Caroline's new Twitter avatar.  But listening to him in this David Dusek interview opens me to the possibility, as he seems very thoughtful about the place.  It's a digital mag, so I'm unable to excerpt, but the young lad intends to play to the center of every green, regardless of the club he's hitting.  Prove me wrong, big guy!

* Ball Marks in Regulation