Sunday, August 24, 2014

Ridgewood Reflections

I'm drafting this post (or at least began the post) with the final round of the Barclays visible out of the corner of my left eye.  It seems that this Tillinghast gem is holding up quite well, and I'm especially enjoyong the play at the short Par-4 5th.  No one is going for it with the front pin today, but Phil has already compiled his fifth hole highlight reel.

We covered Phil's first foray (and please give yourself to a moment to appreciate that fine example of the alliteration for which you come to Unplayable Lies) into the spectator pavilion here, though we couldn't give Sir Nick a pass for inserting his massive ego into the scene.

The video from the sequel is here:


A tougher shot, and one he actually pulled off.  But how about the Ridgewood CC Grounds Team, showing an appreciation for the solemnity of the moment:

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Divot crew had to make an extra stop left of 5 last night.

Then this from Saturday evening:

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The 3rd round has barely begun and Phil has already done it again from the left of 5. This time he hit the green.
We like folks with a sense of humor.

And in this week's installment of fun with rules, Brian Wacker has the story of Seung-Yul Noh's rather unusual penalty:
Seung-Yul Noh was assessed one of the more rare two-stroke penalties during Friday's
second round of The Barclays after playing his second shot on the 11th hole from the third green. 
Noh hit his tee shot so far right on the par 4 that it landed on the putting surface of the adjacent hole. 
After waiting for the group on No. 3 to putt out, Noh hit his next shot from the green. 
Under USGA Rule 25-3, if a player's ball is on a wrong putting green, he must take relief and drop within one club length not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. The nearest point of relief must also not be in a hazard or on a putting green.
You never stop shaking your head at the failure refusal of these guys and gals to learn the rules of the game they play for their living.  And as I'm preparing this item, Jason Day hit his tee shot to the right and it ran across the very same green.  Of course his was cartpath assisted and it actually ran off the green, but funny how history repeats itself.

It's a bit of a rugby scrum at the top of the leader board as I type, and I'm quite surprised to find that Stuart Appleby was even in the field.  I'll not pretend to have a clue as to will win this thing, just note that the best possible outcome for the U.S. Ryder Cup team would be for Jim Furyk to rediscover his ability to close.  I've not been reluctant to share my skepticism on that score with you, though I'd be happy to be proven wrong, especially as he seems to have cut his time-lapse photography putting routine about in half.  Though the putts seems to be sliding by and balls are running through greens, so I'm not optimistic.

Second best would be for Hunter Mahan to win, thereby vaulting him into Ryder Cup Captain's Pick wannabe status.

Third best?  There is no third best.









































































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