Open Friday

Be careful what you wish for, as golf seems to need a "Mercy rule".  

John Feinstein seems almost to be gloating here:

There won’t be any 63s in this U.S. Open. The winning score will NOT be 16 under par. Which, whether they admit it or not, is a relief to officials at the USGA.

Marshall choreography was on display all day.

 So long Erin Hills. Welcome back Shinnecock—windy, brutish Shinnecock. 

“We don’t really think about score,” Mike Davis, the USGA’s CEO, said on Wednesday. 

“We just worry about how the golf course plays.” 

On Thursday, Shinnecock Hills played hard. Really hard.

Before we get to specific names, some commentary on the day:

“It’s brutal out there, just brutal,” said Charles Howell III, who was one of the morning’s 

Get this man a prayer rug, stat!

low finishers at one-over-par 71. “You get a crosswind on this golf course and it’s extremely difficult. But the USGA did a great job today. Hard as it was, the setup was fair. They didn’t let the greens get too fast. I was a little nervous about that starting out when I saw the wind. But they didn’t let the greens get too fast, and that gave us a chance.” 

Howell is one of the nine survivors of the infamous Sunday finale here in 2004 who are playing this week. He was one of 28 players who failed to break 80 that day, shooting 83. 

“I’ve still got some scar tissue from that,” Howell said. “It was nice to get another crack at this place and play a lot better.” 

A lot of players will want a crack at this place again after Thursday. Or, maybe not.

Winds should be down considerably today and for the rest of the week, so expect scoring to improve.

Sean Zak has some data on the carnage:

4.808 — Average number of strokes taken on the 536-yard par-4 14th, the toughest hole of the day at Shinnecock Hills. Only eight players made birdie while 29 made double bogey, and another eight made triple bogey or worse.

76.474 — Scoring average during the first round. Think that’s abnormally brutal? First round scoring at the 1986 Open at Shinnecock was even more difficult, coming in at 77.877. 

0 — Number of birdies made by Rickie Fowler during his 3-over 73 Thursday. Fowler made one bogey, one double bogey and 16 pars. At T20, he is the highest player on the leaderboard to play birdie-free Thursday.

Thirty-seven doubles or worse on one hole?  Can't all be qualifiers...I caught a couple of hours of coverage, though I don't think I saw any action from the 14th hole.... 

Golf.com's game story had this as its coda:

Maybe we should've seen this coming. In its three U.S. Open since 1986, the cut lines at Shinnecock have been +10, +6 and +6. Eighteen holes into this latest edition, a few things are clear: Shinnecock is still plenty sturdy for today's pros. Control in the wind is paramount. Nerves of steel also won't hurt. Oh, and McIlroy's U.S. Open scoring record (16-under 268 in 2011) is undeniably safe. The U.S. Open is back, baby. Whoever hoists that trophy Sunday afternoon will have earned it.

Yes, we should have seen it coming, as every time a U.S. Open features low scores, the enuing year's payback is a b***h.  Including, of course, at this very venue in 2004.

So, how did things go in those Supergroup pairings?  I'll take "Not-so-super-Supergroups" for $1,000, Alex:

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — If golf ever dies out on this planet, the 8:02 a.m. tee at the 118th U.S. Open will surely be to blame. Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Jordan

Spieth are the most glamorous grouping at Shinnecock Hills but they went out in the first round and made an absolute hash of things. The U.S. Open is supposed to be challenging; these proud champions made it look damn near impossible. 

Bladed wedges, yipped putts, duffed sand shots, disastrous decisions, four-letter expletives…there was something for everyone. McIlroy hit a shot in the fescue that went maybe two yards and that wasn’t even his most embarrassing play of the day. Two holes later, at the par-5 16th, he found the sand off the tee and then blasted his next shot straight into the face of the bunker: d'oh! This was part of a wretched stretch during which he made three 6s in the span of four holes.

And it just goes on and on:

Mickelson avoided a signature boneheaded play but still lit up Twitter with his mouth.

Standing in the middle of the 16th fairway, 70 yards short of the green, he bladed his wedge a mile over the putting surface. At impact, he loosed an un-Phil-like, "Oh s---!" which was caught by the cameras. That is sure to join his various other Open epithets, right up there with, "I am such an idiot." 

Spieth, meanwhile, began his Open with a horror show. As one of the worst putters on Tour this year, according to the statistics, he needed to build some confidence early. But on Spieth’s very first hole he badly shoved a four-footer for par. Thus spooked, he rushed through a triple bogey on the next hole, misplaying a bunker shot and then having the ensuing chip roll back to his feet.

The hits just kept coming, with McIlroy going cabbage-cabbage-sand for a double bogey at the first and Spieth skeeving another pitch on the 7th hole, leading to a double of his own. When the round mercifully ended, Mickelson had shot an eight-bogey 77, which somehow beat his woebegone playing partners, with Spieth posting a 78 and McIlroy an 80. This actually represented a small victory given Rory was 10-over through 11 holes.

Skeeving?  Kinda surprised to see that in the Golf.com style book... You guys really wanna go there?

So I guess it wasn't just his head that he failed to keep down?  

But this might be the more important event of the day:

Afterward, none of them were eager to account for their failings: McIlroy stormed off, petulantly; Spieth tried to escape, too, but was run down by a mob of bloodthirsty reporters, to whom he offered a few clipped answers; Mickelson, after signing autographs for a while, literally jogged away from a small group of hopeful scribes before circling back to schmooze a gathering of potential business partners in a deal he’s hoping to consummate. "He's not talking today, he worn out," Mickelson’s agent Steve Loy said, while a few feet away Phil energetically offered detailed thoughts about his round to the rapacious money men.

These are three of the more accessible guys out there, but this is also a part of their day at the office, so bad form all around.

I was up at the club for Thursday Night League and had the following conversation with Head Professional Shaun Powers:

Shaun: Did you hear what Rory said?

Me: No.

Shaun: He called Friars Head the best golf course he's ever played.

Me:  That's interesting.  Perhaps he can go play there on the weekend.

One last note from that Sean Zak item that makes Phil's day even more perplexing:

92.8 — Percentage of fairways hit by Phil Mickelson. The 47-year-old is ranked 131st on Tour in SG: Off the Tee, so a burst of fairways would have seemed to bring him a solid round. Mickelson struggled on the greens Thursday, eventually signing for a 7-over 77.

The last time Phil hit thirteen fairways was.... well, I'm guessing never.  

This was one of the USGA's thematic pairings.  Not my favorite of the genre, my sense of humor leans more to their historic a*******e and fat-boy groupings.  The logic here was to group the three guys who need one major to complete the Career Grand Slam, and yet they left us wondering how these clowns ever got the first three legs thereof....  Crazy game, no?

But what about that other marquee pairing?  I'm sure those guys handled things better:

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The land at Shinnecock Hills is rumpled and exposed. In other words, it’s a lot like Tiger Woods’ game was during Thursday’s opening round of the 118th U.S. Open. 

There was the triple bogey on the first, where his approach on the 407-yard par 4—one of the easiest holes on the course on a day where easy didn’t present itself often—airmailed the green. He followed it with two attempts to bounce his ball up the shaved down bank, only to have it roll back to his feet. 

Then came a missed six-footer for par on the second. Two holes, four over. Oof. Some welcome back to the U.S. Open for the three-time winner of the tournament, playing for the first time in the championship since 2015.

he never seemed to get especially hot under the collar but, upon further review, that might be explained by the absence of collars on this generation of Nike polos.

He did seem to settle in and was making lots of pars when I had to leave:

Thursday, after a run of six pars and one bogey following the stumbling start, the wheels

came off the tracks of the 42-year-old Tiger Express. 

Woods four-putted the 13th en route to double. On the 14th, he played military golf, going right off the tee and left with his second as the hay he was hitting out of grabbed the clubhead and shut the face down. When he reached the green, he missed an eight-footer and made another double.

It was all pars from there, but the damage—an eight-over 78 that left him tied for 101st place—was done.  

“I didn’t putt well today,” said Woods, who took 30 putts in all. “It’s tough out there. But, I mean, I shouldn’t make two doubles and a triple.”

That military golf is a nice touch for Tiger, though it was tougher than his Navy Seal training out there.

 We already dissected No. 14, but I had the sense that the shortest hole on the property punched above its weight class.  here are the results by hole:

No. 2 did play tougher than No. 11, but it's a good 100 yards longer....  Alan Bastable milks it for a full column:

Indeed, in stressful conditions Thursday in the game’s most stressful tournament, a case could be made that the tee shot at the 11th was the most stressful shot of the day. Give a

15-handicapper a bucket of range balls from this tee — with the same 15-20 mph crosswinds the players battled in the first round — and he or she might not stop a single shot on the putting surface. Three-quarters of the hacker’s shots would be batted down by the wind and into one of the bunkers in front of the green, a handful would come in low and hot and run through the green into a collection area that leaves a petrifying clip-it-clean-or-else pitch, while the remaining swings would result in a motley collection of nervy tops, chunks and snap-hooks.

“I actually hit a really good tee shot on 11, landed it perfect,” said Scott Piercy who made three birdies on Thursday on his way to a one-under 69 and a share of the first-round lead. “But when it landed, it just went sideways right off the green.” 

Alas, sometimes even perfect isn’t good enough at 11.

It's an incredibly small target, and will always generate many of what's known at Pinehurst as ball marks in regulation.  But I believe it was as much the direction of the wind as its strength, so I'm guessing we won't see it a half-shot over par again.

They're doing a daily one-query version of the Tour Confidential, focusing on the downtrodden superstars:

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club had the last laugh on Thursday on Long Island. Thick fescue, strong winds and tricky greens toyed with the best golfers in the world as one star after another signed a scorecard with one too many squares and not enough circles. A fraction of the damage: Phil Mickelson 77, Tiger Woods 78, Jon Rahm 78, Jordan Spieth 78, Jason Day 79 and Rory McIlroy 80. Which star has the best chance to rebound on Friday and get back into the mix?

Right now it looks like the cut line would be at +6 or so, meaning that most of these guys aren't too far off it.  But with much calmer conditions, who knows?

Josh Sens: I would say Tiger Woods. Because no one grinds like him. He survived that disaster triple bogey start to play some solid golf for a lot of the day. I expect him to build on those positives Friday and will his way toward a bounce-back round. 

Dylan Dethier: Tiger Woods. When he's been going good, then he goes bad. When he's been going bad, then he goes good. I'm not sure I have a more fact-based explanation than that but I don't expect him to fade into missed-cutville without a fight, and I'd expect we'll see some of the good ball-striking without (as many of) the big numbers come Friday morning.

Dylan's been a Tiger fanboy all year, picking him to win the Masters.  

Alan Shipnuck: Tiger did play beautifully in the middle of his round but it's tough to win a U.S. Open with two doubles and a triple, and he did all of that in his first 13 holes. I'm gonna say Rory, because now all the pressure is off and he plays best when he freewheels it.

Jessica Marksbury: I'm going with Rory. His score of 80 today was shocking, and I can't imagine we'll see that again tomorrow. On the bright side, despite suffering three doubles, he also managed to snag three birdies. And we know he's capable of getting it going when he has some momentum to build on (remember that back-nine charge to win at Bay Hill earlier this year)? So many players are over par that guys like Rory have to be thinking they're still in this thing if they can post a good second round.

I'd have stayed away from Rory and Jordan, as those two look quite lost out there.  But I remain perplexed as to how one grows up in Northern Ireland and yet can't play in the wind.

Sean Zak: Considering DJ is among those they're chasing, it'd have to be a rebound from someone with legit firepower. Sorry Phil. I think Jon Rahm is the guy for this task. 

Josh Berhow: The player with the best chance to rebound is the player who can get hottest on the greens, and Jason Day is the best putter on Tour this season. He missed too many fairways and greens to give himself makable birdie chances Thursday, but if he gets a few more opportunities he can cash in.

To me, the importance of power on this track remains unclear, and this might even confuse you further:

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The first day of the 2018 U.S. Open is in the books, and four golfers share the overnight lead. The scoring average for the day was 76.474, and while the USGA does not provide detailed analytics, Golfweek was able to crunch the numbers to reveal that Dustin Johnson, Russell Henley, Ian Poulter and Scott Piercy all gained strokes against the field both from tee to green and with their putters.

While Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player, is known for his power and great iron play, Henley outperformed him.

On the other side of the spectrum, it was a tough day for some of golf’s biggest names. Tiger Woods lost ground to the field from both tee to green and putting, as did Jordan Spieth. Phil Mickelson gained 1.1 strokes against the average player from tee to green, but his poor putting cost him more than a shot and a half. 

Meanwhile, from tee to green, it was a day Rory McIlroy likely would want to forget.

Rory has many such days to forget, just add this one to the list. Here's how it looks graphically:

Thank God Rory had a decent day with the flat stick, or he might have made a run at ninety.

In my viewing, DJ looked very much in control of all aspects of his game, and I can't argue against him at this juncture.  But it's still early days, so let's buckle in and enjoy the ride.