Winning score - Olympia Fields

[Mike Benham]

So very little talk about the Open at Olympia Fields, either from a golf fan or architecture slant.  Probably a reflection of the lack of collective knowledge of the course or interest in the course.

What do you think the winning score will be?

Which hole(s) do think we be the pivotal ones come Sunday afternoon?

And who will the winner be?

And, a Cubs questions, was Sammy lying?

And why (to all of the above) ...

[CHrisB]

(I started basically the same topic at about the same time, so I'll remove it and piggy-back the question on Mike's thread here)

Last year in the lead-up to the U.S. Open at Bethpage, there was much contention about how the Black would hold up as a U.S. Open course, with many saying the the scoring record would be in jeopardy because of the flat greens, etc.  On this site there were threads titled "The Pros May Make a Mockery of this Year's Open" and "The over/under bet will be -10!"

Yet Tiger was the only player under par at -3 at the end of the week.

This year, there hasn't been much discussion here but in the media there are whispers that once again the U.S. Open scoring record of 272 may be in jeopardy, the rough is too low, the conditions aren't firm enough, Olympia Fields is going to play as easy as a U.S. Open course can play, etc.

From what I've heard so far, OFCC lies somewhere between Southern Hills (shorter, many doglegs, firm, dry, fewer drivers) and Bethpage (long, soft, wet, many drivers).

I don't know Olympia Fields, but does anyone doubt that the USGA could set up the course in such a way that the winning score will be only just under par?  Or are we looking at a tournament like in 1993 when Janzen shot for rounds in the 60s and shot 8-under, with Payne Stewart at 6-under?  Or perhaps even more of a shootout, with the winner at double-digits under par?

[Mike Benham]

From what I've heard so far, OFCC lies somewhere between Southern Hills (shorter, many doglegs, firm, dry, fewer drivers) and Bethpage (long, soft, wet, many drivers).

Everyone is implying that OF is short compared to The Black but it measures out at 7,190 yards.  Do the doglegs shorten the course that much?  

[Gary_Smith]

I don't think O.F. has the number of strong par 4s that the Black does, which means the Black is automatically the superior Open course, IMHO. Bring the long irons back into this game!

For some time I've been looking for Furyk to come up big in a major and this could be the spot. Which means take Tiger.  

My hunch is the that something like 271 to 273 will win, but who knows with the Chicago winds.

[Andrew_Roberts]

I believe the winning score will be 275 -5. At least between 274 and 276.

I believe we are going to see some hot starts and a hang on for the last 12 holes or so.  You may see -7 leading through 60 holes but -5 win.  

I believe I see Vijay Singh winning over Len Mattice in a playoff.

Well the players are saying it is shorter but you can't trust them because of the new invention of the x-ball and these damn corked drivers.

I believe Sammy lied but I still love him as a competior even though a cheater.

But poor Len will win the PGA after losing a playoff in the British to Robert Allenby.

He will then win the PGA in great fashion by beating both Tiger Woods and Lefty in a playoff.  Lefty and Len will get to a sudden death and the announcers will be happy that Phil finally beat Tiger.  But again Phil loses after he doubles the first sudden death hole.  Sounds familar.

I hope this does not happen, but this would be one weird scene.

Anybody else find it strange that the U.S. open guys did so well at Augusta this year?

[Gary_Smith]

Andrew,

Man, that Mattice fellow just can't stay out of playoffs, can he?  

Does your crystal ball have any stock market predictions?

[Andrew_Roberts]

Gary,  

I forsee a strong future in a small based Houston company named Enron...Heard of it?

I also see a strong earnings report for Martha Stewart Living,  soon to be called Martha Stewart Jailing.

[CHrisB]

Architecture remark--I'm interested to see just how penal the deep fairway bunkering is at OFCC.

Scoring remark--Every time I start to think that the USGA is powerless to stop the pros from going deep on one of their set-ups, they come up with something new to get inside the players' heads (#18 pin at Olympic in 1998; the pins at the top of the fall-offs at Pinehurst in 1999; cutting #9 and #18 greens at different speeds than the rest of the course at Southern Hills, plus the "volcano" Sunday hole cut in 2001; not moving the tees forward--esp. on #10--during bad weather at Bethpage in 2002; etc.). We'll see what happens this year, but I'll bet double-digits will not be allowed to happen...

Sammy Sosa remark--He would have us believe that in 7188 career at-bats, this was the first time that he has used a corked bat, and that during that first time he used it, it just happened to break!  How often does a player's bat break...once every 50 or so at-bats maybe (at most)?

So for the first time in 7188 at-bats, he pulled the one corked bat out of 78 he had, and broke his bat on that very at-bat...
1/7188 * 1/78 * 1/50 = .0000036%

But hey, the Astros had about the same chance of no-hitting NY in Yankee Stadium last night, so maybe so!

[Nigel_Walton]

-10 or better. Really -14 as the 9th is a par 5. The setup on satellite tv looks like any old us pga tour event. As Mr Miller said, one can see an awful lot of ball in the rough. The greens appear relatively soft. I would hazard to say that so far, we are not looking at a major championship setup.

[Paul Richards]

I've predicted -10 and so far, it looks like that score is in reach.  Unfortunately, the recent Chicago weather has left the course a bit wetter than we would like to see it and the greens aren't playing as hard and fast as they should be.  Maybe Mother Nature will help out and send some warmer sun here real soon ....

[Nigel_Walton]

Aha. I've got it! It's not a PGA Tour setup. It's a PGA championship setup! Between Olympia and Torrey, we are headed to parity, in the wrong direction.

[David Kelly]

As of this moment there are 29 sub-par rounds going.  The record number of sub-par scores in the first round is 39 set at Medinah in 1990.  The second most ever was at Pebble Beach in 1992 also at 29, third most was at Hazeltine in 1991 with 23.  So it looks like today will be one of the top two or three lowest scoring first rounds ever.

[Tom_Doak]

With the new security passwords, I couldn't sign in as Don King, but here's his view:

If it's minus ten, they'll never go there again!

[Tim Taylor]

Oh no, Don King as a lawyer. Tom did you by chance mean Johnny "if the shoe don't fit you must acquit" Cochran?

TimT

With the new security passwords, I couldn't sign in as Don King, but here's his view:

If it's minus ten, they'll never go there again!