US Am at Olympic

[AndrewB]

Yes, the back-most tee is being used.  I walked past the tee yesterday and there are ends of bushes or tree limbs with leaves that come through the fence (from out of bounds) a bit near the top.  I heard one of the caddies mention to their player to be careful during the tournament since clipping those and breaking them would be a penalty.  The player said "but they're out of bounds" and the caddie said he saw this in the decisions book.  I've been meaning to look it up myself, but it seems like the USGA or greens and grounds staff would have cut this vegetation back to avoid such problems, particularly given how small the tee box is and how close the fence is.

Incidentally, there was a bit of wind hurting and the players weren't carrying it to the fairway by all that much.  Perhaps 20 yards past where the fairway begins; one guy was 10 yards further out.

[Matt_Cohn]

Andrew/David,
They moved the tee on #11 Ocean up about 30 yards. The carry is about 190 now.

Joel,
I didn't mean to judge Jamie Lovemark harshly. I hope I wrote clearly that I wasn't sure if he purposefully avoided people or not. Either way though, I was one of the disappointed spectators!

Ed and Kevin,
It was great to see both of you again!

Andrew,
No, I can't explain what "wind into itself" means. That's why I used such an ambiguous term! I guess something about being compressed against a non-perpendicular surface.

[igrowgrass]

No, I can't explain what "wind into itself" means. That's why I used such an ambiguous term! I guess something about being compressed against a non-perpendicular surface.

I think it might mean the club and rough combination causes the ball to began spinning backwards sooner.  The use of the word spin might make it easier to think about 'spins into itself.'

[Kevin_Reilly]

Joel,
I didn't mean to judge Jamie Lovemark harshly. I hope I wrote clearly that I wasn't sure if he purposefully avoided people or not. Either way though, I was one of the disappointed spectators!

Sheesh he's impressive, Trojan or not.  Drove just about to the bottom of the hill on #6.  Birdied #7.  Lost a ball in the tree on #8 (it is still up there) and salvaged bogie.  Those were the only holes I saw him play (aside from a crushed drive on #9)

[Kevin_Reilly]

If any of you guys will be out there for the qualifying rounds and want to root on a great Mid-Am player, look out for my very good friend Bill McGuinness.  Bill has been an excellent amateur player in the Philly area for many years and after some time spent busy raising his young children has really returned to his great play this year.  He won the NJ Amateur, was runner up at the Golf Assoc of Phila Am, and made it to the US AM again....a pretty great summer.

Bill is also the Green Chairman at our home course, Tavistock CC, and was the main person responsible for getting our Master Plan into motion and completed.

Jamie, there were a couple of occasions where I was going to say hello to Bill, but my timing was bad...I saw him on 17 and 18 where he had some trouble.  Hope for a better day tomorrow.

[Matt_Cohn]

Monday, August 20.

Now *that* was a long day. I woke up at 4:45 and got the course at 6:15 for a 7:10 tee time.

Four hours of fog delay later, we teed off at 11:10. The delay made me appreciate caddying for a funny, pleasant, and outgoing player! In between all of the starting and stopping, we actually had a pretty good time.

We didn't have quite as good a time once things got going. George shot 80 - no doubles, but no birdies either. Just a bunch of shots that were basically not quite good enough for such an extreme setup. He's not completely out of it but he'll need to shoot under par tomorrow.

In addition to everything else, the pins today were very difficult. Fifteen pins were within 5 paces of the edge of the green. Fifteen! And they weren't on flat spots either.

It's interesting to consider the merits of a course setup where 1) some players may make the cut to match play despite bogeying one-third of their holes, and 2) the course is almost unplayable without an army of volunteer spotters. I'm not saying it's a bad setup, just that those are weird facts.

One thing I noticed about the Lake Course today is that, of the par 4's and 5's, only 5 holes offer any chance of a run-up approach. As a result, driving into the rough becomes even more problematic.


Blips on the Radar:

*I watched Rickie Fowler for nine holes this afternoon, and also got to spend some time talking with his dad. Rickie and I have in common growing up near San Diego and moving to Oklahoma for college. If you haven't heard of him yet....you will, soon. Maybe this weekend.

*Kevin Schultz was -5 on the Lake Course before playing 16-18 in 6, 7, 4. Oops.

*Next time you watch amateur golf, clap generously. The players will appreciate it. One guy hit the pin on #18 with 40 people watching and got no reaction. George landed 3 feet from the hole and spun it back to 10 feet with no applause either.


We tee off at 2:25 Tuesday on #1 Ocean.

[Matt_Cohn]

No, I can't explain what "wind into itself" means. That's why I used such an ambiguous term! I guess something about being compressed against a non-perpendicular surface.

I think it might mean the club and rough combination causes the ball to began spinning backwards sooner.  The use of the word spin might make it easier to think about 'spins into itself.'

Sean,

That's not quite it. Basically, when hit, the ball is loaded with potential spin. On a fairway shot, the face holds onto the ball at impact for so long that the ball starts to unwind/rebound/whatever and lose some of that potential spin before it even leaves the club.

However under the right circumstances from light rough, the ball slips up and off of the clubface right when its potential spin is the highest.

[Mike Benham]

One thing I noticed about the Lake Course today is that, of the par 4's and 5's, only 5 holes offer any chance of a run-up approach. As a result, driving into the rough becomes even more problematic.

Time to go find Gib's old post about how he could run it up on almost all of the Lake's greens ... of course, Gib has a "low" ball flight ...

[ed_getka]

Matt and Kevin,
    It was great seeing you out there today.

The course set up looks pretty fair at a casual glance. The greenspeeds seem really fast as the ball just doesn't seem to want to stop rolling.

   The most surprising thing to me was the lack of short game that these guys have. I was expecting these guys to be rock solid around the greens. I didn't see a big sample of shots, but just in a couple of hours I saw 4 instances that I definitely would have had a better result, and I play off an 11 handicap. Maybe I just happened to catch an aberration.
    The one that really stands out was the guy who came up about 10 yards short of #6 Ocean green on his approach. There is a bit of steep ramp up into the green, but nothing impossible. The pin was probably 10 feet on and obviously you would like to be below the hole. The kid hit it and it caught up on the ramp, and then went back and down to the right leaving an even harder shot up and over a steeper slope and rough now, plus he was more short-sided. He dumped that one short in the rough, then he plays the close to full swing flop shot when he is about 15 feet away and ends up with a 7 foot putt which he missed to end up with triple bogey. I'm thinking to myself how can he possibly be one of the best amateur golfers in the country.
     A lot of great shots out there, and I certainly can't do half of what these guys can, but I guess I expected to see a more well-rounded game at this level.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Sunday, August 19

*Two USGA guys have been measuring everyone's launch stats on #17 Lake during the practice rounds with a very fancy machine. I walked by today and asked to see the numbers. Ball speeds varied from the mid 140's to 181.

The next group after I arrived included a guy named John Hurley. I nearly soiled myself when he registered a 191 mph ball speed and 129 mph swing speed. The ball hissed for about 100 yards off the clubface and carried 300 yards, uphill, into the wind.

That was the fastest the two USGA guys had seen all summer, including the US Open. Just for comparison, that's 8-10 mph of ball speed faster than Tiger and Bubba Watson.

This was after he'd reportedly hit driver, 3-wood over the green on #16, which is 609 yards. Go watch this guy hit a driver somewhere if you can.

I watched Hurley play 16-18 today (he shot 80 and will miss the cut).

On 16 he had 275 to the green (he stepped it off from a marker ahead of his ball) and hit a 3 wood pin high to the right.   There is no doubt in my mind that 16 is now reachable.

On 17, he had an 8 iron approach from 171.  

[igrowgrass]

I watched Hurley play 16-18 today (he shot 80 and will miss the cut).



On 17, he had an 8 iron approach from 171.  

Hitting it that far sure does alot for him.

[Matt_Cohn]

Tuesday, August 21


A shorter post today as there's not much new to report. George played better today but unfortunately won't make the cut. However it was interesting to note how simple things looked once he started driving the ball in the fairway.

I enjoyed spending five days with him but I'm also excited, hopefully, to caddie for another player starting tomorrow in match play. I hope. I really hope.

The greens this afternoon on the Ocean were somewhat bumpy. Both courses seemed firmer than earlier in the week.

One highlight of my day was meeting Bo Links. Yes, that Bo Links. For those who are interested, his day job is in law, and he's a past president of Lake Merced GC. He's a very nice man and we had a good chat for a couple of minutes.

[igrowgrass]

Matt
Whats the buzz around the scoreboard as to who the players think you should watch out for now that they have played some golf?

GO ALEX PRUGH!

[Matt_Cohn]

Excerpts from the course stats on usamateur.org:

Lake average 38/39.2=77.3, Ocean 37.4/37.7=75.1.

Lake #17 is averaging 5.061 as a par-4 (with a very tough pin).

Lake #7 has had 8 eagles with a middle pin? That can't possibly be right, can it? Likewise 3 eagles on Ocean #6 with a front pin?

Lake #2-#5 combined played almost 2.5 shots over par on average.

Ocean #14 (350 yards, left pin) played just as hard as Ocean #15 (472 yards, right pin), both at 4.5.

The Lake had 50% more doubles but the Ocean had 30% more "others".

On the Lake 12 holes played more than 1/3 shot over par while 9 of them did on the Ocean.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Excerpts from the course stats on usamateur.org:

Lake #7 has had 8 eagles with a middle pin? That can't possibly be right, can it? Likewise 3 eagles on Ocean #6 with a front pin?

On #6 players were putting their wedge approach above the hole and drawing it back.  That was my hole to marshall...several non-eagles had a chance to go in.

Plenty of "others" there as well...lots of balls went OB off the tee.

[ed_getka]

Matt,
   Any luck picking up a bag?

Kevin,
    Where are you assigned for Friday?

Now that qualifying is over, will there be any changes to course set up or pin positions for the match play portion?

[Mike Benham]

Qualifying is not over, some players finishing up this morning ...

If my math is correct, looks like a playoff is needed, 28 players or so for 15 spots ...

US Amateur Scores


EDIT:  A couple of late scores came in and moved the number to 148, a playoff of 16 golfers for 7 spots ...

[Glenn Spencer]

Wolstenholme vs. Zahringer!!! WOW!!!!

[Joel_Stewart]

Wolstenholme vs. Zahringer!!! WOW!!!!

This is really a shame for the 1st round.  

They are very good freinds, played all their practice rounds together and 2 of the oldest players.  They are both very good thinkers on the course which suits both of them since they are not long and not trying to over power the course.

[Glenn Spencer]

Wolstenholme vs. Zahringer!!! WOW!!!!

This is really a shame for the 1st round.  

They are very good freinds, played all their practice rounds together and 2 of the oldest players.  They are both very good thinkers on the course which suits both of them since they are not long and not trying to over power the course.

The hell it is, just thank God that they are playing in the first place. I imagine this is one of the 10 most decorated matches of all-time in the first round.

[JSlonis]

I'll be rooting for Drew Weaver, the kid from Va Tech who won the British Am.  He hasn't been named to our Walker Cup team as of yet, and hopefully his good play here will get him on the team.  He deserves to be on that squad.  From all accounts and his appearances on TV, he seems like a very humble, classy and fine young man.

One of my good friends Ace Eaton is in a playoff at +7 for one of the last remaining spots.  He'll be a dangerous match play competitior if he gets in.  At Merion in 2005 he beat 3 college All-American's in route to the Semi's...Pablo Martin, Rhys Davies and Anthony Kim.

[Glenn Spencer]

I'll be rooting for Drew Weaver, the kid from Va Tech who won the British Am.  He hasn't been named to our Walker Cup team as of yet, and hopefully his good play here will get him on the team.  He deserves to be on that squad.  From all accounts and his appearances on TV, he seems like a very humble, classy and fine young man.

One of my good friends Ace Eaton is in a playoff at +7 for one of the last remaining spots.  He'll be a dangerous match play competitior if he gets in.  At Merion in 2005 he beat 3 college All-American's in route to the Semi's...Pablo Martin, Rhys Davies and Anthony Kim.

Weaver does seem like a great kid. I will be cheering for him as well. What do you think Kokrak needs to do be on the Walker Cup?? I don't know all of his resume, but he is back to back Ohio Amateur Champion (06,07), qualified for US Open (07) and now medalist at The Amateur. My guess is he needs Semis, but I am not so sure that they quarters wouldn't do it.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

This Tiger does not root for anybody from Va Tech. I am sure he is a great guy but made a poor choice when he picked a college. lol

[Joel_Stewart]

I'll be rooting for Drew Weaver, the kid from Va Tech who won the British Am.  

He is 3 down after 4 holes so its going to be tough.  Olympic is so easy to miss by a foot or two which leads to bogeys which I assume is the case.   2-3-4 are so tough I doubt they were won by birdies.

[wsmorrison]

Why does the USGA insist on having such a large field for the Amateur.  The golf course cannot be setup in the most interesting way given the need to get so many golfers through.  I saw the way Merion and Philadelphia Country were set up for the 2005 Amateur and was surprised how benign the conditions were, especially for stroke play qualifying.

Were pin positions, rough, firmness, etc. compromised because of the need to get 312 golfers through in two days?  Given some of the scores, I'd rather see far fewer players participate on a tougher set up.