John Hawkins comments on TGC about Oakland Hills

[Sean_A]

OH really is total and complete bunker mayhem.  Its such a pity.

Ciao

How is it any different than Oakmont?

Jason

I thnk Oakmont looks like bunker hell from the pix.  If the greens are that good, I don't understand the need for anything like the number of bunkers Oakmont has, but I have never seen the place and I am not itching to get there.  I know OH doesn't need the bunkering.  I have played the course many a time only dreamed of what it should be.  The land is lovely and the green sites are cleverly chosen.  The bones of an awesome course ar e still there. 

Ciao

[Jon Spaulding]

Completely disagree. That's like saying that the course is so hard tee to green that it mitigates the need for ball striking (which it is).

Jon, what do you disagree with?  I'm not sure if you're talking about my post, which came right before yours, or someone else's. 

I was disgreeing with the original post & John Hawkins.

[Matt_Cohn]

John Hawkins, the journalist that has also been doing analysis for TGC, says that to win at Oakland Hills does not require great putting. He claims that the greens are so wildly contoured that it takes the putter out of players hands. Agree or not?

Does anyone who watched the back nine today still believe this?

I said it before and will say it again. There is nothing you can do to a golf course to diminish the value of great putting.

[David Stamm]

John Hawkins, the journalist that has also been doing analysis for TGC, says that to win at Oakland Hills does not require great putting. He claims that the greens are so wildly contoured that it takes the putter out of players hands. Agree or not?

Does anyone who watched the back nine today still believe this?

I said it before and will say it again. There is nothing you can do to a golf course to diminish the value of great putting.

Thank you Matt. I agree. I thought his comments were assanine then and I think so now. How can that guy not lose credibility after that back nine?

[Gary Slatter]

No, it was won by the best putter of 2008.

[Chuck Brown]

The outcome doesn't do much for Hawkins' prediction, does it?

The case of Sergio in particular is interesting, inasmuch as the last time I saw him putt really well before The Players', was at this same Oakland Hills in the Ryder Cup.  Sergio putted beautifully in that event, as did all the Euros, so much so that I always cited it in discussions of the curious case of Sergio's putting.

OHCC is an exacting test of one's putting stroke and imagination.  The greens were NOT overly fast this week.  As with Oakmont, the kinds of speeds I saw were on a par with what I have seen in an Invitational there.  Not tricked-out.  The greens were very dry on Thursday and Friday, mostly because the course had not seen rain in about six days, and Tuesday and Wednesday were in the low 90's and sunny.  The rain on Saturday was mostly a return to normalcy.  And therefore not overly severe.

The fellow that took David Graham into a playoff, mainly on his own putting skill?  Ben Crenshaw.