Back to normal at The Memorial

[Michael Blake]

Seems that way while watching Skins game right now:

Tiger sinking putts
Phil holing out bunker shots
Stricker and Zach sticking their wedges tight
Ernie still with no personality
Furyk still slow
Jack being the consummate professional/diplomat

and a good-looking course.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

[PThomas]

I swear, the first thing i thought of when i saw the title of your psot was that it was rainiing there.......

terrrible storms in Chicago yesterday, wonder if OH will get them...

[Michael Blake]

Weather there looks perfect today.

Phil and Jack walking down 18 together and Phil tells Jack he loves the greens because of their subtleties and that because the greens are so fast it really forces you to play to the correct portion of the green.

It's cool having the mikes all around these guys.  Interesting conversations.

[JESII]

It's cool having the mikes all around these guys.  Interesting conversations.

Didn't see that particular part, but this could save televised golf. have the guys in the booth keep quite (or go home) and have mic's with every group being followed. 30 second tape delay for beeping wouldn't ruin any surprise endings... I would love it.

[Scott Warren]

Last week's tournament was being replayed here in the UK the other night and for some reason they lost the commentary for about five minutes. Sound was just from the effects mics. It was brilliant.

[JESII]

I believe it.

I don't have a particular problem with any of the announcers, but the story has gotten old.

[Jason McNamara]

Good chance of thunder tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday.  So yeah, about normal.

[Tony Weiler]

Weather there looks perfect today.

Phil and Jack walking down 18 together and Phil tells Jack he loves the greens because of their subtleties and that because the greens are so fast it really forces you to play to the correct portion of the green.

It's cool having the mikes all around these guys.  Interesting conversations.

Michael, that was good wasn't it?

[PThomas]

Good chance of thunder tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday.  So yeah, about normal.

i knew some had to be on the way

I wonder how many times they have played it without a single rain delay--if ever

[Ed Oden]

Phil and Jack walking down 18 together and Phil tells Jack he loves the greens because of their subtleties and that because the greens are so fast it really forces you to play to the correct portion of the green.

Very interesting.  If you recall, during Saturday's round at Quail Hollow this year Phil misjudged his approach to #18 and his ball ended up on the wrong portion of the green in relation to that day's pin position.  Afterwards, he wasn't nearly as kind in his assessment of similarly fast greens which force you to play to correct areas, going so far as to say Quail had "some of the worst designed greens on tour".  Seems a bit inconsistent to me.

[Matthew Rose]

I was watching this, and was caught by Mickelson's drive on 14. About 25 yards short of the green but well left, and it got me thinking. Would 14 be more interesting if it were driveable?

[Ian Andrew]

I'm curious to hear what people think of the golf course design.

I liked the course, particularly where the streams come into play, but I thought the constant use of ponds as a design feature was repetitive. I was last there for the US Amateur, so I expect its been changed quite a bit since.

[Robert Emmons]

Ian,
The course was awarded the 2013 Presidents Cup yesterday. Maybe we will see you attending with Mike Weir...RHE

[Matthew Rose]

Overheard today on the telecast that the par-3 16th is going to be changed after the tournament.

Nicklaus wants to put in a shorter hole with a lake. I guess #12 wasn't enough. According to the telecast, "#16 is a good hole, but it needs some spice".

Forum, commence forth with your collective cringing.

FWIW I always thought #16 was one of the blander holes at MV, but I'm not sure I would have gone for that solution.

[Mark Pearce]

I too was struck by the inconsistency between Mickelson's comments yesterday and those at Quail Hollow.  It can't have had anything to do with who he was talking to, can it?

On the course, it's one I'm not familiar with and enjoyed watching.  There's a lot of sand, isn't there?  And plenty of water.  I did wonder about the suggestion that what was needed was another pond (let's not call it a lake) on 16.  I can't see this being a course needing more water.

[jeffwarne]

Phil and Jack walking down 18 together and Phil tells Jack he loves the greens because of their subtleties and that because the greens are so fast it really forces you to play to the correct portion of the green.

Or they could simply maintain the greens at a sustainable speed and have less subtle undulations that don't require green speed of 13 to be strategic. Which might even reintroduce angles into the game.

[Steve Lang]

  If you had your tourney always dealing with rain, you might want to have another destination for runoff too..  but really, when i used to attend the tourney back in the late 1980's, we used to skip watching on 16 and get over to watch approach shots on 17 and tee shots on 18..  16 was never a draw..

[Mark Buzminski]

Seems that way while watching Skins game right now:

Tiger sinking putts
Phil holing out bunker shots
Stricker and Zach sticking their wedges tight
Ernie still with no personality
Furyk still slow
Jack being the consummate professional/diplomat

and a good-looking course.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

I think the "Ernie still with no personality" comment is a little bit of a low blow.   I guess I should declare my bias as I've always been a huge Els fan.   Sure, Phil, Jack and Tiger have large "personalities" on the golf course , but it's not as if Furyk, Johnson, McIlroy, Stricker, O'Hair were doing song and dance numbers out there, so to single out Ernie seems unfair. 

On another note, it was interesting during the round 1 telecast to listen to Nicklaus and Faldo discuss Tiger's swing.  Given the fact that Tiger is now analyzing his own swing using video, it was interesting to hear Jack and Faldo say that to fix Woods' would be "easy" and take "10 minutes on the range".   They didn't think Tiger's "stuck position" was a huge problem, but it did seem that they didn't think Tiger would be able to fix it himself.

[JESII]

I think the "Ernie still with no personality" comment is a little bit of a low blow.   I guess I should declare my bias as I've always been a huge Els fan.   Sure, Phil, Jack and Tiger have large "personalities" on the golf course , but it's not as if Furyk, Johnson, McIlroy, Stricker, O'Hair were doing song and dance numbers out there, so to single out Ernie seems unfair. 

I can tell you, with no disrespect to any of the others on that list, if you were to ask me who I would like to play a round of golf and drink a few beers with, Ernie wins every day and twice on Sunday.