US Open set-up -- where's Tom Meeks when you need him?

[Kalen Braley]

Here are some figures for D.C. from Intellicast.com.  They have historic averages going back 125+ years.



Date    AverageLow AverageHigh    RecordLow    RecordHigh    AveragePrecipitation   Actual HighTemp this year.

Jun 8     63°            82°           49° (1977)    98° (1999)    0.11"                                       98°
Jun 9     63°            82°             45° (1913)    102° (1874)    0.1"                                        101°
Jun 10    64°            83°             46° (1913)    100° (1964)    0.1"                                        93°
Jun 11    64°            83°             45° (1913)    101° (1911)    0.1"                                        91°
Jun 12    64°            83°             50° (1907)    95° (2002)    0.1"                                        90
Jun 13    65°            84°             51° (1887)    96° (1954)    0.1"                                      79°
Jun 14    65°          84°             49° (1933)    98° (1994)    0.1"                                      77°
Jun 15    65°            84°             47° (1933)    101° (1994)    0.1"                                      84°
Jun 16    65°            84°             50° (1917)    99° (1994)    0.1"                                      80°
Jun 17    66°            84°             50° (1926)    95° (1991)    0.1"                                      88°
Jun 18    66°            85°             51° (1965)    98° (1944)    0.1"                                      89°
Jun 19    66°            85°             51° (1909)    99° (1994)    0.1"                                      84°

[Garland Bayley]

7 guys broke 284 at the 1990 Open at Medinah, playing about 7150 or so on average, before the ProV1 and 4600 cc drivers.

20 guys broke 284 at the 2011 Open at Congressional, playing about 7300 or so on average, after the ProV1 and 460 cc drivers.

IMO, when you factor in distance, par (to the extent it's relevant to anything), conditions and technology (especially technology!), it's pretty clear that Congressional was just proven to be much easier than Medinah under soft conditions - because the conditions were pretty much the same:  soft greens, short rough, not much wind.

 
The stats you give would indicate that Medinah plays much easier under soft conditions. Although Medinah played much longer, 7 guys broke 284.

You need Congressional playing at least 7750 to equate the two distance wise given the equipment advances.

The combination of wet weather and moving the tees up led to the low scoring. Only one person was scoring well before they shortened the course for the weekend.

Have to wonder if they were looking for some Masters finish mojo. What other reason would they have for shortening the course? We know Davis likes to vary length, and even par (reportedly to be done at Chambers Bay in 2015). But, why was it done this way, this time? Did they think it was firming up enough on the weekend to shorten it?

[Jerry Kluger]

I was on 14 Thur - Sun afternoons and the sub air was going the entire time.  

I was able to watch 13 as well as 14 and they were certainly challenged on those 2 holes.  I think I saw two birdies in 15 groups on Sunday on 13 and I cannot remember a birdie in 20 groups on 14.  On Saturday the pin on 13 was in the front middle and two players were above it and to the left - one putted it to about 8 inches above the hole and the other to about 6 feet below it - when they came over to 14 tee they commented that one had hit his putt 6 inches harder than the other and wound up 6 feet past the hole.  The flag on 13 on Sunday was on the right and I saw one ball in 15 groups on line with the flag and below the hole - soft greens or not they couldn't get close to that hole.  On 14 the hole was on the lower right on Sunday - I saw one ball right of the hole  and that was Day and he missed the birdie putt - most were on the upper shelf and were happy to get away with par - the ball was hitting and bouncing forward and not spinning back.  

[Sean Leary]

Seriously, I can pick any regular PGA Tour stops and give you a list of great players who didn't make the cut, so what's the point? The numbers clearly show that this is probably the easiest US Open in modern era.

Let's face it, Congressional has no business hosting US Open with conditions like this.

Which course does?

[Phil McDade]

George:

Re. Medinah -- I think, if I recall correctly, that the area was hit with a pretty drenching thunderstorm Saturday night that softened things out. I do recall that Curtis Strange -- only two off the lead going into Sunday, and in serious contention for a third straight Open title -- complained pretty loudly about what he viewed as the lack of truly difficult conditions at Medinah generally, and particularly the last round. Irwin shot a 5-under 67 that Sunday to get to the playoff. (Medinah's first round lead that year was -6 ((three players)), second round lead at -9, third-round lead at -7, with -8 getting two players into a playoff -- par was 72 that year.)

Richard:

BBlack did see record-low scoring rounds -- Weir led with a 64 after one round (13 players under par after one round) and Barnes' 132 (67-65) was a record-low 36-hole total. The course firmed up on the weekend (doesn't BB sit on much sandier soils than Congressional?), as winds picked up, the course dried out some, and the USGA started putting in more difficult pin placements. I seem to recall some criticism of crusty, hard-to-judge greens as well.

[Matthew Petersen]

How quickly you all forget ...

It was only Tuesday of last week when the reason the USGA was stupid was because they were going to lose several greens to complete burnout and the tournament wasn't going to be playable ...

Now the course is too soft and too easy ...

Both were somehow the fault of the USGA, and not the very hot temps followed by rain? Come on, guys.

[Jim Eder]

Tony,

Thanks for the great link.

Jerry,

Very interesting info, thanks.

[JR Potts]

George:

Re. Medinah -- I think, if I recall correctly, that the area was hit with a pretty drenching thunderstorm Saturday night that softened things out. I do recall that Curtis Strange -- only two off the lead going into Sunday, and in serious contention for a third straight Open title -- complained pretty loudly about what he viewed as the lack of truly difficult conditions at Medinah generally, and particularly the last round. Irwin shot a 5-under 67 that Sunday to get to the playoff. (Medinah's first round lead that year was -6 ((three players)), second round lead at -9, third-round lead at -7, with -8 getting two players into a playoff -- par was 72 that year.)

It rained on Wednesday night after they cut the rough and again on Thursday.

Matthew - thank you for reminding everyone.  We certainly are a fickle bunch.  Sometimes mother nature can't be stopped ... and despite Richard's assertion otherwise, it wasn't gorgeous as it rained hard on Wed, Thursday and Friday according to what I heard.

[Jim Eder]

The weather was a big problem for the tournament but there were errors made by the USGA independent of the rain and errors made by the USGA because of the rain.  I am not sure some of the easy pin placements or tees moved up was caused by the rainfall or the timing of the re-do of the greens (was there enough time for them?). The course design and the lack of strategy was disappointing. The USGA made some mistakes, it happens sometimes, and sadly the weather really hurt the situation.

Judging by the comments about the sub-air systems working a lot the rain sure was heavy (and the soils sure seem to have held the  moisture).

All these things sadly turned it into a disappointing Open.

[Jim Eder]

I will add that hindsight is 20/20 and it is a bit unfair of me to be too tough on the USGA as they do try to put on the second best tournament every year (The Masters is #1 in my opinion) and it is not easy especially on a different course every year.

[Phil McDade]

I will add that hindsight is 20/20 and it is a bit unfair of me to be too tough on the USGA as they do try to put on the second best tournament every year (The Masters is #1 in my opinion) and it is not easy especially on a different course every year.

But they (the USGA) only have to do it once a year. And they have reams of historical weather data at their disposal to at least provide some sense of what's likely to happen the third week of June in the DC metro area (or any other area, for that matter). And they have sophisticated equipment and systems (sub-air systems, advanced agronomy techniques, portable fans) available to get this right. And they have full (or nearly full) disposal of the course for months leading up to the tournament. And they have a long, long tradition -- moreso than any of the other majors -- of making the US Open course the most difficult test of the year for these players.

They get it right, most years. They didn't, this year.

I find the weather rationale a thin excuse. Surely other US Opens have been played in similar weather without conceding such low scoring. They've been holding the Open in mid-to-late June for...how many years?

[Garland Bayley]

...
I find the weather rationale a thin excuse. Surely other US Opens have been played in similar weather without conceding such low scoring. They've been holding the Open in mid-to-late June for...how many years?

Dude. How many 63s were shot out there? Storied Oakmont yielded a 63. Must not have been a bad weather year there either.

[Jim Eder]

Phil,

You make excellent points. And you are totally correct, they didn't get it right this year. But no matter how many resources are at one's disposal there is always a chance for failure sadly and luckily a "failure" by the USGA results in us talking about it and not anything of serious consequence. Let's hope the USGA has learned from this experience (which I am sure they have).

[Phil McDade]

...
I find the weather rationale a thin excuse. Surely other US Opens have been played in similar weather without conceding such low scoring. They've been holding the Open in mid-to-late June for...how many years?

Dude. How many 63s were shot out there? Storied Oakmont yielded a 63. Must not have been a bad weather year there either.

A singular round; an outlier, not unlike Tiger's performance in toto at Pebble Beach in 2000.

There's not a single US Open venue that I can recall that doesn't yield the occasional low round by a top player. It's the totality of the under-par deluge at Congressional that suggests that either: A) the USGA didn't get the set-up right, or B) the USGA doesn't think setting up the toughest test of the year is all that important anymore.

For the record, I think it may be more B than A, although it's probably some of both.

[Kalen Braley]

Not sure if anyone bothered to look at the data and do some analysis, or perhaps waiting for me to provide.

Lets take a look at the temps a week before the tourney.

                   Avg high       Actual Temp                             Differential
Tue  Jun 7       82°                     89°                         7 hotter than normal
Wed Jun 8       82°                    98°                      16 hotter than normal
Thu  Jun 9       82°                    101°                     19 hotter than normal
Fri    Jun 10      83°                    93°                       10 hotter than normal
Sat   Jun 11      83°                    91°                        8 hotter than normal
Sun  Jun 12      83°                    90                          7 hotter than normal

[Jim Eder]

Kalen,

I would imagine the humidity was also worse on those days which is a really difficult thing to deal with on bent greens (I am not an expert on this so maybe new strains handle it better).  I am sure the supers can add to this.

[Kalen Braley]

Kalen,

I would imagine the humidity was also worse on those days which is a really difficult thing to deal with on bent greens (I am not an expert on this so maybe new strains handle it better).  I am sure the supers can add to this.

Thats a good point Jim,

Also of note...the overnight low on Wed thru Sunday of last week never got below 71...so the greens it would seem never had a good chance to "cool off".

[Phil McDade]

Kalen:

See post #60 on this thread; Davis thought the weather immediately prior to the Open on Thursday was fine in terms of getting the course into "championship" form, particularly the greens (which were a big part of the problem re. the unusual low scoring).

[Jim Eder]

Phil,

Thanks for pointing me to that post, I missed it.  Very helpful.

[George Pazin]

...
I find the weather rationale a thin excuse. Surely other US Opens have been played in similar weather without conceding such low scoring. They've been holding the Open in mid-to-late June for...how many years?

Dude. How many 63s were shot out there? Storied Oakmont yielded a 63. Must not have been a bad weather year there either.

Dude, were you not watching when they kept posting the record number of sub-par rounds and rounds in the 60s? I think they broke the record both days. How many guys shot 65 yesterday?

[Doug Wright]

I thought that after the first two rounds the USGA purposefully set up the course easier to see if one or more players could go very low to catch McIlroy if he played normal par golf or worse under the pressure and make it a tournament. That would be contra to traditional USGA mindset of a progressively harder course on the weekend and is probably wrong, but it was my thought at the time.

[Rick Shefchik]

Doug, you posted exactly what I was about to say. I thought it was pretty clear that the USGA was worried about losing ratings over the weekend if nobody challenged Rory. Knowing (or at least supposing) that Rory was going to play cautiously to protect his lead, the only way to get an exciting tournament going was to let the field go low. Rory played well enough Sunday to thwart that strategy.

[Bill Brightly]

I think you need to read between the lines of what Mike Davis was saying, which I heard as

"Look, we want to bring the Open to the Washington DC area every so often and we do not have a lot of course options. If we get really hot conditions, then heavy rain, leading up to  the event, the scores are going to be very low. We will NOT wreck the course for the members in an effort to create conditions that bring the winning score close  to par."


I'll bet that means moving the pins around to different quadrants of the greens to spread the wear, even though some of those spots will be on the easy side. I thought that was very considerate and commendable.

My gosh, all the players played the same course, and NO ONE doubts that the best golfer was identified. Even if you eliminated the mid-length rough and made it higher, Rory still wins easily, maybe by a larger margin given how well he drove it.
 

[Bruce Katona]

1. No one complains when the wind does not do its's thing at The Open Championship and the guys shoot lights out.  The R&A is ok with this.

2. Look at the score and discard the winner....quite a tournament with scoring available if one player was just not vastly superior than the field this week.

3.  Begin to draft your posts now and save them on how outlandishly difficult next years set-up will be in response to this years scoring. 

I did watch yesterday.  The greens were receptive and did have the sick brown green color of Sunday US Open greens.....they may take a bit of time to recover.

Just my humble $0.02.

[JMEvensky]

3.  Begin to draft your posts now and save them on how outlandishly difficult next years set-up will be in response to this years scoring. 

That's a good point.Wasn't WF-W in 1974 considered a reaction to Miller's 63 at Oakmont?

An outlandishly difficult Olympic set up would be painful to watch.