Too early to start worrying?

[Robert Kimball]

I don't know why, but I am really bummed out today. First off, I feel so bad for all the volunteers and staff that worked so hard for so long and then to get this crappy weather is unbelievable.

Those close to the situation -- is it too early to worry? I know we have a lot of GCA'ers on the scene.

Weather forecast says rain might clear away by Thursday, but will it be too late. I was hoping for firm and fast, but might be happy with "plug and play."  I am a traditionalist who doesn't want to see -14 winning and a bunch of guys shooting darts all day. I see that every other week on Tour.

Fingers crossed and let's hope it gets better throughout the week! I wonder what is going through Mike Davis's head today??!!

[Sam Morrow]

I think it shows that the mighty USGA and anyone can do anything they want it regards to getting the course ready but at the end of the day it's The Good Lord himself who decides final conditions. Let's not forget that everyone will be playing the same course so no matter the weather the best player for the week will be the champion.

[Mark Bourgeois]

It's still Merion. I think the root of the disappointment, if it comes, lies in the hopes of some that Merion was to be a referendum of some kind on I&B as it relates to flog.

[David_Tepper]

"Heavy Rain Turns Merion Into Mudville"

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2013/06/heavy-rain-turns-merion-into-mudville.html

5 inches of rain since Friday.

[jeffwarne]

Probably a very good thing for Merion the course is closed this week for the Open.
otherwise there's a good chance a GCAer/rater might play there and knock the course for being overwatered and soft

[Dan Kelly]

We're finally, finally having a sunny day here in the Twin Cities.

It should reach Philly by about Thursday.

There is no joy in mudball....

[jeffwarne]

Probably a very good thing for Merion the course is closed this week for the Open.
otherwise there's a good chance a GCAer/rater might play there and knock the course for being overwatered and soft

Haha!!! Touche!

Wow,that was quick!!!
Glad someone has  sense of humor

[Joe Bausch]

I was out there pretty much all day today.  It rained.  A lot.

The old gal deserves a favor from Mother Nature at this point.

[Ronald Montesano]

Good Quote #1 from Presser

Q.  Matt, volunteers and the police officer at the 11 said today that it flooded.  It looked like an island green.  The green didn't flood but the bunker did.  Would you replace that sand?  Will you have to replace it again now, what did you do?
MATT SHAFFER:  We actually just took    we left the base sand in and then we just took the silt off and then we put approximately three tons of new sand in and we plate tamped it.  And we were ready to go.

and

Q.  There's been talk about what would happen if the 11th is not playable.  Can you take us through that scenario, the worst case scenario if you can't use up the 11th?  What would you do?  And how far are you from that potential worst case scenario happening?
MIKE DAVIS:  I'll be happy to take that.  Matt, you've been here a dozen or so years, and Matt rightly said that the streams fill up quickly but they recede quickly.  So we do think about kind of worst case scenarios in a lot of things we're doing, whether we lose the red parking lot or whatever.  In that particular case I think from Matt's experience and even before Matt, they know that give it time and it will go down.
   Matt, haven't you cleaned up some 40 times since you've been here, rebuilt that bunker, literally power washed the silt off the green?  So they're experts at it.

[Bill McKinley]

Probably a very good thing for Merion the course is closed this week for the Open.
otherwise there's a good chance a GCAer/rater might play there and knock the course for being overwatered and soft

Well crafted Jeff. (Golf clap)

[Matthew Rose]

Probably not going to happen now, but if they were to abandon 11 and 12 and be forced to play the two holes on the West Course, how would this work, exactly? Looking at an aerial, these holes are not close. Would we have some kind of shuttle where everyone plays 16 holes, then gets ferried over and plays the other two?

Sounds like a major cluster-fudge.

[David_Tepper]

5-day weather forecast:

http://www.weather.com/weather/5-day/Ardmore+PA+USPA0051:1:US

[William_G]

Oakmont 2016 and Winged foot 2020, when should we start worrying about those?   

[David_Tepper]

How many US Opens held in the northeast have been impacted by rainstorms over the past 20-25 years? Both ones at Bethpage got wet. Last year at Congressional was a swamp. Any others?

[BHoover]

It's really unfortunate that Merion is going to be soggy, but what can you do? Unless the USGA goes to a true links or plays exclusively on the West Coast or in the desert, the risk of rain in June in the Northeast and Midwest is just a fact of life.

It's a shame that the work of the grounds crew to set up for a firm and fast Open is all for naught.

[David_Elvins]

Marcus Fraser was interviewed this morning - suggested that winning score would be -10 to -14 unless it got windy.  

Sounds pretty remarkable to me given lack of par 5s, length of par 3s, and length of wet course.  I guess these guys really are good.  

[David_Elvins]

The lack of par 5s actually inhibits low scores relative to the stated par.  If the stated par was 72, it'd be lower than that.

That's what I was getting at - really surprised that they were talking about going that low - the course looks plenty hard to me.  I understand wedge into 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 13 could lead to some low numbers but I would have thought that 5, 6, 14, 15, and 18 will be long slogs averaging closer to 5 than 4 and 3, 9 and 17 won't be giving up a lot of birdies. 

[Matthew Rose]

They could come to Colorado.... there hasn't been any significant rain in Denver and there won't be for at least 10 more days.

Of course, it needs to be 8,000 yards to work with the altitude..

[Charlie Gallagher]

Thanks to those of you puting up current conditions at Merion, as Joe did about the rain on Monday.
   Really too bad we are going to watch this play out on  a wet course. I played Gulph Mills Sunday with a Merion caddie, he had been at the East course the day before and said it was saturated, and that was before the Monday rains. With more precipitation to hit on Thurs, and comparatively cool temperatures, I am adjusting my prediction on score to 270, and it might go lower than that.
   It's still going to be fascinating to watch how the course is attacked. Will the qualifiers hit drivers on 1 and 7? Is anyone going to try driver on 11? Given less run in the fairways, driver seems like a more likely play on 2 and 4. Will the USGA move the tee up on 7 to encourage gambling on that drive? Merion's shorter length will induce more variety in club selection on the drive. I'm wondering if we might see a bicycle race mentality where there are break away attempts and reel ins.
   How many mud balls are we going to see? Lift, clean, and place at the Open? PJ Boatright will come down from his perch and put a stop to that.
   It's Weds. How is the rough going to be cut? Has Matt been ordered to cut it at all?
   Looking forward to further real time observation from the GCAer's along Ardmore Ave.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Of course, they won't cut the rough at Merion.  They only did that to Medinah under the same circumstances and threw it under the bus.  They won't throw Merion under the bus.  They'll probably throw extra fertilizer into the rough and tuck the pins in the fringes now.

Could you flesh out this conspiracy theory a little more?

[Mark Bourgeois]

I'm inferring from your post that USGA decided that, even though they selected Medinah as a site, somehow they decided they wanted to trash their own event's reputation for difficulty just to make Medinah look bad.

But maybe I'm the conspiracy theorist. Are you calling The Medinah Incident incompetence or cunning? Maybe they learned their lesson at Medinah and, if they decide against cutting the rough at Merion, that's why.

[Terry Lavin]

They cut the rough at Olympia under similar circumstances over my personal objections. I've been thinking that the USGA wouldn't defile it's shrine by cutting the rough when the course is so sodden, but the Morning Drivel crew said the rough is only three inches deep. When I saw it in various photos it looked a lot longer, but maybe they cut it recently.  If its only three inches, the pros will kill the course unless/until it dries out over the weekend.

n.b.  Mike Davis has an 11:00 EST news conference and this subject may come up.  More importantly, they're looking at the possibility of a "derecho" storm, brought on by a straight line of thunderstorms that may stretch from Iowa to the East Coast.  The possibility of tornadoes, straight-line winds and other forms of very serious weather is a distinct possibility.  Batten down the hatches, sports fans.

[Jeff Evagues]

I know everyone here has the highest regard for Mike Davis but it was interesting watching him spin at his press conference today. When the Open is at Oakmont they just say "here is the golf course guys, good luck."

[JESII]

I thought you Chicago boys were supposed to have thick skin...WTF?


Jeff,

Didn't hear Davis's press conference. What was he spinning?

[Phil McDade]

I thought you Chicago boys were supposed to have thick skin...WTF?


Jeff,

Didn't hear Davis's press conference. What was he spinning?

Jim:

When the first two rounds at Olympic went low, lots of critics (particularly those based east of the Mississippi ) said the course wasn't "Open-worthy." This despite wet conditions and the aforementioned cutting of the rough. When the Thurs/Fri scores were ever lower a few years later at Bethpage Black, folks blamed it on the weather and not the course (nor the set-up that led to such scores. )

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40253.0.html

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