"A third of each green has died"

[Mark Pearce]

Phil was simply expressing gratitude for playing early because by the end he could tell the conditions were getting harder (greens on the verge of dying). 

This is the problem.  You have bought what Phil was saying.  The greens are perfectly healthy.  Phil hasn't, in all his years of playing the Open, learned that brown links greens can be alive and well.

[Ben Sims]

Phil was simply expressing gratitude for playing early because by the end he could tell the conditions were getting harder (greens on the verge of dying). 

This is the problem.  You have bought what Phil was saying.  The greens are perfectly healthy.  Phil hasn't, in all his years of playing the Open, learned that brown links greens can be alive and well.

By agronomic definition, brown grass isn't alive and well.  It's struggling and fighting; certainly not thriving.   Which is a good thing!  But "alive and well" it ain't.

[Tom Culley]

Friday pin positions



I can't see any windmills out there :/

[Jon Wiggett]

It would be interesting to see what the official green speed was for yesterday (sorry if I missed it in this thread). Is it not amazing that a person who earns so much money doing ONE thing knows so little about the major component involved in that work. How can PM believe that grass is dead because it is brown? That would be like Lewis Hamilton thinking his car was broken when the fuel ran out

Jon

[Jud_T]

As of the early going it looks as if they did a fair amount of watering. It'll be interesting to see the scoring differential of the morning vs. afternoon today as compared to yesterday.

[Adam Lawrence]

This morning's bulletin from the R&A:

Last night the greens were hand watered. The sprinkler system was not used. 
This morning the greens have been double cut at 4mm. The greens are 10.5 feet as compared to 11 feet on Thursday first thing. Selected greens have been rolled to bring them up to that pace. The greens are expected to pick up pace during the day again but the dramatic increases of yesterday are not anticipated. 
The firmness values of the greens are the same as they were yesterday so the watering has had no impact on firmness. 

Please note that no water was applied to any of the fairways or approaches last night.
Only the greens have been hand watered.

[Tom_Doak]

This morning's bulletin from the R&A:

Last night the greens were hand watered. The sprinkler system was not used. 
This morning the greens have been double cut at 4mm. The greens are 10.5 feet as compared to 11 feet on Thursday first thing. Selected greens have been rolled to bring them up to that pace. The greens are expected to pick up pace during the day again but the dramatic increases of yesterday are not anticipated. 
The firmness values of the greens are the same as they were yesterday so the watering has had no impact on firmness. 

Please note that no water was applied to any of the fairways or approaches last night.
Only the greens have been hand watered.

I posted regarding the U.S. Women's Open and the unbelievable level of micro-management that went into the course set-up there ... daily meetings between about eight people, including people who were testing the speed, firmness, and moisture levels of nine spots on every green.  It's impossible to criticize the tournament organizers for not taking it seriously anymore.

That said, the press announcement above indicates that the R & A caved a bit to the players here.  Watering the greens to keep the grass alive, no problem.  Firmness the same.  But they did reduce the speeds a notch ... so, either the set-up was too aggressive Thursday, or it's too conservative Friday.  But they didn't say which.   

Also why did they specify they had not watered the approaches?  Aren't they trying to have the approaches the same firmness as the greens?

[Adam Lawrence]

There is one other possible explanation, though, Tom, which is hinted at by the comment 'the dramatic increases of yesterday are not anticipated'; it may be they were happy with how things started yesterday, but that it got quicker and/or firmer than they expected, so they're starting from a slightly lower base today.

[Jon Wiggett]

Tom,

hand watering the greens will not effect the firmness in anyway and that the water was applied by hand means that they were spot watering not the entire green. It is interesting that stimping at 11 was considered too fast by some pros. There were also some complaints about poor lies in the bunkers due to the rakes and how fine the sand is at Muirfield. Shows how pampered and childish some of these elite players are.

Jon

[Keith Grande]

I think Phil was using a bit of hyperbole while trying to get an edge on next day pin placements and green setup.  Do we really think he doesn't know about links setup?  He's been playing them for over 20 years (albeit not with much success).

[Bill_McBride]

Phil was simply expressing gratitude for playing early because by the end he could tell the conditions were getting harder (greens on the verge of dying). 

This is the problem.  You have bought what Phil was saying.  The greens are perfectly healthy.  Phil hasn't, in all his years of playing the Open, learned that brown links greens can be alive and well.

By agronomic definition, brown grass isn't alive and well.  It's struggling and fighting; certainly not thriving.   Which is a good thing!  But "alive and well" it ain't.

But it is alive.  They said the same thing about Hoylake in July 2006 when the grass was beige and yellow.  We played there three months later and the grass was greener and in perfect condition.

[Jud_T]

What are the odds that Phil whines about the greens again today after that 4-jack on 16?

[JR Potts]

Why is it being bandied as fact that the greens are rolling 11.  My understanding is they're rolling closer to 15 than 11.

I don't know if I'm a golf afflicted soul but I'm not enjoying this tournament.

[Jon Wiggett]

JR Potts,

11 is the official reading that is why it is being used, everything else is speculation. This is turning into a great tournament, sorry you do not appreciate it.

Jon

[JR Potts]

No need to apologize.  But I appreciate it.

The leaderboard is great though.

[Joe Hancock]

Phil was simply expressing gratitude for playing early because by the end he could tell the conditions were getting harder (greens on the verge of dying). 

This is the problem.  You have bought what Phil was saying.  The greens are perfectly healthy.  Phil hasn't, in all his years of playing the Open, learned that brown links greens can be alive and well.

By agronomic definition, brown grass isn't alive and well.  It's struggling and fighting; certainly not thriving.   Which is a good thing!  But "alive and well" it ain't.

Is it by the same definition that trees without leaves in the winter must be struggling and fighting? Brown grass is in a drought dormancy; it is a survival mechanism, but not an indicator of struggle or a fight. Left to their own devices, grass plants survive almost anything nature can dole out, including drought, fire, etc. It's when the hand of man intervenes and tries to make the grass plant do things un-natural that it struggles and fights.

It's OK. Most grass growers don't understand this phenomenon either. Universities refuse to study it because there is zero demand for(and no money in) brown, drought-dormant grass.

Hope you're well, Ben.

Joe

[Mark Pearce]

JR Potts, who on earth told you the greens were rolling at 15?  That's one of the most stupid things I have ever read on this site.

Brin S, it's not all on the greens, the great thing about this tournament is that the conditions make hitting greens a real skill.

I really wonder if half the people commenting on this tournament are actually watching.

[John Kavanaugh]

As much as I love the Masters it might get boring if they played the 14th twelve times each round.

[David Egan]

JR Potts, who on earth told you the greens were rolling at 15?  That's one of the most stupid things I have ever read on this site.

Probably someone who is playing in the event.

[Jud_T]

The only green that was a bit sketchy by the end of the day was 15 where it was impossible to clear the bunker short of the green and hold the green.  So the early/late guys got a bit of a tase of what yesterday afternoon's wave was up against.

[Phil McDade]

The only green that was a bit sketchy by the end of the day was 15 where it was impossible to clear the bunker short of the green and hold the green.  So the early/late guys got a bit of a tase of what yesterday afternoon's wave was up against.

Today's late starters (yesterday's early starters) may have had the tougher afternoon of the two waves that went out late, largely because the wind today was completely opposite yesterday's wind. That made yesterday's par 5s reachable. Today, conversely, the par 5 17 and 5 played against the wind, making them 3-shotters for many, and at the same time the wind seemed to make some of the downwind par 4s play more difficult than yesterday -- ala 15 -- because the wind combined with the firmness made judging run-out really tricky.

Still, all of the players had to deal with a really crusty, baked-out course in the afternoon. Wind is always capricious.

Updated with course stats: Both 5 and 17 played nearly a half-stroke harder today than yesterday. 5 was 4.55 yesterday; 4.98 today. 17 was 4.7 yesterday, 5.15 today.

[Jud_T]

Phil,

The shift in wind definitely punished these guys, but I blame that on their lack of preparation.  Guys who came in a week early saw this wind.  Guys who didn't got hurt.

[Phil McDade]

Phil,

The shift in wind definitely punished these guys, but I blame that on their lack of preparation.  Guys who came in a week early saw this wind.  Guys who didn't got hurt.

Well, Zach Johnson did haul in $400,00 for losing in a playoff the week before; he gets a bye by my standards.

[Jud_T]

400k is certainly nice, but the winds of history could care less about the John Deere Classic....

[Phil McDade]

400k is certainly nice, but the winds of history could care less about the John Deere Classic....

True, but the guy's not going to pass up playing at a PGA Tour stop an hour from where he grew up at a tournament filled by Hawkeye fans.