He's back!!!

[John Kavanaugh]

4th round scoring average for Pinehurst #2

Men 72.40
Women 72.39

For that matter the third round was 73.82 vs. 73.30 which indicates that Mike Davis, love him or not, accomplished exactly what he set out to do with these course setups. He wanted to use the same hole locations and achieve the same scoring round for in both Championships.

Of course in the first two rounds, scoring parity was not achievable due to the humongous different in depth of the fields prior to the cut. The 150th ranked women's player is much weaker relative to the top women than the 150th men's player is relative to the top men, in my view.

Affirmative action.

[Joe Hancock]

I'm not sure what you're looking for here John.  Would you have preferred if they played it at 6600, Wei won by half a dozen and no one scared par?

I would have preferred that the astounding athleticism of the modern woman be displayed. They are our equals and should be treated as such.

Hogwash. The athleticism was on display, for all to judge on their own. These are the best female golfers on the planet, and they all played the same course. MW won, because she played 72 holes in the fewest strokes because of athleticism and intellect. If anything, the term "modern woman" is a slight to women of the past...I can't imagine my mom being happy with that reference, nor Babe Zaharius.

Joe

Please, Wie only hit driver on the back nine because 10 was a ridiculously short par 5 that she reached with a seven iron and eagled. The back nine was barely over 3000 yds.These elite athletes deserve to play courses at least on par with weekend country club male golfers. It is an insult to their years of training and sacrifice to be relegated to inferior tees. It holds their game back which mirrors the same tactics used in society to quash the advancement of all minorities. If any of theses ladies came to your club I doubt that you would insult them by asking them to move up. Sub 250 yd par fours are as insulting as separate break rooms for the secretaries or, God forbid, men's only clubs.

So, you're still advocating a course setup different than their male counterparts on the professional/ highly accomplished amateur level. Equality indeed. If you truly believed what you wrote, the women would compete with the men on the same weekend, and there would be only one U.S. Open, with no mention of gender.

Joe

[Brent Hutto]

I think the USGA has done a fine job of quantifying the differences in the games of the top 50-100 best women golfers in the world and the top 50-100 best men golfers.

The women playing the course at 6,153 yards and men playing at 7,349 yards (same conditions, same greens, same hole locations) shoot about the same scores. That's a difference of 1,200 yards or 67 yards per hole necessary to result in the same scoring.

Although of course some part of that may not have been due to distance capability per se but rather shorter yardage to make up for worse short games. You'd have to delve further than mere scoring summaries to tease that out.

[Jud_T]

How many events did Tiger win with that 3-wood stinger?

[Brent Hutto]

How many events did Tiger win with that 3-wood stinger?

As many as his knee would allow.

But then again Tiger did not have camo-pattern "physio tape"...

[Joe Hancock]

How many events did Tiger win with that 3-wood stinger?

Not only that, but it seems to be a real advantage on courses as firm as PH2 was the past couple weeks. If this setup was the norm for PGATour events, how many players would utilize it? I don't doubt for a moment that most on that level can play that shot, it's a matter of smarts to know when to use it.

Tiger played a lot of smart golf in his career, and, at least today, so did MW.

Joe

[Mike Hendren]

I have long been an advocate of the quality of the women's professional game.  That said, in my opinion the USGA did the participants a solid.   237 par four.  452 par five where the winner hits an 8-iron for her second shot.  My original prediction was the winner at +6.  Arguably I nailed it since the women were effectively playing a par 68 golf course.  

The interestng question for me if who adapted better to the conditions and challenge of Pinehurst?  This would be a better comparison had the USGA not taken it easy on the women.   The question goes underanswered.

FWIW I'm thrilled with Wie's victory.  She appears to have matured into an intelligent, classy and imminently likeable person.  In other words, the genuine article.

Bogey

[John Kavanaugh]

Pinehurst held consecutive US Opens and I can't book a tee time and play either set of tees. At $1000 per day, epic fail. All so Mike Davis can say he was the star of the show.

If any of you had ever played a championship course too far forward you would know that it often leads to higher scores. The pinch points become narrower which leads to fewer fairways hit and so on and so on. There is no guarantee that a 6400 yd course wouldn't have led to lower scores for the leaders.

Affirmative action does not promote long term excellence. It is merely a tool used to hold power by the old guard. Mike Davis put these women in their place. Congrats!!!

[Joe Hancock]

John,

You're trying to make the US Women's Open into some sort of social modifier that it isn't. IF pinchpoints dictated setup, that's a design issue. The rest is physics. Women, at the highest level, don't hit the ball as hard as men at the highest level. So keeping women behind your pinchpoints means they have to hit shots with more club, with less spin. Sure, they could have set up the course that way, but no one likes to be ridiculed any more than they like to be coddled. As Mr. Hutto points out, the scoring was very similar.

Enjoy the outcome. It seems that the women did.

Joe

[John Kavanaugh]

John,

You're trying to make the US Women's Open into some sort of social modifier that it isn't. IF pinchpoints dictated setup, that's a design issue. The rest is physics. Women, at the highest level, don't hit the ball as hard as men at the highest level. So keeping women behind your pinchpoints means they have to hit shots with more club, with less spin. Sure, they could have set up the course that way, but no one likes to be ridiculed any more than they like to be coddled. As Mr. Hutto points out, the scoring was very similar.

Enjoy the outcome. It seems that the women did.

Joe

No one is humiliated after making the cut at a US Open. To think so is an insult to the modern woman. I see more crying on the men's tour.

[Mike Sweeney]

If any of you had ever played a championship course too far forward you would know that it often leads to higher scores. The pinch points become narrower which leads to fewer fairways hit and so on and so on. There is no guarantee that a 6400 yd course wouldn't have led to lower scores for the leaders.

Jaka,

Please define a Championship Course ! This comes up first on Google:

http://www.golfincline.com/courses_rates/championship_course

Mike Davis has been great for the US Open's. I was very critical of Merion's fairways and softening of the greens. He proved me wrong with a great US Open at Merion. Now he went the other way, and yes Martin Kaymer screwed up his Mojo last week. This was an entertaining Woman's Open with a very deserving winner.

Can you really make an argument that Kaymer and Wie are not the best in golf right now?

Pinehurst allowed what are probably the two best golfers in golf to win the last two weeks, what else could have been better?

[John Kavanaugh]

A USA goal.....

[Mike Sweeney]

A USA goal.....

On artificially green grass 

[Keith Grande]

How many events did Tiger win with that 3-wood stinger?

As many as his knee would allow.

But then again Tiger did not have camo-pattern "physio tape"...

How would you know?  He usually wears pants, unless you saw him with his pants off

[Brent Hutto]

I can neither confirm nor deny that.