[Jason Topp]

In an interview shortly after his round, Phil Mickelson was very critical of the pin position from the first round of the match play.  Apparently, several pins were on the edge of steep slopes.  As a result, Phil believed that all players would just play 30 feet away from the pin and try and make a lag putt.  Phil indicated that on a couple of holes, he was concerned his lag putt would go off the green.  Phil did not complain that the positions were unfair.  Instead, I took his comments to mean that it made for boring play.

It strikes me that such positions create an interesting array of strategic choices for the professional, ranging from aiming at the pin, 10 feet to the safe side, 20 feet and so on.  A player who calculates the most agressive line and pulls it off has an advantage over a more conservative player.  It seems to me to be the essence of strategic play.

Is Phil right or am I?

[JESII]

Jason,

I would tend to think you are right.

I saw very little of the golf yesterday, but in the five minutes I did watch they made mention of Phil sucking a ball off the green on one of the holes. Maybe this happened a couple of times, which can certainly be aggravating. At some point the best players in the world need to be able to control the spin of the ball, don't they?

Might also be a maintenance issue, the grass cerainly looked nice and lush, but I didn't see much forward movement after a ball landed.

It's still match play which is fun to watch.

[Jason Topp]

I did not see a lot of it, but I think the challenge was not from soft greens but instead severe slopes, usually to the side.  

I have played the course and the greens are big, but crowned with some significant run off to the sides.  A pin near the edge will mean that the player cannot miss in the wrong direction, or the ball will roll a long ways away, sometimes into the desert.

[Dan Kelly]

Is Phil right or am I?

You are.

Oh, and by the way: That's my real name!

What'd you think of the course, Jason -- if that's YOUR real name?!?

[Jerry Kluger]

I don't see anything wrong with challenging pin positions which reward well executed shots.  The contours should come into play and require the player to think about whether going for the pin is the proper play.  A shot 20 feet short of the pin as opposed to one 10 feet right can be the right play if there is a severe contour just right of the pin which will cause a misplayed shot to roll well away from the pin or even off the green.  That doesn't mean that the pin has to be on the slope for it to be well placed.

[Jason Topp]

Is Phil right or am I?

What'd you think of the course, Jason -- if that's YOUR real name?!?

I liked it, although I can't remember much about it other than the crowned greens which were pretty unique in my experience.  The fairways were really wide.  The setting was beautiful, which is my favorite aspect of desert courses.

My mom may have tricked me about my name.  I'm going to need to quiz her.

[Craig Sweet]

I heard him say the pins were tucked in close to the greens edge on some holes and that took away some aggressive attacking...

These guys are good and they should stop whinning.

I noticed the guys winning yesterday had no trouble getting "inside" their opponents from the fairway....and getting close to most pins....

[Craig Sweet]

It looked like the greens had lots of undulation. The fairways were pretty wide with very little trouble.

[David_Tepper]

I heard most of what Mickelson said about the pins. Honestly, I did not think he was "ripping" or "whining" about the pin positions. He said the pins were in difficult spots and discouraged aggressive shots into the greens and aggressive putting. No big deal.

From what I saw, a number of the pins were in some dicey locations.

[Peter Pallotta]

"I heard him say the pins were tucked in close to the greens edge on some holes and that took away some aggressive attacking..."

Craig - that's interesting.

Whenever I hear Phil (and some of the other top players) speak, it always seem to me partly in 'code', i.e. there's always a psychological aspect, as if they're taking every opportunity they can to send themselves a Rotella-like message. In this case, Phil seems to be saying:

"No matter what unfortunate last holes I may have recently had, my aggressiveness is one of my top qualities, and look at me, I'm still looking for opportunities to be aggressive, so clearly I have not be rattled by any recent experiences".

Or something like that.

Peter

[JohnV]

I saw very little of the play yesterday so I won't comment on the hole locations that were used.

Most officials who setup courses tend to get a little more aggressive with hole locations when it is match play.

A few reason for this are:
1) Given there are less players, pace of play isn't as big an issue so if guys are taking more time over putts it won't kill you.
2) The don't have to hole out on every hole so a hole with a little more slope around it isn't a killer
3) Given the head-to-head nature of the event you want need to separate the two players based on their ability to make specific shots rather than the summation of 4 days of play.

That being said, I believe that a good mix of holes that where a par can win and others where the guy who makes birdie or eagle can gain makes for the best match play setup.  If every hole requires the players to be so conservative that there are few birdies means that you only reward the guy who doesn't make mistakes as opposed to the guy who is aggressive in the correct places and can make a birdie when his opponent can't.

[peter_p]

   Sorry Phil, you lost me. For most, the course identified the better players. Usually the higher seeds won, or the lower seed who was climbing in the rankings. I think hole locations helped. It identified players who had the better strategy and were in control of their game.
   You should learn something from every round of golf, both from the good and the bad, from the course, from yourself, your opponent or playing companion. Not so much as finding out what tiny part of your swing was wrong.
   If Phil was responding to a question or prompt about the hole locations or just making a statement of fact, I don't have a problem with Mickelson's comments. But if it was a complaint, he isn't learning. And that is a sad thing.

[Jason Topp]

I heard most of what Mickelson said about the pins. Honestly, I did not think he was "ripping" or "whining" about the pin positions.

I believe he said they were "ridiculous."  

Nonetheless, his point was that the pin positions made for less interesting golf, not that they were unfair.  My reaction is that he is wrong, but I do not play golf at that level.

[Kalen Braley]

Here's a new one from today after he lost:

Rose's par putt dropped on the last turn, however, keeping the lead and momentum on his side. Mickelson felt he had no choice to go after what he called a "carnival" pin on the 16th, and it went a 3 yards too far and off a shelf, leading to bogey

[Craig Sweet]

The guy is really whinning....poor Phil.  

[peter_p]

A good segment on today's show was the interview with John Fought. Basically he said for the second course they had to do something different, so he took his entire design team to Pinehurst #2. I guess they were like US Open pins.

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