"Eric: you know when you watch the British Open - balls pinging all over the place - wind blowing - big scores, low running shots. You've never seen that at a US open before have you?"
Brian S. -
The US Open at Shinnecock won by Reteif Goosen resembled a British Open a times, especially on the last day. Frankly conditions at a number of the British Opens in recent years have not been very "Open-like" either.
DT
David,
I love links golf.
but, it's amazing how many people have extremely rose colored glasses about the 2004 US Open at Shinnecock.
i was there every day, including practce rounds.
the wind did not blow at all, except the night before the last round, and the last round.
The bluestem native rough was cut down by the powers that be a week before the event, yet a weird lttle scruffy green patch of rough was grown just off the fairways.
yes it was firm, so firm that I was watching a short hiiter like Faldo hirtting irons off the tees on holes like #6, where normally a driver is required.
It bore no resemblance to a British/Irish links as the greens were running around 12+, much faster than the fairways.
It was short game contest, and Retief outputted the field as even quality shots ended up off the green, once they caught some longer grass/friction, so good shots met the same shot as poor-it was crucial to then get the next shot up and down, often requiring a longish putt.
Some real games were played with the setup, and the rumors/stories are still fliyng about what actually went down.
Shame they couldn't just let the awesome course that is presented there every day shine through.
I'll take the British Open on any venue, any day over the nonsense they presented that year.