Carnoustie Seniors Open 2016

[Thomas Dai]

On Mr Sky Carnoustie looks pretty nice this week.


From weather chat was I was expecting it to be more green but there's some fine looking straw coloured rough out there.


Players in short sleeves. Bit of a change from last week at Troon.


Atb

[Pat Burke]

Started at 12
Short sleeves 1-4
Jacket 5-12
Short sleeves rest of round
By the time I went to the range at 5 the jacket was barely cutting it


Wind changed directions 4 times in our round, and nearly 180 degrees each time.


It's pretty wild, but Carnoustie, after downpours yesterday was very,very good

[Peter Pallotta]

Keep it going, Pat. I saw, just one hiccup on your round, and [Edit] still T52. Good playing, sir!

[Colin Macqueen]

Pat, A wee bit of doggerel for you.


He's off the tee he will be up
A blind shot in and that's The Cup
Down The Gulley that's the way
But watch those bunkers do not stray
In Jockie's Burn you'll aye get wet
If yer approach is under-hit.
Happy Hillocks is dog-legged
But hero Pat will have it pegged!
Up The Brae and it's a slog
Dinna play it in a fog
Down the sixth ye now can sally
Nae faint hearts on Hogan's Alley.


Out of bounds on The Plantation
An overhit gives palpitation
At last a three supplied by Short
But any wind and it's fair sport.
As Pat will find on The Railway
A long straight drive rewards the play
And as he heads to South America
There's daunting golf ahead of ye!
Next is John Philp, Marquis de Sade
Get your par that's not too bad
There's ditch and gorse on Southward Ho
Take care! Perdition they can sew.


And now we have infamous Whins
Surrounding bunkers punish sins
Blinding sand reveals The Spectacles
A par from here ye must be sceptical
As hard as any Lucky Slap
A draw, a fade, your drinking pap
And now of course here's Barry Burn
A three ye never, ever spurn
Now near theend and on The Island
Fearsome golf and not much dry land
The final stretch and you're at Home
Well done Pat enjoy the foam!


Orra best!  Colin

[Pete Lavallee]

Carnoustie appears to have a high percentage of Poa in their greens; watching the Sr Open revealed the bright green color usually associated with Poa. I know that when we spent two weeks in the during the heat wave of 1989 TOC's greens were dry and crusty (trying to burn off the Poa). Carnoustie on the other hand watered frequently and their greens putted beautifully. Does Carnoustie have the highest percentage of Poa in the Open Rota?

[jeffwarne]

as we watch the seemingly softish benign conditions-with minimal wind.(it rained every day last week when I was there and poured this Wednesday) the announcers continue to remind us it's not Carnasty this week.
But if they simply took the USGA's tired formula or losing tow par 5's and calling them 4's, suddenly -3 would be leading and all the par protecters would be talking about how well Carnoustie was standing up.
It's still a brutally hard golf course-these guys are good.


Par 5's are an interesting part of golf for elite players that have gone by the wayside due to technology.
Kudos to Carnoustie for holding the line and not worrying about scores in relation to par.

[John Cowden]

Too right.  Par is just a number. 

[Peter Pallotta]

Hybrids.
For the great champion tour players I think hybrids are the key to their success on tough courses.
Whenever I put one in my bag, I feel almost like I'm cheating.
I have no right to be hitting a "two iron" that well, that straight and that high and that far.
But sad to say, sometimes I feel like cheating.

[Pat Burke]

Hybrids.
For the great champion tour players I think hybrids are the key to their success on tough courses.
Whenever I put one in my bag, I feel almost like I'm cheating.
I have no right to be hitting a "two iron" that well, that straight and that high and that far.
But sad to say, sometimes I feel like cheating.

I would have agreed until I couldn't hit one in a freaking fairway this week at Carnoustie.  Hybrids are the devil

[jeffwarne]

Shout out to aforementioned Scott Parel who shot 69 in the final round to move up the board today.
The bookies dodged one....

[Anthony Butler]

How the hell can any golf organization penalize Johnson because he can't definitively explain why his ball moved on the green and be absolutely certain McCarron hasn't anchored his putter on every stroke...?

This is a travesty..

[Joe Bausch]

Looks like it would be a fine day to be a spectator at Carnoustie.  To quote the late Skip Caray:  "It's a partial sellout."

[jeffwarne]

How the hell can any golf organization penalize Johnson because he can't definitively explain why his ball moved on the green and be absolutely certain McCarron hasn't anchored his putter on every stroke...?

This is a travesty..

I said the exact same thing.
(and I hate the anchoring ban)
Watch Langer on a tap in

[David_Tepper]

Congrats to Paul Broadhurst for winning with a well-played, bogey-free final round. Looks like he is the first winner from GB&I in 15 years.

http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Paul-Broadhurst-wins-Senior-British-Open-at-8406107.php

[MKrohn]

Shout out to aforementioned Scott Parel who shot 69 in the final round to move up the board today.
The bookies dodged one....

Jeff, your man Scott Parel,played the first 36 holes with a mate of mine who qualified. He didn't end up making the cut but still a terrific effort, it's a nice story.


http://www.pga.org.au/news/the-19th/2015/the-19th/walls-street-towards-the-legends-tour

[jeffwarne]

Shout out to aforementioned Scott Parel who shot 69 in the final round to move up the board today.
The bookies dodged one....

Jeff, your man Scott Parel,played the first 36 holes with a mate of mine who qualified. He didn't end up making the cut but still a terrific effort, it's a nice story.


http://www.pga.org.au/news/the-19th/2015/the-19th/walls-street-towards-the-legends-tour

Interesting that The Champions Tour does their best to reject such players, rather than embrace them.
Give me a fresh face and story any day over a grumpy 30 year journeyman who has never held a job and is eeking by on accomplishments (err... money earned....) long ago faded....

[Jonathan Mallard]

Pat -


A question for you about hole #3.


We played it the Wednesday after the ladies finished up their Open.


I noticed that there were a tremendous number of divots short of the bunkers as that seems to be the preferred play. It seemed to be a very small landing area for a three iron. The other play to consider is taking it over the bunkers, but I think with firm and fast conditions, more balls than not would end up in the water fronting the green and left of the fairway. If the ball found the fairway beyond the bunkers, that would leave a pitch from an awkward yardage.


Here's the question: given that the strategy is seemingly dictated by the hole, is there enough landing area, comparatively to every other hole in championship golf, behind the bunkers to avoid the possibility of playing from a divot? I had to, and made a mess from there in.

[Pat Burke]

I was attempting to hit four iron, basicall 190 yard shot off the tee on number three.
It would leave me about 15 to 20 yards short of the bunkers and about 130-140 to the front of the green.
Part of the club choice was to avoid bunkers at all cost, but also keep it short of low area before the right bunkers (and avoiding divots)


The downside to tournaments on courses like Carnoustie, is that many of us have similar targets to avoid the 1'shotmoenalty bunkers.  After practice rounds and tournament rounds,myounreally have to be conscious of were divots are getting out of hand.


Happens on a lot of par fives in tournaments as well

[jeffwarne]

I was attempting to hit four iron, basicall 190 yard shot off the tee on number three.
It would leave me about 15 to 20 yards short of the bunkers and about 130-140 to the front of the green.
Part of the club choice was to avoid bunkers at all cost, but also keep it short of low area before the right bunkers (and avoiding divots)


The downside to tournaments on courses like Carnoustie, is that many of us have similar targets to avoid the 1'shotmoenalty bunkers.  After practice rounds and tournament rounds,myounreally have to be conscious of were divots are getting out of hand.


Happens on a lot of par fives in tournaments as well

Interesting.
I rarely have to contend with other people's divots.
Which explains why I watched the event from my office....

[Pat Burke]

Well Jeff
Keep in mind, that number three was my Waterloo, doubled it both days.
Missed the damned fairway both days with my layup.
God I just suck sometimes!

[Thomas Dai]

The 3rd is a right little bugger of a hole. Evil green too. A low hcp ex-member of one of the Carnoustie clubs used to say about the 3rd something along the lines of "When I lay-up, I screw-up so I might as well hit it as far as possible off the tee and have a shorter second/third even if it's from trouble or in a hazard".


Atb

[Jonathan Mallard]

In my loop, I found the fairway, with the yardage Pat mentioned.


I also found a divot from the ladies, which affected my shot.


I noted the volume of said divots, and wanted his perspective from a very similar situation.

[Thomas Dai]

A nice summary - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wJmB7gbTfgY


Atb