2005 U.S. Open
My college buddy Howard Waters, formerly the owner of a marketing company in Tidewater, VA, called late last week offering practice round tickets for Pinehurst. Neil MacKenzie snapped them up and went down yesterday (Tuesday, June 14) to see how the course and the players were getting along.
Neil and I often make a bet about the outcomes on the majors. Before The Masters, for instance, we each chose three we thought could win, added a "long shot" each, and bet a case of beer. I enjoyed 24 cold Harps.
Here's how it works:
We flip a coin to determine who chooses first. (I won and chose Tiger.) Then the other of us makes two picks. Then back to me for one, to him for his third, then to me for mine. By then each of us has a team of three. If any of my picks wins the tournament, I win the beer. Same for Neil. But if none of them wins, we go by cumulative score for those who make the cut. If Neil has 3 players - including his "long shot" - who make the cut, and I don't have at least three, he wins. If we both have 2, then the lower cumulative score wins.
Make sense?
I won the toss again for the Open, so I chose Tiger (although I don't think he can win - more on that later). Neil then chose Phil and Ernie. I chose Retief and DiMarco. He chose Vijay. My long shot is Ryan Moore. His is Jeff Maggert(!).
Here's where Neil was on Tuesday...
I'm sure he had lots of encouraging words for Ernie there on the practice tee.
Who will win? Many, including Sports Illustrated, say Phil Mickelson. He was so close in '99, he's been preparing well, and the course suits his bold style around the greens. Although he was my first pick, I don't think it will be Tiger who wins the Open trophy. Pinehurst is just too tough a course for him to build a commanding lead in the early rounds or on Saturday, and his inconsistency off the tee will punish him with must-make shots on Sunday.
Whatever, I'll be watching my HD set-up beginning tomorrow afternoon to see how the favorites, the long shots and the course hold up. It's oppressively hot this week - 98 as I write this - and there's little chance for rain other than the always-possible late afternoon thunder bumpers. It should be a great tournament. And this time, I think I may just be buying Neil 24 of his beloved Samuel Adams ales.
Neil and I often make a bet about the outcomes on the majors. Before The Masters, for instance, we each chose three we thought could win, added a "long shot" each, and bet a case of beer. I enjoyed 24 cold Harps.
Here's how it works:
We flip a coin to determine who chooses first. (I won and chose Tiger.) Then the other of us makes two picks. Then back to me for one, to him for his third, then to me for mine. By then each of us has a team of three. If any of my picks wins the tournament, I win the beer. Same for Neil. But if none of them wins, we go by cumulative score for those who make the cut. If Neil has 3 players - including his "long shot" - who make the cut, and I don't have at least three, he wins. If we both have 2, then the lower cumulative score wins.
Make sense?
I won the toss again for the Open, so I chose Tiger (although I don't think he can win - more on that later). Neil then chose Phil and Ernie. I chose Retief and DiMarco. He chose Vijay. My long shot is Ryan Moore. His is Jeff Maggert(!).
Here's where Neil was on Tuesday...
I'm sure he had lots of encouraging words for Ernie there on the practice tee.
Who will win? Many, including Sports Illustrated, say Phil Mickelson. He was so close in '99, he's been preparing well, and the course suits his bold style around the greens. Although he was my first pick, I don't think it will be Tiger who wins the Open trophy. Pinehurst is just too tough a course for him to build a commanding lead in the early rounds or on Saturday, and his inconsistency off the tee will punish him with must-make shots on Sunday.
Whatever, I'll be watching my HD set-up beginning tomorrow afternoon to see how the favorites, the long shots and the course hold up. It's oppressively hot this week - 98 as I write this - and there's little chance for rain other than the always-possible late afternoon thunder bumpers. It should be a great tournament. And this time, I think I may just be buying Neil 24 of his beloved Samuel Adams ales.
posted by Mark Burris - BURRIS at 3:36 PM
2 Comments:
This was the first major golf championship I had been able to attend. Thank you again Howard for the tickets. It was really a unique experience to be able to follow around some of the best players in the world on such a great golf course as they prepare for perhaps the most stern test in golf. The practice round atmosphere was wonderful, the players were loose and spectators, not patrons, could take photos. Since you know my picks I obviously spent a good deal of time with Ernie and Adam Scott. They agreed to pitch in for a case of beer if they do not meet my expectations that warranted them being selected by me.
Perhaps the most interesting part of my day came on the first green/ second tee. James Driscoll was going through his practice round alone with just his caddie. Driscoll is from Brookline Mass and I actually competed against him in the Junior Mass Open (I did not win). Because only a handful of spectators were around we were able to briefly converse about the Red Sox, he had just come from Wrigley were the Sox beat the Cubs on Sunday. We also quickly discussed Charles River CC in Newton Mass. He grew up playing there, I had a friend on the maintenance staff which allowed me the opportunity to play there after 3pm on Mondays. After Driscoll busted one 330 down the middle on the second hole it quickly became clear that our golf games have not quite matured at the same rate. I do believe my game is going to peak next month during the 7th-12th.
Enjoy the US Open (when people say "The OPEN" I always think about the British Open not US OPEN) and I think I'll take 24 New Rivers or some Harpoon IPA.
Good Luck and enjoy.
The bet I wrote about in the original post wasn't supposed to be close on the final day, but it turned out to be.
Retief had a good lead going into Sunday, but his 81 took him out of contention and gave a lot of shots back. Neil's top 3 players - Ernie, Phil and Vijay - were a combined +6 on Sunday, so they alone made up ground on Retief.
For a few minutes it looked like Tiger may win, but bottom line, his bogies on 16 and 17 ended his chances of putting enough pressure on Campbell to make it interesting. But his birdie at 18 - ahem - did the job for me.
Here's the results:
Neil's low three scores for the championship were Vijay (286), Ernie (289), and Phil (292) - for a total of 867. (Maggert made the cut, but shot 80 on the last day for 300.)
Glenn's three scores came from Ernie (289), Furyk (291) and Phil (292) - for a total of 872. ("The Mechanic," Miguel Angel Jimenez, didn't make the cut.)
It pains them both to read this, I know:
My three players were Tiger (282), Retief (288), and Ryan Moore (296) - for a total of 866, one shot better than Neil, six lower than Glenn. (My fourth player was actually my third pick: Chris DiMarco, surprisingly, didn't make the cut.
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