Scott (2-over), McIlroy and Woods (3-over) are finished with their first round; they'll now take an hour and change to browse the HP's coverage, before getting the ol' band back together for Round 2 and a scheduled 9:44 a.m. Central tee time. We will be tuning back in then with hopes of seeing Go Heath, Number1Son and Number2son waving from behind the first tee box in the 1986 Class A state-football-champion jerseys that they bought when the high school shut down a couple of weeks ago.
Dan Jenkins @danjenkinsgd I've seen only 60 U.S. Opens, but this was a good Round 1. Plenty have been deadly dull. I'll take Phil as my leader instead of Lee Mackey. 8:48 AM - 14 Jun 13
Luke Donald of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, who, somebody on ESPN just said, has the "perfect personality to play the U.S. Open," just pitched in from off the No. 3 green to move to 4-under and sole lead of the tournament.
Phil Mickelson of San Diego, Calif., in second place at 3-under, is scheduled to tee off at 2:41 Central.
Matthew Goggin of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is third at 2-under, and he tees off on Round 2 in about half an hour.
Now Adam Scott of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, and Tiger Woods of Cypress, California, birdie the supergroup's third hole (No. 13); McIlroy parred. So now Scott and Woods are both 2-over to McIlroy's 1-over.
Mike Tirico just said that the first round is now totally complete and scoring average was 4-over.
Note to me: Come back to the supergroup link in this comment for an hour movie from 1969 about Blind Faith.
We saw Tiger's birdie on 13. We were in the bleachers right behind the green. It is difficult to overstate the energy in the crowd when Tiger comes into view. I've never personally seen anything like it in sports.
OK, this is getting pretty awesome pretty quickly. McIlroy, Scott and Woods are starting to just smoke the ball off the tee, and they're all landing their drives within pretty close proximity of one another.
My wife, incidentally, is rooting for David Toms (1-over through six holes of his second round). My father-in-law's first name is Tom, and he loves it when any sort of Tom excels. He loves Tom's Snacks, for example.
We saw Toms par the 13th. At Congressional two years ago, I saw Toms during a practice round. He was going around the course with his son, who appeared to be about 13. I thought that was very nice.
ESPN just showed a wide shot of the grandstands behind the No. 14 green, and several flags were visible against the clearing sky.
Note to our live-remote DJs: Could you please let us know when you get back to your smartphones tonight whether these are national or state flags? They are too far away for me to tell.
Meanwhile, at the top of the leaderboard, Donald has slipped back to 3-under with Mickelson, while John Senden of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, has joined countryman Goggin at 2-under.
We saw Donald chip in from off the green on 13 for a birdie. Based on his tee shot, I was pretty sure he was looking at a bogey, but he proved me wrong. Very nice chant of LUUUUUKKE after the ball went in.
No one is charging up the leaderboard in the second round so far, by the way. Martin Kaymer of Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, has the best second round going, at 2-under. He's 4-over through 27 holes of the tournament.
ESPN is struggling, too; its feed keeps snowing in and out--on my TV, anyway.
Unless it's for an Olympics, the start of the NFL season or the next golf major, I pretty much always find a promo for a future sporting event to be a pretty bothersome interruption from an ongoing sporting event. It tends to diminish both.
Well, I jinxed this tournament. Back a couple of hours ago, when everybody was still wearing long sleeves, everything seemed like it was starting turn great. Now everybody's in short sleeves; everything's gotten really bright; I still haven't finished my work, and suddenly this tournament is starting to turn very U.S. Openny.
There's a whole thing going on here with the course. Merion is enormously popular with golf nerds -- the history of Merion is just unbelievable, and it seems that every generation of golfers should have to face it at least once. But the green-eyeshade types keep whining about how the course is too small and strange to host a National Open. All week, the golfing press has been worried that Merion would get embarrassed on the national stage. But instead, the course has been tremendous -- not only is the course playing tough, it is also doing a great job of identifying the world's best golfers. At the same time, we keep hearing reports that because the crowd size at Merion is limited, the USGA will not bring the Open back here.
So the folks celebrating Merion are not only happy for the course -- they are also putting pressure on the USGA to bring the National Open back here again.
Personally, I'm on the side of Merion -- I had no idea it was such a great course.
Donald is back to 2-under, so Mickelson ... aw, man, Tiger just drove into the rough ... so Mickelson, who doesn't even tee off until 2:41 Central, is back in the lead by himself at 3-under. (Riveting!)
I'm starting to think this is going to end up being lottery-winning weekend for, say, Lucas ... I mean, Graeme ... I mean, Webb ... I mean, Billy Horschel.
Only Donald, Mickelson and Nicolas Colsaerts of Schaerbeek, Belgium, (1-under) are under par for the tournament. But Donald might not be after he gets done with No. 4 ... he's laying five in a bunker on the par-five hole.
I was on the other side of the course, just walking along, when we heard this enormous roar, like something you'd hear at a football game. All around me, people said "Tiger" to each other. That was Tiger's birdie on 2.
Of course, if Woods does end up being in the fray late Sunday, Tiger fanboys like me are not going to care if this tournament turns out to be a war of bogey attrition.
Donald back to even ... Of the tournament's top eight golfers, there are seven guys who have not started their second rounds, and then there's Luke Donald.
Woods and McIlroy both sink lengthy par putts on their 13th holes of the round; Scott takes bogey to slip back to 6-over.
We were standing at the train station next to Merion Golf Course, waiting for the train to take us back into Philadelphia, and chatting with one of the SEPTA folks who was there to help folks visiting this area for the tournament. He had a little radio earphone, and suddenly he told us that Tiger had just made a long par putt. That was this putt.
My main man's second-straight birdie, on No. 11, breaks him away from the tie at even! He joins Colsaerts at 1-under for the tournament, two back of leader Mickelson.
ESPN says Tiger Woods is hurt just as they're switching over to NBC for afternoon coverage, and Channel 6 says Mike Smith's Used Car Center on the South Beltline has some great deals.
Neither tournament-leader Mickelson (3-under) nor second-place Colsaerts (1-under) has teed off in the second round. Horschel and Donald have both gravitated to the big third-place tie at even.
#ohky isn't getting past the cut. Danville's Teater is 7-over; Shelbyville's Brown, 9-over.
We saw Brown par the 13th hole. I also saw one guy wearing a UK hat. The only other SEC hat I saw was a Texas A & M hat. Two years ago, at Congressional, I think I saw hats from almost every SEC team. But it's easy to forget how many Southerners live in the D.C. area.
OK, the supergroup is through: Tiger and Rory both have gotten off to 73-70, 3-over starts, and Adam and his putter are probably headed back to Adelaide after his 75-72, 7-over visit to Philadelphia.
You know, Asia was one of my favorite groups in middle school, and I still enjoy those songs. Per Wikipedia, they've got a new record coming out this year. Maybe it'll get reviewed by the HP; that would be awesome.
-- Colsaerts, 2-under through 20 holes -- Mickelson, 2-under through 19 -- Tim Clark of Durban, South Africa, even through 18 -- Jason Day of Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia, even through 18 -- Donald, even through 36 -- Rick Fowler of Murietta, Calif., even through 18 -- Jerry Kelly of Madison, Wis., even through 18 -- Horschel, even through 34 -- Justin Rose of Johannesburg, South Africa, even through 19 -- Charl Schwartzel of Johannesburg, South Africa, even through 18
OK, here's Berman with some USGA dude, in swivel desk chairs in a studio booth overlooking the golf course like an air-traffic-control tower. This feels a little too much to me like we're watching some webinar with an IT CTO at SXSW. Say what you want about Jim Nantz, but his sitdowns with these guys in heavy-leather wingback chairs in a darkened room with a fireplace really deliver the my-rich-uncle-snuck-me-in-to-his-country-club-and-the-ribeye-sandwich-was-excellent exclusivity that I think Big Golf most seeks to convey in these things.
This was Mike Davis, who handles all the set-up for the U.S. Open, and who is -- within his narrow field -- extremely controversial. The folks at Congressional are still furious at him for his set-up in 2011, which they believe left the course defenseless. And a lot of people thought he'd made a big mistake by pushing to bring the National Open to Merion. But things are going very well, so Berman basically was giving Davis the chance to take a victory lap.
Having said all that, I agree that this is the sort of inside-baseball stuff that the average fan doesn't care about.
How is it possible that, any given moment in a network-TV golf telecast in 2013, we don't see the tournament leader's score as well as the score of the person currently on the screen?
Mickelson's 2-under through seven holes of the second round, and Horschel's 1-under and off the course. Those are our only two golfers under par. Appears to me that the cut would now be 5-over.
By the way, I have no idea how ESPN is dividing the work between Mike Tirico and Berman. Sometimes Berman seems to be the host, but other times it is Berman.
After Rory McIlroy's round, the press was asking him why the course was playing so much harder than expected. McIlroy said that he never thought the course would play easy -- that this was the press's idea. "You all must be really great golfers," he said in a way that was pretty funny, but also with a big of an edge.
Mickelson, who is one of the best putters ever, has a remarkable history of missing important putts. He has just missed very makeable birdie putts on 8 and 9 that could have blown this tournament open.
Tiger, Ernie Els, and Rory McIlroy are all at 3 over par after 36 holes. A few hours ago, after they finished their rounds, they were all tied for 29th place. Now they're tied for 23d place.
I love this State Farm commercial where the guy is talking to State Farm at 3 in the morning, and his wife thinks he's talking to a woman. That cracks me up every time.
1. P. Mickelson: -2 (27 holes) T2. B. Horschel: -1 (36) T2. J. Rose (ENG): -1 (26) T4. L. Donald (ENG): Even (36) T4. N. Colsaerts (BEL): Even (28) T4. S. Stricker: Even (27) T4. C. Schwartzel: Even (25)
Last year was a great year for Southern golf. Bubba Watson won the Masters, Webb Simpson won the U.S. Open, and Brandt Snedeker won the FedEx Cup. But none of those guys has done much this year, and they are currently all tied at 6 over par.
Meanwhile, ESPN has gotten very interested in the group of Colsaerts, Bubba Watson, and Dustin Johnson. These guys were playing very slowly, and a few holes ago they were "put on the clock," meaning that they faced the possibility of being penalized for slow play. Since then, Watson and Johnson have imploded, and Colsaerts has made at least one bogey. But Colsaerts is still at even par, and very much in contention. Anyway, the ESPN folks were talking about how Colsearts should deal with the problems of his playing partners, and Roger Maltbie came close to accusing Watson and Johnson of pouting and poor sportsmanship.
Right now, 8-over is a tie for 83rd, so I think this means we have to get 23 golfers currently at 6-over or 7-over to drop a stroke or two more between now and the end of Round 2. That doesn't seem unreasonable.
On 11, Keegan Bradley makes triple bogey(!) and falls to 11 over par. So he will not be lifting the U.S. Open trophy.
At the same hole, Mickelson misses another short birdie putt, but makes another par. So far he has bogeyed the first hole and made 10 consecutive pars. He hasn't putted all that well, but he is hitting the ball better than anyone else.
On 12, Mickelson almost holes a long birdie putt, but it rolls just past. He only has one good chance for birdie left -- once you go past 13, Merion becomes extremely difficult.
Hey, this is weird. PGATour.com's leaderboard says Stricker is 1-under through 12 holes; the ESPN scoreboard and Go Heath say Stricker is even through 12.
And there it is. Mickelson misses a two-footer for birdie on 12, and he falls back into a tie with Billy Horschel and Justin Rose at 1 under par. I like to think that somewhere (perhaps in a NIke Hospitality Suite), Tiger and Rory just gave each other high fives.
The announcers on ESPN are getting nervous about Phil, and they are hoping he can birdie the tiny 13th hole. But his shot bounds through the green and into a bunker.
That will probably be a bogey, and will mean that Phil will drop out of the lead.
I like to think the Tiger and Rory just gave each other another high five.
If Tiger and Rory are just sitting around high-fiving each other, I'll bet Lindsey Vonn is starting to think she should've stayed on the slopes this weekend, practicing for Sochi.
Tiger and Rory ought to be worrying about Justin Rose, who just made a wonderful approach shot on 12.
Leaderboard at 7 P.M.:
T1. B. Horschel: -1 (36 holes) T1. P. Mickelson: -1 (30) T1. J. Rose (ENG): -1 (29) T4. L. Donald (ENG): Even (36) T4. N. Colsaerts (BEL): Even (31) T4. S. Stricker: Even (30)
But Mickelson cannot get up and down from the bunker on 13, and he takes another bogey to fall to three over for the day and even par for the tournament.
And so now Mickelson and Stricker have reached the deadly stretch of holes 14-18. How they play these holes will make a big difference in what tomorrow looks like.
Geopolitical watch: What to do about a flag for Cheng-Tsung Pan, the amateur from Taiwan who is currently one over par through 22 holes? The Taiwanese themselves use the old Republic of China flag used by Chaing-Kai Shek. China insists that Taiwan is a renegade province -- much like Virginia from 1861 to 1865 -- and they argue that Taiwan is not entitled to any flag associated with China. At the Olympics, Taiwan competes as "Chinese Taipei," and it is represented by a special Olympic flag. So here's what various folks have done.
On the Google leaderboard, Mr. Pan is shown with no flag at all.
On ESPN, Mr. Pan is shown with the Olympic Chinese Taipei flag.
On the PGA's web page, Mr. Pan is shown with the old Republic of China flag.
Unless someone can break par over the murderous stretch of holes from 14 to 18, the triumverate of Tiger, Rory, and Els will be no more than four shots out of the lead with 36 holes to play. My guess is that all three of them would have taken that this morning.
Rickie Fowler, who was even par when this round started, bogeys the 10th hole to fall to 5 over for the tournament. There is now a very good chance he will miss the cut.
Colsaerts bogeys the 16th hole, and he drops to one over par.
Meanwhile, Charlie Hoffman, who started on 11, has birdied holes and 1 and 2 to move to even par for the tournament -- and he's already played 14-18, so he could end up with a decent score.
They just had a commercial trying to convince women in rural America to subscribe to some type of satellite Internet. The commercial featured a happy homemaker who showed us how with this fast Internet, her son was able to do his homework, her daughter was able to download music, and she was able to upload photos from their vacation to a social network. In the middle of all this, we see the dad of the family, who is excited that fast Internet speeds allow him to dominate his fantasy football league.
Husbands, hey? Always messing around with those whacky "fantasy" sports.
Oh, I should point out that the Samurai are just absolutely dominating the Reeves this weekend in the HeathPostdotcom Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Golf league.
1. B. Horschel: -1 (36 holes) T2. L. Donald (ENG): Even (36) T2. P. Mickelson: Even (34) T2. S. Stricker: Even (34) T2. J. Rose (ENG): Even (33) T2. I. Poulter (ENG): Even (31) T2. Mr. C. Pan (TAI): Even (25)
On the last, and most difficult hole, Phil Mickelson makes his only birdie of the day -- rolling in a long putt to finish with a 72 that leaves him in a tie for the lead at 1 under par.
Tiger and Rory probably weren't too happy about that.
OK, it appears that Danville's Josh Teater still has a chance to make the cut. Top 60 and ties would mean, at the moment, everyone at 7-over or better would make Round 3. Teater's Round 2 is complete at 8-over. Twelve golfers who still have holes to play in their second round are at 6- or 7-over; if we can get six of them to drift back to 8-over or better, Josh keeps playing.
Here are the dudes we need to see at least a couple of bogeys from down the stretch: Matt Weibring, Randall Hutchison, Kevin Phelan, Jaco Van Zyl, Simon Kahn and Sergio Garcia (all 6-over). And our single-bogey boys are Doug Labelle II, John Peterson, Freddie Jacobson, Martin Laird, Matteo Manassero and Stewart Cink (all 7-over).
OK, wait ... it's even better ... apparently the PGATour.com scoreboard is not up to date (that's the end of the PGATour.com scoreboard for me this weekend). Per Yahoo!, we now need to get only TWO (2!) more of nine currently Round 2-playing golfers at 6- or 7-over to move back to 8-over to get eater in. Rickie Fowler is now one of the guys at 6-over, along with Garcia, Weibring and Phelan; John Hahn has joined Manassero, Laird, Peterson and Van Zyl still hanging on at 7-over.
AND NOW MANASSERO AND PETERSON HAVE GONE TO 8-OVER!
Golf.com still has Teater listed as tied for 61st, so, apparently, one of somebody actually got a birdie to move back up to 7-over. So we still need at least one more.
Sergio's playing No. 18 and remains 6-over; a double would do!
Custom Colour Golf @c_c_golf Projected cut at +8, plenty of players we never thought were making the cut just have! #USopen2013 #Merion2013 #USopen 7:37 AM - 15 Jun 13
No .. Laird bogeyed to finish at 7-over. Jaco Van Zyl bogeyed No. 15 to slip to 8-over, but that still is listed as a tie for 61st, per Golf.com. At this point, I think I'm erring on the side of caution and rolling with Golf.com and remaining hopeful that @c_c_golf snuck in a smartphone to Merion and is correct.
Matt Weibring, closing his second round on the front nine of Merion, has bogeyed No. 5 and No. 6 to drop back to 8-over. This has reset the projected cut line to 8-over, and that means, for the moment, Josh Teater of Danville and Morehead State will be playing the remainder of the weekend!
Now we've got to worry about someone getting all plucky down the stretch here ... The plus-8s still playing are Weibring (through 14 holes), Khan (16), Van Zyl (16) and Nicholas Thompson (16). No one who is currently playing is at 9-over.
By the way, Brandon Brown finished at 12-over, so it's probably safe for him to go ahead and catch the next flight from Philadelphia to Shelbyville International.
OK, getting safer for our man Josh ... Van Zyl bogeyed to fall to 9-under, and now John Hahn and Ryan Nelson (both through 14 holes) are back to 8-under. Teater and the plus-8s are now tied for 57th, so we can even afford a birdie or two here.
This has been a lot of fun, but I'll have to say that I certainly hope Adam Scott and his putter didn't heed my advice and fly home to Australia last night. He's 7-over and now safely on to the third round.
OK, looking really solid now for Josh. He's tied for 57th, and only five golfers at 10-over or better are still out on the course for Round 2. Time to start a new thread ...
Supergroup through 17 holes of the first round: Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott, 2-over; Tiger Woods, 3-over.
ReplyDeleteJason Sobel @JasonSobelGC
Being Phil Mickelson keeps getting better. Just retook the lead while sleeping in and recharging this morning.
8:15 AM - 14 Jun 13
#ohky: Josh Teater of Danville, 3-over through 15; Brandon Brown of Shelbyville, 5-over through 11.
Scott (2-over), McIlroy and Woods (3-over) are finished with their first round; they'll now take an hour and change to browse the HP's coverage, before getting the ol' band back together for Round 2 and a scheduled 9:44 a.m. Central tee time. We will be tuning back in then with hopes of seeing Go Heath, Number1Son and Number2son waving from behind the first tee box in the 1986 Class A state-football-champion jerseys that they bought when the high school shut down a couple of weeks ago.
DeleteDan Jenkins @danjenkinsgd
ReplyDeleteI've seen only 60 U.S. Opens, but this was a good Round 1. Plenty have been deadly dull. I'll take Phil as my leader instead of Lee Mackey.
8:48 AM - 14 Jun 13
Now both Brown of Shelbyville and Teater of Danville are 4-over (Brown through 13, Teater through 17).
ReplyDeleteLuke Donald of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, who, somebody on ESPN just said, has the "perfect personality to play the U.S. Open," just pitched in from off the No. 3 green to move to 4-under and sole lead of the tournament.
ReplyDeletePhil Mickelson of San Diego, Calif., in second place at 3-under, is scheduled to tee off at 2:41 Central.
Matthew Goggin of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is third at 2-under, and he tees off on Round 2 in about half an hour.
RORY!
ReplyDeleteMcIlroy of Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, birdies his first two holes of the second round, to seize advantage in the RAT supergroup:
ReplyDelete-- Rory (McIlroy), 1-over through 20 holes
-- Adam (Scott), 3-over
-- Tiger (Woods), 3-over
Now Adam Scott of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, and Tiger Woods of Cypress, California, birdie the supergroup's third hole (No. 13); McIlroy parred. So now Scott and Woods are both 2-over to McIlroy's 1-over.
ReplyDeleteMike Tirico just said that the first round is now totally complete and scoring average was 4-over.
Note to me: Come back to the supergroup link in this comment for an hour movie from 1969 about Blind Faith.
We saw Tiger's birdie on 13. We were in the bleachers right behind the green. It is difficult to overstate the energy in the crowd when Tiger comes into view. I've never personally seen anything like it in sports.
DeleteOK, this is getting pretty awesome pretty quickly. McIlroy, Scott and Woods are starting to just smoke the ball off the tee, and they're all landing their drives within pretty close proximity of one another.
ReplyDeleteI have so much work to get done today ... um ...
My wife, incidentally, is rooting for David Toms (1-over through six holes of his second round). My father-in-law's first name is Tom, and he loves it when any sort of Tom excels. He loves Tom's Snacks, for example.
ReplyDeleteWe saw Toms par the 13th. At Congressional two years ago, I saw Toms during a practice round. He was going around the course with his son, who appeared to be about 13. I thought that was very nice.
DeleteDavid Toms is from Monroe, La.
ReplyDeleteESPN just showed a wide shot of the grandstands behind the No. 14 green, and several flags were visible against the clearing sky.
ReplyDeleteNote to our live-remote DJs: Could you please let us know when you get back to your smartphones tonight whether these are national or state flags? They are too far away for me to tell.
Also, what's the latest on Billy Benton?
DeleteI think the flags you are talking about are big USGA flags.
DeleteI'm still confident that Billy Benton will turn out to be innocent.
Bogies on No. 14 for McIlroy and Woods, so, RATwise, ...
ReplyDelete-- Rory, 2-over
-- Adam, 2-over
-- Tiger, 3-over
Meanwhile, at the top of the leaderboard, Donald has slipped back to 3-under with Mickelson, while John Senden of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, has joined countryman Goggin at 2-under.
ReplyDeleteThe score of Senden, now halfway through his second round, has swelled to 1-over.
DeleteWe saw Donald chip in from off the green on 13 for a birdie. Based on his tee shot, I was pretty sure he was looking at a bogey, but he proved me wrong. Very nice chant of LUUUUUKKE after the ball went in.
DeleteNo one is charging up the leaderboard in the second round so far, by the way. Martin Kaymer of Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, has the best second round going, at 2-under. He's 4-over through 27 holes of the tournament.
ReplyDeleteESPN is struggling, too; its feed keeps snowing in and out--on my TV, anyway.
Unless it's for an Olympics, the start of the NFL season or the next golf major, I pretty much always find a promo for a future sporting event to be a pretty bothersome interruption from an ongoing sporting event. It tends to diminish both.
ReplyDeleteWell, I jinxed this tournament. Back a couple of hours ago, when everybody was still wearing long sleeves, everything seemed like it was starting turn great. Now everybody's in short sleeves; everything's gotten really bright; I still haven't finished my work, and suddenly this tournament is starting to turn very U.S. Openny.
ReplyDeleteSupergroup through 26 holes:
ReplyDelete-- McIlroy, 3-under
-- Scott, 3-under
-- Woods, 4-under
Now we've got Chris Berman talking to some dude whose bragging about how great the course is doing. Oh, who cares? I root for the humans.
ReplyDeleteThere's a whole thing going on here with the course. Merion is enormously popular with golf nerds -- the history of Merion is just unbelievable, and it seems that every generation of golfers should have to face it at least once. But the green-eyeshade types keep whining about how the course is too small and strange to host a National Open. All week, the golfing press has been worried that Merion would get embarrassed on the national stage. But instead, the course has been tremendous -- not only is the course playing tough, it is also doing a great job of identifying the world's best golfers. At the same time, we keep hearing reports that because the crowd size at Merion is limited, the USGA will not bring the Open back here.
DeleteSo the folks celebrating Merion are not only happy for the course -- they are also putting pressure on the USGA to bring the National Open back here again.
Personally, I'm on the side of Merion -- I had no idea it was such a great course.
Donald is back to 2-under, so Mickelson ... aw, man, Tiger just drove into the rough ... so Mickelson, who doesn't even tee off until 2:41 Central, is back in the lead by himself at 3-under. (Riveting!)
ReplyDeleteDonald birdies his 11th of the second round, so now he's back in a tie at the top with flying Phil.
DeleteI'm starting to think this is going to end up being lottery-winning weekend for, say, Lucas ... I mean, Graeme ... I mean, Webb ... I mean, Billy Horschel.
ReplyDeleteI'm very confident that Billy Horschel will not win this tournament.
DeleteBerman: "K.J. Choi, trying to get on the birdie train ..."
ReplyDelete(Two birdies in three holes=Berman's "birdie train.")
Choi misses the putt.
I can't believe there's a single golf fan in the country who thought, "Man, I'm so happy that Berman is doing the U.S. Open."
DeleteNow ESPN is showing co-leader Donald thrashing through some rough ... looks like he'll be drifting back toward par.
ReplyDeleteYou da man, Phil!
The supergroup is all tied at 3-over for the tournament through 28 holes.
ReplyDeleteOnly Donald, Mickelson and Nicolas Colsaerts of Schaerbeek, Belgium, (1-under) are under par for the tournament. But Donald might not be after he gets done with No. 4 ... he's laying five in a bunker on the par-five hole.
ReplyDeleteOK, the supergroup might save us yet. Tiger birdied No. 2, and now Rory has birdied No. 3. McIlroy moves to 2-under.
ReplyDeleteI was on the other side of the course, just walking along, when we heard this enormous roar, like something you'd hear at a football game. All around me, people said "Tiger" to each other. That was Tiger's birdie on 2.
DeleteLeaders:
ReplyDelete-- Mickelson, 3-under through 18 holes for the tournament;
-- Donald, 2-under through 30;
-- Colsaerts, 1-under through 18;
And Kaymer's on feuer!
3-under in Round 2, 3-over for the tournament.
Scott falters to 4-over. (McIlgerdam!)
ReplyDeleteESPN says Donald is "in the creek" on No. 5.
ReplyDeleteNote to PGATour.com stream folk: Do they mean that his ball is "wet"?
Rory in the rough, Tiger in the rough ...
ReplyDeleteJohn Senden for par to stay at 1-over ... miss!
ReplyDeleteMartin Kaymer for bogey to stay at 3-over ... miss!
ReplyDeleteRory for par to stay at 2-over ... miss!
ReplyDeleteLee Westwood for part to stay at 6-over ... MAKE! (Riveting!)
ReplyDeleteTIGER!
ReplyDeleteThat's two birdies in three holes for Woods ... Berman's birdie train is leaving the station!
ReplyDeleteLeaders:
ReplyDelete-- Mickelson, 3-under through 18 holes for the tournament
-- Donald, 1-under through 31
-- Colsaerts, 1-under through 18
Supergroup through 30:
-- Tiger (Woods), 2-over
-- Rory (McIlroy), 3-over
-- Adam (Scott), 5-over
TRA!
Of course, if Woods does end up being in the fray late Sunday, Tiger fanboys like me are not going to care if this tournament turns out to be a war of bogey attrition.
ReplyDeleteDonald back to even ... Of the tournament's top eight golfers, there are seven guys who have not started their second rounds, and then there's Luke Donald.
ReplyDeleteWoods and McIlroy both sink lengthy par putts on their 13th holes of the round; Scott takes bogey to slip back to 6-over.
We were standing at the train station next to Merion Golf Course, waiting for the train to take us back into Philadelphia, and chatting with one of the SEPTA folks who was there to help folks visiting this area for the tournament. He had a little radio earphone, and suddenly he told us that Tiger had just made a long par putt. That was this putt.
DeleteNow joining the big third-place tie at even for the tournament is my main man Billy Horschel of Grant, Fla., who is 2-under for the day. All along™!
ReplyDeleteDonald's fourth straight bogey drops his out of the third-place tie at even.
ReplyDeleteHERE COMES HORSCHEL!
ReplyDeleteMy main man's second-straight birdie, on No. 11, breaks him away from the tie at even! He joins Colsaerts at 1-under for the tournament, two back of leader Mickelson.
ReplyDeleteBerman says Horschel "plays with so much swagger."
ReplyDeleteESPN says Tiger Woods is hurt just as they're switching over to NBC for afternoon coverage, and Channel 6 says Mike Smith's Used Car Center on the South Beltline has some great deals.
ReplyDeleteWith the No. 9 and No. 10 to play in their second round, here are the new supergroup standings:
ReplyDelete-- McIlroy, 2-over
-- Woods, 3-over
-- Scott, 7-over
Neither tournament-leader Mickelson (3-under) nor second-place Colsaerts (1-under) has teed off in the second round. Horschel and Donald have both gravitated to the big third-place tie at even.
#ohky isn't getting past the cut. Danville's Teater is 7-over; Shelbyville's Brown, 9-over.
We saw Brown par the 13th hole. I also saw one guy wearing a UK hat. The only other SEC hat I saw was a Texas A & M hat. Two years ago, at Congressional, I think I saw hats from almost every SEC team. But it's easy to forget how many Southerners live in the D.C. area.
DeleteRory back to 3-over.
ReplyDeleteDonald is done for the day at even for the tournament, and that could very could lead the tournament tomorrow morning.
ReplyDeleteOK, the supergroup is through: Tiger and Rory both have gotten off to 73-70, 3-over starts, and Adam and his putter are probably headed back to Adelaide after his 75-72, 7-over visit to Philadelphia.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Asia was one of my favorite groups in middle school, and I still enjoy those songs. Per Wikipedia, they've got a new record coming out this year. Maybe it'll get reviewed by the HP; that would be awesome.
I've seen that the cut is low 60 and ties, which, I think, means the current cut line would be 4-over.
ReplyDeleteFalling-knives leaderboard:
ReplyDelete-- Colsaerts, 2-under through 20 holes
-- Mickelson, 2-under through 19
-- Tim Clark of Durban, South Africa, even through 18
-- Jason Day of Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia, even through 18
-- Donald, even through 36
-- Rick Fowler of Murietta, Calif., even through 18
-- Jerry Kelly of Madison, Wis., even through 18
-- Horschel, even through 34
-- Justin Rose of Johannesburg, South Africa, even through 19
-- Charl Schwartzel of Johannesburg, South Africa, even through 18
False alarm: Kaymer finished 2-over for the day. He's 8-over for the tournament.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, we are receiving reports at the Kentucky desk that it has been a happy father's day in Philadelphia, so hooray for that!
ReplyDeleteOK, here's Berman with some USGA dude, in swivel desk chairs in a studio booth overlooking the golf course like an air-traffic-control tower. This feels a little too much to me like we're watching some webinar with an IT CTO at SXSW. Say what you want about Jim Nantz, but his sitdowns with these guys in heavy-leather wingback chairs in a darkened room with a fireplace really deliver the my-rich-uncle-snuck-me-in-to-his-country-club-and-the-ribeye-sandwich-was-excellent exclusivity that I think Big Golf most seeks to convey in these things.
ReplyDeleteThis was Mike Davis, who handles all the set-up for the U.S. Open, and who is -- within his narrow field -- extremely controversial. The folks at Congressional are still furious at him for his set-up in 2011, which they believe left the course defenseless. And a lot of people thought he'd made a big mistake by pushing to bring the National Open to Merion. But things are going very well, so Berman basically was giving Davis the chance to take a victory lap.
DeleteHaving said all that, I agree that this is the sort of inside-baseball stuff that the average fan doesn't care about.
The NFL is so great.
ReplyDeleteHow is it possible that, any given moment in a network-TV golf telecast in 2013, we don't see the tournament leader's score as well as the score of the person currently on the screen?
Mickelson's 2-under through seven holes of the second round, and Horschel's 1-under and off the course. Those are our only two golfers under par. Appears to me that the cut would now be 5-over.
ReplyDeleteRose is now 1-under, too.
DeleteBy the way, I have no idea how ESPN is dividing the work between Mike Tirico and Berman. Sometimes Berman seems to be the host, but other times it is Berman.
ReplyDeleteAfter Rory McIlroy's round, the press was asking him why the course was playing so much harder than expected. McIlroy said that he never thought the course would play easy -- that this was the press's idea. "You all must be really great golfers," he said in a way that was pretty funny, but also with a big of an edge.
ReplyDeleteMickelson, who is one of the best putters ever, has a remarkable history of missing important putts. He has just missed very makeable birdie putts on 8 and 9 that could have blown this tournament open.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to pick the winner of this tournament, I would go with Justin Rose.
ReplyDeleteTiger, Ernie Els, and Rory McIlroy are all at 3 over par after 36 holes. A few hours ago, after they finished their rounds, they were all tied for 29th place. Now they're tied for 23d place.
ReplyDeleteMickelson, who so easily could have birdied 8 and 9 with good short putts, is now in the rough with a bad drive on 10.
ReplyDeleteI love this State Farm commercial where the guy is talking to State Farm at 3 in the morning, and his wife thinks he's talking to a woman. That cracks me up every time.
ReplyDeleteLeaderboard at 6:19 P.M. EST:
ReplyDelete1. P. Mickelson: -2 (27 holes)
T2. B. Horschel: -1 (36)
T2. J. Rose (ENG): -1 (26)
T4. L. Donald (ENG): Even (36)
T4. N. Colsaerts (BEL): Even (28)
T4. S. Stricker: Even (27)
T4. C. Schwartzel: Even (25)
Last year was a great year for Southern golf. Bubba Watson won the Masters, Webb Simpson won the U.S. Open, and Brandt Snedeker won the FedEx Cup. But none of those guys has done much this year, and they are currently all tied at 6 over par.
ReplyDeleteWoods, McIlroy, and Els are now tied for 21st.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, ESPN has gotten very interested in the group of Colsaerts, Bubba Watson, and Dustin Johnson. These guys were playing very slowly, and a few holes ago they were "put on the clock," meaning that they faced the possibility of being penalized for slow play. Since then, Watson and Johnson have imploded, and Colsaerts has made at least one bogey. But Colsaerts is still at even par, and very much in contention. Anyway, the ESPN folks were talking about how Colsearts should deal with the problems of his playing partners, and Roger Maltbie came close to accusing Watson and Johnson of pouting and poor sportsmanship.
ReplyDeleteColsaerts drives into the rough on 11, so maybe Bubba and Dustin Johnson are getting to him.
ReplyDeleteMan, I hope the cut rolls back to 8-over so Josh Teater gets to the weekend.
ReplyDeleteColsaerts managed to par 11, so Watson and Johnson may not be bothering him after all.
ReplyDeleteRight now, 8-over is a tie for 83rd, so I think this means we have to get 23 golfers currently at 6-over or 7-over to drop a stroke or two more between now and the end of Round 2. That doesn't seem unreasonable.
ReplyDeletePadraig Harrington is suddenly hot. He birdies 7 and 8 to move to one over par for the tournament, only three shots off the lead.
ReplyDeleteProbably have to have a handful of 4- and 5-overs to really blow up, too.
ReplyDeleteFor now, everyone at 6 over or better will make the cut, but I agree that number could change.
DeleteOn 11, Keegan Bradley makes triple bogey(!) and falls to 11 over par. So he will not be lifting the U.S. Open trophy.
ReplyDeleteAt the same hole, Mickelson misses another short birdie putt, but makes another par. So far he has bogeyed the first hole and made 10 consecutive pars. He hasn't putted all that well, but he is hitting the ball better than anyone else.
Same for Phil at 12. Riveting!
DeleteI wonder where Tiger and Lindsey Vonn have gone out to dinner.
Hunter Mahan birdies the 10th hole to move to 1 over par for the tournament.
ReplyDeleteIan Poulter birdies the 8th, and now he is 1 over par for the tournament.
ReplyDeleteOn 12, Mickelson almost holes a long birdie putt, but it rolls just past. He only has one good chance for birdie left -- once you go past 13, Merion becomes extremely difficult.
ReplyDeleteOn 12, Stricker (who is playing with Mickelson) also just barely misses a birdie. He remains at even par.
ReplyDeleteHey, Steve Stricker has now joined the second-place tie at 1-under.
ReplyDeleteHey, this is weird. PGATour.com's leaderboard says Stricker is 1-under through 12 holes; the ESPN scoreboard and Go Heath say Stricker is even through 12.
DeleteESPN still shows Stricker at Even.
DeleteAnd now PGATour.com's leaderboard has bumped Stricker to even, too.
DeleteApparently, the PGATour.com dudes are riveted at the switch, too.
And there it is. Mickelson misses a two-footer for birdie on 12, and he falls back into a tie with Billy Horschel and Justin Rose at 1 under par. I like to think that somewhere (perhaps in a NIke Hospitality Suite), Tiger and Rory just gave each other high fives.
ReplyDeleteIf Tiger took Lindsey Vonn to the Nike Hospitality Suite for dinner, he ought to be ashamed of himself.
DeleteThe announcers on ESPN are getting nervous about Phil, and they are hoping he can birdie the tiny 13th hole. But his shot bounds through the green and into a bunker.
ReplyDeleteThat will probably be a bogey, and will mean that Phil will drop out of the lead.
I like to think the Tiger and Rory just gave each other another high five.
If Tiger and Rory are just sitting around high-fiving each other, I'll bet Lindsey Vonn is starting to think she should've stayed on the slopes this weekend, practicing for Sochi.
DeleteTiger and Rory ought to be worrying about Justin Rose, who just made a wonderful approach shot on 12.
ReplyDeleteLeaderboard at 7 P.M.:
T1. B. Horschel: -1 (36 holes)
T1. P. Mickelson: -1 (30)
T1. J. Rose (ENG): -1 (29)
T4. L. Donald (ENG): Even (36)
T4. N. Colsaerts (BEL): Even (31)
T4. S. Stricker: Even (30)
But Mickelson cannot get up and down from the bunker on 13, and he takes another bogey to fall to three over for the day and even par for the tournament.
ReplyDeleteHerschel and Rose are now alone at 1 under par.
All along™.
DeleteStricker turns the knife on his playing partner Phil Mickelson, rolling in a birdie on 13 to move into a tie for the lead at 1 under par.
ReplyDeleteWoods, McIlroy, and Els are now tied for 20th.
ReplyDeleteRose settles for par on 12, and remains at 1 under par.
ReplyDeleteAnd so now Mickelson and Stricker have reached the deadly stretch of holes 14-18. How they play these holes will make a big difference in what tomorrow looks like.
ReplyDeleteShaking off his bogeys on 12 and 13, Mickelson whacks a solid drive on 14.
ReplyDeleteGeopolitical watch: What to do about a flag for Cheng-Tsung Pan, the amateur from Taiwan who is currently one over par through 22 holes? The Taiwanese themselves use the old Republic of China flag used by Chaing-Kai Shek. China insists that Taiwan is a renegade province -- much like Virginia from 1861 to 1865 -- and they argue that Taiwan is not entitled to any flag associated with China. At the Olympics, Taiwan competes as "Chinese Taipei," and it is represented by a special Olympic flag. So here's what various folks have done.
ReplyDeleteOn the Google leaderboard, Mr. Pan is shown with no flag at all.
On ESPN, Mr. Pan is shown with the Olympic Chinese Taipei flag.
On the PGA's web page, Mr. Pan is shown with the old Republic of China flag.
McIlroy, Tiger, and Els are now tied for 18th.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Mr. Pan of the three flags birdies the fifth hole to move to even par for the tournament -- he's tied for fourth.
Unless someone can break par over the murderous stretch of holes from 14 to 18, the triumverate of Tiger, Rory, and Els will be no more than four shots out of the lead with 36 holes to play. My guess is that all three of them would have taken that this morning.
ReplyDeleteMickelson stops the bleeding with a par on 14. Sticker also pars 14 to remain in a tie for the lead.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, someone just described Poulter as a "grinder." My impression has always been that he's the opposite of that.
Rickie Fowler, who was even par when this round started, bogeys the 10th hole to fall to 5 over for the tournament. There is now a very good chance he will miss the cut.
ReplyDeleteStricker takes a three-putt bogey on 15 to fall out of a tie for the lead. He drops back to even par, one shot behind Horschel and Rose.
ReplyDeleteMickelson makes his par, and he is tied with Stricker at even par.
Woods, Els, and McIlroy are now tied for 16th.
ReplyDeleteColsaerts bogeys the 16th hole, and he drops to one over par.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Charlie Hoffman, who started on 11, has birdied holes and 1 and 2 to move to even par for the tournament -- and he's already played 14-18, so he could end up with a decent score.
And then Hoffman promptly bogeys the third hole to fall back to one over.
DeleteI really like late-evening golf. It always reminds me of the final holes on the original Mario Golf.
ReplyDeleteThey just had a commercial trying to convince women in rural America to subscribe to some type of satellite Internet. The commercial featured a happy homemaker who showed us how with this fast Internet, her son was able to do his homework, her daughter was able to download music, and she was able to upload photos from their vacation to a social network. In the middle of all this, we see the dad of the family, who is excited that fast Internet speeds allow him to dominate his fantasy football league.
ReplyDeleteHusbands, hey? Always messing around with those whacky "fantasy" sports.
Oh, I should point out that the Samurai are just absolutely dominating the Reeves this weekend in the HeathPostdotcom Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Golf league.
DeleteRose bogeys the 15th hole to fall out of the lead. He's at even par.
ReplyDeleteBilly Horschel, at one under par, now has the only red number left on the course.
My main man.
DeletePoulter rolls in a long birdie putt on 13, and he moves into the logjam at even par. There are now seven guys tied at even par.
ReplyDeleteI miscounted. There are only six guys at even par.
DeleteLeaderboard at 8 P.M.:
ReplyDelete1. B. Horschel: -1 (36 holes)
T2. L. Donald (ENG): Even (36)
T2. P. Mickelson: Even (34)
T2. S. Stricker: Even (34)
T2. J. Rose (ENG): Even (33)
T2. I. Poulter (ENG): Even (31)
T2. Mr. C. Pan (TAI): Even (25)
Colsaerts finishes with a 72 that leaves him at one over for the tournament.
ReplyDeleteOn the last, and most difficult hole, Phil Mickelson makes his only birdie of the day -- rolling in a long putt to finish with a 72 that leaves him in a tie for the lead at 1 under par.
ReplyDeleteTiger and Rory probably weren't too happy about that.
Stricker finishes with a par. He shoots 69 for the day and is at even par for the tournament, one shot behind Mickelson and Horschel.
ReplyDeleteRose pars the 18th hole, and he is in the clubhouse at even par.
ReplyDeletePlay has now been called for darkness. What a great day of golf!
OK, it appears that Danville's Josh Teater still has a chance to make the cut. Top 60 and ties would mean, at the moment, everyone at 7-over or better would make Round 3. Teater's Round 2 is complete at 8-over. Twelve golfers who still have holes to play in their second round are at 6- or 7-over; if we can get six of them to drift back to 8-over or better, Josh keeps playing.
ReplyDeleteHere are the dudes we need to see at least a couple of bogeys from down the stretch: Matt Weibring, Randall Hutchison, Kevin Phelan, Jaco Van Zyl, Simon Kahn and Sergio Garcia (all 6-over). And our single-bogey boys are Doug Labelle II, John Peterson, Freddie Jacobson, Martin Laird, Matteo Manassero and Stewart Cink (all 7-over).
Do it for Josh, fellas! Do it for Kentucky!
OK, wait ... it's even better ... apparently the PGATour.com scoreboard is not up to date (that's the end of the PGATour.com scoreboard for me this weekend). Per Yahoo!, we now need to get only TWO (2!) more of nine currently Round 2-playing golfers at 6- or 7-over to move back to 8-over to get eater in. Rickie Fowler is now one of the guys at 6-over, along with Garcia, Weibring and Phelan; John Hahn has joined Manassero, Laird, Peterson and Van Zyl still hanging on at 7-over.
ReplyDeleteAND NOW MANASSERO AND PETERSON HAVE GONE TO 8-OVER!
ReplyDeleteGolf.com still has Teater listed as tied for 61st, so, apparently, one of somebody actually got a birdie to move back up to 7-over. So we still need at least one more.
Sergio's playing No. 18 and remains 6-over; a double would do!
Well, Garcia parred out, so he was no help.
ReplyDeleteAnd there goes Fowler with a birdie on No. 17 to get to 5-under. Urgh!
ReplyDeleteDavid Lingmerth is playing No. 18. He's 6-over. Double, David?
ReplyDeleteARGH! Lingmerth birdied!
ReplyDeleteNow we've got Martin Laird coming up No. 18 at 6-over.
Golf.com says Teater remains tied for 61st.
Wait!
ReplyDeleteCustom Colour Golf @c_c_golf
Projected cut at +8, plenty of players we never thought were making the cut just have! #USopen2013 #Merion2013 #USopen
7:37 AM - 15 Jun 13
Could it be true?!?
Golf.com still says Josh and the other plus-8s remain tied for 61st? Did Martin Laird, in fact, double 18?
ReplyDeleteNo .. Laird bogeyed to finish at 7-over. Jaco Van Zyl bogeyed No. 15 to slip to 8-over, but that still is listed as a tie for 61st, per Golf.com. At this point, I think I'm erring on the side of caution and rolling with Golf.com and remaining hopeful that @c_c_golf snuck in a smartphone to Merion and is correct.
ReplyDeleteScott Stallings (6-over) is playing No. 18 ...
ReplyDeleteCONFIRMED! CONFIRMED!
ReplyDeleteMatt Weibring, closing his second round on the front nine of Merion, has bogeyed No. 5 and No. 6 to drop back to 8-over. This has reset the projected cut line to 8-over, and that means, for the moment, Josh Teater of Danville and Morehead State will be playing the remainder of the weekend!
ReplyDeleteNow we've got to worry about someone getting all plucky down the stretch here ... The plus-8s still playing are Weibring (through 14 holes), Khan (16), Van Zyl (16) and Nicholas Thompson (16). No one who is currently playing is at 9-over.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Brandon Brown finished at 12-over, so it's probably safe for him to go ahead and catch the next flight from Philadelphia to Shelbyville International.
OK, getting safer for our man Josh ... Van Zyl bogeyed to fall to 9-under, and now John Hahn and Ryan Nelson (both through 14 holes) are back to 8-under. Teater and the plus-8s are now tied for 57th, so we can even afford a birdie or two here.
ReplyDeleteMan, I'll tell you what, it's really great to see the old course stand up to these guys.
ReplyDeleteThis has been a lot of fun, but I'll have to say that I certainly hope Adam Scott and his putter didn't heed my advice and fly home to Australia last night. He's 7-over and now safely on to the third round.
ReplyDeleteOK, looking really solid now for Josh. He's tied for 57th, and only five golfers at 10-over or better are still out on the course for Round 2. Time to start a new thread ...
ReplyDelete