Here are some video clips from Friday’s round before they cut down the rough for the weekend.
John, Thanks for posting this.
About 1/3 into the video, Lucas Glover’s right foot slips. It look like he is not wearing metal spikes. I don’t have experience with metal spikes, and I am not sure if they would have helped him if the rough was so thick that his “spikes” could not grab and were separated from firmer ground by mush. Obviously, slipping can strain and tear the body and affect subsequent swings, both physically and psychologically and definitely tests the resourcefulness and psychological and physical resiliance of the golfer as they should be tested at championship level.
That is awesome! Thanks for posting as I missed thur/fri rds and could not find footage.
This is what a smaller golf course in Chicago I just played was like. Brutal rough would hurt your wrist trying to get out. I swear the pros are spoiled brats. They had to mow the rough because they were looking bad. Such bs. But then again it IS their livelihood, is it fair to miss a cut because course is brutally setup for just a normal PGA event? For a major YES it should be like this. But regular events should be able to have a decent shot at under par every day, with only you at fault if you don’t.
Personally I think the rough should be set up like that every week on tour. Par should be protected and respected. There should be no entitlement in golf. If there are 144 guys teeing off on Thursday… 60 of them are going to make the cut or whatever the # is these days… I think they let 70 guys play the weekend now. But the best players will rise to the top regardless of the conditions. Long grass is not going to hurt your wrist or body. I used to take out 10 x 10 patches of thick rough when I was working with Ben Doyle as a youth. Literally hundreds of swings.
The majors should be played on the best golf courses. The really great ones that were masterfully designed for tournament golf. Not stupid difficult, but strategically masterful, full of risk and reward and situations that will penalize careless decision making. The intellect should return to golf.
For the kind of money these guys are making, they should be under US Open type conditions every week. I played out of rough like that nearly every week in college and the major amateur circuit and was paid nothing but a few medals and trophies.
The pros should be expected to drive the ball into the fairway with excellent precision. They should be tested with all the clubs in their bag, and should be required to master the art of striking long irons… not hybrids designed for hackers. If they can’t do that, then there are plenty of jobs back home for them to employ with.
Touring professionals should all be great world class ball strikers, especially in this day and age with so much great information available studying the master players of the past and modern technology to assist.
When I was a kid, I remember when our course would host a professional event… sometimes just a Monday qualifying for a tour event… and the club took pride in the course, and grew the rough up… shaved the greens and we would watch the pros struggle on our golf course. Then they would leave the course like that for the members to play for a week so we could really appreciate how well the pros actually played our course under a proper tournament set up. Then it would go back to a members set up.
This 2011 Canadian Open was this years US Open… no doubt. They can call “The Congressional Classic” the US Open all they want… but they are not fooling me into believing that Rory Mc Ilroy can give Ben Hogan or Jack Nicklaus two shots a round over four days of US Open conditions, and that another 20 plus guys are going to shoot under par.
Had McIlroy played in Vancouver last week, he would have had his head handed to him on a platter by Sunday. I saw him make birdie from the rough countless times… so all that goes away… and if he knew he had to land the ball in the fairway off the tee or else he is simply going to have to hack it out to the fairway, he would not have had that relaxed free wheeling “swing for the fences” attitude going… while teeing up a frying pan. The smile would be gone, the tension would be on… and it would have been an entirely different tournament with real pressure from tee to green… not just some stroll in the park with no rough to penalize and trees that have been trimmed back to give even the most errant shot a chance at the green.
Rory played great golf on a typical PGA Tour layout, lapped the field and rightfully deserved the win by all means… but that was NOT as US Open test.
It would be nice to see the youth Hogan, Jack, Snead, Arnold and other greats of the past play against players of today. It would be so fun to watch. With today’s course those guys could probably score low in their sleep…