St George’s course officials wear hard hats when Phil Mickelson plays through

Very entertaining read by UK writer Matthew Dunn about course officials dawning hard hats while Phil Mickelson plays through during practice rounds at Royal St. George’s Links. The whole article is here.

Wednesday July 13,2011

By Matthew Dunn

PHIL MICKELSON’S scattergun approach to links golf led to marshals being issued with hard hats to protect them from crossfire yesterday.

Strong crosswinds were affecting parts of the course and news reached the chief marshal’s hut that American Phil Mickelson was struggling more than most.

To such a degree, in fact, that his practice shots on the third hole – an exposed corner of the St George’s links – were drifting in the wind and peppering course officials. Even before the tournament this year, marshals were asked if they wanted head protection to wear while carrying out their duties along the fairways. However, nobody appears to have taken up that option.

When the officials on the third did take cover, it was only temporarily as the helmets were soon replaced by more familiar green caps once Mickelson had passed through.

Other players obviously do not pose the same threat.

You just have to love the UK media.

Final 2011 U.S. Open Leader Board

Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, June 20th, 2011
Categories: European Tour • PGA Tour • Pro Golf • U.S. OPEN
Tags: Phil Mickelson • Rory McIlroy • US OPEN

Final 2011 U.S. Open Leader Board
POS	Player	To Par	Sun	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Rory McIlroy	-16	-2	65	66	68	69	268
2	Jason Day	-8	-3	71	72	65	68	276
T3	Kevin Chappell	-6	-5	76	67	69	66	278
T3	Robert Garrigus	-6	-1	70	70	68	70	278
T3	Lee Westwood	-6	-1	75	68	65	70	278
T3	Y.E. Yang	-6	E	68	69	70	71	278
T7	Peter Hanson	-5	-4	72	71	69	67	279
T7	Sergio Garcia	-5	-1	69	71	69	70	279
T9	Charl Schwartzel	-4	-5	68	74	72	66	280
T9	Louis Oosthuizen	-4	-4	69	73	71	67	280
T11	Brandt Snedeker	-3	-2	70	70	72	69	281
T11	Davis Love III	-3	-1	70	71	70	70	281
T11	Heath Slocum	-3	-1	71	70	70	70	281
T14	Graeme McDowell	-2	-2	70	74	69	69	282
T14	Webb Simpson	-2	-1	75	71	66	70	282
T14	Matt Kuchar	-2	+2	72	68	69	73	282
T14	Fredrik Jacobson	-2	+2	74	69	66	73	282
T14	Bo Van Pelt	-2	E	76	67	68	71	282
T19	Johan Edfors	-1	-4	70	72	74	67	283
T19	Steve Stricker	-1	-1	75	69	69	70	283
T21	Ryan Palmer	E	-1	69	72	73	70	284
T21	Patrick Cantlay (a)	E	+1	75	67	70	72	284
T23	Robert Rock	+1	-3	70	71	76	68	285
T23	Gary Woodland	+1	-3	73	71	73	68	285
T23	Retief Goosen	+1	-3	73	73	71	68	285
T23	Dustin Johnson	+1	-1	75	71	69	70	285
T23	Bill Haas	+1	E	73	73	68	71	285
T23	Brandt Jobe	+1	+3	71	70	70	74	285
T23	Henrik Stenson	+1	+3	70	72	69	74	285
T30	Ryo Ishikawa	+2	-3	74	70	74	68	286
T30	Gregory Havret	+2	-2	77	69	71	69	286
T30	Seung-yul Noh	+2	E	72	70	73	71	286
T30	Rory Sabbatini	+2	E	72	73	70	71	286
T30	John Senden	+2	+1	70	72	72	72	286
T30	Do-Hoon Kim	+2	+1	73	71	70	72	286
T30	Harrison Frazar	+2	+2	72	73	68	73	286
T30	Zach Johnson	+2	+3	71	69	72	74	286
T30	Kyung-tae Kim	+2	+5	69	72	69	76	286
T39	Adam Hadwin	+3	-3	75	71	73	68	287
T39	Martin Kaymer	+3	E	74	70	72	71	287
T39	Sunghoon Kang	+3	E	74	72	70	71	287
T42	Sang-Moon Bae	+4	-4	75	71	75	67	288
T42	Lucas Glover	+4	-1	76	69	73	70	288
T42	Russell Henley (a)	+4	+4	73	69	71	75	288
T45	Charley Hoffman	+5	-2	71	74	75	69	289
T45	Luke Donald	+5	-2	74	72	74	69	289
T45	Michael Putnam	+5	E	74	71	73	71	289
T45	Chez Reavie	+5	+1	70	75	72	72	289
T45	Robert Karlsson	+5	+1	79	67	71	72	289
T45	Padraig Harrington	+5	+2	71	73	72	73	289
T51	Scott Piercy	+6	-1	73	71	76	70	290
T51	Alexander Noren	+6	+3	75	67	74	74	290
T51	Marc Leishman	+6	+5	73	69	72	76	290
T54	J.J. Henry	+7	-1	72	73	76	70	291
T54	Anthony Kim	+7	-1	74	72	75	70	291
T54	Phil Mickelson	+7	E	74	69	77	71	291
T54	Matteo Manassero	+7	+1	74	72	73	72	291
T54	Edoardo Molinari	+7	+2	74	70	74	73	291
T54	Alvaro Quiros	+7	+7	70	71	72	78	291
T60	Todd Hamilton	+8	-1	73	72	77	70	292
T60	Justin Hicks	+8	E	74	71	76	71	292
T60	Marcel Siem	+8	+2	79	66	74	73	292
T63	Bubba Watson	+9	+2	71	75	74	73	293
T63	Brian Gay	+9	+4	73	71	74	75	293
T63	Jeff Overton	+9	+4	72	72	74	75	293
T63	William Cauley	+9	+5	71	72	74	76	293
67	Kevin Streelman	+11	+4	73	73	74	75	295
T68	Alexandre Rocha	+13	+5	69	76	76	76	297
T68	Christo Greyling	+13	+5	72	74	75	76	297
T68	Kenichi Kuboya	+13	+6	73	73	74	77	297
71	Wes Heffernan	+19	+7	75	71	79	78	303
72	Brad Benjamin (a)	+21	+9	72	73	80	80	305
CUT	Chad Campbell	+5	–	76	71	–	–	147
CUT	Paul Casey	+5	–	73	74	–	–	147
CUT	Stewart Cink	+5	–	70	77	–	–	147
CUT	Christopher DeForest	+5	–	71	76	–	–	147
CUT	John Ellis	+5	–	74	73	–	–	147
CUT	Rickie Fowler	+5	–	74	73	–	–	147
CUT	Stephen Gallacher	+5	–	73	74	–	–	147
CUT	Scott Hend	+5	–	69	78	–	–	147
CUT	Jesse Hutchins	+5	–	76	71	–	–	147
CUT	Martin Laird	+5	–	73	74	–	–	147
CUT	Hunter Mahan	+5	–	74	73	–	–	147
CUT	David May	+5	–	71	76	–	–	147
CUT	Nick O’Hern	+5	–	77	70	–	–	147
CUT	Justin Rose	+5	–	74	73	–	–	147
CUT	Adam Scott	+5	–	74	73	–	–	147
CUT	Aaron Baddeley	+6	–	71	77	–	–	148
CUT	Ben Crane	+6	–	77	71	–	–	148
CUT	Ernie Els	+6	–	73	75	–	–	148
CUT	Elliot Gealy	+6	–	77	71	–	–	148
CUT	Shane Lowry	+6	–	72	76	–	–	148
CUT	Ian Poulter	+6	–	75	73	–	–	148
CUT	Nick Watney	+6	–	75	73	–	–	148
CUT	Mark Wilson	+6	–	78	70	–	–	148
CUT	Briny Baird	+7	–	75	74	–	–	149
CUT	Bennett Blakeman (a)	+7	–	76	73	–	–	149
CUT	Alex Cejka	+7	–	75	74	–	–	149
CUT	Greg Chalmers	+7	–	76	73	–	–	149
CUT	Jason Dufner	+7	–	75	74	–	–	149
CUT	Jim Furyk	+7	–	74	75	–	–	149
CUT	Andres Gonzales	+7	–	79	70	–	–	149
CUT	Trevor Immelman	+7	–	75	74	–	–	149
CUT	Jon Mills	+7	–	76	73	–	–	149
CUT	Francesco Molinari	+7	–	75	74	–	–	149
CUT	D.A. Points	+7	–	74	75	–	–	149
CUT	Sam Saunders	+7	–	74	75	–	–	149
CUT	Michael Tobiason Jr.	+7	–	75	74	–	–	149
CUT	David Toms	+7	–	74	75	–	–	149
CUT	Marc Turnesa	+7	–	76	73	–	–	149
CUT	Camilo Villegas	+7	–	77	72	–	–	149
CUT	Chris Williams (a)	+7	–	76	73	–	–	149
CUT	Scott Barr	+8	–	75	75	–	–	150
CUT	Angel Cabrera	+8	–	71	79	–	–	150
CUT	K.J. Choi	+8	–	77	73	–	–	150
CUT	Nicholas Colsaerts	+8	–	76	74	–	–	150
CUT	Matthew Edwards	+8	–	75	75	–	–	150
CUT	Fred Funk	+8	–	75	75	–	–	150
CUT	Miguel A. Jimenez	+8	–	77	73	–	–	150
CUT	Ryan Moore	+8	–	73	77	–	–	150
CUT	Peter Uihlein (a)	+8	–	72	78	–	–	150
CUT	Robert Allenby	+9	–	73	78	–	–	151
CUT	Bubba Dickerson	+9	–	70	81	–	–	151
CUT	Joey Lamielle	+9	–	76	75	–	–	151
CUT	Thomas Levet	+9	–	75	76	–	–	151
CUT	Geoff Ogilvy	+9	–	75	76	–	–	151
CUT	Kirk Triplett	+9	–	76	75	–	–	151
CUT	Jonathan Byrd	+10	–	75	77	–	–	152
CUT	Zach Byrd	+10	–	77	75	–	–	152
CUT	Michael Campbell	+10	–	75	77	–	–	152
CUT	Robert Dinwiddie	+10	–	78	74	–	–	152
CUT	Hiroyuki Fujita	+10	–	79	73	–	–	152
CUT	David Howell	+10	–	78	74	–	–	152
CUT	Cheng-Tsung Pan (a)	+10	–	74	78	–	–	152
CUT	Michael Smith	+10	–	76	76	–	–	152
CUT	Michael Whitehead	+10	–	77	75	–	–	152
CUT	Chris Wilson	+10	–	74	78	–	–	152
CUT	Brad Adamonis	+11	–	77	76	–	–	153
CUT	Beau Hossler (a)	+11	–	76	77	–	–	153
CUT	Dae-Hyun Kim	+11	–	79	74	–	–	153
CUT	Maarten Lafeber	+11	–	79	74	–	–	153
CUT	Brian Locke	+11	–	75	78	–	–	153
CUT	Adam Long	+11	–	76	77	–	–	153
CUT	Ryan Nelson	+11	–	75	78	–	–	153
CUT	Andreas Harto	+12	–	78	76	–	–	154
CUT	Scott Pinckney (a)	+12	–	79	75	–	–	154
CUT	Will Wilcox	+12	–	79	75	–	–	154
CUT	Steve Irwin (a)	+13	–	78	77	–	–	155
CUT	Kevin Na	+13	–	80	75	–	–	155
CUT	Brett Patterson (a)	+13	–	77	78	–	–	155
CUT	Geoffery Sisk	+13	–	77	78	–	–	155
CUT	David Chung (a)	+15	–	82	75	–	–	157
CUT	Ty Tryon	+15	–	84	73	–	–	157
CUT	Matthew Richardson	+16	–	77	81	–	–	158
CUT	Michael Barbosa (a)	+24	–	83	83	–	–	166
WD	Tim Petrovic	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

2011 U.S. Open – Who made it and who missed the cut

Written by: Tony Korologos | Saturday, June 18th, 2011
Categories: PGA Tour • Pro Golf • U.S. OPEN
Tags: Phil Mickelson • Rory McIlroy • US OPEN

Below is the U.S. Open leaderboard table following round two.

POS		PLAYER NAME: FIRST \| LAST	TOTAL	THRU	TODAY	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
POS		PLAYER NAME: FIRST \| LAST	SCORING TO PAR			ROUNDS				TOTAL
1	–	Rory McIlroy	-11	F	-5	65	66	–	–	131
2	–	Y.E. Yang	-5	F	-2	68	69	–	–	137
T3	7	Robert Garrigus	-2	F	-1	70	70	–	–	140
T3	1	Sergio Garcia	-2	F	E	69	71	–	–	140
T3	19	Zach Johnson	-2	F	-2	71	69	–	–	140
T3	7	Brandt Snedeker	-2	F	-1	70	70	–	–	140
T3	31	Matt Kuchar	-2	F	-3	72	68	–	–	140
T8	4	Kyung-tae Kim	-1	F	+1	69	72	–	–	141
T8	2	Alvaro Quiros	-1	F	E	70	71	–	–	141
T8	2	Robert Rock	-1	F	E	70	71	–	–	141
T8	14	Heath Slocum	-1	F	-1	71	70	–	–	141
T8	2	Davis Love III	-1	F	E	70	71	–	–	141
T8	4	Ryan Palmer	-1	F	+1	69	72	–	–	141
T8	14	Brandt Jobe	-1	F	-1	71	70	–	–	141
T15	69	Patrick Cantlay (a)	E	F	-4	75	67	–	–	142
T15	5	John Senden	E	F	+1	70	72	–	–	142
T15	19	Seung-yul Noh	E	F	-1	72	70	–	–	142
T15	13	Charl Schwartzel	E	F	+3	68	74	–	–	142
T15	69	Alexander Noren	E	F	-4	75	67	–	–	142
T15	30	Marc Leishman	E	F	-2	73	69	–	–	142
T15	30	Russell Henley (a)	E	F	-2	73	69	–	–	142
T15	11	Louis Oosthuizen	E	F	+2	69	73	–	–	142
T15	5	Johan Edfors	E	F	+1	70	72	–	–	142
T15	5	Henrik Stenson	E	F	+1	70	72	–	–	142
T25	86	Bo Van Pelt	+1	F	-4	76	67	–	–	143
T25	9	Peter Hanson	+1	F	E	72	71	–	–	143
T25	37	Phil Mickelson	+1	F	-2	74	69	–	–	143
T25	86	Kevin Chappell	+1	F	-4	76	67	–	–	143
T25	37	Fredrik Jacobson	+1	F	-2	74	69	–	–	143
T25	59	Lee Westwood	+1	F	-3	75	68	–	–	143
T25	3	Jason Day	+1	F	+1	71	72	–	–	143
T25	3	William Cauley	+1	F	+1	71	72	–	–	143
T33	51	Steve Stricker	+2	F	-2	75	69	–	–	144
T33	29	Edoardo Molinari	+2	F	-1	74	70	–	–	144
T33	12	Do-Hoon Kim	+2	F	E	73	71	–	–	144
T33	12	Brian Gay	+2	F	E	73	71	–	–	144
T33	11	Padraig Harrington	+2	F	+2	71	73	–	–	144
T33	29	Ryo Ishikawa	+2	F	-1	74	70	–	–	144
T33	23	Graeme McDowell	+2	F	+3	70	74	–	–	144
T33	29	Martin Kaymer	+2	F	-1	74	70	–	–	144
T33	1	Jeff Overton	+2	F	+1	72	72	–	–	144
T33	12	Scott Piercy	+2	F	E	73	71	–	–	144
T33	12	Gary Woodland	+2	F	E	73	71	–	–	144
T44	40	Alexandre Rocha	+3	F	+5	69	76	–	–	145
T44	18	Michael Putnam	+3	F	E	74	71	–	–	145
T44	1	Todd Hamilton	+3	F	+1	73	72	–	–	145
T44	67	Lucas Glover	+3	F	-2	76	69	–	–	145
T44	10	Rory Sabbatini	+3	F	+2	72	73	–	–	145
T44	22	Charley Hoffman	+3	F	+3	71	74	–	–	145
T44	10	Harrison Frazar	+3	F	+2	72	73	–	–	145
T44	34	Chez Reavie	+3	F	+4	70	75	–	–	145
T44	18	Justin Hicks	+3	F	E	74	71	–	–	145
T44	101	Marcel Siem	+3	F	-5	79	66	–	–	145
T44	10	J.J. Henry	+3	F	+2	72	73	–	–	145
T44	10	Brad Benjamin (a)	+3	F	+2	72	73	–	–	145
T56	11	Retief Goosen	+4	F	+2	73	73	–	–	146
T56	28	Dustin Johnson	+4	F	E	75	71	–	–	146
T56	6	Matteo Manassero	+4	F	+1	74	72	–	–	146
T56	11	Kenichi Kuboya	+4	F	+2	73	73	–	–	146
T56	28	Sang-Moon Bae	+4	F	E	75	71	–	–	146
T56	28	Wes Heffernan	+4	F	E	75	71	–	–	146
T56	6	Sunghoon Kang	+4	F	+1	74	72	–	–	146
T56	71	Gregory Havret	+4	F	-2	77	69	–	–	146
T56	11	Kevin Streelman	+4	F	+2	73	73	–	–	146
T56	6	Anthony Kim	+4	F	+1	74	72	–	–	146
T56	6	Luke Donald	+4	F	+1	74	72	–	–	146
T56	11	Bill Haas	+4	F	+2	73	73	–	–	146
T56	28	Webb Simpson	+4	F	E	75	71	–	–	146
T56	89	Robert Karlsson	+4	F	-4	79	67	–	–	146
T56	34	Bubba Watson	+4	F	+4	71	75	–	–	146
T56	22	Christo Greyling	+4	F	+3	72	74	–	–	146
T56	28	Adam Hadwin	+4	F	E	75	71	–	–	146
T56	6	John Ellis	+4	17	+1	74	–	–	–	74
T56	55	Jesse Hutchins	+4	17*	-1	76	–	–	–	76
Cut – lowest 60 scores and ties, plus those within 10 strokes of leader
T75	71	Scott Hend	+5	F	+7	69	78	–	–	147
T75	30	Stephen Gallacher	+5	F	+3	73	74	–	–	147
T75	30	Martin Laird	+5	F	+3	73	74	–	–	147
T75	13	Rickie Fowler	+5	F	+2	74	73	–	–	147
T75	13	Hunter Mahan	+5	F	+2	74	73	–	–	147
T75	53	Christopher DeForest	+5	F	+5	71	76	–	–	147
T75	53	David May	+5	F	+5	71	76	–	–	147
T75	36	Chad Campbell	+5	F	E	76	71	–	–	147
T75	30	Paul Casey	+5	F	+3	73	74	–	–	147
T75	65	Stewart Cink	+5	F	+6	70	77	–	–	147
T75	13	Justin Rose	+5	F	+2	74	73	–	–	147
T75	13	Adam Scott	+5	F	+2	74	73	–	–	147
T75	52	Nick O’Hern	+5	F	-1	77	70	–	–	147
T88	39	Ben Crane	+6	F	E	77	71	–	–	148
T88	52	Mark Wilson	+6	F	-1	78	70	–	–	148
T88	4	Ian Poulter	+6	F	+2	75	73	–	–	148
T88	4	Nick Watney	+6	F	+2	75	73	–	–	148
T88	66	Aaron Baddeley	+6	F	+6	71	77	–	–	148
T88	39	Elliot Gealy	+6	F	E	77	71	–	–	148
T88	54	Shane Lowry	+6	F	+5	72	76	–	–	148
T88	43	Ernie Els	+6	F	+4	73	75	–	–	148
T96	49	Andres Gonzales	+7	F	-1	79	70	–	–	149
T96	12	Jason Dufner	+7	F	+3	75	74	–	–	149
T96	34	David Toms	+7	F	+4	74	75	–	–	149
T96	12	Francesco Molinari	+7	F	+3	75	74	–	–	149
T96	12	Trevor Immelman	+7	F	+3	75	74	–	–	149
T96	31	Camilo Villegas	+7	F	+1	77	72	–	–	149
T96	12	Briny Baird	+7	F	+3	75	74	–	–	149
T96	15	Jon Mills	+7	F	+2	76	73	–	–	149
T96	15	Bennett Blakeman (a)	+7	F	+2	76	73	–	–	149
T96	15	Chris Williams (a)	+7	F	+2	76	73	–	–	149
T96	15	Marc Turnesa	+7	F	+2	76	73	–	–	149
T96	15	Greg Chalmers	+7	F	+2	76	73	–	–	149
T96	12	Alex Cejka	+7	F	+3	75	74	–	–	149
T96	34	Jim Furyk	+7	F	+4	74	75	–	–	149
T96	34	Sam Saunders	+7	F	+4	74	75	–	–	149
T96	34	D.A. Points	+7	F	+4	74	75	–	–	149
T96	12	Michael Tobiason Jr.	+7	17*	+3	75	–	–	–	75
T113	29	Scott Barr	+8	F	+4	75	75	–	–	150
T113	14	Miguel A. Jimenez	+8	F	+2	77	73	–	–	150
T113	68	Ryan Moore	+8	F	+6	73	77	–	–	150
T113	2	Nicholas Colsaerts	+8	F	+3	76	74	–	–	150
T113	29	Fred Funk	+8	F	+4	75	75	–	–	150
T113	91	Angel Cabrera	+8	F	+8	71	79	–	–	150
T113	14	K.J. Choi	+8	F	+2	77	73	–	–	150
T113	79	Peter Uihlein (a)	+8	F	+7	72	78	–	–	150
T113	29	Matthew Edwards	+8	F	+4	75	75	–	–	150
T122	112	Bubba Dickerson	+9	F	+10	70	81	–	–	151
T122	38	Geoff Ogilvy	+9	F	+5	75	76	–	–	151
T122	77	Robert Allenby	+9	F	+7	73	78	–	–	151
T122	11	Kirk Triplett	+9	F	+4	76	75	–	–	151
T122	38	Thomas Levet	+9	F	+5	75	76	–	–	151
T122	11	Joey Lamielle	+9	F	+4	76	75	–	–	151
T128	12	Robert Dinwiddie	+10	F	+3	78	74	–	–	152
T128	66	Cheng-Tsung Pan (a)	+10	F	+7	74	78	–	–	152
T128	17	Hiroyuki Fujita	+10	F	+2	79	73	–	–	152
T128	12	David Howell	+10	F	+3	78	74	–	–	152
T128	66	Chris Wilson	+10	F	+7	74	78	–	–	152
T128	44	Michael Campbell	+10	F	+6	75	77	–	–	152
T128	44	Jonathan Byrd	+10	F	+6	75	77	–	–	152
T128	1	Zach Byrd	+10	F	+4	77	75	–	–	152
T128	17	Michael Smith	+10	F	+5	76	76	–	–	152
T128	1	Michael Whitehead	+10	17	+4	77	–	–	–	77
T138	7	Maarten Lafeber	+11	F	+3	79	74	–	–	153
T138	54	Brian Locke	+11	F	+7	75	78	–	–	153
T138	54	Ryan Nelson	+11	F	+7	75	78	–	–	153
T138	27	Beau Hossler (a)	+11	F	+6	76	77	–	–	153
T138	7	Dae-Hyun Kim	+11	F	+3	79	74	–	–	153
T138	11	Brad Adamonis	+11	F	+5	77	76	–	–	153
T138	27	Adam Long	+11	F	+6	76	77	–	–	153
T145	5	Andreas Harto	+12	F	+5	78	76	–	–	154
T145	–	Scott Pinckney (a)	+12	F	+4	79	75	–	–	154
T145	–	Will Wilcox	+12	17	+4	79	–	–	–	79
T148	21	Geoffery Sisk	+13	F	+7	77	78	–	–	155
T148	5	Kevin Na	+13	F	+4	80	75	–	–	155
T148	8	Steve Irwin (a)	+13	F	+6	78	77	–	–	155
T148	21	Brett Patterson (a)	+13	F	+7	77	78	–	–	155
T152	4	Ty Tryon	+15	F	+2	84	73	–	–	157
T152	2	David Chung (a)	+15	F	+4	82	75	–	–	157
154	27	Matthew Richardson	+16	F	+10	77	81	–	–	158
155	–	Michael Barbosa (a)	+24	F	+12	83	83	–	–	166
WD	–	Tim Petrovic	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

U.S. Open round two has begun. Think I know Rory McIlroy’s plan now.

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, June 17th, 2011
Categories: European Tour • PGA Tour • Pro Golf • U.S. OPEN
Tags: Phil Mickelson • Rory McIlroy • US OPEN

Thankfully I’m able to tune into DirecTv for the “U.S. Open Mix” where I can select one of several channels to view. I turned off the crappy ESPN feed with the awful Chris Berman announcing and tuned into channel 703 which is the featured group of Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. If you have DirecTv, tune to channel 701 for the mix.

McIlroy’s Plan?

Rory McIlroy this morning has made birdie on holes #4 and #6. But the big fireworks happened on #8 where he holed out from 113 yards for eagle. Through hole #8 Rory is -4 on the day and -10 for the Open, a SEVEN shot lead.

Apparently Rory’s plan is to run away and hide from the field, sort of like Tiger Woods years back at Pebble. If he builds up a big enough lead, he can insure that a nervous Sunday round won’t hurt him too much I suppose.

Front Nine Done

The featured group is now done with the Friday front nine. Phil Mickelson is playing much better today, shooting -3 on the front. Mcilroy ends up -4 on the front and sits at -10 with the tougher back nine to go.

Note: Rory’s ascension to double digits under par in 26 holes is the fastest in U.S. Open history.

2011 U.S. Open Round One Thoughts

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, June 16th, 2011
Categories: Golf • PGA Tour • Pro Golf • U.S. OPEN
Tags: Phil Mickelson • Rory McIlroy • US OPEN

Round one of the 2011 U.S. Open is completed. Today’s competition had many interesting story lines and I won’t be able to address all of them.

Rory McIlroy

The biggest storyline is obviously Rory McIlroy, my pick to win by the way. I have the tweet to prove it. I watched Rory’s entire round today. His first swing, on hole #10, was pure and the ball flew right over the flag stick on that par-3. Despite watching the struggles of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, McIlroy dropped a 65. The nearest two competitors are Y.E. Yang and Charl Schwartzel, both with 68’s.

“Everything felt pretty good out there today and hopefully I can just keep it going out there tomorrow.” ~Rory McIlroy on his round today

“If you keep putting yourself there, sooner or later its going to happen for you.” ~Rory McIlroy on finishing off a major championship

I’ve enjoyed watching McIlroy play the last couple of years. Today I was watching his swing closely and at this point I’d have to say that there’s no better swing in the game right now, except for mine of course. I love watching his balance.

Statistically Rory was incredible today. He missed ONE green in a U.S. Open, and that particular one he got up and down for par. No bogeys in an Open.

Phil Mickelson

Phil started out on #10 with Rory as part of the featured group which also included Dustin Johnson. Phil’s tee shot ended up finding the drink short of the par-3, and he would record a double bogey on his first hole. He was spraying his 2-iron all over the course, spending a lot of time at what my buddies and I would call “the salad bar,” the deep stuff. At one point I thought Phil might shoot himself right out of the tournament as he hit a driver out of the rough with a tree in his back swing. Instead, Phil stayed in the pack turning in a round which looked like an 83 but was only a +3 74.

Dustin Johnson

Dustin Johnson found TWO hazards on his 2nd hole, carding a triple bogey just like his 2nd hole last year in the final round at Pebble’s U.S. Open. Aside from that hole, Dustin’s round was solid and he only added one more stroke over par to finish at a +4 75.

Robert Rock Rocks!

Who the heck is Robert Rock? He doesn’t even have a bio photo on his profile page of the PGA Tour’s Major Championship site. This English player had issues with his visa and had been working on getting that taken care of once he’d qualified for the U.S. Open two weeks prior. In order to expedite the process and get all the legal issues taken care of to travel to the USA for the Open, he had to fork out about $16,000. Then he rolls into Newark NJ last night very late, hiring a car to take him to Bethesda, Maryland. The hired car was $1000.

Rock proceeded to play some great golf having never seen Congressional Country Club in person. His fatigued and inexperienced round of -1 70 was very impressive.

My prediction on twitter this morning

I want to call it an international player. Love to see McIlroy. My top USA picks would be Nick Watney or Kuchar.

Other Story Lines

There are so many other story lines, like the condition of the course. David Feherty said in the post round TGC broadcast that the greens were bad. Paraphrasing. Keep in mind that U.S. Open greens are typically dry and hard. Casual fans who only watch majors will be wondering why the course isn’t pretty and perfectly green like Augusta and the Masters.

I’ve got to stop. So much more to talk about, and it is only the first round. Can’t wait to see what unfolds tomorrow.

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