I had to brag somewhere since I have a small group of friends that would appreciate it, but since you asked I will oblige. It was on the first hole of the day. Drive went straight down the middle of the fairway. I had about 235 yards downhill with a center pin position. Hit my three-wood and it landed on the fringe of the green and skyrocketed towards the hole jamming into the pin and falling in. I couldn't believe that, a) it went straight after hitting the fringe at that velocity and b) said velocity still didn't prevent the ball from falling into the hole. I should have walked off the course and called it a day. As golf can only do, I shanked my next drive into the woods and double-bogeyed the hole. Whatever, I never thought I would get an albatross.
US Open has been fun today. Xander's start was atrocious, but he somehow recovered. He has faltered the last couple holes here. Rickie is not wavering so far. Rory is lurking. Scottie just holed out for an eagle. It's not your typical US Open Saturday filled with guys just praying to make par but that's okay.
Did not expect Scottie's ball striking to be the one aspect to let him down today. Wyndham's caddie is so good. Every interaction he is way more assertive than your typical caddie. Really good at instilling confidence in the decisions chosen. You can tell Wyndham relies on him quite a bit. I have a feeling he is going to have to rely on him to navigate the ship down the stretch as the nerves increase.
This might not come into play, but thankfully the USGA changed the playoff format to a two-hole aggregate playoff instead of the 18-hole format the next day that they used to have. Then again, they might run out of daylight if the playoff goes long.
Congrats to Wyndham. The best player this week won. Rory couldn't make a significant putt to save his life.
Some tidbits from over the weekend: -Didn't watch any of the Travelers when I saw how much of a birdie-fest it was. As Rory said, the technology has surpassed the course. However, after Scottie got another top five finish, this stat is not getting enough attention... -My sole focus this past weekend was devoted to the LPGA Championship. Baltustrol proved to be a worthy test and despite the crappy TV coverage it proved to be an entertaining major. A crowded leaderboard and Rose Zhang in the hunt created some fireworks, however, a younger and potential rival to Rose in Ruoning Ying came out on top, hitting her last 37 greens in regulation. It will be exciting to see the women go to Pebble Beach in a couple weeks for the US Open.
Did anyone watch this event? This group of players didn't do much for me so I did not check it out. There needs to be one or two pro players involved for me to get interested. I'm not sure what they can do with this event to get any excitement around it. Last year's match involving JT, Spieth, Rory and Tiger was cool but understand how it would not appeal to the masses. In an alternative world where this would be allowed and before the events earlier this month, a LIV-PGA matchup would have been quite cool. https://golfweek.usatoday.com/lists/inside-the-pga-tour-board-room-with-peter-malnati-liv-golf-pif/ Speaking of LIV and PGA, here is really good article on the current state of things. Kind of how I saw it unfolding, players are starting to warm to the idea of when they see how much money could be pumped in. However, there are a ton of things that need to be sorted out in a short amount of time. Throw all that into mix combined with the commissioner on medical leave and you have quite the uphill climb.
Nice chance to see Ludvig Aberg get some airtime on the broadcast this weekend. Both of these guys should be on their respective Ryder Cup squads. Rickie has been putting together a very good season.