From: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#1]
4 Jun 2018
To: ALL
Always amazed at the US Open Sectional the day after the Memorial:
http://www.usopen.com/qualifying/sectional/columbus0.html#!&tab=results
One am managed to get in there. The names that miss can make up a good part of the field for an off event .
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From: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#2]
4 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#1] 4 Jun 2018
Jeez, the Tennessee Sectional was no walk in the park either:
http://www.usopen.com/qualifying/sectional/tennessee.html#!&tab=results
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From: geddlemon [#3]
5 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#2] 5 Jun 2018
I dunno, the kid from my club (Burns) I've been telling ya'll about did quite well in Tennessee. Another kid from my club (Barbaree) qualified as an am in the Texas event. Two more LSU players also qualified, Geaux Tigers.Reply
From: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#4]
5 Jun 2018
To: geddlemon [#3] 5 Jun 2018
I dunno
"I dunno"?? Check out the sectional summaries not just for who qualified, but who did NOT qualify: http://www.usopen.com/2018/articles/sectional-qualifying-roundup.html
Kudos to Burns for medalist at Tennessee as that was a tough group. You definitely need your A game to get through these.
Cool story for me is Garret Rank the co-medalist at Roswell, Ga. The guy is a full time NHL ref (obviously not part of the Stanley Cup final crew but did officiate 3 playoff games this year). Played Canadian University golf at my alma mater (University of Waterloo) which is probably Div III equivalent at best. The guy had testicular cancer back in 2011 and ended up taking the ref job instead of continuing to pursue golf but has managed to keep working on his game on the side.Reply
From: jumbogrip [#5]
5 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#4] 5 Jun 2018
Cool story about the ref. I would love to see him get in a rules spat. NHL ref...dropping the golf glove...hope he does well.Reply
From: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#6]
5 Jun 2018
To: jumbogrip [#5] 5 Jun 2018
Cool story about the ref. I would love to see him get in a rules spat. NHL ref...dropping the golf glove...hope he does well.
lol. Actually the refs (now 2 in the NHL) typically don't get in the middle of the fights - that is the linesmen job. The refs dole out the penalties after the dust has settled. He has a good story about the first tough call he had to make in the NHL in his first game. I think he waved off a goal due to goaltender interference (or something to that effect) and it was overturned on a coaches challenge. He was thinking "great, first big call and I blow it!"
It will be interesting how he holds up on a USOpen setup. He played very well for the first few rounds at the Canadian Open a couple of years ago but slipped a bit in the last round. Still amazing for a guy with a full time job.Reply
From: jumbogrip [#7]
5 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#6] 5 Jun 2018
The course he qualified at must be tough or was playing tough if -2 was the medalist. Lots of pros were way over par.
I played against Dan O'Halloran (NHL referee) in a member-guest tournament a few years ago. He was a pretty strong player, but nowhere near US Open good,
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From: Rubinator [#8]
5 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#1] 5 Jun 2018
That kid's dad is a friend of mine. What a tough field.Reply
From: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#9]
5 Jun 2018
To: jumbogrip [#7] 5 Jun 2018
I played against Dan O'Halloran (NHL referee) in a member-guest tournament a few years ago. He was a pretty strong player, but nowhere near US Open good,
Hockey players tend to be good golfers. Canadians play hockey in the winter and golf in the summer, and the good/big players hit the ball a mile. Also why we have the largest percentage of lefties (something I even see in junior girls golf here).
But as you mentioned there is a big difference between a good low single digit player and someone capable of anything close to a USOpen/PGA caliber.Reply
From: Anser (ANSERMAN) [#10]
5 Jun 2018
To: ALL
Local player, and a kid I watched grow up, Patrick Rodgers, made the field and we will be there walking 1-18 with his folks!Reply
From: RoxRedGlare [#11]
5 Jun 2018
To: geddlemon [#3] 6 Jun 2018
I dunno, the kid from my club (Burns) I've been telling ya'll about did quite well in Tennessee. Another kid from my club (Barbaree) qualified as an am in the Texas event. Two more LSU players also qualified, Geaux Tigers.
Burns shot 62 at Ridgeway which is golfing your ball anywhere.
What surprises me is how many 66's and 67's there were at Colonial South. I've played that course 3 times and it's a beast.
Rating of 77.2 and Slope 148 from the big boy tees.
They must have had some mild pin positions!Reply
From: Chris_MA (CHRIS_NH) [#12]
6 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#4] 6 Jun 2018
They had him on as a guest yesterday on PGA Tour radio on Sirius XM.Reply
From: thetwin [#13]
6 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#1] 6 Jun 2018
At the most recent Wells Fargo Championship we watched Stewart Cink's group hit their approach shots and putt on the 6th green.
I leaned over and whispered - WHISPERED that is - to my companion 'Do you recall the time Tom Watson almost won the Open Championship at an advanced age? There's the man who beat him and inadvertently became a villain of sorts.'
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a tall, slim, dark-haired lady leaning against the TV tower, busily texting on her phone. I pulled my own phone out (despite my intention not to use it) and did a quick search for Cink's wife. At that moment, the dark-haired gal began walking over to the next tee box to follow her husband...Stewart Cink.
I don't know what this proves apart from I recently saw Cink competing and that I was greatly relieved I had been discreet.
Reply
From: thetwin [#14]
6 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#2] 6 Jun 2018
Goose! Ouch.
His exemption is over, of course.
The US Open site is very well-designed in terms of listing the criteria, the players affected and flipping the scheme to show the players and their qualification categories.
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From: Arch (TNGOLFER8) [#15]
6 Jun 2018
To: RoxRedGlare [#11] 6 Jun 2018
I thought the same thing about Colonial. Low scores for that course from those tees.Reply
From: Anser (ANSERMAN) [#16]
6 Jun 2018
To: thetwin [#13] 6 Jun 2018
I think you considerably overplay that
The only people who had some romantic notion about Watson winning are old guys
The avg 30 year old has no idea who either of them was or is
Reply
From: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#17]
6 Jun 2018
To: thetwin [#13] 6 Jun 2018
Reminds me of a time at the President's Cup in 2007 at Montreal. Saturday morning and I think only one match got to 18, so there was literally nobody there. My buddy and I followed that Immelman/Sabbatini and Stricker/Mahan foursome match to the last hole. Immelman/Sabbatini were 1 down and Stricker/Mahan had got their 2nd shot onto the green, probably a 20 footer for bird. Immelman had hit their approach about 5-10 yards short leaving an uphill chip to a front-ish pin but had some green to work with. I say to my buddy "that is not too bad of chip, typical sand wedge low hop and stop job, actually has a chance to sink it". As I said, few fans were there, basically just us and a few hot women, one of which I was fairly certain was Sabbatini's wife, and she was not too far from us. Then Sabbatini pulls out the lob wedge and starts practicing a flop shot off the tight lie. I say to my buddy is a semi-whisper "WTF? No need for a flop, he has a better chance with the stock chip. What is he doing?". The players could not hear us but I think his wife could as she shot me a bit of a look. Sure enough Sabbatini duffs the thing like a hack and the match is over. My buddy looks at me and starts laughing and I just shrug my shoulders repeating "I don't get that shot choice at all". At that point the wife just throws eye daggers at us and storms off.Reply
From: thetwin [#18]
6 Jun 2018
To: Anser (ANSERMAN) [#16] 6 Jun 2018
Well then there certainly seemed to be a demographics-defying surfeit of old guys in full throat at the course that week - unless, just maybe, those were women and youngsters cheering along as well. My level of interest regarding the thoughts of the 'average 30 year old' (whoever he is) hovers somewhere near zero but he has a spokesman. Which is nice.
Romantic notion? He took the winner to a playoff. At age 59.
Reply
From: thetwin [#19]
6 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#17] 6 Jun 2018
Around the 18th hole it's a bit easier to identify them - Titanic-caliber icebergs on the left ring finger and walking precariously on steep grassy slopes in vertiginous high heels!Reply
From: Hook DeLoft (CROUSE99) [#20]
6 Jun 2018
To: YippyDriver (BYERXA) [#2] 6 Jun 2018
I see Lanto Griffin made it through the Tennessee qualifier. I had never heard of him before reading an article about him in the new Golf Digest. Sounds like a kid I would root for.Reply
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