Craziness at the US Amateur

[mcpapa]

Player A and Player B are tied through 17 holes.  Both are near the 18th green playing their third shots.  Player A is in a greenside bunker.  While he’s standing next to the bunker figuring out where to land his shot, his caddie jumps into the bunker and tests the sand with his finger.  Loss of hole, Player B wins the match. 

I’ve watched a whole lot of golf in my time and I’ve never seen anything remotely like that.  

[nkypete]

That caddie better be a real good friend of the player or he'll be hitting the bricks real soon.

I saw the video live.  The camera high up at that hole caught the caddie lying to the rules official about what he did.

[The Professor]

This US Amateur tournament is being played on a goat ranch of a course in Oregon. Terrible course! Can’t believe they’re having an elite tournament there. Almost as bad as Chamber’s Bay where the US Open was held a few years ago. 

[GrantNKY]

29 minutes ago, The Professor said:

This US Amateur tournament is being played on a goat ranch of a course in Oregon. Terrible course! Can’t believe they’re having an elite tournament there. Almost as bad as Chamber’s Bay where the US Open was held a few years ago. 

This is a horrible take. Bandon is the finest golf resort destination in the country and probably the world. 

[The Professor]

57 minutes ago, GrantNKY said:

This is a horrible take. Bandon is the finest golf resort destination in the country and probably the world. 

I don’t see it. The layout and conditions of that course does not determine who the best golfer of a tournament is, it determines who is the luckiest. 

[GrantNKY]

48 minutes ago, The Professor said:

I don’t see it. The layout and conditions of that course does not determine who the best golfer of a tournament is, it determines who is the luckiest. 

I mean I haven’t been watching it and have never been, but Bandon is consistently rated one of the top courses in the world. 

[GrantNKY]

@The Professor These are the rankings for the top 100 courses in the US. Pacific Dunes 17th, Bandon Dunes 36th, Old MacDonald 50th, and Bandon Trails 69th. I’ve never heard a bad thing about any of these courses in Bandon. 

[The Professor]

Maybe it’s just me. I’m not accustomed to a course such as that one. It looks very difficult and in my opinion not a pretty golf course.  But I’m not a great golfer by any means even though I’ve been playing for 40 years. I’m about an 10-12 handicap depending on what part of the season it is. I once was better but now getting older . 

A course like that one wouldn’t be much fun for the average golfer. Many of the greens are built on elevated areas with steep sides on at least 60-70% and some good shots will barely trickle over and then roll 100+ feet downward into sagebrush or tiny pot bunkers. 
I view it as I did Chamber Bay when the US Open was held there, the golfer that can get the luckiest bounces and breaks will be the one who wins. It won’t necessarily be the one who is playing the best. I want a course that rewards good shots and good play, not one that penalizes good shots. 

[The Professor]

After watching the championship match today and trying to be more objective about this course I conclude that I was too harsh with my analysis. It’s a nice looking course and a good challenge. I don’t think I personally would enjoy playing it more than once though. It’s certainly different from the typical golf course. 

[cincydragons]

On 8/13/2020 at 9:57 PM, nkypete said:

That caddie better be a real good friend of the player or he'll be hitting the bricks real soon.

I saw the video live.  The camera high up at that hole caught the caddie lying to the rules official about what he did.

The player was from Argentina and couldn't bring his own caddy due to covid restrictions.  So this was just a random local caddy who he didn't know beforehand.  

[nkypete]

Tyler Strafaci, the golfer who benefited from that lack of judgment of that caddie, eventually won the U.S. Men's Amateur.  Nice story - Strafaci's grandfather, Frank Strafaci, won the 1935 U.S. Amateur Public Links.