US Open 2015

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 1:51 pm

Gary Player not impressed

http://www.sbnation.com/golf/2015/6/20/ ... -open-2015" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 3:15 pm

I just turned on the TV and caught about 10 minutes of the coverage....that course looks like ass. There's no way golfers around the country are going to look at that course, and how hard its playing, and think "Oh yeah...gotta go to Tacoma and spend $290 to play there".

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 3:23 pm

I don't think they are trying to use it as a promotional tool. But my sister lives five minutes from the course so I kinda am interested.

I think it's a beautiful course.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 3:24 pm

Weren't people bitching about the look of Pinehurst too?

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 3:29 pm

And Shinnecock?

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:05 pm

I've enjoyed FOX's coverage. The cameras are pretty good, panels discussing all of the players and all of the issues.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:42 pm

Camera work has been subpar in my opinion

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 9:10 pm

A_B wrote:Camera work has been subpar in my opinion

Yup. Trying to figure out how much is Fox being bad and how much has been the terrain of the course. But good grief, you'd have no idea where the shots are going without shot tracker. Which I like. But it's become necessary because of the camera work.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 10:22 pm

I think it's more the course. I cannot tell one hole from another. They all look the same.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 5:26 pm

oh this is real now

Post by **brian** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 6:59 pm

FOX did have a segment with Jason Dufner visiting the Seahawks. I knew they couldn't resist plugging the NFL the fuckers.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 7:02 pm

would it surprise anyone if fox actually flew in the Baba Booey guy?

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 7:37 pm

Rex wrote:would it surprise anyone if fox actually flew in the Baba Booey guy?

I mentioned similar stuff on Thursday. It's absurd the volume they are giving the hecklers.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 8:08 pm

Grace needs to start making a bunch of bogeys.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 8:24 pm

Louie is on fire...

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 8:33 pm

I'll type up my thoughts tomorrow when I'm not on tablet, but this course is stupid and it has nothing to do with the way it looks on TV. Grace just banana balled one OB and Louie is on fire. Think Louie might run out of time though. Probably kicking himself for going par bogey bogey bogey to open the round.

Post by **brian** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 8:51 pm

Also Greg Norman as a color commentator is absolutely worthless.

Post by **brian** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:01 pm

Spieth's second shot at 18 goes into the Pantheon. Buck and Norman were kind of ho-hum about it but that was an insanely awesome shot.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:04 pm

And their audio caught him calling the bank.

Post by **brian** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:11 pm

Awesome 2nd shot for DJ too. Either he wins or we get free golf tomorrow.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:19 pm

brian wrote:Awesome 2nd shot for DJ too. Either he wins or we get free golf tomorrow.

or....

Post by **brian** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:19 pm

Oh shit.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:23 pm

Spieth is a good kid. Feels bad for not winning it in a playoff tomorrow.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:23 pm

I don't know if he hit that putt too hard or if the greens are stupid.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:24 pm

The three-putt goes into the other pantheon

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:25 pm

He had to two putt from 12 feet. No one to blame.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:45 pm

So has that ever happened before? Under 15 feet to win a major to losing in regulation?

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:56 pm

mister d wrote:So has that ever happened before? Under 15 feet to win a major to losing in regulation?

Doubt it, only one I can remember was Goosen in 2001 had 2 putts to win from 12 feet and three putted to 'force' a playoff which he won the next day.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:01 pm

howard wrote:The three-putt goes into the other pantheon

Oh lord!

Hard to feel bad for a guy who just made over $500 k, but until he wins a major, you just know that three putting from 12 feet will be known as "doing a Dustin."

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:10 pm

I thought Norman was the only good thing about Fox all week. Buck was neither good nor bad. Davis, Sonders, Menefee, the producers and cameramen were all horrible.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:11 pm

govmentchedda wrote:I thought Norman was the only good thing about Fox all week. Buck was neither good nor bad. Davis, Sonders, Menefee, the producers and cameramen were all horrible.

Agreed with this entire post.

I'm playing my first round of golf of 2015 tomorrow. Should be fun.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 6:26 am

brian wrote:Spieth's second shot at 18 goes into the Pantheon. Buck and Norman were kind of ho-hum about it but that was an insanely awesome shot.

Thank you for this. Amazing shot - and the booth was in no way able to handle the call or the moment.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:16 am

govmentchedda wrote:I thought Norman was the only good thing about Fox all week. Buck was neither good nor bad. Davis, Sonders, Menefee, the producers and cameramen were all horrible.

So many things seemed odd about the coverage - maybe we are just used to CBS and ESPN's coverage. But I found it off putting the way you could hear yahoos in the crowd clearly on practically every single shot.

SportsDoc · Post by **SportsDoc** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:39 am

mister d wrote:So has that ever happened before? Under 15 feet to win a major to losing in regulation?

Scott Hoch missed a 2 foot second putt on #18 at 1989 Masters to lose.

SportsDoc · Post by **SportsDoc** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:49 am

Camera work: F. Most of the time they are searching the air and ground trying to find the ball.

Player interviews: F. Both the hot chick and the other guy were brutal. Wrong questions. Awkward moments. Just yuch.

Booth Pre-game: C. Hated Norman's assessments, and since when did he have an MD degree? Vertigo isn't that simple, Greg. Actually liked Faxon some and Weiskopf a lot.

Booth Live action: D. Actually Joe Buck was the best part. That says all you need to know. Talked over critical shots with banter unrelated many many times. Missed opportunities abounded. Had said before Tourney they would let silence be a large part of coverage. There was no silence!

Post-game: C. Booth work was terrible. Live on the 18th green with Spieth was good, though. anyone notice when Buck threw Spieth a softball question about Chamber's Bay his response was only about the fans. Nothing, nada about the course. When the winner won't say anything good about the course, that says all you need to know. To Spieth's credit, he was smart enough not to throw the course under the bus!

Overall: D. Course didn't help. But, boy do they have work to do, and how do you significantly improve when this is the only PGA event you cover every year? Practice at the Women's US Open, I guess, with no one watching.

Post by **brian** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:56 am

I can't argue with any of that.

As for Norman, I'm not sure what he brought to the table that anyone liked. He wasn't obnoxious or anything, but he spoke only in obvious platitudes that literally just about any of us could have provided. If you're going to have a Hall of Fame level golfer in that main analyst job I want to hear stuff that only pro golfers would know about Player X or Shot Y. Norman DID do that a couple of times that I can remember but so infrequently as to be almost useless. (Faldo and Ian Baker-Finch are both pretty brilliant in that role though and tough to judge Norman by that comparison.)

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 10:09 am

FOX showing the US Senior Open on Thursday. A more normal course in Sacramento.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 10:23 am

I've hit the fairway on that course mor consistiently from the adjacent baseball field than with a drive

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 10:43 am

brian wrote:I can't argue with any of that.

As for Norman, I'm not sure what he brought to the table that anyone liked. He wasn't obnoxious or anything, but he spoke only in obvious platitudes that literally just about any of us could have provided. If you're going to have a Hall of Fame level golfer in that main analyst job I want to hear stuff that only pro golfers would know about Player X or Shot Y. Norman DID do that a couple of times that I can remember but so infrequently as to be almost useless. (Faldo and Ian Baker-Finch are both pretty brilliant in that role though and tough to judge Norman by that comparison.)

I don't remember anything remarkable either way about Norman during the weekend, but I thought he was great on Thursday and Friday, especially with the Tiger and Fowler meltdowns. He was critical, but not an asshole like Johnny Miller. I thought he added insight both good and bad those days. One other thing about the coverage was the lack of consistency. It was hard to tell if it was going to be Davis or Sonders with the post match interviews. Also, it was very hard to tell the difference between all of the other commentators, Pavin, Weiskopf, et al. when they were heard and not seen.

Both of those last comments of mine can be chalked up to Fox being new to covering golf. One, they may have been trying to figure out the best way to cover the tournament on the fly, or quickly change what was not working, and two, viewers are not yet familiar with the voices of the commentators not named Norman and Buck. Either way, it is going to be hard to improve with only one tournament per year.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 11:22 am

I think Fox got a little bit screwed by that crazy ass course. A more "traditional" course would also have (likely) a lot more spotters with knowledge how and where to set up for different holes. Because I need to have a reason to hang the whole "I can't tell where the ball is going or what hole I'm on and I've been watching coverage for over 10 hours and I should know that stuff by now" aspect on something.

The commentary was just kind of there. I don't hate Joe Buck like so many, but I also don't really care for him much... He doesn't distract from the overall coverage, but he's just kind of there. Same thing with Norman... Not obnoxious, but just didn't seem to bring much.

That course was just stupid. And the greens were in HORRIBLE condition. I like when the US Open challenges the players... legitimately. Not sure if you guys saw Snedeker's putt? Ball was on a decent line from about 15-20 feet out, hit ... I dunno, a pebble, divot? ... hopped into the air and veered 10 feet offline. I've never seen anything like it, even on the dog tracks I play on. And it was more that guys were putting decent lines and just being diverted 2-3 or more inches. You'd have a better chance at mini-golf courses... At least your lines are clean when you're hitting into the clown mouth.