Highlights from Round 3 Saturday at Chambers Bay.
I arrived at the course a little later than the previous two days with the intention of staying a while on the upper walkway along the top of the course from where you can see the action on the 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 13th greens and the 5th & 14th tees, albeit still requiring binoculars to get a close up view.
The first sight of the day was Sergio Garcia teeing off on the 5th, one of my favourite shots on the course from when I played it, and it was a belter from Sergio although slightly left. I also caught his second shot with the binoculars and it was a good one to 15 feet.
I was then distracted or rather subjected to Gary Player's nonsensical and almost vitriolic criticism of the golf course setup on the Open radio. The spectator experience should have been better but the course is just fine. There is nothing at Chambers Bay that is as cruel as the 9th at Augusta so I think players should just get on with it and Player should keep it zipped.
I moved along the pathway towards the 8th green / 9th tee in time to see a delightful up and down by Monty for a birdie on the par 5 8th. Monty then found the green on the par 3 9th but some 35 feet away with a nasty ridge and swing to negotiate. Problem for Monty? Absolutely not as he drained the putt right in the middle for two in a row.
Garcia's partner Morgan Hoffman nearly holed his second shot on the 8th for an albatross while Sergio himself, having been forced to lay up, produced an ingenious pitch using the slope at the back of the green to set up a birdie. It was noticeable also that Sergio has been getting some warm support from the galleries, something must have been amiss! He found Monty territory on the 9th green and made a solid two putt par.
I then made my way back along the pathway towards the 14th tee and it was on this quiet walkway that I encountered someone who would become a key figure in the 2015 US Open. I noticed a familiar face coming towards me on the path that looked very much like that of Michael Greller, Jordan Spieth's caddie. When I said "Michael" as he walked by, he turned around, so I wished him best of the luck for the weekend to which he replied with warm thanks and a thumbs up. His local knowledge of the course had already been well documented but to see him out early scoping the conditions was telling and possibly my favourite anecdote of the week.
After this I walked along to the fence behind the 14th tee, a spectacular driving hole and another one of my favourite shots on the course. Seeing McIlroy launch one from this tee was eye opening - he really doesn't hold back but he does hold his balance at the finish beautifully.
Sergio soon arrived at the 14th tee and was a little bit annoyed about a particular spectator who had been heckling him. I knew something had been missing from the gallery! He called over two policemen and pointed out the offender who was immediately hauled out and taken aside. After Sergio had smashed his drive down the hill he called over to the heckler "see you later my friend". Yet more brilliance from Garcia - always a joy to watch, though I was a little bit disappointed with his criticism of the greens during the week.
I waited for Monty and Webb Simpson to reach the 14th tee next and Monty continued to play smartly by taking the safer route to the right rather than take on the huge waste bunker carry. Simpson went for it, as McIlroy and Garcia had done, and just made it to the lower section of the fairway.
After this I walked back along the high trail again to see Mickelson play the 8th and 9th. Phil lost his drive half way up the steep slope to the left of the 8th fairway and hacked it back across into fescue on the right. He ultimately found himself needing to get up and down from 40 yards for par and made light work of it by playing an exquisite pitch to a few feet.
As the tee times of the leaders approached I decided to make my way down the hill towards the 18th grandstand and found a spot on the very left edge that gave me a good view of both fairway and green, which was ideal given the hole was playing as a par 5 again after Friday's much maligned par 4 experiment. The first action I saw was McIlroy catching a punishing slope that swallowed his ball to the front of the green when playing out of a greenside bunker, costing him a bogey.
I saw good birdies from Zach Johnson, Billy Horschel and Justin Rose but also saw numerous players failing to convert birdie chances on the tricky green after good approaches, including Luke Donald. Mickelson went for the green in two but like McIlroy found trouble with the sand and slopes and in the end had to play a very good 5th shot to make bogey. In the mean time a huge dramatic cloud of black smoke had appeared in the distance to the north of the course coming from a fire at a nearby Tacoma marina. Alas, as the marina had gone up in flames so had Phil's chances of winning a career grand slam for another year after a disappointing third round.
The advantage of having a US Open radio earpiece and binoculars on such a wide open course meant that from high on the 18th grandstand I could follow happenings from a distance on a number of holes; 1, 7, 8 and 9 in particular. It was with these tools that I was able to keep up with the leaders, Dustin Johnson's troubles on the 8th catching my attention most of all.
Lee Westwood arrived on the scene and played the hole well tee to green to set up a birdie chance, however he would go on to make bogey, the second time I had witnessed him three putt during the week. The theme of players using the slopes on the 18th green well with their approaches yet failing to read the green and convert birdies continued with Molinari and Scotty.
I remained on 18 all the way until the leaders came back around and was most impressed by team Spieth and Greller's negotiation of the hole even though Jordan settled for par. Dustin also could only make a par. Jason Day had struggled on the front nine as he battled his vertigo condition but by the time he reached the 18th he was -3 for the back nine and another birdie finished off what was an impressive -2 round of 68 given his circumstances. The atmosphere was strangely subdued on this far edge of the grandstand with many empty seats, such that it did not really feel like Saturday at a US Open, but it was enjoyable all the same.
I arrived at the course a little later than the previous two days with the intention of staying a while on the upper walkway along the top of the course from where you can see the action on the 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 13th greens and the 5th & 14th tees, albeit still requiring binoculars to get a close up view.
The first sight of the day was Sergio Garcia teeing off on the 5th, one of my favourite shots on the course from when I played it, and it was a belter from Sergio although slightly left. I also caught his second shot with the binoculars and it was a good one to 15 feet.
I was then distracted or rather subjected to Gary Player's nonsensical and almost vitriolic criticism of the golf course setup on the Open radio. The spectator experience should have been better but the course is just fine. There is nothing at Chambers Bay that is as cruel as the 9th at Augusta so I think players should just get on with it and Player should keep it zipped.
I moved along the pathway towards the 8th green / 9th tee in time to see a delightful up and down by Monty for a birdie on the par 5 8th. Monty then found the green on the par 3 9th but some 35 feet away with a nasty ridge and swing to negotiate. Problem for Monty? Absolutely not as he drained the putt right in the middle for two in a row.
Garcia's partner Morgan Hoffman nearly holed his second shot on the 8th for an albatross while Sergio himself, having been forced to lay up, produced an ingenious pitch using the slope at the back of the green to set up a birdie. It was noticeable also that Sergio has been getting some warm support from the galleries, something must have been amiss! He found Monty territory on the 9th green and made a solid two putt par.
I then made my way back along the pathway towards the 14th tee and it was on this quiet walkway that I encountered someone who would become a key figure in the 2015 US Open. I noticed a familiar face coming towards me on the path that looked very much like that of Michael Greller, Jordan Spieth's caddie. When I said "Michael" as he walked by, he turned around, so I wished him best of the luck for the weekend to which he replied with warm thanks and a thumbs up. His local knowledge of the course had already been well documented but to see him out early scoping the conditions was telling and possibly my favourite anecdote of the week.
After this I walked along to the fence behind the 14th tee, a spectacular driving hole and another one of my favourite shots on the course. Seeing McIlroy launch one from this tee was eye opening - he really doesn't hold back but he does hold his balance at the finish beautifully.
Sergio soon arrived at the 14th tee and was a little bit annoyed about a particular spectator who had been heckling him. I knew something had been missing from the gallery! He called over two policemen and pointed out the offender who was immediately hauled out and taken aside. After Sergio had smashed his drive down the hill he called over to the heckler "see you later my friend". Yet more brilliance from Garcia - always a joy to watch, though I was a little bit disappointed with his criticism of the greens during the week.
I waited for Monty and Webb Simpson to reach the 14th tee next and Monty continued to play smartly by taking the safer route to the right rather than take on the huge waste bunker carry. Simpson went for it, as McIlroy and Garcia had done, and just made it to the lower section of the fairway.
After this I walked back along the high trail again to see Mickelson play the 8th and 9th. Phil lost his drive half way up the steep slope to the left of the 8th fairway and hacked it back across into fescue on the right. He ultimately found himself needing to get up and down from 40 yards for par and made light work of it by playing an exquisite pitch to a few feet.
As the tee times of the leaders approached I decided to make my way down the hill towards the 18th grandstand and found a spot on the very left edge that gave me a good view of both fairway and green, which was ideal given the hole was playing as a par 5 again after Friday's much maligned par 4 experiment. The first action I saw was McIlroy catching a punishing slope that swallowed his ball to the front of the green when playing out of a greenside bunker, costing him a bogey.
I saw good birdies from Zach Johnson, Billy Horschel and Justin Rose but also saw numerous players failing to convert birdie chances on the tricky green after good approaches, including Luke Donald. Mickelson went for the green in two but like McIlroy found trouble with the sand and slopes and in the end had to play a very good 5th shot to make bogey. In the mean time a huge dramatic cloud of black smoke had appeared in the distance to the north of the course coming from a fire at a nearby Tacoma marina. Alas, as the marina had gone up in flames so had Phil's chances of winning a career grand slam for another year after a disappointing third round.
The advantage of having a US Open radio earpiece and binoculars on such a wide open course meant that from high on the 18th grandstand I could follow happenings from a distance on a number of holes; 1, 7, 8 and 9 in particular. It was with these tools that I was able to keep up with the leaders, Dustin Johnson's troubles on the 8th catching my attention most of all.
Lee Westwood arrived on the scene and played the hole well tee to green to set up a birdie chance, however he would go on to make bogey, the second time I had witnessed him three putt during the week. The theme of players using the slopes on the 18th green well with their approaches yet failing to read the green and convert birdies continued with Molinari and Scotty.
I remained on 18 all the way until the leaders came back around and was most impressed by team Spieth and Greller's negotiation of the hole even though Jordan settled for par. Dustin also could only make a par. Jason Day had struggled on the front nine as he battled his vertigo condition but by the time he reached the 18th he was -3 for the back nine and another birdie finished off what was an impressive -2 round of 68 given his circumstances. The atmosphere was strangely subdued on this far edge of the grandstand with many empty seats, such that it did not really feel like Saturday at a US Open, but it was enjoyable all the same.
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