Season Play Results

[Polslad]

I've just played the first 2 rounds of the Open Championship at Royal Lytham.
Missed the cut by a mile, +17, 15 of those shots were in 4 greenside bunkers!
If I ever meet the guy that built them, I'm gonna pound on him just a little bit!

[Indy Anna Jones]

Pols, when you're digging bomb shelters and anti-tank ditches in place of bunkers, you need to slope the edges just enough that people can climb in and out of them without breaking a limb. Either that or provide extension ladders!

But seriously, take a drop and the stroke and move on. Even the highest loft with a LW won't get you out of some of those things!!

[SteveHorn]

My 8th seasons Open Championship at Royal St. George has concluded. This may be Dale Somerfelts best ever real rendition. Unfortunatly some brutal 1st round conditions (L,D,G,mostly in my face or cross and in my face) and having to hit at least 23 shots out of some kind of rough over the 36 holes I played I managed to shoot +1 and the cut was -2. If I could have hit a few more fairways and greens I could have easily made the cut. Maybe even have been in contension for my 5th Claret Jug.
He's back ( dag nab it ) Tiger Woods won by 1 stroke at (-13). Padrig Harrington finished 2nd with a 3 way tie for 3rd between Gary Woodland, Kevin Streelman and the red hot Dustin Johnson at (-11). Tied for 6th was Kevin Na, Steve Elkington and David Toms. Rounding out the top 10 in a 4 way tie for 9th was Matteo Manassero, John Sendin, Charley Hoffman & Jamie Donaldson.
Next The Nordic Masters in Swedin. I will be playing at Ullna G.K.

[Indy Anna Jones]

Tiger managed a T13 at the Memorial last week in my tour, his second best finish. He was up to T6 after the second round but had pretty average 3rd and 4th rounds.

Steve watch those greens at Ullna, that texture is fast and with the grainy look, a little hard to read the grid. VD isn't quite linoleum like Bali S., but it's up there.

[Indy Anna Jones]

Another first time winner at the FedEx St. Jude Classic (for real.. congrats to Harrison Fraser for his first ever PGA win in 355 tries) and on the Indy Tour. Another pitiful round for me; even knowing it was a Smak2000 course I set very severe conditions for the first 2 rounds (L/S/D, L/G/D) and totally bombed out. I think the wind was in my face on every long hole and I couldn't stay on the fairway or out of the water. 3 straight double bogeys on 8-10 then a triple on #11 in my first round, and I was out of it completely. I did manage 1 eagle so I didn't completely stink. +4 on the second round and a dead last finish.

Meanwhile, 3rd round leader Jerry Kelly had his share of trouble shooting a -1 (-18), while Baddeley shot -4 and Chalmers a -6 for a 3-way playoff. Kelly was gone after #10; Chalmers parred 11 and 12 while Baddeley bogeyed 12 for Chalmers first victory of the season, Kelly and Baddeley sharing the #2 spot. The rest of the top 10:

T4. Lucas Glover, Robert Allenby, Paul Casey, Bubba Watson -17
T9. Matt Kuchar, Alex Cejka, Ernie Els -16

The pre-US Open top 10 money list:
1. Indy Anna Jones $9.23M
2. Paul Casey, $6.59M
3. Jason Bohn, $4.88M
4. Joe Durant, $4.28M
5. Retief Goosen, $3.53M
6. Chris Couch, $3.47M
7. Bubba Watson, $3.09M
8. Charles Howell III, $2.99M
9. Jonathon Byrd, $2.92M
10. Greg Chalmers, $2.87M

Chalmers is the only newcomer on this list, jumping from #23 to #10 with his victory today.

Coming up: The US Open at the Congressional Country Club, Washington, DC.

[Indy Anna Jones]

Well, I finished the second round of the US Open early this morning; what a wicked course with high winds and slick greens. My main goal is just to avoid bogies, and on those occasions when I can get within 15 feet, to try for birdie otherwise be happy with a par. Round 1 with VD greens, I wasn't too lucky, having 3 putted twice, I struggled to a -2. Round 2 with G/D, I had better luck, and an eagle on #11 FINALLY made me safe from the cut (-5); add a couple more birds and I ended up with -8, 3 strokes behind the leader and T11.

Now the fun part. Seeing as the Open has a number of amateurs, I selected 13 of my favorite players from the '99 Cases Ladder list (people I played with online in 2001-2) plus the AI versions of my two cyber pards. Poppy (Gary) shot -8 in the first round to lead, while The Wizard (Jack) shot -8 last night to lead the second round at -11. One of the "A team" guys Dwayne aka Bison-69 is T28 at -6 (I have no doubt he'd be shooting -30 for real) so 4 of the 15 "amateurs" made the cut.

Since the cut was 60 players and ties (which ended up exactly 60,) those AI players who missed the cut will now have their own 3 round/no cut "US Closed" tournament to compete in.

[SteveHorn]

I finally got a chance to update my points and money leaders. This is thru the OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP as the Nordea Masters is still being played and I'm tied for 15th after 2 rounds only 3 shots out of the lead.

TOP PLAYERS
....... NAME.................POINTS.........NAME.....................DOLLARS WON
1. Dustin Johnson------------ 87------1. Dustin Johnson-------------- $5,732,800
2. Jason Day-------------------63------2. Jason Day-------------------- $5,032,496
3. Matt Kuchar----------------57------ 3. Steve Horn-------------------$4,848,516
4. Steve Horn-----------------53------ 4. Matt Kuchar------------------$4,543,076
5. Steve Stricker-------------47-------5. Steve Stricker----------------$3,322,025
6. Bill Haas--------------------43------6. Charl Schwartzel--------------$2,939,412
7. Marc Lieshman------------35------7. Tiger Woods-------------------$2,517,669
8. Charl Schwartzel----------34-------8. Bill Haas------------------------$2,407,802
9T. Anthony Kim-------------33-------9. Charlie Wi----------------------$2,311,440
9T. Earl Edwards-------------33 -----10. Alvaro Quiros------------------$2,261,407
11. Tiger Woods---------------31------11. Rory McIlroy-------------------$2,149,309
12. Jim Furyk------------------30------12. Steve Guest--------------------$2,117,541
13. Steve Elkington-----------28------13. Ryan Palmer--------------------$2,079,091
14. David Toms---------------27------14. Jim Furyk-----------------------$2,051,706
15. Ben Crane-----------------26------15. Earl Edwards--------------------$2,030,078
16T. Steve Guest-------------24------16. Anthony Kim--------------------$1,999,744
16T. Paul Casey---------------24------17.Thongchai Jaidee---------------$1,978,281
16T. Thongchai Jaidee-------24------18. Marc Lieshman-----------------$1,977,826
16T. Gary Woodland----------24------19. Steve Elkington----------------$1,958,946
16T. Sergio Garcia------------24------20. Gary Woodland-----------------$1,935,692
21. Lee Westwood-----------22------21. Ben Crane-----------------------$1.925,302
22. Miguel A. Jimenez-------21------22. Edorado Molinari---------------$1,875,728
23T.Scott McCarren----------20------23. Alexander Noren---------------$1,865.085
23T. Alvaro Quiros-----------20------24. Sergio Garcia-------------------$1,765,957
23T. Charlie Wi--------------20------25. Bob Estes------------------------$1,726,223

[Indy Anna Jones]

The 3rd round started out great for me; birdies on 1,2, and 3 tied me for the lead at -11.
Then the gusty wind came up.
Then my putter went cold.
Bogied #5, db #6; right back to -8 and T30. I managed to play par golf and finally got a bird on #16 to finish at -9, T18 and 6 strokes behind Bill Haas at -16. Haas and Bubba Watson both shot -7 (best rounds of the day.) But Jack (The Wizard) shot -4 and at -15 is one shot back of the lead. Poppy (Gary) shot -4 (-12) and is T5.
The final round will be L/VD/B. The greens are pretty wicked on D, mostly you hope for 2 putts and par on VD, but at least the wind won't be as much of a factor.

[Indy Anna Jones]

LOCAL AMATEUR WINS 2011 U. S. OPEN
PGA2K amateur Gary aka Poppy is the new US Open champion. Shooting a burning -8, Pops took the lead on the 14th hole from a pack of 4 other golfers, increased it to 2 on #16, then held on to beat Bubba Watson by 1. Being an amateur, however, Popster won't be able to accept the $1,720,539 winning check. Another local player, Jack aka The Wizard finished with a T4. The third round leader was bested by the lightning fast greens and managed only a -2 today. This writer 1-putted 9 greens today, unfortunately 7 of them were to save par. She finished at -10 and T26.

The rest of the top 10:
3. Joe Durant -17
T4. Justin Leonard, Charley Hoffman -16
T7. Bill Haas (plus another amateur) -15
T9. Ricky Barnes, Josh Teater, Pat Perez, J. B. Holmes -14

[SteveHorn]

DANG! What a disappointing final round in The Nordea Masters. First, If you like the flat Fla. style courses with most every hole having water in play grab Ullna G.K. I liked it alot. Its a real course, has a somewhat unique look and if you keep your ball dry can go low. That does'nt mean that it can't play a little tough if the pins are in the difficult areas of some of the greens. I loved the hazy early morning look of the lake and how it blended into the pano.
There was a slew of players after the 3rd round tied for the lead or just 1 shot back. I played the final round with Anders Hansen. We both got off to good starts. I birdied 3 of the first 5 holes and he was keeping pace. Then on 6 a bogey. Ok I can get it going again and still win this tourny but on # 8 I got a triple bogey and I lost focus and shot +2 for the round. Hansen also cooled off.
The winner was David Lowe at -15. He's one of those fictional players that got promoted to the World Tour way back when I 1st started. My 2nd ever season I used the Pro tour that comes with the game and treated it like it was the Nationwide tour and advanced the top 12 or so players into the PGA World tour. Thank god he won because 2nd was Dustin Johnson. He has a pretty big lead in the points now. Hansen finished in a tie for 3rd. with Kevin Sutherland. Nobody else in the top 25 in points or money finished in the top 10 except Johnson. I finished tied for 27th at -8.
Next up The Irish Open being played at Crooked Run.