The US Open has refined the torture method this year. After two days we have verified every day how more than twenty players have been able to win on the field, the South course from Torrey Pines, a more than generous figure in the case of a tournament so given to hellish screens and allergic to the ‘sixties’. In addition, they are barely seeing cards of eighty or more shots, a detail for the self-esteem of the players who have had the worst week.
Jon Rahm goes down to the sand (literally)
And what about the cut line? The +4 that has served to get into the weekend in San Diego it is certainly not a record that will scandalize anyone. It doesn’t even attract attention. This same year, in the Augusta National, it took a minimum accumulated of +3 to pass the cut, while less than a month ago, in the PGA de Kiawah, the required line it went up to +5. Let’s say then that what is being seen this week falls within the standards of Grande ‘current and mill’. Tough and demanding, but not tragic.
Rahm, karma and a new blow that already looks in his arsenal
Noel US Open 2021 will not be remembered as a massacre. Neither does the USGA You will find dozens of complaints at your window and in the players’ locker room no one tears their clothes and misfortunes are carried on with integrity. This US Open does not kill you with machetes, rather it is a Chinese drop that makes its way without haste or pause, does not overwhelm, although its effects can also end up being devastating …
US Open Championship 2021: this is how we live the second round, live
The reason for all this must surely be found in the state of the greens. They are hard, but they are not made of stone. They are fast, but not much faster than they are played a few weeks across the regular PGA Tour schedule. It also gives the feeling that the USGA will not modify the preparation of the field much in the last two days and that, therefore, we will continue to see a good handful of players emerge victorious from the battle every day. Gives that feeling, although no one should bet their entire estate on it …
And yet, having said all of which, it will be necessary to recognize that this US Open is a gentleman US Open, true to its essence. The drama may be managed with a little more sense and it is possible that the large numbers, the terrible triple bogeys, quadruplets and beyond, are not so abundant, but one has no doubt about the tournament that is being played and that it is a very tough test in every way. Hey you, after all there are only a dozen players left with a cumulative below par. And we will see how and where the matter ends.
Sergio grief on the greens, but manages to stop the bleeding
It is true that the two co-leaders, the surprising and radiant Richard Bland (-5), and that ‘killer’ of the greens called Russell Henley (-5), they have played below par on Thursday and Friday, something that others such as the whirlwind have also achieved Matthew Wolff (-4) or roller Jon Rahm (-3), but we cannot ignore the high that a little lower in the table, in the step of the accumulated PAR, we find players of the stature of Koepka, DeChambeau, Thomas, Morikawa O Grace, who are still waiting for their turn in the queue of prominence, the same as Rory McIlroy (+1) and Dustin Johnson (+2).
It is also a Mr. US Open simply because Phil Mickelson (+2) is still going to have a chance to win it. Then yes, this edition would go down in history. A remote option, it is true, but well earned today with a solid round of 69 shots. He is seven blows from the head, so he surely has no margin for error. This Saturday, therefore, it is possible that Lefty arrives at Torrey Pines with the cornet hanging from his belt, ready for an all or nothing.
