June 16, 2004

U.S. Open Predictions: Phil won the Masters. Who will win the 2004 US Open at Shinnecock Hills?

posted by 86 to navel gazing at 02:06 PM - 27 comments

I only mentioned that Phil won that Masters because I got that one right. This time around I'm going the flat out boring route and taking the favorite. Tiger is back on Long Island, the site of his last major championship and he is ready to shut people up. Tiger. Tiger. Tiger by a mile.

posted by 86 at 02:07 PM on June 16, 2004

Sergio!

posted by corpse at 02:12 PM on June 16, 2004

My mind is going with Ernie, but my heart wants Duval. (My way of sneaking in two picks).

posted by usfbull at 03:03 PM on June 16, 2004

My five picks in the PGA Tour fantasy pool are: Tiger Woods Ernie Els Padraig Harrington Sergio Garcia Paul Lawrie (you are limited by a budget and certain players (like my top 3) are very expensive, so the Lawrie pick was a "what can I get with the remaining money I have left?" pick) Those are listed in order of what I believe are their chances of winning.

posted by grum@work at 03:18 PM on June 16, 2004

Man, there are some good names in that tournament. Bo Van Pelt. Spike McRoy. Bubba Watson. But for no particular reason I'll pick Darren Clarke.

posted by gspm at 03:22 PM on June 16, 2004

Shinnecock? Hahahahahahahaha.

posted by worldcup2002 at 04:04 PM on June 16, 2004

More rude place names. And a special search tool (ha!) for rude places near your postcode, just for the UK.

posted by worldcup2002 at 04:07 PM on June 16, 2004

I like Mike.

posted by billsaysthis at 05:21 PM on June 16, 2004

I'm going with KJ Choi. Dude's been pretty close in the past few tourneys I've paid attention to. Plus, I like rooting for the dark horses. C'mon KJ!

posted by Ufez Jones at 05:40 PM on June 16, 2004

I will go with Tiger.

posted by worldcup2002 at 05:47 PM on June 16, 2004

Davis Love Part 3.

posted by filthyboy at 06:55 PM on June 16, 2004

Ernie Els. Rounding out top five will be Chris Riley, Padraig Harrington, David Toms and Tiger Woods. Or none of the above.

posted by msacheson at 01:13 AM on June 17, 2004

David Morland IV... I mean, how can a guy named David Morland IV not win in a game of golf? If they ever get a guy named Chip Putpucker VIII, I'll bet my house on him winning.

posted by dusted at 01:35 AM on June 17, 2004

I'm going with Chris Moneymaker.

posted by Samsonov14 at 02:44 AM on June 17, 2004

I don't follow golf all that closely but after reading the Duval chooses Open to make his return story... what happened? He's been gone 8-12 months (I didn't notice) and the story hinted at things that didn't sound like injuries.

posted by gspm at 04:03 AM on June 17, 2004

Vijay hasn't even been mentioned yet? Fine then, I'll take him.

posted by YukonGold at 06:19 AM on June 17, 2004

what happened? One theory is that he fell apart after he and his long time girlfriend split up. From what I understand, I think she travelled with him all the time. In typical rebound fashion, he got married this spring to someone he met last summer. He did have some nagging shoulder injuries in 2002 as well. He might be the classic case of a guy winning a major (2001 British Open) and then playing abroad for huge appearance fees, changing his equipment (all Nike now) and just losing the drive to play. I hope he gets it back, because when he got his first win back in 1997 after having something like 8 runner-up finishes, he exploded and just started contending in everything.

posted by usfbull at 07:00 AM on June 17, 2004

hmmm, thanks. and for a technical question, why does this thread appear on the lockerrom page with a U.S. Open Predictions bold lead in that is absent from this page?

posted by gspm at 07:16 AM on June 17, 2004

Good question, gspm. Everything seemed all goofy when I was posting, but I just went with it anyway. Goofy, of course, is a technical term I use when describing crap I don't know anything about.

posted by 86 at 07:49 AM on June 17, 2004

So much for Duval. He started off with a birdie, then followed that up with a string of bogeys and doubles. His scorecard looks exactly like mine now and I'm a 14. He's +8 through 14.

posted by usfbull at 10:45 AM on June 17, 2004

I'd throw five down on it not being anyone who has been or will be mentioned in this thread. Or Mike Weir, whichever.

posted by chicobangs at 05:29 PM on June 17, 2004

Goosen - Goosen will win - by two from Fat Phil - who might three putt 17 from five feet. Imagine David Duval to be an intelligent version of Phil Mickelson - a man whose intelligence simply will not allow him to smile and move forward, but insists instead on wallowing in what has gone wrong and why. Part of the reason that Fat Phil keeps coming back for more is that his brain won't allow him to stare for two long at the awful horror of what has gone before. Duval's brain isn't so nice. I hope with every fibre of my being that there is a future in golf for David Duval - but something tells me he may just be too smart to trick his own brain into believing everything is all right when it isn't.

posted by JJ at 07:36 AM on June 21, 2004

JJ, who do you think will take the British this year? And what's your opinion on that small group of Americans that either don't travel to play, or don't even bother to try and qualify?

posted by usfbull at 09:57 AM on June 22, 2004

They should be gunned down - along with anyone who refers to it as anything other than "The Open Championship" - to have a chance to play in that great championship and turn it down? Money players all. Round them up and have them shot, every last one of them.

posted by JJ at 11:11 AM on June 22, 2004

Funny, I was going to say "The Open" instead of referring to it as just the British, but didn't want to confuse anyone stateside.

posted by usfbull at 12:11 PM on June 22, 2004

Round them up and have them shot, every last one of them. Come on, JJ, don't hold back. What do you REALLY think? :)

posted by grum@work at 02:54 PM on June 22, 2004

Oh alright, but only because you pushed me... They should be paraded naked through the streets of St Andrews to the beach, there to be publically flogged on a windy December morning. Thereafter, they should be dragged by their fingernails across the Old Course, allowing their undeserving blood to fertilise the hallowed ground, before being beaten to death with one-irons (which are clearly of no use for anything else) wielded by John Daly, recently incensed at being told by a passing American tourist that he'll never play a Ryder Cup. Their unrecognisable bodies should then be mounted on spikes behind the 18th green so that sneering children may spit on them and all the world know that they are the money players with no soul who turned up their noses at the chance to be immortal! I think I need to stop watching Braveheart so much. To be serious for just a moment - I always felt a distaste for those who didn't want to make the trip, and feel that even more now having had my chance to compete taken from me - somehow that makes me even more upset when those who could, don't. To use the oft-borrowed words of President Roosevelt himself: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." Amen, Teddy

posted by JJ at 10:05 AM on June 23, 2004

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