Last Round Carnage: Genesis Invitational, Honda Classic, and the API

[JohnnyCashForever]

All three tournaments looked like "serious" golf. "Serious" may be hard to define. Perhaps "tough but fair" is as reasonable as any other definition.

I'm unsure if the carnage at the API was due to the conditions and weather, which appeared to be very difficult, or rather due to the players not getting into US Open mode soon enough. If Rory had shot 72-72-72 after his opening 66, he would have won the tournament by two strokes, but he never appeared to realize that playing defensively after Round 1 might have been a good option.

In my opinion, this past month, with the exception of the WGC Mexico, has been a rousing reminder of what serious golf looks like. Grinding and thrilling. I hope it continues this week at the Players.

[cougarthesecond]

"Last Round Carnage: Genesis Invitational, Honda Classic, and the API"

What if they would've been playing with the "rolled back" golf ball? Dial 911! lol

[Hawkeye77]

LOL - enjoyed Mexico but a lot of pitch and putt aspect to it for sure.

These last few tourneys have gotten my interest up a bit for the Players.

[QuigleyDU]

If the wind blows this week. heaven help those poor pampered pros.

[3jacker]

I can speak for API, I was there over the weekend. That one was rough because it's a target golf course and the wind was blowing 20 mph+. The already hard/fast greens thus dried out even more. The design is meant for precision carries into most greens; there are few if any "run up" options. So a lot of players had to accept the fact that shots landing on the green would roll thru, and if lucky, end up in a back bunker. If unlucky, end up in greenside rough that you couldn't see your shoelaces in.

The course is a tough one in normal weather, but Rory won at -18 I think a few years ago. I think the wind this year was responsible for the 14 shot difference. I was surprised at how often the players kept trying to do the same thing... even when the conditions were not conducive. Like on hole #6, the long par 5 around the lake. Rory hit a great, massive drive, but it only had a slice of fairway running pretty much perpendicular to his line of flight to land on, downwind.. it was inevitable he would end up in the rough. He bogeyed it after hitting a 340-something yard drive on a par 5. The rough was a killer. And the greens were not just unreceptive, they went 1 step further. They were @$#%!s. But I think the green situation was just a result of the constant wind.

[CasualLie]

Take everything from the API, move it to June, replace the umbrella with the USGA logo, and the players would have been bellyaching all day about how unfair the greens were! Waaaah! I wouldn’t want to watch it every week, but it’s good to see a month of some tough golf, but as pointed out, wind and water make all the difference.

[Birdie Mac]

LOL! I was thinking the same. At some point the bellyaching becomes a 'thing'. I like to see them struggle sometime and have to work harder to manage the course.

[Darth Putter]

 

You could toss the AT&T into this as well as Pebble Beach also played difficult in the final round even at 6815 yards.

All four events had cool and windy conditions and Bay Hill also had higher rough than normal. The Honda even cut it's rough this year and the course still played tough but fair. Sadly, it looks like 80s and winds less than 10 mph this week at Sawgrass.

[Smada962]

I like seeing tough conditions sometimes, but not week after week. Golf, more than any other sport, seems to have so many fans who want to see the worlds best struggle. Does anyone want to see basketball players miss all the time and turn the ball over constantly? I think it might have to do with the fact that essentially all fans of pro golf also play the sport, unlike so many other sports. So they like seeing them struggle because it makes them feel better about their own crappy games.

[Yuck]

At API, I was surprised that DeChambeau was low pro for the weekend at -1. Was it science at work?

[stingerfade]

He had a good barometer for the conditions apparently....

[Sean2]

Arnold Palmer was no doubt smiling.

[farmer]

Referenced above, but the line Rory took on #6 was the most aggressive I've ever seen .... and he made bogey.

[OrangeGravy]

I think it has more to do with adding a greater level of unpredictability. Same reason people like watching football games played in the snow or a mud pit. A regular tour event in benign conditions, if someone has a decent lead with a few holes left, you can turn it off. Tournaments with weather like these, anything can and does happen.