I feel worse for Van de Velde every time I see the replay

[HackerGT]

Guys i know im being pedantic but its burn....not byrne!! A burn is the word for a small stream in Scotland. Byrne is an irish surname! Thanks

 

Byrne is the lead singer of Talking Heads!

 

[Hawkeye77]

Guys i know im being pedantic but its burn....not byrne!! A burn is the word for a small stream in Scotland. Byrne is an irish surname! Thanks����

 

Byrne is the lead singer of Talking Heads!

 

 

And hence burning down the house!

[imakaveli]

Terrible caddie, he should have broken all his woods and handed him a 7i...

[ray9898]

I thought the show was put together pretty well. The insight of what he was thinking was interesting.

[Railroading13]

He received a GREAT break on his drive and then.. Mistake was the 2nd shot - he or his caddie should have thought... "I can hit 2 PW onto the green and still have 3 putts to win" - What a shame

[wjdpar1]

I feel sorry for him also. He obviously needed someone on the last hole to wake him up. I think his caddie failed him, but the decisions were his - can't argue with that.

[CasualLie]

I feel sorry for him also. He obviously needed someone on the last hole to wake him up. I think his caddie failed him, but the decisions were his - can't argue with that.

 

I don't feel sorry for JVdV, but agree the caddie failed him big time. I get it the three most important rules for caddie is show up, keep up, shut up...but in those rare situations when your player needs double on 18 to win a major and he/she starts going on tilt, then as a caddie you must intervene, get in their face, risk your job if you must, but get that trophy in their hands!

[evgolfer]

It's like every time I hit towards a cart path....my ball hits that damn 3ft wide piece of concrete out OF THE ENTIRE 80 YARD WIDE AREA ITS LANDING IN EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

 

Yep, if the greenskeeper ever cuts the hole into the concrete I'm going to be under par.

[JayJar Binks]

I had totally forgotten about Craig Parry holing out the bunker shot right before VDV played his 6th shot from the bunker. That entire sequence is surreal. His real mistake was the third shot. Play it sideways back toward the fairway, pitch on, two-putt for the win.

 

I wanted to speak of Craig parry as well. I was watching the 2 hour replay on GC the other night and it starts out with parry and VDV putting out in the final group. The funny thing is he could have been in the playoff as well. He was +6 and putting for par on 17 from like 20ft or so. He smokes it 4ft by the hole. He looks dejected and basically has given up. He doesn't mark his 4ft come backer and proceeds to miss it... double ad now at +8. If he would have made that 4 footer and then birdie 18 as he did, he would have also ended up at +6. Lotta, woulda coulda shoulda, but for how poorly he played and really was in it if he makes that 4 footer.

[Viktoryred3]

That was an interesting special...JVdV really handled himself as gracefully as anyone could under those circumstances. Gotta feel for him, even though he was in complete control of each of his shots....I think his playing partner holing out from the bunker, which was the shot he needed to win, was probably more demoralizing than anything

[BeerPerHole]

Poor decisions. Golf is like life.

[Shriner]

During the live broadcast of the tourney; the announcers clearly mention that Van de Velde is only aware that he has a TWO shot lead when he steps up to the tee box. At what point he was told or realized it was three is unknown to me, but that certainly could have impacted the decision on the first two-three shots. There are always moments that get forgotten about when looking back and as some have pointed out, many views are shaped by the announcers.

 

If the tee shot is in the water instead of settling in that one area, he is too far back and is forced to play short iron - short iron to the green. Hard to believe that the ball bounces backwards off the railings, then hits the stone, then gets a terrible lie. Then the water in the burn rises right when he is getting ready to hit it, forcing him to take the penalty. Either way, if one thing goes differently, he probably wins. Crazy...

[HoffTTM]

I find it hard to, hitting 2i there is mental. The only way you realistically don't win the tournament is by going OB left which that brings into play

 

Completely ignoring what actually ending up happening that decision was very poor

[EdEd]

Obviously the tee shot was a mistake (he got very lucky) and the third shot (should have hit it sideway back onto the fairway), but I can't believe a bunch of you are actually defending his 2nd shot. Yes he was unlucky that it bounced straight back from the stands then over the burn into thick rough, but that is the risk he took when he decided to go with a 2i. The left is OB so he blocked it way right. Let's just say he didn't hit the stand and is in the right rough. Do you think he can get his third shot closer to the hole then if he went wedge/wedge for his 2nd/3rd shot? Not only do I think he will be closer, it is the wayyyyyyyy safer route.