00:00I think that the USGA is handcuffed when they come to Shinnecock Hills.
00:05I think the 7th hole, the 11th hole are too severe.
00:10I don't think, I mean, what are you going to do?
00:13Are you going to go to Shinnecock and leave a note in their suggestions box and say,
00:20hey, you need to soften the 7th and 11th green?
00:24Like, you know how that goes, right?
00:25Like, it's a non-starter.
00:27It's, you know, this is what William Flint put down and this is what we're going to do.
00:31It's like, okay, I get that, but you might have seen a better test of golf this week
00:37if they didn't have to protect the rest of the 18 holes or the rest of the 16 holes
00:44if we didn't have to babysit these two holes because there's too much slope on them.
00:49Like, we're talking about 3 to 5 degrees of slope in a majority of the green,
00:54which is, it's too severe.
00:57The greens were slow.
00:59Like, I've putted on them all week.
01:00They're not fast.
01:02Like, there was nothing scary about these greens.
01:04They were a little bit bumpy.
01:06So guys are just having, like, it was just firm enough to where it was tough to get to the
01:13hole locations
01:13because of the green contours.
01:15And it just was hard to make putts.
01:18Yeah, it's just so interesting because I think that, you know, part of the reaction
01:23in the negative sense to the way we saw the golf course set up this week
01:27was simply that there were so many memories of losing the course,
01:33but that that was fond of some people.
01:35Some people, U.S. Open, number one thing they want is carnage, right?
01:39You know, they were pretty open about, like, they knew coming into this,
01:44they needed to get it right.
01:45Well, but I guess I'm saying from the fan perspective.
01:48Yes.
01:48We associate the U.S. Open with toughest-task cars.
01:52It's one tournament where you're rooting for the course, right, over everything else.
01:55And you wonder if you could have, you know, got a little more purple,
01:59a little more brown earlier in the week and let it crisp up a little bit.
02:03But I think to your point, it's two things.
02:06I think not only is it the slopes on the 7th and 11th green,
02:09but it's just the complete unpredictability, you know,
02:12which you did note on Saturday morning,
02:14but the complete unpredictability of the weather, you know,
02:16both the strength of the wind and how dry or humid it's going to be coming in.
02:19And so, and so you, I think I would say that they were appropriately conservative
02:26to not, if the main goal was not losing the golf course.
02:30And I still think that, you know, even if you could have pushed a little more,
02:34I still think Wyndham Clark wins this tournament.
02:36I think if we look at all the historical tests here, what did they reward?
02:41He did all those things very well this week.
02:44I mean, he really Sunday was probably his worst day overall in terms of ball striking and putting.
02:49And he still made some huge clutch putts and had some huge shots to win the tournament.
02:53So I don't think, I think the part of what we're seeing is a sort of indictment of,
02:57you know, yes, there was that period of time between like 6.30 and 8.30 p.m.
03:03on Thursday when the wind lays down and Wyndham goes out and shoots a low score.
03:06But I just don't know how you really control for that.
03:09With a two-hour fog delay to start the day, there are just certain things that are going
03:12to be out of your control as a USGA.
03:14You're right.
03:15I mean, Wyndham Clark earned it.
03:16And I'm just always looking back now and thinking about that little period pocket.
03:23I mean, we're talking about 72 holes.
03:25Did it win him the golf tournament?
03:28Certainly no.
03:29But did it help him get to a position to where he was out in front?
03:34Yeah, I think so.
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