First Round Fodder

I'm heading out to the course to take in The Pairing and mercifully, the audio has been muted in the press tent so I won't be able to track idiotic comments.

Under the comments section here, feel free to post any observations about the telecast or good reads you've spotted online.

Comments

[herbertwarrenwind]

Geoff, if you are going out on the course to watch the GROUPING NOT PAIRING why would the audio in the press tent be an issue? You're not turning into a typical "inkslinger" who watches from the press room monitors are you?

[Crosby's Pipe]

That was low.

[Matt]

Anyone else notice that The RBS/Nicklaus Challenge ad on the usga leaderboard page has Jack as a lefty?
Don't these marketing people know ANYTHING!?!

[Al]

Geoff, what is the crowd like? Does it look like everyone is waiting for the big 2 (plus one) or are the bleachers pretty filled by now?

[Huh]

Good to see none of the webstreams working. Supposedly they are showing #3, but its not working

[Brian]

Can anyone get the Desktop Leaderboard to work?

[NRH]

Been trying to get the stream going on both Firefox and Safari - nothing. Great work USGA/IBM.

[Jackson]

Tiger exposed. It ain't pretty so far.

[Al]

Got the first hole on line.
Tiger with the double
Phil and Adam nice lag putts for par.

Now the feed has gone away.

[Huh]

I get an AMEX commercial, then it says the Channel has completed for today.. this is lame

[Al]

Announcers mention that Phil is wearing the tight shirt today to show of the guns.

Unfortunately it is also showing his Farmers Tan. Looks like he has rally stripes on each arm.

[Tuna]

I do hope the commentators don't go on and on about Tiger's knee all day.

Phil does need a different shirt.

[Al]

Phil does not have a driver in the bag today.
Using a 13degree 3 wood turned into an 11degree.

[Tuco Ramirez]

this coverage on espn is awful..show some action

[Iggy]

It's Extra Andy North coverage.

[Al]

Who is Jane?
She is following the Supergroup on the internet.
Her first time ever at a US Open.

[Al]

"That's either a very short man or very tall rough"

After Scott's drive pulled left across the cart path on 7

[dbh]

Man, the leaderboard graphics at usopen.com redefine dreary.
It's like looking at a BBS circa 1988.

[MC]

Something about #18 just looks weird. The fairway cut...it's just not right.

[Martin Del Vecchio]

Jane = Jane Crafter:

http://www.lpga.com/content/oldplayerbios/crafterjanefinal.pdf

[Martin Del Vecchio]

If anybody is still having trouble with the scoreboard, close your browser window, reopen it, and try again.

If anybody is still having trouble with the video feeds, note that not all video feeds are active at all times. Only the feeds listed in bold are active.

To see the list, move your mouse over the "Live Video" label.

[Huh]

Memo to the USGA:

There are other countries out there besides USA.

The web streams are blocked to anyone non-american. What a joke.

[newbie]

Where is CBS when you need them? This may be the worst TV coverage and commentary ever!

[dbh]

No streaming or TV here, so I'm really in the dark.
2 questions:
Who the heck is J. Hicks?, and,
Did Calc withdraw?

[golfboy]

Golf channel pre-tournament interview with Pelz

"I'm a short game guy, I don't care what Phil uses off the tee."

Maltbie on ESPN

"My assumption is that Phil conferred with Dave Pelz before removing the driver..."


hmmm, reminds me of the old explanation of the spelling of the word "assume"

[Martin Del Vecchio]

Jane Crafter update: "A qualified pharmacist turned pro golfer..."

[Tuna]

Pelz is mainly a blowhard, imo.

I already mentioned this here before, but years ago, Pelz claimed on the golf channel that if Nicklaus would just lose 40 pounds that he would return to #1 on the regular tour again. Not the senior tour, the regular tour.

Nicklaus had to be at least 56 years old, probably older, when Pelz made this claim.

[golfboy]

"Pelz is mainly a blowhard, imo."

from someone who comments on the shirt someone is wearing in the U.S. Open....

[Martin Del Vecchio]

From espn.com:

SAN DIEGO -- Mark Calcavecchia withdrew nine holes into the U.S. Open on Thursday, citing an injured left knee and foot.

Calcavecchia was 8-over through nine holes when he walked off the course.

Calcavecchia was playing in his 20th U.S. Open. He's missed the cut or withdrawn 10 times.

[keith86]

No video down under and TV coverage starts at 7am 2 hours to go Australia the most backward I.T in the world

[Adam Clayman]

Hicks heard begging for his ball to get into the bunker.

[Makkyla]

WTF is wrong with the pga.com leaderboard? Shows Mickelson/Woods with TBA scores at 4:20 EST...looks all messed up.

[newbie]

The most frequently used word on an NBC telecast is?

drumroll please!!!!


Johnnie!

[golfboy]

"The most frequently used word on an NBC telecast is?"

that

one

is

MAKEABLE


aargh

[Hawkeye]

Check out the scorecards on the official site leaderboard. I never use the phrase "f***ed up", but I feel inclined to in this case. Leader Hicks finishing with two eagles? Great job. Tiger closing with two birdies, shooting a ONE-UNDER 72? Beautiful. Spotty high school students could have done a better job managing that site.

[Huh]

How about

"Just a moment ago"

[JohnV]

Hawkeye,

They must have fixed things since I'm certainly not seeing any of this. Also remember that the scores are input by volunteer walking scorers who are probably using the handhelds for the first time other than 1 hour of training. They usually get better as the week goes on.

That being said, the scoring page is pretty poor compared to any other modern one I can think of. IBM didn't do itself proud with this one.

[newbie]

I've got an idea!!! Let's show some more putts! This is rediculous coverage.

[Fred]

Curtis Strange Lives!

[Crosby's Pipe]

So far, "boring" Masters 1, US Open 0.