Aus Open

[Eag's]

Ok guys & girls, who do you think will take it out this year?
I for one would love to see Norman in contention come Sun, but I think that might be a bit unrealistic :smt002
I think Appleby & Pamps will have a real crack at it this year, both playing well at the moment and Pamps is overdue for a win on home soil :smt023

[Grunt]

I reckon Royal Sydney will pop up a new talent just like most of the other times it has when played there.

[Moe Norman]

Andrew Buckle

[Andrew]

I've got to agree with G69. I would assume the greens will be stimping reasonably high, so on the new greens, putting will be even more important than normal.

[Bruce]

Pamps sunk a few bombs in that Merril Lynch thing I was watching this arvo.

He was definitely carrying that Kelly bloke for the win. Go Pamps!!

[cazandpaul]

For the first time in my life (and I'll probably end up with egg on my face) I am going to tip Adam Scott - his win in the Tour Championship showed how good he could actually be.

[Grunt]

Any idea of when the groups are being announced? Trying to sort out times to go on friday.

[3oneday]

This is the only spot I have found it yet, just a few key groups
http://www.australianopengolf.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=66592

[jimandr]

The full draw is now on the Australian Open website (click on Pete's link, then on "draw and results").

The weather forecast for Thursday is really foul. Cold, windy, max of 17. Could be a big advantage to be out early.

Bearing that in mind, unless the greens get watered, they may be really really fast by the weekend. So I'm looking at the players with a proven record in Oz, in the wind and on quick greens.

That sends me in the direction of Allenby, Lonard, possibly Badds, and longish shots of Richard Green and Steven Leaney.

[Grunt]

Forget the big drivers..it will be the best putter for the week.
Badds.

He is 3 over after 9

Richard Green is the early leader at 3 under. Norman is at even par.

[Virgal_Tracy]

I'm going to go for Michael Sim for a top 5. Has had a great season and looking towards a better one next year.

[Chris32]

can any of you guys get onto the aus open website?

[Golfgirl]

can any of you guys get onto the aus open website?

Nope - not sure why - I didn't think we had any kind of screening on the internet connection here at work, so maybe the site is down?

[Toolish]

nope...whole thing has crashed, must have not had enough bandwidth...

see here for more complaints, and a snapshot of scores from earlier.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16619&st=100

[Grunt]

Watching the Open on TV, I have had a few thoughts. Does anyone else think that this may be the last Open for the Shark? Jack Newton just said that he can see that Greg does not have the touch that is required to compete at this level. Greg has also given me the indication that he is only playing this week to help get people out to the Open. I will admit that Greg being there is one of the big reasons that I am going there tomorrow.

Do they sell merchandise at the champs? I was thinking of buying a shirt and then going to the autograph tent, get some pro's to sign and then get myself a little momento that may be worth something one day.

[PeteyD]

Unbelievably it is all working now, and they even have this years leaderboard up!

[Eag's]

Wow!! how tough are those conditions :shock:
Blowing it's arse off and pissing down, Richard Green's 69 is a great score :smt023

[Iain]

Wow!! how tough are those conditions :shock:
Blowing it's arse off and pissing down, Richard Green's 69 is a great score :smt023
Nathan Greens 67 is even better!!

[3oneday]

Wicked out there today, coldest I have felt on a golf course EVER !!! Couldn't even hold the brolly at times......

[pt73]

Me too, it was bitterly cold and unbelievably windy which makes Nathan Green's 67 an even better effort.

PT

[Courty]

Allenby is losing the plot. He's had 5 on the 7th and hasn't even made the green yet!

[Chris32]

I just watched him loose the plot on that Par 5

[Courty]

Did you see Stadler's 328m drive? :shock:

[brad]

Was it wind assisted?

[Courty]

Not sure, but it was 50m past Appleby & Scott.

[miro]

Went out to the golf yesterday afternoon and here are my comments:

COLD VERY F..CKEN COLD
ALSO VERY VERY VERY WINDY
OH AND IT ABSOLUTELY PISSED DOWN

now onto the golf.

Royal Sydney is looking absolutely fabulous. And for a day where the weather was not perfect, refer previous comments, there was a large crowd following the big name groups.

First big name player experience of the day was standing on the side of the fairway when Allenby's ball landed in the trees next to us. A couple of minutes later Robert strides up surrounded by a huge crowd and quite loudly says to a marshall as he walks passed us:

"F..cking h.ll, there are f..ucking people everywhere, get them out of the way."

A hole later we skipped over to watch Appleby and Scott. First swing we witnessed from Apples he dumped an iron in a bunker and quite audibly through gritted teeth said:

"C..nt".

And I thought golf was a game the whole family could enjoy!!

Anyway my two main things for the day:

- these guys really are good, unbelievable short ganmes, pure ball flight in terrible conditions and Kevin Staddler hits it a mile.

- they all seem to swing at 80%, no-one seemed to be going at it hard -might be something to this.

Finally, we followed Nick Flannigan for a few holes. Just a fantastic swing, truley great to witness and no more than 10 people following him so you could get real close.

Oh and one last thing -5 under par by Nathan Green in these conditions must be one of the greatest rounds played on Australian soil in the past twenty years. I would not have thought a score that low in those conditions was possible.

All up great day but

COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Trung]

COLD VERY F..CKEN COLD
ALSO VERY VERY VERY WINDY
OH AND IT ABSOLUTELY PISSED DOWN


At least, its SUNNY here.. :mrgreen:


http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/5508/untitled2copybs8.jpg

[dc68]

Fcu king cold though trungie.

[AndyP]

How many tries did you have before you got that through the swear filter, dc?

[dc68]

Went in first wh ack mate that is how I ty ped i t :)

[Trung]

:-p

[Ducky]

I heard Jack Newton say today that Richard Green had 22 putts yesterday.

:shock:

[Bruce]

The Shark is a chance to make it to the weekend if he can hold it together today. Plenty of big scores in the bottom half of the field.

Both Green's are out of the blocks nicely again and Go Jarrod!

The big names like Appleby, Ogilvy, Scott etc are just sitting off the front runner's shoulders ready to make their move. It's looking like a good weekend.

[Trung]

its so nice to see Aussies dominating the top 142 places :mrgreen:

[Grunt]

Had a great day out there today spent almost 7 hours walking the course. What a great course it looks to be. Maybe one day I may be lucky enough to get a hit there.

[Grunt]

Well now that I have settled in back at home I can put a better report into how my day went.

What a lovely Golf Course establishment. A few downers were had as the day progressed.
Not being able to get access to the 1st tee area due it being members only.
The running out of Food on the course
The running out of beer on the course.One of the funny moments was when Wayne Riley was in the line at one of the food tents and I guess he just wanted a pie, they had run out of everything except packets of chips; he unloaded on the staff in the tent. It was great he just said what everyone else thought.

Had a funny moment on the 14th hole when both my mate and I said the putter would be the better option for the player to get up and down from the back of the green (we were commentating all day from a hackers point of view). The player proceeded to try and flop it and failed, bladed it across the green. Later in the day we watched Ogilvy pull the putter out from just off the green, Finally a player was listening to us.

Speaking of Ogilvy, man was he relaxed. He looked as if he was having a Friday afternoon hit with mates with Beers as the stakes as well as bragging rights.

Watched just about every big name in the feild for 2 or 3 holes each over the course of the day and got to see alot more of their personalities than the TV normally gives.

Adam Scott - just exudes confidence
Robert Allenby - as above but comes across a little arogant.
Greg Norman - really looked like he was killing time today but at the same time he has a aura.
Brett Rumford - Nice bloke, had a chat with him before his round, signed my hat too :)
Geoff Ogilvy - relaxed, but confident
Stuart Appleby - reckon he would be a great mate, serious when the business needs doing but knows how to relax
Richard Green - workman like
Nathan Green - I reckon he could race up the rankings next year
Jarrod Lyle - another typical Aussie guy
Peter Senior - nice bloke
So many other pro's were seen today it would take ages to list them allOverall had a great day, and for $29 who could argue. Would have been great to get a few more sigs on the hat but these guys were at work when i saw them so you can't complain.

[Grunt]

Shark might just sneak into the weekend he is equal 56th (+8) at the moment with the cut at 60th plus ties

[Ducky]

Wayne Riley was in the line at one of the food tents and I guess he just wanted a pie, they had run out of everything except packets of chips...
Commentators: "How's the atmosphere down there, Radar?"
Wayne Riley: "It's just fantastic, we have everything down here excluding a meat pie."

[Grunt]

Was that about 1 o'clock Ducky?

[Ducky]

It was after 1:00pm, yes.

[amanda]

Thanks for the report Grant. I think we'll bring our food and drinks with us (that is allowed right? excluding glass bottles I'd imagine)

[Bruce]

Looks like the Shark made the cut. Paul McNamee must have a diamond cutter right now.

[marcel]

Thanks for the report Grant. I think we'll bring our food and drinks with us (that is allowed right? excluding glass bottles I'd imagine)

amanda,

my 2 sisters went today, their bags weren't even given a cursory inspection

[Grunt]

Fair few in with a chance come Sunday.
Really backing Rumford now after talking with him before his round yesterday.

[Bruce]

5:20PM saw the last pair putt out.

Typical Aussie players leaving the snails of the PGA tour in their dust.

[jimandr]

The Saturday On-Course Report.

I got there a bit later than I wanted to, and as I was crossing the first fairway, Matthew Goggin walked past. I've never watched him play, so I thought, he'll do to follow for a while. His partner was an enzedder I've never heard of, called Martin Pettigrew. He didn't play well. Don't bother putting him in the 'star of the future' book.

Goggin started really well, missing putts under 8 feet for birdie on 1 and 3, but birdie on 2. After that he struggled on the greens, and just didn't hit enough good shots. He 3-putted the last for 74. I finished up watching him for the entire round, along with a few shots of Aaron Baddeley who was in the group behind. Badds drove the 8th green, 275m uphill, sort of into the wind.

After that I followed Adam Scott and Nick O'Hern on the back nine. Scott was outdriving O'Hern by 40 metres.

Then I sat at the 16th green and watched the rest of the groups come in. Nathan Green is only a small bloke, but really wiry. I didn't see his bad holes.

The course is in sensational condition, and today was a perfect golf day. A bit of standard Sydney sea breeze made the back nine quite difficult, and it'll be the same tomorrow. The player who handles the breeze while under last round pressure might be the winner. Could be Appleby. The few shots I saw of him he looked to be striking it very well.

For Amanda's benefit, they weren't searching bags. Catering was the usual super-high prices. Bring your own, particularly drinks. The meat pies were hot, and tasted good. For $4.90, they'd want to be good. Also, the STA were running a free bus from the course to Edgecliff station.

Big crowds today. There will be a lot of people there tomorrow as well. Get there early.

[amanda]

Thanks Jim! I've already got the bags packed with food and water. Looking forward to a great day.

[Grunt]

Got two favourites to win the open now. Brett Rumford; for how approachable he was on Friday & Steven Bowditch; because a win is just what he needs to get the game, he all showed us he has last year/early this year, back

[Grunt]

What a finish we are going to see here, 6 players sharing the lead @ 6 under.

[Eag's]

Yep would be very supprised if it is not decided by a playoff :smt002

[Grunt]

Bet Paul McNamee was dreaming of this finish. Only one thing could have been better, having a player by the name of G Norman in those 6 players.

[Grunt]

Shark has just said after his round 6 under will be good enough to win this. will have to wait and see if he is right.

[Grunt]

How good are Baker-Finch's tips for the average hacker like ourselves?
He just added the fact the SW may not be the club for us when playing from the longer traps.
He is streets ahead of the other commentators.

[Eag's]

Well done to Sendo, what a great last round 65 :smt038 :smt023
Awesome ballstriking display all day :smt045

[Grunt]

Bugger another QLD'er wins ;)

Congrats to Sendo, the last two hole were played the open should be won, Birdie, Birdie.

What a open this year has given us. Lets hope the Aussie tour rebuilds from this. Bring on the Masters.
We don't need the yanks if our blokes play golf like this. If it stays like this they may end up coming anyway.

[Grunt]

Great Champions speech from a true Champion. He really meant every word he said. I think he got the the round up from Channel 7 though.

Congrats John Senden

[shazza_rs]

He just added the fact the SW may not be the club for us when playing from the longer traps.

No really........ i thought everyone knew this.......

Hell i've even used a rescue mid out of the bunker when it had no lip and was rock hard.

[amanda]

What a great day to be out there watching golf :)

Brad and I received free sponsor tickets to the Open - though not fancy VIP tickets - just entry to the course.

We arrived at Royal Sydney at around 10am - saw Jarrod Lyle and Matt Goggin practice putting on the way to the driving range. There was already a fair crowd there - and big names like Norman, Scott etc hadn't even showed yet.

We walked along a few fairways - meandering where-ever our fancy took us until we stopped at the landing zone on the short-ish par 4 12th. Had a great chat with the marshall who said that where we were standing was the perfect spot to get up close to the golfers as most were fading their drives into the rough. No big names came through that early though - only 11am - but lots of good shots.

We then moved up to the corner of the course that housed the 6th green, 9th green and 10th tee. Not a bad spot to watch approach shots and putts for birdie on 6 - but was filling up fast with spectators.

So we moved to the fairway of the 5th hole at around 11.45am - found ourselves a great position on the left-hand side of the fairway and waited for the crowds following the big names to wash over us. We got very close to Pamps (who used the f word after drawing his approach from the rough into the bunkers) and a few others who were on our side of the fairway.

The biggest crowd by far was following Norman - he hit the best approach we saw in 2 hrs on the 12th. We shared our side of the fairway with 2 other people further down - then a tidal wave would descend and then after shots were hit, vanish just as quickly as it arrived!

After the final group went through the 12th, we then shifted to a nice spot next to the 14th green to see the same players come through again. Bowditch played an amazing approach shot after missing the green short and right for a short putt for par.

Not long after we sat down at the 14th green, another group filled in an empty space next to us - girlfriends of some of the players who were out in the field early in the day. And boy were they annoying! Very rarely did they ever quieten their extremely loud conversations when a player was putting and repeated attempts by the marshalls to shush them didn't really work.

To get away from their incessant nattering, we moved over to the 15th fairway - followed a few groups before nabbing a spot on the 18th tee - we watched Lonard, Badds and a few other groups nail drives. Even saw Paul Gow duck off to the bushes on the left-hand side of the fairway to take a leak! (well - that's what I was assuming he was doing while facing a tree and standing rather still).

We then moved to the inside corner on 18 to watch the approaches and saw the final groups go through - Senden was by far the slowest player in the field - often having up to 20 practice swings while someone else was waiting. I didn't want him to win purely because he was so bloody slow!

I was disappointed at the pushiness of some spectators - I was most often sitting on the side of the fairway and was almost trampled on a few times by people anxious to get close to the rope. When leaving the course, kids were trying to get through to the autograph area and people were pushing and shoving them aside - the kids were not rude, simply shuffling in the 1 line of foot traffic like everyone else - one almost fell in front of me and no-one except me stopped to see if he was ok.

All up - a great day - I'm not sure I'd pay $29 to watch it live - but good fun for free :)

[Grunt]

Well Amanda I thought the $29 was very well spent!

[dc68]

Lucky buggers getting to watch that live!!! The rest of us had to put up with Radar "F***wit" Riley....the sooner this d!ckhead stops trying to be like McCord and Feherty the better.

[miro]

Great event and what other event offers you a 10 hour up close view of some of the worlds best for $29 -cheap and thats all there is to it.

My hat remains doffed to Royal Sydney -it cops a lot of flack from the archie boys (ISG ring a bell) but it helds its own (in a way Royal Melbourne hasn't of recent times), delivered a compelling contest and was in superb condition. What more can we ask of a course.

[BrisVegas]

Lucky buggers getting to watch that live!!! The rest of us had to put up with Radar "F***wit" Riley....the sooner this d!ckhead stops trying to be like McCord and Feherty the better.

Hate to say it but I agree whoeheartedly with dave on this one. Riley comes across as a complete tool on the telecast. I couldn't help but cringe during the locker room interview he had with Badds. It was just too awkward, too many pregnant pauses and stupid facial expressions. Get Feherty out here or let someone funny do the interviewing if it's humour they're after...

[Eag's]

How about the interview with the Green boys on one of the tees on Thur.
Dickbrain Riley crapping on about how well they were both playing, then drops this stupid bloody question " so when you guys are playing, who looks after the lollies?" he then proceeds to run off like a tool :smt075

Both Green boys looked at him as if to say "you total wanker Riley" :confused:

[amanda]

Perhaps it's just me - glad I've been once - but I'm not a fan of crowds and pushy people.

It would be money better spent on an earlier day I think when there won't have been thousands trampling over you to watch the favourites.

[Toolish]

wondered about the Riley comment, I must be a bit slow on the uptake as it meant shit all to me..it was either that hole or the next that nathan had started the double-bogey-bogey run...hmmm

[3oneday]

Riley and Ogle, what a pair.... of dickheads.

Embarrassing to say the least, it was like Ogle was trying one upmanship on Baker Finch whenever they were on together. The coverage lacked any pizzaz, they tried but it sucked.

[chappy1970]

Well done Sendo, great win.

I am really surprised that with all the QLD'ers in this site that not one of you tipped him. Having said that, I was bloody surprised that he won, even with his awesome iron play on the last two holes he is generally a really sh!thouse putter

Chappy

[Ducky]

Well, you don't need to be a great putter when you can knock it 3ft from the hole.

:p

[BrisVegas]

I am really surprised that with all the QLD'ers in this site that not one of you tipped him.

I understand that tricky had him at 30 to 1. Canny old bugger he is.