The first round was today from the Chicago Golf Club in suburban Wheaton. I wonder how the USGA will figure out how to leave some stench on this competition too.
It doesn't appear the ladies in this Championship are going to get much air time - 2 hours each on Saturday and Sunday from 3:00 - 5:00 on Fox Sports 1?
I would like to go there in person but Saturday I've got something going on and the forecast is for 90% rain on Sunday so I dunno...
I can't pretend to know what the interest level is for women's golf, let alone senior women's golf. If the senior ladies are getting 4 hours on the weekend, honestly it's more than I expected.
JoAnne Carners wedge was deemed non-conforming!
Guess it's been a while since some of these lady's have competed...
https://golfweek.com/2018/07/11/joanne-carner-trusty-wedge-deemed-nonconforming-at-us-senior-womens-open/
I was hoping to see some of the ladies I watched many years ago...Inkster (saw her win the Ladies Open @ Prairie Dunes), Kay Cockerill, Jan Stephenson, Laura Baugh, etc....I hope they all make the cut and play the weekend.
Of note, they are playing the course set up at about 6300 yards so I can relate to that. The par for the layout is 73 so I assume the USGA wants more scores in red numbers? (There were only 5 on Thursday.) I'm speculating #18 is a Par 4 for club members (421 yards) but they made it a Par 5 for this event. One amatuer qualifier posted a 105 for her opening round...if the course conditions were brutally tough - I could relate to that.
PA-PLAYA To be honest, I am more interested in the historical aspect of the course as opposed to the golf being played.
The Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton was the first 18-hole course west of the Allegheny Mountains, and all of the greats of a certain era (Vardon, Taylor, Evans, Travers, Jones) played there.
HybridWood - what did you think of the course, if you made it out? A couple of my Chi area acquaintances were going out today for the final round.
The USGA just ruined it for me trying to watch the final round. I'm ready to flip it on the tv and do a quick check of the leaderboard on the USGA's website. There is a BIG picture of Laura Davies kissing the trophy and I'm like wtf? Why watch? I wonder how many other fans discovered the same thing and won't watch without it being live or at a minimum not knowing the final outcome?
This ruling body will forever be referred to me as USGASUX and I am so glad I haven't renewed my membership. I don't care how many notepads, rulebooks, or letters pleading me to rejoin they send. Sometimes I think they hire rejects flushed by caddymasters across the country.
I posted my opinion about this organization's ineptness on the USGA Facebook page, along with many others that are upset about the results posted before tv coverage (tape delayed). I used to try to defend them but it has been truly a clown show with hit after hit.
I see Davies still wedge up the grass in lieu of a tee...lol, she's a beast!
I used to follow Davies at Kingsmill annually in May. At the time, she was still teeing the ball up on the tee box by digging up a little dirt pile and setting her ball on it. Old school! Then she would stripe one out past everyone else.
mikeintopeka - what did you think of the course, if you made it out? A couple of my Chi area acquaintances were going out today for the final round.
Didn't make it. My Sunday mornings are booked and since they moved the tee times up and went off 1 and 10 simultaneously due to weather, the proceedings would've about wrapped up by the time I could get there.
My son Craig is an asst Super in training there. His crew handled the greens and he personally did all the watering. He said the greens stimp a 12.6 with .020 deviation in firmness by the USGA " True Firm" device, from holes 1-18. The USGA said they were the most consistent greens they ever tested. The final day overnight they received .6" of rain and he said Mother nature erased everything he had done the previous days, but the course was playable and there were no complaints or controversy. He was also at Erin Hills in ' 17 where the USGA said they were the best greens they ever had for a US Open. He cut the Arnold Palmer ceremonial 18th hole in front of about 3000 people on the final day. At 25 Craig is becoming a Jedi Master of greens, and his career happened in part from all of us at FGI where I ho'd his first iron set which started his odyssey. He did say the FWs were giving the women up to 70 yards of roll and Davies took advantage big time on the par 5s. She was hitting 2I from the tee on par 4s.
