Birdies and bogeys: Northern Ireland up; Americans down

The Guinness is flowing in Ireland.

Eagle: Rory McIlroy. A performance for the ages.

Bogey. Best ever performance in a U.S. Open. McIlroy’s 17-under was astonishing, but in my mind, Tiger Woods’ 12-under, 15-shot victory still is the best ever for all time in a U.S. Open. Nobody else broke par at Pebble Beach in 200o. There were 20 players under par last week.

Birdie: Northern Ireland. The tiny country now has produced back-to-back U.S. Open winners. Let the Guinness flow!

Bogey. U.S. Only two Americans placed in the top 10, and they were named Kevin Chappell and Robert Garrigus. Where have you gone Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk….?

Birdie. Jason Day. Back-to-back runner-up finishes in a major for the 23-year old Aussie. If he keeps this up, McIlroy won’t be the only young star commanding our attention.

Bogey. Lee Westwood. Ho-hum, another T-3 in a major. No longer the best player in Europe.

Bogey. Luke Donald. Had a terrible week, finishing T-45. He said he was exhausted from his busy schedule prior to the Open. If that’s the case, he has to make sure that doesn’t happen again if he wants to win majors. Still No. 1 in the world rankings, but like Westwood, no longer can be considered the best player in Europe.

Birdie. Robert Garrigus’ short putter. After the success he had with it, I envision a bunch of fathers will grab the putter out of their kids’ bag and try them on the course.

Bogey. Congressional. Regardless of the weather, it played too easy and wasn’t all that interesting.

Bogey. Olympic Club. After this year’s assault on scoring, you could expect to see plenty of bogeys at next year’s Open at Olympic in San Francisco. The USGA will be out for revenge.

Birdie. Sergio Garcia. A T-7 shows some signs of life. However, he needs to be happier on the course.

Birdie. Davis Love III. A T-11 also shows he’s not done. With the way the Americans are playing, the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain might play his way on to the team.

 

 

 

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