| I saw the final round, but was not real surprised. A couple of years
back I played Olympic. I got hooked up with a member who was a real
character - huge guy in his 40's who lived in Monterey, and was a
retired rock group promoter. This guy was a serious gambler - he'd bet
you on anything, for any amount (which I wisely declined). He insisted
that our group (which consisted of a couple of Pro's from Monterey and
the rock guy and me) play from the back of the tips. Perhaps because I
had spent the last 3 nights in a microbrewery in San Jose, I played
pretty bad - about 92, I think. But I will say this - Olympic's Lake
course is all you want - one of the hardest tracks I've EVER seen. You
get absolutely NO roll, and the greens often break absolutely the
opposite of how you read 'em. This is one TOUGH track!
Over time, we'll remember Greg Norman as a classy guy who is one of the
greatest players of our era. For now, I'd like to think of him just
that way, and not detract from him based on one bad round. I'm sure he
feels bad enough. The media will absolutely kill the guy, so I'll let
it slide. I like both guys, and I give Gallagher a lot of credit.
__Jack
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It was painful to watch. 95 yards in on 16 and he dumps it
into a bunker! 135 yards to 18th pin and he hits an 8 iron
to go for a back pin!! Frost hit 8 iron from 155. The
totally obvious shot was 9 or wedge below the hole for an
uphill 2 putt or possible bird. He went for both pins!!
He lost the money title, $300,000+, and player of the
year on that stretch of holes. Unreal.
Tom
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| that last shot was kind of a "tweener." He had a couple of other shots
release somewhat uncharacteristically, when they hit the green. The
ball behaves somewhat differently off those fairways, and on those
greens.
I never liked short closing holes, but I like this one, and #18 at
Worcester CC (a double decker green that is tiny, and like lightning)
By the way, they normally play #17 at Olympic as a 450+ par 4, and it
is a nightmare!
__Jack
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