Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner report on the U.S. Open setup of Pinehurst No. 2 and how golfers may attack the course. #GolfChannel #USOpen #Pinehurst
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U.S. Open course offers golfers various strategies | Live From the U.S. Open | Golf Channel
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Rex hogard and Ryan lavner guys what have been your observations so far through a couple days here at pineur number two thank you George both of us were in the media center this morning and plenty of happenings lots of press conferences that we’ll get to but both of us also had an opportunity to go out on the golf course today would you make of the way the course is playing in the setup well Rex I was here about a month ago for us open media day and I’ve been struck by the transformation just over that four-week period I I thought at the time if you just give this golf course a haircut it could host the US Open and said I’m here four weeks later and it is uh that setup completely on steroids I think when talking to a lot of the players over the first couple days that I’ve been here at Pinehurst the one thing that comes through is just the number of options that players have I don’t just mean off the tea you’ve heard different strategies from Victor havin who said he’s going to be playing aggressively and hitting as far as possible or Bryson the Shambo who actually conversely said he’s going to be uh leaning back but also kind of around the greens and we’ve seen everything from three Woods to four irons seven irons uh 55 60° uh wedges around these greens even a a putter of course as well as one of those options it’s just so much different than the week in week out monotony that you have on the PJ tour which tends to be so onedimensional so I think that’s going to make for a very good watch but I think every player is is very uh pleased with the setup so far very subtle humble brag I was here a month ago to play the golf course for media day I like the way he just got away with that one I was out walking with Billy horel this morning and I was taken by the idea you talk about the options and from a couple of spots specifically on the fifth hole kind of short and right he would hit driver off the out of the chipping area he’d hit a wedge and then he would Putt and he told me you can do almost anything from those lies he went back to the idea I took with a statistician this morning that Martin kimer when1 here in 2014 almost exclusively putted from off these greens and if you look at what he was able to do that week not just win but win in dominant fashion I think we’re going to see a lot of players going down that road as well and then you look at what you have to do well here and I I did hear Smiley coffin on the previous segment talking about well driving distance is going to come in handy accuracy is also going to come in handy because if you look at what happened back in 2014 the idea that the field hit less than 50% of their Greens in regulation that is a very very low number compared to tour standards so even the good ball Strikers we’re talking about Scotty Sheffer we’re talking about colum morawa they’re not going to hit the same number of Greens in regulation that they’re accustomed to so they’re going to have to put themselves in a position in the Fairway to make sure they can I’m not going to say attack but at least put themselves in a position where they can make a par and then when they do miss greens they’re going to have to scramble because you look at the most important thing last time around in 2014 it was scrambling you had to find a way Martin kimer he onep putted 49% of his green so short game is going to be a huge combination of what they’re trying to do on this golf course now we talked about it on the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lab the idea that John ROM is coming into this event and we’ve kind of withheld judgment on the idea of where John ROM’s game is right now as it applies to the major championships but now you have an injury in play what’s your level of concern uh I my level of concern is high because John Ron literally said today that it is a quote concern that he’s dealing with his toe injury on the eve of the US Open and if you listened to his press conference earlier today and obviously we were both in the room for that he’s clearly uh sort of hitting back at the perception that he is fallen off or he’s taken a step back or he’s uh sort of an afterthought in the world of golf now especially Cons considering the Scotty selfish uh run that he has been on and I can sort of understand that uh kind of hitting back at that suggestion he is seventh in data golf’s rankings he’s ninth in Strokes gain total when you look across both the PJ tour uh and the live golf data that we have but I think it also has to be put into context this was a player who last year at the US Open was in the midst of a four- win season he’d won the Masters it seemed like something special was brewing potentially rivalry rise with Scotty Sheffer that has not come to fruition I think that’s obviously disappointing for golf fans but I think it’s also disappointing for for John ROM not being able to have that sort of competition week out week in and week out against gotty shuffler to test himself but but yeah it’s certainly a concern injury was it when it comes to John ROM last couple of weeks when it came to John ROM a lot of gymnastics on my part trying to avoid some sort of snap judgment because the idea and I think we both agreed with this earlier in the season that whatever this version of John ROM’s going to be like we’re probably going to have to wait until after the major championship season to make that assessment so I wanted to get through rural trun before I really looked hard at exactly the way he was playing and look The Narrative here is somehow going to live golf was going to impact his game I don’t particularly agree with that but you can’t deny the results right now you had 40th Place finished at the Masters and he missed the cut at the PGA Championship it’s a very unj ROM likee performances at the two events that the only two events that we can measure him on so the idea that he’s coming into this event injured we both watched him limp in and Limp out of the press Center this morning for his interview that cannot bode well I mean he’s literally wearing a flip-flop at least he was on Tuesday morning when he arrived at the golf course if you’re looking for some sort of Silver Lining he did uh play this golf course a couple of weeks ago in a practice round so even if his uh practice time at pineur number two is limited week of the tournament he at least has logged a couple of practice rounds ear earlier in the year and you look at Tiger Woods finally the idea that he was in the press conference today sort of talking about where the state of his game right now what are your expectations here we do this every single time and it’s getting more and more difficult it it certainly is I think we have a large enough sample size now to know that yeah Tiger Woods can probably make the cut but it’s unlikely that he is going to contend when you look at this golf course in the history that he has Pinehurst number two whether it’s in 1999 or in 2005 he also had opportunities to win in both of those two additions did not play in 2014 because of of the back issue but you look at this golf course and what it’s really demanding of the players one is precision into the greens Tiger Woods throughout the Hallmark of his career uh was the games preminent iron player you think about scrambling and the Arsenal of shots that Tiger Woods possesses you would think in Tiger Woods’s Prime yes that’s this was obviously going to be a very good fit for him that has actually been his Bugaboo Rex in the very small sample size that we have in 2024 he’s hitting just 50% of his greens and scrambling just 50% of the time he absolutely has to clean that up if he wants to even sniff contention this week all those things we talked about that are going to be key on this particular golf course you’re right he’s struggling at but neither you nor I are afraid of hot takes when it comes to what we write on golf chanel.com and I wrote this afternoon the idea of why this could be the major that we should be looking forward to and look it was a bit of a stretch based on just the simple idea that Tiger Woods does not have a top 10 finish in a major championship since he won the 2019 Masters but you look at what he’s done on this golf course in the past it’s flat it’s warm I think it’s going to be a good round uh a test for him a benefit is he’s averaging fewer than three pares for round that’s probably going to be about the average here at the US Open bird is going to be very hard to come by George my humble friend played here a few weeks ago I’m not sure if you knew that did not play particularly well but I did play how about that plug oh when I came here for media day I got to play pineur number two a month ago lab I’m just proud that you’re putting on a brave face after last night with your Georgia Bulldogs oo let’s let’s just let’s just go to break George
