115th U.S. Open Championship First Round Highlights
FOX Sports’ coverage of the 115th U.S. Open Championship teed off today with a field of 156 competitors attempting to meet the many challenges presented by Chambers Bay. The first round of the first U.S. Open ever played in the Pacific Northwest showcased the course’s immense bunkers, undulating greens and massive dunes; a fitting start to the toughest test in golf. FOX Sports’ coverage of the U.S. Open continues Friday, June 19 at 12:00 PM ET on FOX Sports 1, before moving to local FOX stations at 8:00 PM ET.
U.S. OPEN on FOX lead analyst Greg Norman on Tiger Woods’ continued swing reconstruction and his struggles during opening-round play:
“He has been lost for a long time. What he’s trying to do now is find a go-to shot and that go-to shot is trying to hit a hard fade as much as he can. You can see that when he sets up so far left, because he is aiming that far left and his left elbow gets away from his body. When that left elbow gets there, the club face stays way open and it’s stuck behind him, so it’s going right. He’s not even starting the ball on the line that he wants, which is really tough to see. Every time he shoots a round of golf like this, the hole he’s in just gets deeper and deeper and deeper for him.”
Norman commented on Woods’ visible loss of confidence:
“The most amazing thing to me is how quickly it has happened. You look back to the end of last year when he was playing and the “chip yips” worked into his game, so his confidence eroded away and now he’s trying to figure out a new swing. All of a sudden now, since a period of October, November or December last year, we’ve seen this precipitous fall of Tiger Woods. The tiger’s stripes are really fading and fading fast; he needs to somehow get them back. The only way he can get them back is to do it himself, deep down inside.”
U.S. Open on FOX on-course analyst and 1995 U.S. Open champion Corey Pavin addressed Bubba Watson’s audible frustrations with the pace of play on the 18th hole during Thursday’s round:
“You can see how frustrated he is, he’s holding his hands up and he’s just not in a good place right now. That’s the thing you can’t let happen to you at a U.S. Open; you’ve got to be patient.”
Norman weighed in on Watson’s body language and lack of focus putting on the final hole:
“That’s almost a putt that’s like, ‘I’m just going to hit this and get out of here.’ That’s exactly what it looked like. I know he’s trying, but you heard the frustration after he hit the second shot in there and you can see the look on his face. He’s definitely not a happy camper.”
FOX Sports’ Morgan Pressel interviewed Watson following Thursday’s round. See the full interview HERE.