Irish open 2014 @ Fota thread

Seve OB · 22-06-2014 03:33PM

m r c wrote: »

Anyone else notice how narky Clarke got up around the 16th green. He missed short right and got fairly thick. We all laughed tbh.
I was sure that would put him off but he hit a beaut on 17

Think he would have picked up the bin after himself wouldn't you!

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

what happened? saw him on 15 before leaders came out

Thunk he was in bunker off the tee, missed green right rough, cuffed chip and left it in rough, superb recovery chip to go and miss a tiddler!

take everything · 22-06-2014 04:00PM

Jaysus the state of Inda.

scrubber72 · 22-06-2014 04:18PM

take everything wrote: »

Jaysus the state of Inda.

Hey that's our leader........hangs head in shame.

Dolph Starbeam · 22-06-2014 04:18PM

Ilonen making a meal of the 18th.

CountyHurler · 22-06-2014 04:21PM

We've just had an explanation of what the word Taoiseach, and a description of the crowds as similar to the swarm of people outside Buck House... Why is the commentary all English?

thisonetaken · 22-06-2014 04:23PM

CountyHurler wrote: »

We've just had an explanation of what the word Taoiseach, and a description of the crowds as similar to the swarm of people outside Buck House... Why is the commentary all English?

Was just thinking that's some trolling by the commentator when he made that Buckingham palace comment

John Divney · 22-06-2014 04:27PM

Lol Sky were giving it the Irish thing all week and RTE are banging on about the Queen and the Irish Primeminister.

CountyHurler · 22-06-2014 04:28PM

"Imagine playing golf in the freshest of fresh air in the world"...

So profound....

Slicemeister · 22-06-2014 04:36PM

That was pretty mundane. Pity nobody came out of the pack.

vienne86 · 22-06-2014 04:36PM

John Divney wrote: »

Lol Sky were giving it the Irish thing all week and RTE are banging on about the Queen and the Irish Primeminister.

To be fair to Sky, they did a job that would please Tourism Ireland - hugely enthusiastic.....obviously enjoyed themselves.

John Divney · 22-06-2014 04:50PM

vienne86 wrote: »

To be fair to Sky, they did a job that would please Tourism Ireland - hugely enthusiastic.....obviously enjoyed themselves.

Yep, said same myself above, Sky really did it a huge service.

hoodwinked · 22-06-2014 05:46PM

just home from it, i'm roasted red but overall a great day,

spent the morning following Clarke then had a break, went and watched Harrington on the 3rd/4th/6th

then had some lunch, then followed McDowell on the 4th/5th and then headed to the 18th to watch the rest come in.

Have to say while passing the 10th Fitzpatrick was teeing off when he spotted a young boy watching in a cast, he gave him one of his golf balls, and was shaking hands with everyone and chatting away enjoying himself between the holes, lovely guy.

slave1 · 22-06-2014 05:48PM

Hey, it's our national open but in all honesty Saturday and Sunday were very bland I thought, no real excitement

MisterAnarchy · 22-06-2014 07:26PM

slave1 wrote: »

Hey, it's our national open but in all honesty Saturday and Sunday were very bland I thought, no real excitement

Unfortunately the lack of quality in the field was probably a factor it that.
Only 1 player in worlds top 50 made the weekend.
97k fans over the 4 days for such a poor field is startling.

Course was in savage condition again this year,I'd eat my dinner off those fairways they are like a grass tennis court .

slave1 · 22-06-2014 07:31PM

good point

m r c · 22-06-2014 10:08PM

Home myself now and proper fecked but well worth it.

Part of why I went down was to see what they are doing that I'm not, routine etc.

The main things in all honesty that I could see, every single move seemed to be totally deliberate. I followed Ricardo Santos for 18 holes on Saturday and I'm a massive fan after.
He had a big dose of the lefts all week, without out which he'd have won the tourney I'm sure but I'm so impressed by him.
Very methodical(but not mechanical) no ways slow though.

The other and biggest difference IMHO is the physiques omg they are unbelieveable in person.

The average height at the Irish open this year must have been nearly 6 feet 2 and most of them while not looking like body builders were seriously toned.

Anyway the next time ye are on the links and see a hungry fella moving like he really means it that probably me ;-)

Wichita Lineman · 22-06-2014 11:25PM

Had a great day in Fota today and can see now why everyone was raving about it compared to Carton House last year. After a quick tour around the tented village my son and I followed Quiros for a few holes first then we switched to Ed Molinari and stayed with him and Anders Hansen from 2 thru 16 before waiting for the final 4 groups to pass us on the 16th fairway and then we came in with Ilonen up the 18th. We were in behind him when he played that super shot out of the trees on the 18th.

MisterAnarchy · 23-06-2014 12:08AM

m r c wrote: »

The other and biggest difference IMHO is the physiques omg they are unbelieveable in person.

The average height at the Irish open this year must have been nearly 6 feet 2 and most of them while not looking like body builders were seriously toned.

Yes ,they are very toned and slim ,the tv makes them look alot heavier than they really are.
Even guys like Mc Dowell that look a bit portly on tv are pretty slim.

I remember seeing Adam Scott years ago at the Amex ,he was like a stick man in person while he looked pretty muscular on tv .

After a quick tour around the tented village my son and I followed Quiros for a few holes

I hope you got to see him hit a few drives down the line ,its a thing of beauty watching him launch a drive into the sky .

Wichita Lineman · 23-06-2014 10:01AM

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

I hope you got to see him hit a few drives down the line ,its a thing of beauty watching him launch a drive into the sky .

We did indeed. Quiros hit an absolute peach of a drive on the 10th (I think) out over the massive big trees on the right. Something Molinari failed to do later in the day although he was very lucky as his ball landed smack in the middle of the fairway. How come that never happens to me after I whack the ball off a big tree???

hades · 23-06-2014 10:14AM

One of the funny things over the course of the few days..... i was on the 10th tee box when Lowery, Gram and Casey were teeing off. So they were looking for a big fade to set up the approach. Gram hits a dinger but it just wasn't turning right and ended up going straight and into the rough on the left. The chap next to me starts clapping over enthusiastically "Great shot Gram, Great shot"... Gram goes to Lowery "Great shot me b*****ks"

I was cracking up.

BTW, i know he's Graeme and not Gram, but i've been brainwashed from watching the golf channel coverage on sky sports.

MisterAnarchy · 23-06-2014 12:29PM

Andy Dunne11 wrote: »

We did indeed. Quiros hit an absolute peach of a drive on the 10th (I think) out over the massive big trees on the right. Something Molinari failed to do later in the day although he was very lucky as his ball landed smack in the middle of the fairway. How come that never happens to me after I whack the ball off a big tree???

I was watching Quiros on the range and he was messing around with the driver sending drives over the 2 big massive trees there .
A few other golfers were trying to replicate the feat but they couldnt get enough height .:D

Quiros's caddy was hitting balls too,lovely swing ,he is a pro too Raul Quiros (no relation)

benny79 · 23-06-2014 12:41PM

I followed fitzpatrick on the back 9 yesterday what a talent at only 19! and was hiiting it just as far as lawrie if not futher! he has a great future ahead of him and so grounded... A future major winner me thinks!

# Jeolous

allybhoy · 23-06-2014 02:37PM

m r c wrote: »

Home myself now and proper fecked but well worth it.

Part of why I went down was to see what they are doing that I'm not, routine etc.

The main things in all honesty that I could see, every single move seemed to be totally deliberate. I followed Ricardo Santos for 18 holes on Saturday and I'm a massive fan after.
He had a big dose of the lefts all week, without out which he'd have won the tourney I'm sure but I'm so impressed by him.
Very methodical(but not mechanical) no ways slow though.

The other and biggest difference IMHO is the physiques omg they are unbelieveable in person.

The average height at the Irish open this year must have been nearly 6 feet 2 and most of them while not looking like body builders were seriously toned.

Anyway the next time ye are on the links and see a hungry fella moving like he really means it that probably me ;-)

Was down there myself Saturday and Sunday and have to say that was the one thing that stood out for me aswell they are all in great physical condition, Another thing that stood out for me was for the majority of their shots, they seem to hit well within themselves, probably 70% of their power goes into the majority of their shots.

Did anyone see Rafa Cabrera-Bello ? He is built like a truck. We were staying in the hotel, on the Saturday he finished his round at about 4pm or so, we went to the pool at 6 and he was in the gym pumping serious weights even though he was only off the course.

Oh, and did anyone catch the band on Saturday in the tented village?

Loire · 23-06-2014 02:48PM

Went to Fota Thur, Fri and Sun and it was fantastic. Rory looked tired on Thur, but in any case, he struts around like he owns the place - just couldn't warm to the fella. Harrington on the other hand was a real gent, acknowledging the crowd at every turn - he got a lot more claps from the crown in comparison.. He must have spent a half an hour signing autographs after his round yesterday.

Rory's 2nd from the rough on the 18th was one of the most incredible shots I've ever seen. He hit a massive, low draw towards the TV tower that turned onto the front of the green.

The physicality of the players was something else. Such a great sport where you can walk to within feet of the biggest names in the sport. Fota looked amazing too and the organisation was great.

Illonen deserved the win but it would have been something if one/two of the Irish were in the last pair and had a chance.

Loire.

hades · 23-06-2014 03:21PM

allybhoy wrote: »

Did anyone see Rafa Cabrera-Bello ? He is built like a truck.

I followed him on Thursday, we arrived and Rory and Harry were playing the 18th, they're 9th. Followed by Clarke and co. There were huge crowds following them, so we said we'd follow the next group which happened to have Rafa, Miko and Jose Maria. There was probably only around 10 or 15 people tops following that group. Obviously Miko played well on the day, but it was fantastic to be so close to the players without having to jostle for position. You could hear them going through their shot choices over each ball, it certainly opened up my eyes to course management.

Seve OB · 23-06-2014 04:11PM

The real winner for me was Fota. I just thought the golf course is absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to play it. Probably 10th hole is my favourite and hard to pick a bad hole in any way shape or form.

It's a real eye opener when you are watching it on TV and then out there within a few minutes.... you just don't get any idea what it's really like with all the slopes, hills etc that are on a golf course from watching it on a monitor.

of course the other winner was the talent, and I'm not talking about the golf...... unreal

dcrosskid · 23-06-2014 04:17PM

stevieob wrote: »

The real winner for me was Fota. I just thought the golf course is absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to play it. Probably 10th hole is my favourite and hard to pick a bad hole in any way shape or form.

It's a real eye opener when you are watching it on TV and then out there within a few minutes.... you just don't get any idea what it's really like with all the slopes, hills etc that are on a golf course from watching it on a monitor.

of course the other winner was the talent, and I'm not talking about the golf...... unreal

Played Fota twice. It is a quality course and the last hole is my favourite (especially as I birdied both days) Is the 10th a Par 5 down the hill with a bit of a dog leg? I'm going to head back there hopefully before the summers out all going well.

I heard all bout the talent down there alright!!

Seve OB · 23-06-2014 04:19PM

dcrosskid wrote: »

Played Fota twice. It is a quality course and the last hole is my favourite (especially as I birdied both days) Is the 10th a Par 5 down the hill with a bit of a dog leg? I'm going to head back there hopefully before the summers out all going well.

I heard all bout the talent down there alright!!

yea the 10th is a downhill par 5, double dogleg first right and then left into the green

benny79 · 23-06-2014 04:20PM

Where did they sign autographs? its usually as they walk off 18th but you couldnt get near that green as they walked off as it was cornered off.

Seve OB · 23-06-2014 04:23PM

benny79 wrote: »

Where did they sign autographs? its usually as they walk off 18th but you couldnt get near that green as they walked off as it was cornered off.

from what I seen, loads of the pros were great on Wednesday and there was no problems bumping into them on crossovers as they weren't manned (not needed) with the exception of the McIlroy group.

Around the clubhouse was the best spot to get to meet them and on their way in and out of the putting green.... but you had to have the pass for them areas

Irish open 2014 @ Fota thread

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