2022 U.S. Open - The Country Club, MA - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > 2022 U.S. Open - The Country Club, MA

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009

https://www.usopen.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9e_CnoWUYg

The Country Club in Brookline, just outside of Boston, is one of the most important golf clubs in history. It is one of the five founding clubs of the USGA. It was the site of the 1913 U.S. Open won by Francis Ouimet, dramatized in the terrible 2005 film The Greatest Game Ever Played starring Shia LaBeouf. It's where Bobby Jones completed the 1930 Grand Slam. It was also the site of the 1999 Ryder Cup where USA staged the largest comeback in Ryder Cup history.

But most importantly, it is hosting the first tournament after the start of the breakaway Saudi-backed sportswashing LIV Golf series.

There will be ~*~DRAMA~*~
https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1536108145398927360

Air Times (ET)
Thu: 6:45-9:30am Peacock, 9:30am-2pm USA, 2-5pm NBC, 5-7pm USA, 7-8pm Peacock
Fri: 6:45-9:30am Peacock, 9:30am-4pm USA, 4-7pm NBC, 7-8pm Peacock
Sat: 10am-12pm Peacock, 12-8pm NBC
Sun: 9-10am Peacock, 10am-12pm USA, 12-7pm NBC

There will also be streaming featured groups at https://www.usopen.com/.

Marquee Tee Times (Thursday ET)
7:18am Collin Morikawa, James Piot, Jon Rahm
7:29am Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Max Homa
7:40am: Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele
1:14pm: Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau
1:25pm: Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith, Scottie Scheffler
1:47pm: Phil Mickelson, Shane Lowry, Louis Oosthuizen

Odds (Draftkings as of 9am ET Monday)

Betting Pool
Pick an available player who isn't one of the top 10 betting favorites. Best finisher gets :20bux:

from everyone else. We're going to try a slight modification from previous pools, runner(s)-up gets their money back (doesn't have to pay the winner).
Josh Lyman: Shane Lowry
Shrapnig: Hideki Matsuyama
Anno: Viktor Hovland
BonoMan: Harold Varner III
Douchebag: Brooks Koepka
The SituAsian: Tony Finau
Kameh: Max Homa
mattfl: Tommy Fleetwood
Dr. Capco: Justin Rose
chilihead: Sam Burns
moose47: Phil Mickelson
Kirios: Joaquin Niemann
SquirrelyPSU: Adam Scott
Keyser_Soze: Sungjae Im
Mcqueen: Cam Young

Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Jun 15, 2022

# ? Jun 13, 2022 14:44

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 3, 2024 12:42

Shrapnig: Jan 21, 2005

Matsuyama

# ? Jun 13, 2022 14:52

Anno: May 10, 2017; I'm going to drown! For no reason at all!

Hovland

# ? Jun 13, 2022 14:56

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009

Reminder that we are going to try a slightly modified pool this time. :siren:

If there are 12 or more participants, the second place finisher(s) will get their money back, i.e. won't have to pay the winner. This is mainly to mitigate the size of the pool and to make for more interesting watching on Sunday.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 15:01

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

HV3 Please!

edit: some thoughts on future pool stuff (maybe for discussion for next year). And I'm just thinking out loud about some of this, so it's not super deeply thought out.

For each $20 bet, $15 goes into the prize pool for that tourney, the last $5 goes into escrow that grows with each tourney.

If a player picks someone that actually wins the tourney, they get that extra pot of cash. If nobody does by the end of the year, it's donated to First Tee or some other golf program.

This would require someone to sort of run the game though (but it wouldn't be hard) so they can keep track of the buckets.

Anyway just some thoughts to evolve it a little. Or not. No biggie.

BonoMan fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Jun 13, 2022

# ? Jun 13, 2022 15:17

Douchebag: Oct 21, 2005

Koepka please

# ? Jun 13, 2022 15:27

The SituAsian: Oct 29, 2006; I'm a mess in distress
But we're still the best dressed

Tony Finau

# ? Jun 13, 2022 15:29

Kameh: Apr 27, 2004; ~~Resident Sergio Apologist~~
CHAMPION

Max Homa

# ? Jun 13, 2022 15:41

mattfl: Aug 27, 2004

Tommy Fleetwood

# ? Jun 13, 2022 16:05

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009

BonoMan posted:

edit: some thoughts on future pool stuff (maybe for discussion for next year). And I'm just thinking out loud about some of this, so it's not super deeply thought out.

For each $20 bet, $15 goes into the prize pool for that tourney, the last $5 goes into escrow that grows with each tourney.

If a player picks someone that actually wins the tourney, they get that extra pot of cash. If nobody does by the end of the year, it's donated to First Tee or some other golf program.

This would require someone to sort of run the game though (but it wouldn't be hard) so they can keep track of the buckets.

Anyway just some thoughts to evolve it a little. Or not. No biggie.

3 questions immediately come to mind:

1) How do we logistically manage the bonus pool? We could have everyone to make 2 payments per major, 1 to the event winner and 1 to the bonus pool, but that's maximizes the burden for everyone. We could just have the event winner make a payment to the bonus pool after receiving payment from everyone else.

2) Do you need to participate in the last X pools in order to claim the bonus? In other words, do we want to avoid incentivizing someone to only participating in The Open?

3) Do we do it per calendar year or for the trailing 4 majors? Picking the winner is much more likely for The Masters vs say The Open.

Last year there were 57 entries across the 4 majors so the bonus pool as you proposed it would have been $285. If the winner of The Open pool had picked the champion, they would've won $485 which feels like too much, but maybe that's just me? To put a topical point on it, I don't want these pools to be about ~~Saudi blood~~ money. If someone wants to make a golf bet with a big payout, they can go to a sportsbook.

From a game theory perspective, bonus pools exist for slots and other games in order to induce additional betting. That doesn't quite apply here since you would only be able to bet 4 times/year but I do worry about distortional effects.

One thing I like about our pools is that the expected value is 1. In other words, it feels less like betting and more like a fun game.

If we want to have a charitable element, I would rather just have each event winner donate X% to their local First Tee. I think 10% is reasonable which also happens to align with the standard vig at sportsbooks and caddy payout for a win.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 17:06

Dr. Capco: May 21, 2007; Pillbug

Gimme Justin Rose even if I'm probably getting baited from watching him yesterday.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 17:08

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009

Dr. Capco posted:

Gimme Justin Rose even if I'm probably getting baited from watching him yesterday.

Justin Rose was the other person I was thinking of picking. He has a better track record than Lowry at U.S. Opens and played well last week and at the PGA, but he's also had more inconsistent results this season.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 17:11

Douchebag: Oct 21, 2005

Just leave the pool as it. It's for fun. Someone wins, we all pay and its look forward to the next one. Getting into escrow accounts and bonus payouts and stuff gets complicated beyond what I think anyone here really wants to take on.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 17:25

Kirios: Jan 26, 2010

It's fine the way it is. We're actually seeing more folks than ever participate and there's no reason to mess with it right now. IMO.

I'll take Niemann.

Kirios fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Jun 14, 2022

# ? Jun 13, 2022 17:36

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Josh Lyman posted:

3 questions immediately come to mind:

1) How do we logistically manage the bonus pool? We could have everyone to make 2 payments per major, 1 to the event winner and 1 to the bonus pool, but that's maximizes the burden for everyone. We could just have the event winner make a payment to the bonus pool after receiving payment from everyone else.

2) Do you need to participate in the last X pools in order to claim the bonus? In other words, do we want to avoid incentivizing someone to only participating in The Open?

3) Do we do it per calendar year or for the trailing 4 majors? Picking the winner is much more likely for The Masters vs say The Open.

Last year there were 57 entries across the 4 majors so the bonus pool as you proposed it would have been $285. If the winner of The Open pool had picked the champion, they would've won $485 which feels like too much, but maybe that's just me? To put a topical point on it, I don't want these pools to be about ~~Saudi blood~~ money. If someone wants to make a golf bet with a big payout, they can go to a sportsbook.

From a game theory perspective, bonus pools exist for slots and other games in order to induce additional betting. That doesn't quite apply here since you would only be able to bet 4 times/year but I do worry about distortional effects.

One thing I like about our pools is that the expected value is 1. In other words, it feels less like betting and more like a fun game.

If we want to have a charitable element, I would rather just have each event winner donate X% to their local First Tee. I think 10% is reasonable which also happens to align with the standard vig at sportsbooks and caddy payout for a win.

Sorry if I was a little vague with my wording. You still only pick someone out of the top ten. It's just that, if your pick *happens* to also win the actual tourney, you get the bonus pool.

The whole idea just came about from seeing someone mention charity donation a few tourneys back and then me thinking that it'd be cool if someone picks the winner - they get a little bonus.

But yes the idea that you just donate 10% no matter what to First Tee would work as well - just wouldn't have the fun cash bonus element for picking the tourney winner but that's less important than the charity element

Douchebag posted:

Just leave the pool as it. It's for fun. Someone wins, we all pay and its look forward to the next one. Getting into escrow accounts and bonus payouts and stuff gets complicated beyond what I think anyone here really wants to take on.

I think when you start typing out things in numbered lists it starts to sound very complicated but it could really simple. Portion goes to charity most of the time, on the rare instance someone picks the actual winner they get 100% of the pot. Bing bong so simple.

BonoMan fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Jun 13, 2022

# ? Jun 13, 2022 17:39

chilihead: Nov 5, 2010; Is this real life, or is this fantasy?

So i can't pick Morikawa? He shows as number twelve on your odds but i understand he is tied for tenth. So Colin if i can, but guessing no so here is my other pick.

Sam Burns.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 17:46

Shrapnig: Jan 21, 2005

Douchebag posted:

Just leave the pool as it. It's for fun. Someone wins, we all pay and its look forward to the next one. Getting into escrow accounts and bonus payouts and stuff gets complicated beyond what I think anyone here really wants to take on.

Yeah, anything more complicated than Venmo/PayPal-ing someone $20 on Sunday evening and I'm out.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 18:35

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Shrapnig posted:

Yeah, anything more complicated than Venmo/PayPal-ing someone $20 on Sunday evening and I'm out.

Well that's all the participants would ever have to do. Just all participants would paypal Lyman (or myself - I used to do this sort of thing for our work/friend pools) and we'd distribute.

BUT... point taken. Sounds like people don't want to do it so, fair enough. Was just a thought!

# ? Jun 13, 2022 18:38

Dr. Capco: May 21, 2007; Pillbug

I like the effort but I think executing some kind of escrow is going to be more hassle than it might be worth. Obviously more people means a less chance of winning but I'd rather have the chance to win $300 with less odds over $100 with better odds. At the end of the day it's all just for a bit of fun anyway

# ? Jun 13, 2022 19:31

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Dr. Capco posted:

I like the effort but I think executing some kind of escrow is going to be more hassle than it might be worth. Obviously more people means a less chance of winning but I'd rather have the chance to win $300 with less odds over $100 with better odds. At the end of the day it's all just for a bit of fun anyway

Yeah that's fine. By escrow I just meant "money went to one person to hold and distribute" - not anything complicated.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 19:42

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009

chilihead posted:

So i can't pick Morikawa? He shows as number twelve on your odds but i understand he is tied for tenth. So Colin if i can, but guessing no so here is my other pick.

Sam Burns.

Morikawa is tied for 10th in the odds I posted so he is not allowed. Sam Burns is though!

# ? Jun 13, 2022 20:28

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009

BonoMan posted:

Sorry if I was a little vague with my wording. You still only pick someone out of the top ten. It's just that, if your pick *happens* to also win the actual tourney, you get the bonus pool.

The whole idea just came about from seeing someone mention charity donation a few tourneys back and then me thinking that it'd be cool if someone picks the winner - they get a little bonus.

But yes the idea that you just donate 10% no matter what to First Tee would work as well - just wouldn't have the fun cash bonus element for picking the tourney winner but that's less important than the charity element

Picking the winner is unlikely so the extra work for the bonus pool is a lot of work for very little. Also it starts to feel too much about the money, if that makes sense.

If we decide to do the donation thing, I'm happy to dump the modification that 2nd place gets their money back since the donation will mechanically help keep the pool in check.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 21:02

Kirios: Jan 26, 2010

I strongly agree, it doesn't really...feel like betting or a money thing right now. It's just a fun way to provide some further investment to watching the Open.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 21:06

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

Josh Lyman posted:

Picking the winner is unlikely so the extra work for the bonus pool is a lot of work for very little. Also it starts to feel too much about the money, if that makes sense.

If we decide to do the donation thing, I'm happy to dump the modification that 2nd place gets their money back since the donation will mechanically help keep the pool in check.

It was actually about the charity. Winning that pool was extremely unlikely so it would almost always go to charity. Especially if you ditch the idea of doing a running pool and only doing it per tournament - then the effort and the payout would be very little. That was the whole intention anyway. Just to be a little bump for pulling off a long shot guess.

But seriously no biggie, nobody wants to do it so we can just kill it all here.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 21:27

moose47: Oct 11, 2006

Longtime lurker with $20 to burn. Give me Phil Mickelson to complete the career grand slam in hilarious fashion.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 21:47

BonoMan: Feb 20, 2002; Jade Ear Joe

moose47 posted:

Longtime lurker with $20 to burn. Give me Phil Mickelson to complete the career grand slam in hilarious fashion.

Phil account spotted. I bet *you'd* be up for a bonus pool!

# ? Jun 13, 2022 21:54

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009

moose47 posted:

Longtime lurker with $20 to burn. Give me Phil Mickelson to complete the career grand slam in hilarious fashion.

If you win the pool, you deserve it for the ridiculous pick.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 22:05

moose47: Oct 11, 2006

BonoMan posted:

Phil account spotted. I bet *you'd* be up for a bonus pool!

Absolutely! In fact, I have major concerns about the management of the current pool. I might just start my own. 9 figure signing bonuses to anyone that participates.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 22:06

Kirios: Jan 26, 2010

Josh I'm sorry man but I'm concerned about the monopoly that is your betting pool. Therefore I've decided that I'll be signing with moose47 for my exclusive golf pools going forward.

# ? Jun 13, 2022 23:43

mattfl: Aug 27, 2004

Look man it�s totally not about the money but what I feel moose74 can do for SA golf pools. For that reason I�ll be collecting my signing bonus and joining moose�s league.

# ? Jun 14, 2022 00:26

moose47: Oct 11, 2006

This is great to hear. I see no reason we can�t all peacefully coexist. We�ve got an exclusive deal with Quibi to broadcast the check presentation. Full disclosure, we are funded by North Korea but surely that�s not a big deal. As you know, the late Kim Jong-Il was the greatest golfer the world has ever known. It was his dying wish that a reputable betting pool be set up in his honor and so I can assure you this pool will be run with the utmost integrity, worthy of his legacy.

# ? Jun 14, 2022 00:55

Kameh: Apr 27, 2004; ~~Resident Sergio Apologist~~
CHAMPION

As one of the two goons who started this whole $20 / golf ball bet (Tiger vs Sergio in a Masters years back), I'm siding with legacy.

I'M STICKING WITH LYMAN

# ? Jun 14, 2022 02:58

Keyser_Soze: May 5, 2009; Pillbug

Why is there a drunk beach hobo and 12 year old boy allowed into this tournament?

# ? Jun 14, 2022 03:56

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009

Kameh posted:

As one of the two goons who started this whole $20 / golf ball bet (Tiger vs Sergio in a Masters years back), I'm siding with legacy.

I'M STICKING WITH LYMAN

Welcome to a tradition unlike any other

# ? Jun 14, 2022 03:59