How can anyone get -17 or -16 on a course such as Merion in medium wind and Tournament greens?
By birding 16 or 17 of the holes and parring 1 or 2, eagles notwithstanding. Having birdied every hole myself (just not in the same round) I can see it. Tough to swallow but when you're good, you're good. :-)
that would mean birdying an average of at least 8 holes in a row twice in one round.
ADYTHEGOLFPRO: that would mean birdying an average of at least 8 holes in a row twice in one round.
There is also the chance that he might have had a couple of eagles. I have made eagle on # 2 quite a few times and I have also made eagle on #1 3 times holing out my second shot. And I am just an average player. # 10 can be driven and a player who putts well can make eagle there. Players who shoot those scores are the best of the best here and know how to get close and they make their putts.
They're not tournament greens either, not that it makes a difference to a great player.
Not really. There's different ways to do it once you realize there's certain holes that are must haves. MBaggese's 57 happened with a string of birdies up to #13. The course is not terribly hard, you just have to know where to hit the greens and make the putts.