It’s unlikely that you’ll want to drive your electric car fl at out very often, but it’s the i3 that will get you away from the lights quickest. Plant your right foot and it scampers from 0-60mph in a hot hatch-rivalling 7.2sec - a whole 1.5sec quicker than the rather more pedestrian e-Golf can manage. Benefiting from its carbonfibre construction, the i3 is a whopping 285kg lighter than the e-Golf, and BMW, unlike VW, has gone to the trouble of fitting stiffer suspension than you’d normally find in a family hatchback. But while the e-Golf steers accurately and generally stays composed, the i3 all too often feels unstable, with overly quick yet uncommunicative steering forcing the driver to take several bites at corners. Granted, the relatively skinny tyres provide more grip than you might expect, but hit a mid-corner bump and the tall i3 feels nervous and twitchy. The e-Golf has a much more comfortable ride than the i3, staying composed even over nasty, sharp-edged bumps, while smaller imperfections are shrugged off with ease. The i3’s ride, even on standard 19in wheels, is decidedly poor at low speeds, with smaller bumps being transmitted straight into the interior. The situation is only exacerbated on the optional 20in wheels.
It looked to be quite a bit uphill to the pin. Hmm. Didn't really look like it would move too hard but I tried to aim out a bit left. 30 feet right of the flag in the fringe. Even Jon couldn't believe how far past the hole it ran. My putt was sharply uphill and I ended up ramming it well past the hole on the slick greens and couldn't make the comebacker, settling for a dreadful double. My first three-putt but it wasn't official, since my first putt was from the fringe. This extremely long par 3 requires a long iron or fairway wood to a fairly large green without much undulation. A bunker called "Sahara", some 100 yards long sits to the left of the green, making the tee shot very intimidating. This hole made headlines during the Open for its length, as some players were forced to hit drivers just to get the ball to the green.
We were a bit more fortunate, as the hole was playing closer to 220 yards, which is a solid 4-iron for me. I hit a perfect chip that started right and curled back left, rolling just over the cup. However, it continued to roll about six feet past and I was unable to make the par putt, never even coming close to scaring the hole. I headed to the ninth in a bit of a huff as Preston tried to get me to look on the bright side as we crossed the bridge. This very difficult, blind, uphill driving hole has a severe ditch left and severe pot bunkers right. This pivotal hole, which plays as a par 5 for the members, played as a long par 4 for the US Open. The huge, severely undulating green also serves as the practice putting green. This gives the 18th a run for the most picturesque hole on the course. The shot above shows Jon's caddy Mike strolling up the expansive fairway, something that can't be seen at all from the tee below. It's a blind tee shot and we were told to aim for the left chimney on the clubhouse.
That's me above, looking determined before hitting a draw that I caught pretty well but went a little further left than desired. I had to hope for the best. Preston and Harry both ended up going right of the fairway with their tee shots (shown above) while Jon absolutely killed his drive right down the middle. I ended up picking my pesky 2-iron rescue and again tried to hit a little cut off the US flag in the distance. This time, I succeeded, hitting a perfect fade right at the pin. It looked like I was close from back in the fairway! The picture above of Harry and Preston walking to their balls on the ninth may qualify as my favourite photo from the day. Just a majestic walk up this fairway with the grand clubhouse in the background. I was a bit disappointed to see that my ball caught up in the rough just in front of the green. I had a delicate chip to the pin that was tucked front middle but it came out of the rough softly and rolled right for the cup.
I had my arms raised as the ball cruelly lipped out and stopped about a foot from the hole. Man, an eagle at Oakmont? That would have been INCREDIBLE! 3 on the day! This par 4 features yet another downhill, narrow driving lane with severe fairway bunkers right and left. A short iron follows to a ery difficult green that slopes from right to back left. Four is a great score here. This is a fun tee shot and I had some confidence here after my birdie on the last hole. I absolutely KILLED my drive here, nailing a draw hard down the right side of the fairway that disappeared into the distance. I ended up having a SW into this green from 116 yards after a 324 yard bomb! Poor Harry lost yet another ball here, or should I say his caddy lost another ball. I at least got a laugh when the poor caddy mumbled under his breath "well, bad caddies lose balls". The other caddy was trying to run around and give both Harry and Preston reads and it had to be tough for the poor chap.
