In Contention...

[Imurg]

It really grinds my gears when commentators, media and us general Joe's spout this phrase when there's barely 2 rounds of a 4 round tournament played...
Tiger's the obvious example but it's not confined to him, it could be any of the top 20/30...
And ****** is in contention at 3 under par, 4 shots off the lead after 16 holes of round 2.
No he isn't!
Being in contention means being in a position to win.
Nobody is in a position to win after 2 rounds unless you're Martin Kaymer at the US Open a few years back when he was miles in front and won by 8.
If you're within 6/7 shots of the lead after 3 rounds then you can say you're in contention. Up to that point you're jockeying for position.

And breath.......

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Are you randomly irritated by this?
😬

 

[Sports_Fanatic]

Can you be out of contention in the first two rounds?

 

[Grant85]

It really grinds my gears when commentators, media and us general Joe's spout this phrase when there's barely 2 rounds of a 4 round tournament played...
Tiger's the obvious example but it's not confined to him, it could be any of the top 20/30...
And ****** is in contention at 3 under par, 4 shots off the lead after 16 holes of round 2.
No he isn't!
Being in contention means being in a position to win.
Nobody is in a position to win after 2 rounds unless you're Martin Kaymer at the US Open a few years back when he was miles in front and won by 8.
If you're within 6/7 shots of the lead after 3 rounds then you can say you're in contention. Up to that point you're jockeying for position.

And breath.......

While I agree that some of the hype surrounding Tiger is well OTT, these guys are definitely in contention.

Justin Rose made the cut on the number at the Open and ended up T2 on Sunday and genuinely was in a position to win when he was playing the last few holes.

Majors become harder as the weekend moves on, psychologically if nothing else, and very often the score does not progress much beyond the Friday lead.

Not saying that’s the case here, but I’d be surprised if Gary Woodland and Kevin Kisner both shoot low to mid 60 scores today and basically take all these guys out of contention, more likely to shoot in the 70s and it could be v very interesting tomorrow.

 

[Imurg]

Can you be out of contention in the first two rounds?

Most certainly.
You can miss the cut.

 

[Imurg]

While I agree that some of the hype surrounding Tiger is well OTT, these guys are definitely in contention.

Justin Rose made the cut on the number at the Open and ended up T2 on Sunday and genuinely was in a position to win when he was playing the last few holes.
.

He put himself in contention after shooting 64 on day 3....after 2 rounds, as you say, he made the cut on the number...so he wasn't in contention to win at that point. Molinari is similar. Shooting 65 in round 3 put him in a position to win, before that he's level par and six off the lead.
Zander Lombard was in a better position after the cut than both of them..was he in contention?
No. Because he shot 82 in the final round and finished 67th.
You can't really talk about being in contention until the end of round 3. I'm not saying that someone can't come through and win because obviously they can.
But saying, just as an example, Tiger is 6 off the lead with 48 holes to go doesn't put him, at that point, in a position to win. Depending on circumstances he could win by 5 or lose by 20....

 

[Sports_Fanatic]

Most certainly.
You can miss the cut.

Surely then it's possible to be in contention after two rounds otherwise you can't distinguish the groups.

I get what you mean though, always overused. Same in other sports when they try to talk up one sided matches as if they're still in the balance.

 

[Grant85]

He put himself in contention after shooting 64 on day 3....after 2 rounds, as you say, he made the cut on the number...so he wasn't in contention to win at that point. Molinari is similar. Shooting 65 in round 3 put him in a position to win, before that he's level par and six off the lead.
Zander Lombard was in a better position after the cut than both of them..was he in contention?
No. Because he shot 82 in the final round and finished 67th.
You can't really talk about being in contention until the end of round 3. I'm not saying that someone can't come through and win because obviously they can.
But saying, just as an example, Tiger is 6 off the lead with 48 holes to go doesn't put him, at that point, in a position to win. Depending on circumstances he could win by 5 or lose by 20....

Im sorry, this is complete nonsense.

You win a tournament over 4 days, not just on days when you are within a few shots of the lead.

Pretty much every very guy who makes the cut at a championship is contending to win. Save for the odd week when someone has a massive lead after 36 holes, most pros - especially guys called Tiger Woods - have a belief that they can go out and shoot 2x 64 and win the tournament.

Save the odd guy who is maybe struggling to keep his card and has got himself into a major, they don’t care about finishing 2nd.

 

[Pin-seeker]

But Tiger is actually in contention on the last day in another major. 😄

 

[ScienceBoy]

Can you be out of contention in the first two rounds?

If your 18 over and taking a week out of your retirement to play then maybe.

 

[Captainron]

But Tiger is actually in contention on the last day in another major. 😄

But thankfully he won’t win.

 

[Tashyboy]

Can you be out of contention in the first two rounds?

If you miss the cut you can 😁

 

[Canary_Yellow]

On the basis being in contention means having a good chance of success, it is perhaps stretching it a bit to say that after 2 rounds and a three shot deficit, but certainly not totally inappropriate

 

[Orikoru]

I say you're in contention until you're not. So on day one every single player is in contention to win. After the cut everyone who made the cut is in contention, unless they are miles behind a run-away leader. On the final day anyone who could reasonably catch the leader is in contention.

I disagree with your notion that you can be not in contention and then shoot a 63 on round 3 and bring yourself into contention. That just means you were always in contention. If you're out of contention that means it's over, done and dusted.

I've never said 'contention' this much before. Contention.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Can definitely be in contention after two rounds courtesy of making the cut. However, to truly be in contention, then surely you have to be within 3-4 shots coming into the last nine on Sunday. Even then that may be too far depending on what the leaders have been doing