Enough of the new fancy golf courses, give us our dad's U.S. Open back ... Golf rules could be changing ... A lot of bets placed on Mickelson ... RIP Herb Tarlek
The 121st U.S. Open got underway Thursday, but not before a 90-minute weather delay made it a near certainty that the opening round would have to be completed on Friday morning. The much talked about morning marine layer was stubborn in leaving Torrey Pines and the seaside cliffs of La Jolla, California.
It's the first major championship at Torrey Pines since Tiger Woods famously won on one leg in 2008, and there's a good chance it could be quite a while before another U.S. Open returns.
The USGA didn't offer any update this week on a potential plan to move it's flagship men's event onto a more definitive rotation of classic American golf courses, but many players, including one of the biggest names in the game, are all for it.
“I would be in favour of that, I like that,” Rory McIlroy said. “I think, when you think of a U.S. Open, you think of the iconic venues that it has been played on. Obviously, Pebble being one, even like going back to '13 at Merion, I thought was a huge success. I thought that was a really great U.S. Open. Obviously, Shinnecock. There's courses that are just synonymous with U.S. Opens. I don't really think we need to go too far outside of those.”
That would mean a steady dose of courses such as Pebble Beach, Pinehurst No. 2, Oakmont, and Shinnecock. It would also mean less Torrey Pines, and even less of newer courses such as Erin Hills or Chambers Bay.
Where do we sign up?
Over the past decade, Departing USGA boss Mike Davis made a point to broaden the challenge presented by the U.S. Open, and it was a detriment to the championship. You won't find a more well-meaning or brighter individual
with a
passion for golf and the interest of the game at heart, but the U.S. Open is at its best when the challenge is easily definable, and it had lost its way a bit under Davis' watch.
The U.S. Open has tight fairways, long rough, and blistering greens. That was the challenge. That was what Phil Mickelson and Sam Snead before him couldn't accomplish. There were certain
players who were known as U.S. Open-types: They were all accurate, they could all putt, they all had grit and nerves that wouldn't fray over four painstaking days.
Don't get me wrong, Chambers Bay and Erin Hills are very cool, very interesting golf courses. But they aren't U.S. Opens.
By taking the U.S. Open to these venues, by moving tees 100 yards here, and 100 yards there, by making sure there were always a few driveable par-4s Davis made it more than it needed to be. He tried to bring an artist's brush to the torture chamber and in this quest for a new identity, they nearly ended up without one. The U.S. Open is just one piece of golf's puzzle. Leave the whimsicality and the rub of the green to the Open Championship. Leave the risk-taking and eagle binges to Augusta. Leave the experimentation to the PGA Championship.
The player who has answers for them all has earned his place in history, and only five have done so. There was no reason to change the questions on the U.S. Open test, and kudos to the USGA if finally they have figured that out.
RULE CHANGES?
Sounds like green-reading books are on their way out, which is good news. Reading greens is a skill and banning the books won't affect the 99% of golfers in the world who have never even seen one.
There also seems to be some momentum to ban the arm-lock putting style employed by players such as Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele. Heck, even Schauffele supports the ban. This one isn't as openand-shut though. Should professionals be using a putting style as a crutch to win millions of dollars? Probably not. But there are plenty of recreational players who use armlock — or previously used an anchored putting style — to bring the fun back in the game after their traditional putting stroke broke down because of age, nerves, or just too many years playing this crazy game. Let's be honest, nobody switches to a bizarro putting style for fun.
Golf is unique in that it's a game you can play for life, so it's important to make it enjoyable for as long as possible. As long as the sport has one set of rules for pros and amateurs alike, the governing bodies have to balance the fact that the game is not primarily played by professionals. No easy task.
CHIP SHOTS
The most bet on golfer this week? Fifty-one-yearold Phil Mickelson. After missing out on the 250/1 odds at the PGA Championship, gamblers are hoping lightning strikes twice. Not usually a winning strategy ... Matthew Wolff had the kind of U.S. Open scorecard you need 22-year-old nerves to be able the handle. Wolff made eight birdies, three bogeys, two doubles, and just five pars ... The last player to have eight birdies in an opening round at the U.S. Open? Mike Weir at Bethpage Black in 2009. He shot 64 on Thursday and had a two-shot lead before finishing the week tied for 10th ... RIP to actor Frank Bonner, better known as Herb Tarlek from WKRP in Cincinnati. Growing up around golf courses in the 80s, I just assumed men at golf clubs got their outfits from wherever Tarlek got his suits.