Imagine how boring the Super Bowl would be if it ended 3–0. No touchdowns, no great catches and no spectacular runs from scrimmage. Just one measly field goal. Not my cup of tea. That’s what happened last week at the U.S. Open.
Great players like Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen posted high numbers and missed the cut. Even our own Fred Couples shot 79 on Sunday despite being in contention heading into the final round.
The USGA sets up the Open championship in such a manner where par is the standard. The narrow fairways, long, demanding rough and hard, fast greens insure this concept. Good shots that we normally see on a weekly basis from the most talented golfers in the world are sometimes not rewarded in U.S. Opens due to course conditions. Some shots that players faced from just off the green at Winged Foot Golf Club were almost impossible because of the long rough and slick greens.
It would be nice to see the greatest players making Birdies, and not just one or two a round to go with their handful of Bogeys. Or maybe even an Eagle if they execute a great shot. Offense!
Nobody wants to watch defensive golf – irons off the tees, lay-up shots or balls that can only be advanced a few yards down the fairway out of grass that has been ‘nuked’ by fertilizer and not mowed for weeks.
Now I know some of you are saying, ‘It’s the same for everyone, so it’s fair.’ Well, if they raised the height of the rim in basketball to 15 feet, pushed the fences back to 500 feet in every major league ballpark or eliminated pass interference in the NFL, how much fun would that be?
We all like scoring or offense in our sports. Golf is no different. Birdies are offense. The perfect U.S Open would be a tournament in which the eventual winning score would be around 8 to 10 under par – not hovering around even par or worse! As is usually the case. That would have the winner shooting between 2- 3 under par per round.
I have no problem with the course being set up in a manner to test players and their skills. After all this is our national championship for a reason. Pins can be located in difficult spots on the greens, challenging players to master this task. And if the wind blows, that makes any course play harder. But just don’t make it impossible. Don’t make Bogey a good score.
These are the greatest golfers in the world, let them show it!
