US Open Fever

Tomorrow is May 1st, which in my book means that it is time to start getting US Open fever. The US Open is my favorite major for a couple of reasons. First, while the Masters is a beautiful course and has a ton of history, they would never let me in the gates to watch, much less play. It is just so far out of reach for the average golfer, it doesn't really feel personal. I love the Open Championship (that's the British Open to most folks). The problem is it looks absolutely horrible on TV. ABC does the coverage and they have all the wrong angles for TV. While I have played some of the great Open courses, it just doesn't look that good on TV.

On the other hand, the US Open. Played on a different course every year so no one gets a home field advantage (except the course). It is Open to any one who meets the requirements (very democratic). NBC does great coverage for almost the entire weekend. And last but not least, it ends on Father's day. The best thing about the US Open ending on Father's day is that I get to say, Hey, its Father's Day and I want to sit in front of my TV for 8 hours watching golf.

Over the next several weeks, my posts on the US Open will touch on different aspects of the Championship. Today I wanted to mention an article I saw the other day that said that because the US Open is on the West Coast (Torrey Pines) this year, they are going to try for a prime time finish on the east coast of 9:00 pm on Saturday and 8:00 pm on Sunday. I think this is a great idea and should go over really well, assuming the weather cooperates. However, this got me thinking. The only reason they can do this is because the USGA is the last governing body in golf who insists that even the Championship is tied after 72 holes of stroke play, they have an 18 hole playoff on Monday. If there is a tie after the 18 holes on Monday, then they go to sudden death. I know it is tradition, but I have to tell you, I think the 18 hole playoff system has go to go. It is just not fair to the fans, especially the ones at the Championship, if there is not a Champion at the end of the day on Sunday. In my opinion, I think that if there is a tie after 72 holes, then they should go back out to the course and play the last 3 holes and the person with the lowest aggregate score wins. If there is still a tie, then sudden death on 1 and 18 until there is a winner. That's my story and I am sticking to it.