The 108th United States Open golf championship is in the record books. Now that the dust has settled after five days of competition, I think it will rank as one of the more memorable Opens of recent history for a variety of reasons.
Although it seems to be a work in progress with those blue bloods who run the United States Golf Association, this time the USGA seemed to get it right with regard to course setup. A drivable par-4 on the final nine, a very possible birdie hole at the 18th, and the chance for the occasional eagle made for a very dramatic Open with lots of ebb and flow. The rough was punitive but it wasn”t unfair, and while the greens were tough, they weren”t diabolical. From the ashes of Shinnecock Hills in 2004, the USGA has figured out how to do it right, perhaps taking a page from the book of the PGA Championship course setups.
The USGA really, really, really likes the West Cost. Sure, there”s always been an East Coast bias as evidenced by how many Opens are played at Winged Foot, Shinnecock, the Country Club, Merion, Oakmont, Bethpage and Baltusrol. However, with the addition of Torrey Pines this year, Chambers Bay in the Seattle area in 2015, and the usually every-decade-or-so rotation of Pebble Beach and the Olympic Club, the USGA has firmly committed itself to bringing its national championship well beyond the shadows of the Empire State Building.
Television is one very big reason. The USGA likes the idea of playing the National Open in prime time on the East Coast. It is the type of sporting event that will sell in the evening time slots, especially if you have the world”s No. 1 player, Tiger Woods, eagling the last hole on Saturday to take the lead and making birdie on the final hole Sunday in a do-or-die moment to get into a playoff. For one time once on a Sunday evening, NBC was able to compete with Bart Simpson and 60 Minutes.
While there is nothing uniquely special about Torrey Pines as a golf course layout, it will get another shot at a U.S. Open 10 years hence as long as municipal government in San Diego doesn”t hit a few shots out of bounds. Torrey Pines” South Course is a tough layout, but it certainly isn”t one of a historical nature as far as golf is concerned. It isn”t on anyone”s list as one of America”s top 100 courses, and I”m of the personal belief that its weak sister, the North Course, provides a much more enjoyable round of golf. Nonetheless, it provides gorgeous vistas, the infrastructure is in place for the tented villages and parking, and the course played a whole lot more interesting than it does in the Buick Invitational in January. On top of that, weather issues such as rain delays are no issue at all. The USGA will be back to Torrey Pines.
And then there was the golf. Tiger Woods won the 2008 United States Open in a most dramatic style. Journeyman Rocco Mediate (shades of Mike Donald in 1990) represented Joe Lunchpail as he gamely hung in there against the top golfer in the universe, something Phil Mickelson or Adam Scott or Sergio Garcia could not do. Englishman Lee Westwood was inches away from having a chance to join Rocco and Tiger in the Monday 18-hole playoff. In just one mere paragraph, I”ve talked about how three professional golfers could have won the National Open in 2008. When was the last time you heard anyone discussing the chances of anyone actually winning the Open?
U.S. Open crashes and burns are firmly ingrained in our golf history memory banks. Davis Love III three-putted from short range at Oakland Hills. Tiger Woods missed a bundle of short putts over the final nine at Pinehurst twice ? in both 1999 and 2005. Stewart Cink and Mark Brooks mangled the final green at Southern Hills. Sergio Garcia gripped, re-gripped and re-gripped once again at Bethpage. Shinnecock Hills turned into a chamber of horrors as the USGA turned the greens into concrete. Colin Montgomerie and Phil Mickelson completely messed up the 18th and final hole at Winged foot to lose to someone who was sitting in the clubhouse, pleased with what he thought was a third-place finish. Jim Furyk drove it into the gunk on the 17th at Oakmont and some chain-smoking European Tour also-ran from Argentina won instead.
This time around, Tiger Woods actually won the United States Open. Unlike most other years, he didn”t have to sit tight and wait for 155 other top-notch golfers to find a way to lose it. This time around, his main pursuer, Rocco Mediate, threw everything he had at the Great Striped One. Rocco”s three consecutive birdies during Monday”s final nine holes made it the most dramatic U.S. Open finale since Tom Watson chipped in on the 17th and then birdied the 18th at Pebble Beach way back in 1982 to defeat Jack Nicklaus. Things have turned around in such a way in Grand Slam golf that now the Masters plays like the U.S. Open used to (grind out them pars) and the U.S. Open looks a whole lot more like the Masters used to (make birdies and eagles over the final nine).
Finally, there is one last cause for alarm that has come out of the 2008 U.S. Open. How much longer can the game”s No. 1 drawing card, Tiger Woods, continue to play golf at such a high level in spite of his damaged left knee? Obviously Woods puts a lot of stress and pressure on the knee, and although he is in his early 30s, he is also much older in golf years, having played an extremely competitive schedule since he was a school-boy. Knees normally don”t get better after their fourth surgery. Which leads us to many questions.
Will Tiger stay healthy enough to win five majors and eclipse Nicklaus” record of 18 Gland Slam victories? Will Tiger have to reinvent his game, like aging major league pitchers do and rely on a control game instead of a power game? Because of his brilliant short game and putting stroke, can he basically win against today”s soft professionals even with a bad knee? Will he fail to catch Nicklaus because of the knee? Only time will give us the answers to those questions. However, we don”t need time to tell us that we just finished watching the most dramatic U.S. Open played over the last 26 years.
