06/17/2018
This is the one weekend in golf that amateurs can relate to. Thank goodness the USGA has a different attitude than the PGA on how a golf course should test professionals. The PGA loves birdies and eagles and sets up every course on the tour to maximize them and the winning score is 22 under par. The USGA, on the other hand, believes as most golf historians will testify that par is the score to measure skills against. Yeah it's fun to watch somebody shoot 61 or 62 but it's more fun to see these highly skilled, hard working professionals struggle to make par just like we do. Given that the course is incredibly hard and the average amateur would shoot 200 it's still fun to watch a very different test of golf one week in the season even though many players who are accustomed to all those low scores may not like it.
The U.S. Open has turned into an episode of carnival golf, and the winner will be as much a survivor as a champion.