Humiliation vs Entertainment US Open Oakmont 2007
June 18th, 2007 by Olaf Bound.sIf every golfer on the planet has been watching the television screen for the past few days, how do you rate the 2007 US Open? The Oakmont course is playing so hard that the players have been silently crying foul. Some have been rather verbal over their treatment as they succumb to the difficulty of the course. The top golfers in the world are all there and it has been nothing short of humiliation over their play for the past couple of days. Scores posted were so poor by their normal standards that they were left contemplating whether they should have bothered teeing off on Thursday.
Phil Mickelson, the world no.2 (playing with a wrist injury) missed the cut altogether, posting a score of 11 over par. The cut line on Friday evening was at 10 over par. YES! TEN OVER PAR! Works out to be a score posted by a single digit handicapper. The best score was posted at 4 under 66 by Paul Casey. Some of his fellow professionals quoted his round as the best round of the year! It probably would have been as good as a round of 59. And how is Tiger faring? In with a solid chance at 4 over par after 3 days. Right now, Aaron Baddeley is the leader on the very last day of play with a score of 2 over par. But the question is, IS THIS ENTERTAINMENT?
Did the USGA really had to make this course this difficult? After the many grouses were aired, they made an about turn in their decision and watered the green after the second round and also two hours before the start of the third round. Is this fair to the players who didn’t make the cut? Nobody knows but to the viewers glued to the telly, this is damn good entertainment! To me, it throws the gauntlet down for the best golfers to show us (the normal weekend golfers) how to overcome total frustration. Rather than watching week after week of perfect conditions and perfect shots, it shows how the normal game is played by us (the normal golfers). I can’t wait for the final round to start! Go, TIGER go! NOW, THIS IS ENTERTAINMENT BY THE VERY BEST!!!