Re Golf as a Supposed Honor Sport: Near the end of the US Open, the skies opened up and drenched the course (twice). As a result, there was casual water in many places which, according to the rules, a player is allowed relief from if his ball or stance end up in it. One of the co-leaders at the time found what he believed was casual water, and what every informed viewer believed. But, the two officials the player called to confirm it was casual water ruled it was not. There's a good chance, given the player's shot from there, that he lost the tournament because of the ruling. Here's the bigger point: Golf considers itself a sport of honor, where players are supposed to, and do, call penalties on themselves even if no one saw the infraction. Why then do is it necessary to have an official, as opposed to the player, with (or even without) confirmation from his playing partner, make the casual water determination?
Re Making Golf Courses Difficult: It is not difficult to make golf courses difficult. All you have to do is let the grass bordering the fairways and greens grow to Eiffel Tower heights, narrow the fairways by having the rough expanded, move the tee boxes back to gargantuan lengths, dry out the course as much as possible, and have goofy-golf undulated greens mowed and dried to be 14+ on the stimpmeter. Doing so will absolutely level the playing field, as it randomly eliminates highly ranked players and randomly allows into contention accomplished journeymen. Look at Webb Simpson's victory at the Olympic Club, Wyndham Clark's victory at the Los Angeles CC, Lucas Glover's victory at Bethpage Black, and Corey Pavin's victory at Shinnecock Hills. What do those US Open champions have in common (beside having an amazing four days of playing over-the-moon golf)? They will have won just one major championship.*
PS re Spaun and the USGA: Nothing stated here should be taken in any way to detract from Spaun's magnificent performance--not just in winning, but in keeping his composure during his horrendous start of the final round and other bumps along the way. On the other hand, nothing stated here should be taken in any way to excuse the inexcusable conduct of the USGA officials who made the casual water ruling they did and the outrageously shameful decision of the USGA not to halt play during the second deluge for the obviously greedy reason to prevent the tournament from having a Monday finish.
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* A loyal reader pointed out astutely that, on the other hand, at last year’s Open, DeChambeau was not penalized enough for drives in the rough. So, as my grandfather said up to his 102nd year on this earth, "Moderation in everything."
[EOP]
