Not the Merion Kind

Tom Ferrell

Last weekend’s golf was about like any other. I saw folks hitting it sideways, sending balls rocketing out of bounds and threatening cars and homes adjacent to the golf course. I heard complaints about the golf course – unfair hole locations and rough so thick it took away from the fun of golf. I picked up muttered – and sometimes not-so-muttered – obscenities and saw one player throw a club and another break one. I even saw a great player miss two greens with wedges.

No, I wasn’t sitting on the patio of one of Colorado’s great public tracks. I was sitting on the couch, watching the U.S. Open. Call it Schadenfreude if you must, but yes, there is something gratifying about watching the finest players in the world confront a game as brutally demanding as we do. 

I had wondered if the USGA had drawn a short straw with venerable Merion. Would the rain and technology be too much for the old 6,996-yard girl to withstand. Or would a U.S. Open setup create a fluke leaderboard and winner. The answer – no! The slopes, fescue and white-faced bunkers of Merion produced one of the most compelling U.S. Opens in modern history. Consider this: Of the players who tied for 10th or better, every single one of them is in the Top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

The cream rose to the top. And a Rose named Justin floated atop the cream.

Who doesn’t feel bad for Phil? Who isn’t surprised that Tiger couldn’t figure out the vagaries of one of golf’s most storied stages? Who didn’t snicker when Rory McIlroy hoseled a wedge and then snapped it in an effort to gather some degree of satisfaction? And who can’t respect the nerves and talent of Justin Rose, who has spent many years preparing for his moment, which came with the unlikely total of +1?

If the U.S. Open does anything, it connects us to the game’s greatest players by showing us that golf can get to them, too. Munis or Merion. Put enough on the line, and the shadows will fall.

 

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.