JAX GOLF NEWS
Gone and, let's hope, forgotten. The 115th U.S. Open was a debacle, from its
You have to go back to 1970, when a prominent USGA member pulled the strings to get the event at his home course in Minnesota — Hazeltine, the “cow pasture” — to find such a mess.
But this couldn't have been backscratching: Chambers Bay is a muny, owned by the county. Any other ownership and it would have smacked of FIFA-like payouts.
The course was hokey, and every aerial shot showed exactly that. It looked as if it had been dropped in from space. The surrounding land looked nothing like the golf course.
It was contrived, and it was an insult to every golfer who treasures the traditions of the game.
It was also in awful shape. I can't speak to growing seasons in the Pacific Northwest, but obviously it isn't June.
It was torturous to watch putts skitter back and forth as they bounced along. The fairways were so hard that they literally felt like walking on a cart path.
The television coverage was weird, too. Does it take a dozen or so people to analyze anything, other than perhaps a nuclear treaty?
The hosts were okay and Fox finally figured that out, as we got mostly Joe Buck and Greg Norman on Sunday.
The rest was just noise, starting with ill-informed Tom Weiskopf and finishing with hottie Holly Sonders, whose questioning had all the impact of a halftime airhead talking to Nick Saban.
There's an old U.S.Open saw: it's the same for everyone.
No, it isn't.
It may be the same for the players, and that's their problem, but those of us who invest our time (most of us, watching on TV) and money