2025 U.S. Open Grades

Albatross

John Michael “J.J” Spaun Jr.

There was never a point all week, from his Round 1 solo lead through nearly the end, that I thought Spaun would win this U.S. Open. Even after the cruise missile he launched into 17 that effectively won it for him, I still didn’t believe. Even after he made the slick 3 1/2 birdie putt there, I still didn’t believe. Even after he split the 18th fairway, I still expected bogey. When his approach was safely on but 65 feet away, I figured on a three putt then a loss to Robert MacIntyre in a playoff the next morning.

Then, as things tend to go in life, fate made the call. Playing partner Viktor Hovland, who could also make that playoff with a birdie and Spaun bogey, sent his approach from the intermediate rough just outside Spaun’s ball. J.J. was presented a “teach” giving him the exact line and speed that might as well have been a yellow brick road. Once Hovland’s ball came to rest, my Son and I locked eyes. Nothing was said or had to be. J.J. Spaun was going to win this freaking thing. Once the putt went down I yelled in spite of myself. He was going to win anyway but it sure didn’t hurt not to have to make another stomach churning 3 footer.

This is something like my 35th year as a serious golf observer. There have been dozens of unlikely Major winners over that time—Trevor Immelman, Danny Willett, John Daly, Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel, Y.E. Yang, Steve Jones, Michael Campbell, Lucas Glover, Webb Simpson, Paul Lawrie, Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton, just to name a few. You could say this is recency bias which is fair but I don’t believe any of the others will stick with me like this one. The way Spaun did it, the way the day played out, and his overall journey elevates the experience for me.

Consider—this is a kid who was born with a club in his hand but never participated in the Junior Golf Industrial Complex (AKA the AJGA—American Junior Golf Association). A fine high school player but not recruitable on a national scale, he walked on at San Diego St. and was twice an All-American although not 1st team either year.

After turning pro in 2012 he bounced around different mini tours. His breakthrough occurred at none other than the Knoxville Open on the then Web.com Tour where he still holds the record at 26-under in 2016. From there he held on for dear life to keep his Tour card since 2017 and actually did lose it after the 2021 season falling outside the OWGR top 500. Over much of that time he was dealing with adult onset Type I diabetes which had been misdiagnosed as Type II and was knocking his energy on its ass daily. 2024 was more of the same and retirement was contemplated. At age 34, Spaun has had the kind of breakthrough tens of thousands aspire and never come close to reaching.

Sunday was a microcosm of his entire golfing life. Three bogies in a row and five in six holes started the day which were only magnified by two horrific breaks—an approach on 2 that hit the flagstick and rolled 50 yards back to him felt like a dagger even with 4+ hours of golf to go. A bad bounce off a rake at 4 after that hardly even registered because he was out of it. Or so it seemed.

I don’t care what anyone says now, literally no one thought Spaun had a prayer once they came back out after that rain delay halted play for 90 minutes. Except classic Open golf unfolded where if you wait by the river long enough, your enemies will just float right by. In this case the enemies were his competitors in body bags sailing across a course that had transformed into a swamp. The clutch drives on 17 and 18 aside, putting obviously won him the tournament. He gained 10 strokes on the field on the green despite averaging more than 30 putts per round. Seemingly impossible but when you make 65 foot snakes to finish that can happen. Don’t forget the 40 footer for birdie on 12 and 22 footer on 14 after the rain delay. If those don’t go down 18 never happens.

Think about how often journeymen have held early Major leads and are never heard from again. Spaun didn’t go wire to wire but he was 2nd after Friday and Saturday. Closing these out in that fashion is hard to do even for the more accomplished players out there never mind a guy who had never been there. This was Spaun’s 2nd Open and only the 9th Major of his career.

The natural question is what comes next? I am at least slightly overplaying the underdog angle. For this year anyway, Spaun has been just barely outside the top tier of players, ranking 25th in both OWGR and Datagolf prior to this week (now 8th and 18th). He was 3rd at the season opener in Hawaii, 2nd at the Cognizant, and 2nd again at The Players, losing a playoff to Rory McIlroy. That run got him into The Masters and this Open without having to qualify. The extent to which this win changes his life can’t be overstated. Because getting into Majors, never mind just comfortable Tour status, is no longer a problem. He’ll be in all of them the next five years and the Open for the next ten. So that’s 25 more minimum barring injury right at the edge of the backside of most pro careers. He is also now a lock for this fall’s Ryder Cup team. Generational money? Yep. No longer a concern with sagacious investment. Heck, with the money nowadays even with reckless spending probably.

Of the nine previous Oakmont winners, eight either had previously won a Major or would go on to win at least one more. The lone exception was Sam Parks Jr who won here in 1935. You can’t help but feel Spaun will ultimately join Parks in that minority. I can guarantee you he could care less if that’s his destiny. The man has been validated.

Eagle

Robert MacIntyre

Normally in this column I give one Eagle to the winner and a handful of Birdies to players who competed admirably but fell just short. I’m not going to spill much ink on MacIntyre but feel he deserves just a bit more credit than usual for a runner up.

When he got to +1 it looked like he had cinched at least a playoff berth as it was just before Spaun drove the 17th green. In pressers afterward MacIntyre stated he believed all week and even going into Sunday 7 strokes back that Even par would be enough. As it turned out level par was a stroke shy too but it doesn’t diminish a valiant effort.

Unlike Spaun or about three dozen others who were on the periphery of contention at one time or another over the week, MacIntyre hadn’t been close enough to even give consideration. He began the day in the top 10, yet only Arnold Palmer had rallied from 7 strokes back after 54 holes and that had been 65 years ago. More than strokes behind the problem is more how many players were ahead, in MacIntyre’s case, 8. You just couldn’t conceive that every single one would back up enough but that they did except for Spaun. MacIntyre’s 68 was one of only five sub par rounds on the day and the only one which came from the last 15 pairings who finished in the muck.

I have seen people warning of MacIntyre’s eventual emergence for a few years now but never took it seriously. When Tirico mentioned he could become the first southpaw to win the Open I didn’t even realize he was left handed. I mean, I’ve seen him plenty enough to know but it’s the kind of detail I don’t observe very well and frankly just indicates intellectual laziness on my part.

You never know with golf so this performance could be an outlier. But that’s his 4th Major top 10 and he’ll only be 29 in August. I suspect we’ll be hearing from MacIntyre again.

Birdies

Cameron Young

Young is a guy who annoys me a bit and despite the fact he still lacks even one victory on Tour he just keeps lurking on Major championship leaderboards. The harder the course the better he seems to play which is a quality few possess. In fact, the opposite usually is true and I can’t help but admire that. Young had a pretty lengthy slump that lasted from just after the 2024 Masters for essentially a year. A 1 under back nine at Oakmont as everyone around him was drowning indicates that is over. He will likely be in my top 10 picks for Royal Portrush next month.

Tyrrell Hatton

Another guy I don’t like but only because he’s a LIVer. His demeanor is entertaining and golf needs more of that. I thought Hatton was going to take this after he birdied 13. He looked like a guy in almost catatonic concentration, intensity just steaming out of his ears. He then bogeyed the final two holes after not getting any breaks from the course, although he scoffed at the suggestion he had been unlucky when asked in his presser. As it turned out he needed birdies at both anyway so it wasn’t his time. At 33, Hatton should have about 20 more good shots at a Major and I’m thinking he gets one.

San Diego State Aztec Golf

Three of the last six Majors have been won by alum of this program—2024 PGA and British by Xander Schauffele and this Open by Spaun. In addition the 2025 low Amateur was Justin Hastings who is current member of the SDSU golf team. Respect.

Pars

Koran Ferry Tour

We will give credit where credit is due in this space and LIV finally didn’t fall flat on on its face in a Major for the first time since Brooks Koepka won the PGA two years ago. In addition to Hatton, Carlos Ortiz was in the mix deep into Sunday and also T4’d which earns both a Masters invite. Jon Rahm tied for low round on Sunday to backdoor a top 10 and other than around and on the greens had a very good week. He’s probably my pick at Portrush. Koepka awoke from his slumber and although he gradually slipped down the leaderboard after day 1, looked and sounded engaged. There wasn’t much else and they had a slew of MC’s per custom but overall a good showing. Here are their full results:

T4 Carlos Ortiz 71 72 67 73 (+3)
T4 Tyrell Hatton 73 70 68 72 (+3)
T7 Jon Rahm 69 75 73 67 (+4)
T12 Brooks Koepka 68 74 73 71 (+6)
T23 Patrick Reed 73 74 71 70 (+8)
T38 Marc Leishman 71 75 68 77 (+11)

MC Phil Mickelson 74 74 (+8)
MC Cameron Smith 75 73 (+8)
MC Jinichiro Kozuma 75 74 (+9)
MC Dustin Johnson 75 75 (+10)
MC Joaquin Niemann 75 75 (+10)
MC Bryson DeChambeau 73 77 (+10)
MC Jose Luis Ballester 76 76 (+12)
MC Richard Bland 76 82 (+18)

Viktor Hovland

Sunday morning it seemed Hovland (or Adam Scott) would be the eventual winner given the competition. He had a shot until the very last green but just didn’t have enough which he has experienced before and that is growing concerning. Tee to green only Colin Morikawa was better but neither were even serviceable on the greens which was not surprising. What was surprising was Hovland’s short game, long known to be the hole in his armor, ranking 2nd in the field. I’m dubious that will continue given his numbers the rest of the year but if it does he’ll grab a Major soon.

Jordan Spieth

No Spieth did not contend as I thought he might. But save for a dreadful front 9 on Friday he would have been right there. It has really been the same thing all season in that he can’t sustain momentum. The reason for that is his putting is just not coming around so ball-striking mistakes are compounded every single time. Speaking of, he wasn’t good off the tee this week either but that really doesn’t concern me. It’s been plenty good enough all year so my hunch is that is more the Oakmont factor than a swing problem.

I’ll keep saying he’s close as long as I’m convinced it’s true. In the end though, close doesn’t cut it. The larger problem is that putting woes can’t be cured by finding it on the range. You either make them or you don’t—it’s all in their head. And when they never go in, it’s hard for confidence to percolate. Really big picture if you look at the current American Ryder Cup team standings, Keegan Bradley very much needs Spieth to be a viable Captain’s pick option. On paper this thing looks like a Euro mauling coming.

Sam Burns/Adam Scott

I was going to give both these guys bogies with separate capsules. To the extent their finishes were unsightly that’s truly what they deserve. But I like both players and each handled the ordeal graciously, Scott especially given the stakes relative to his age, so we’ll curve them a letter grade.

For Burns, we liked him to contend at Quail Hollow and while he backdoored a top 20 he was never in it from the jump and that soured me on riding him again. But he has too much game—by far the best putter on Tour currently—to not start being a factor in these things. That’s his 2nd Open top 10 and I expect more in all the Majors to follow. This week he was nowhere near his best even before crumbling on the back nine. He hit only 31 out of 56 fairways which ranked 44th of 66 players who made the weekend and just 45 of 72 greens which ranked 30th. On that course? Only putting sorcery kept him within a country mile of the lead ever.

The casual water ruling on 15 (which I agreed with but seem to be the only one) ripped the top off. Contrast that though with how Spaun handled his own rub of the green many hours earlier. And you may say, well a bad break on 2 is different than one on 15. Yes it is but all the strokes count the same—1st hole, 69th, 72nd. My belief is Sam Burns may have learned more from losing than winning. This thing will tilt back his way one day.

As for Scott, just a harrowing day. His worst nightmare come to life no doubt. The historical implications were enormous. Two Majors—and especially two different Majors—just elevates him to another level. The golf HOF is a production and they’ll put him in either way but an Open win on top of a Green Jacket would have really stamped and separated him as a truly great player. Only he knows if the pressure got to him but he never had it from his first tee ball (relative to his normal ball-striking) and once they came back out after the rain no one looked more uneasy.

Scott looks and swings like he’s 25 rather than 45 so I’m not saying he won’t have other chances. But he might not and if he does it won’t be many. There is no way in his heart of hearts he isn’t fully aware of this. After the round he still had a smile for Spaun, truly happy for him. I admire gracious losers because I’m such a bad one. People aren’t born with class like that. They have to actively practice it. That means more than a U.S. Open trophy long after you are gone.

Oakmont Country Club

I still have my issues with Oakmont after all these years. When you look at a place like Augusta or Pebble Beach compared to there you might assume they are on different continents altogether if you didn’t know any better. Given the course design and principles of penalty the tree removal absolutely had to be done. Dan Rapaport disagrees with this and although he is wrong I am sympathetic to his point of view. What kind of course is built with no trees on the Allegheny Plateau? With that rolling terrain it might as well be the Allegheny Foothills (maybe it is, I failed physics). But I would be fine if trees were illegal on all golf courses worldwide. Finding balls is enough of a pain in the ass as it is.

Anyway, from a playability perspective I have two issues. The contours of those greens are simply not conducive to 15 Stimps. It’s madness. What wins if that place had no rain for a month? 30 over?¹ The other problem is the fairways or better said the fairway widths and/or (again) the contouring. The high rough isn’t the problem. They could grow it a foot for all I care. But when a drive is piped down the middle and more than half of those find tall grass anyway, that is a problem. A random problem at that which only makes it worse. And if you think I exaggerate just watch those guys play that 12 hole again (especially Friday). Nobody could hold it no matter what they did.

All these things make luck a defining feature of the winner. Now I’m not saying the wrong guy won because that would be false. As covered Spaun wasn’t drawing pocket aces very often. But I’m pretty certain that’s why the overall leaderboard was uninspiring. Oakmont is much improved since my first experience in 1994. But it’s no Shinnecock. You’ll see that next year. What an American links inspired course is supposed to look like.

Bogies

Scottie Scheffler

Assigning a bogey to a guy who finished 7th may seem unnecessarily harsh but that’s the lay of the land when you are world #1. I saw somebody wrote either on Reddit or Twitter that if the tournament were 144 holes Scheffler would win going away. I think that was early Saturday and I found myself nodding along to that take. In hindsight, I’m not so sure of that and it’s beside the point anyway. That would be like if the Dodgers lost a series to the Rockies 2 games to 1 and saying, “I bet if they played 10 games it would be different”. Well no shit. But that’s not how it works.

For the second Open in a row Scheffler allowed something about the course get in his head. Last year he didn’t like the randomness of the Pinehurst waste areas. This year he didn’t like drives that were offline by 2 yards ending up buried in hay. Based on seven 3-putts and five misses inside 5 feet I’m guessing he’d be fine never putting those greens again also.

Whatever the case his frustration was visible both on the course and in the viral driving range clip where he was ranting at his coach Randy Smith about who knows what. My uneducated observation—Scottie is a control freak and the vagaries of Open set ups alters his comfort level. He can’t go out there and pile up birdies at will and it pisses him off. In the aftermath he talked about being proud of hanging in there while backhandedly taking a dig by saying, “I’d hit it this far off and seemingly every time I did I was punished severely for it.” I don’t think his complaints are without merit but those are the words of a guy not currently mentally equipped to win a U.S. Open. He has not broken par in his last 9 Open rounds. I will not be picking him to win this event for the third year in a row in 2026.

Rory McIlroy

Back in my pharma days I had a counterpart who was originally from France but came to the States via tennis scholarship at SE Louisiana—Lionel Girolet. Very sharp dude with an MBA but by the time I knew him he’d been in America 20 years and still spoke English with a thick accent. I couldn’t understand a word he said by phone so I avoided calls if at all possible. Back then I was huge into tennis, even more so than golf. Lionel also followed extensively and since he knew more than I ever would I was always ready to listen if he wanted to talk tennis.

So in 2010 Roger Federer found himself down 2 sets to love versus a qualifier named Alejandro Falla in the first round at Wimbledon. For context, Federer had won the title there the year before for his 15th Grand Slam title which broke Pete Sampras’ record. Now at that point there was some sense that Rafa Nadal might catch him but only remotely and definitely not Novak Djokovic. The fact both later would is immaterial. Roger at this stage really didn’t have anything to play for.

Lionel and I exchanged a few texts as it looked like Federer would suffer a shocking exit. I sat there in my car and listened on XM giving updates while Lionel was no doubt doing his job. Falla served for the match in the 4th but couldn’t finish and Roger won the tiebreak then the 5th, 6-0. When I confirmed the comeback was complete Lionel responded with one simple sentence:

“I don’t know where he gets his motivation.”

I tell that story because it’s analogous to the “plight” McIlroy faces today. He has said more than once his motivation has waned since completing the career Grand Slam. That’s even amidst a war with the media (that he created himself out of thin air) where he knows his words are going to be twisted. Yet he doesn’t care at all to repeat—I DO NOT HAVE THE FIRE IN MY BELLY RIGHT NOW.

It’s an interesting contrast to Federer who would go on to lose in the Wimbledon quarters that year above and would be surpassed by Nadal, Djokovic, and even Andy Murray shortly thereafter for several years. The all-time king of tennis became an afterthought. Everyone thought he should retire but seven long years later he won the Australian Open and Wimbledon again plus another Aussie the next year, returning to number 1.

Why did he do that? What possessed him? People like that aren’t even human so Federer couldn’t explain it to a mortal if he tried. Rory McIlroy isn’t even in the same galaxy as Roger Federer in his respective sport so I’d like to think he has plenty to play for. Even at 36, with his talent, double digit Major wins are in reach.

The British Open will return to his home of Northern Ireland. Just spitballing here but I wouldn’t be surprised if McIlroy would trade his Masters win for a victory on home soil. He also should find purpose in trying to win a Ryder Cup in America at Bethpage this fall. We shall see. No one can do it for him.

Justin Thomas

We properly faded JT in the preview and it was the easiest pick I made out of all 20. The guy just cannot rise to the occasion. And as I said in one of the round blogs, it sounds like an idiotic thing to say about a guy with two PGA’s. But just look at his record in full. He’s now missed seven cuts in the 13 Majors played since the last PGA win three years ago. But even prior to that the resume is extremely thin. Six other top 10’s and only one top 5 between 2016 and 2022. Only once in true contention which was his win at Quail Hollow in 2017. At least back then he usually made the cut. He’ll go to the British badly in need of a result which is the only Major he’s never had a top 10. Looking for a bright side? At least he’s not dumbass Patrick Cantlay.

Oh and one other detail. His best British finish was a T11 in 2019. That year was played at Royal Portrush…

Jason’s Pontifications

I might deserve a par as it’s not like anybody was forecasting very much of that top 10, especially Spaun’s win. Here were my picks and how they finished:

My Favorites

T7 Scottie Scheffler 73 71 70 70 (+4)
T7 Jon Rahm 69 75 73 67 (+4)
T12 Xander Schauffele 72 74 71 69 (+6)
T23 Collin Morikawa 70 74 74 70 (+8)
T23 Jordan Spieth 70 75 71 72 (+8)
T33 Keegan Bradley 73 70 72 74 (+9)
T59 Harris English 73 74 77 74 (+18)

WD Corey Conners 72 74 72 (+8)

MC Ludvig Aberg 72 76 (+8)
MC Shane Lowry 79 (+9)

My Darkhorses

T10 Ben Griffin 69 71 74 71 (+5)
T4 Cameron Young 70 74 69 70 (+3)
37 Maverick McNealey 76 69 72 73 (+10)
T57 Sungjae Im 68 77 76 75 (+16)

MC Bud Cauley 70 79 (+9)

My Fades

T12 Brooks Koepka 68 74 73 71 (+6)
T19 Rory McIlroy 74 72 74 67 (+7)

MC Bryson DeChambeau 73 77 (+10)
MC Joaquin Niemann 75 75 (+10)
MC Justin Thomas 76 76 (+12)

Fades were nailed, I’ll give myself that. Koepka threw a scare in me for one day but was not a factor otherwise. The other four were layups.

Darkhorses were pretty good too with all but Cauley in the mix at least briefly and Young for the duration. But I just did that by statistical fit with no real thought behind it so I can’t take any credit. I truly had Spaun on my short list but never gave him serious consideration as the other guys had better driving and putting numbers.

None of my Favorites could bust a grape with Lowry and Aberg completely bombing and my second pick Harris English might as well have done the same. Although it is amazing just how long Scheffler was a plausible winner given his play. Time and again you had the sense he would make a move and each instance he made a bogey two minutes later. Even starting the final round 8 strokes back you continued to believe he might could get there as the pack faded. As it turned out, he needed a 65 to tie Spaun and that score wasn’t out there Sunday.

A below average handicapping week overall. We’ll give it another spin next month.

Double Bogeys

Wyndham Clark

We could give Wyndham a double for his play alone. He’s now missed 4 of 8 Major cuts since his U.S. Open win two years ago and in the four he made the weekend the best he’s managed is T33. There are a heckuva lot of people who think Clark’s Open win was a fluke. That, ironically enough, is the underlying problem fanning the flames of his behavior.

He is all too aware that many fans, the media, and even his peers consider him a one hit wonder. He doesn’t think that at all and as far as he hits it, I get his resistance to that narrative. Clark truly believes, or at least deludes himself into believing, that he is an elite player. And what he wants more than anything else is to shove the lucky Open winner talk straight up everyone’s ass. The result, at least thus far, has been predictable. For a player, or just a regular person, of his temperament the most common trait in response to internally generated pressure is to press which leads to performing well below potential.

A vicious cycle ensues which is nearly impossible to bottle up. He’s overly psyched out to start with, plays poorly as a result, gets irrationally angry, and then the pressure is only amped further the next time out. I sympathize with the guy. Although lacking talent really in anything—especially compared to a world class athlete—I have always found it utterly impossible to accept any result in any situation that isn’t 100% to my liking. Dips and valleys are just beyond my capability to deal with. Worse, there is no filter ever conceived which can shut off my mouth when expressing frustration. People have often said to me—you wouldn’t say the things you say if not behind your phone. Oh I assure you I would and do. There are hundreds of people who would attest to this.

Why the soliloquy? Because that is Wyndham Clark. 100% exactly him except he happens to be a world class golfer. On the heels of throwing a club through a sponsors banner a few weeks ago and multiple cases of extreme profanity that is contrary to the image he wants to portray, this picture began circulating Sunday which you’ve surely seen by now:

If out of the loop that is the Oakmont locker room and the damage inflicted was courtesy of one Wyndham Clark. There was the usual pearl clutching and this was one of those times I tended to agree. Totally embarrassing and worthy of a suspension. I thought the story would have legs but it seems to have died out already. If the Tour does suspend him they will do it hush-hush more than likely as that’s the M.O. for things like this. The USGA could strip his exemption for a year or more but my sense is they would have already announced something. You never know, they may be getting their ducks in a row.

Whatever if anything comes out of this, Clark is going to have to get some help moderating his outlook on life. I am a huge skeptic of psychologists, “sensitivity training” or anything like it. But in this case some just general therapy with a well seasoned therapist might be in order. He’s got to do something or mark my words, the worst is yet to come.

NBC Golf Coverage

We conclude with the annual fail by NBC. Coverage which slipped significantly with Johnny Miller’s retirement, steadied a bit with Paul Azinger as lead analyst but headed south again quickly at the 2023 Ryder Cup, reached a new low last weekend. We aren’t even going to get into the commercial glut which is obviously never going to end so long as NBC holds the rights. I’ve never been clear why CBS manages to avoid this during the PGA telecast but NBC cannot. I know USGA rights are worth more than the PGA but surely it isn’t that much difference.

That aside, 2025 NBC was especially loathsome. And that’s even granting certain production values continue to evolve in a positive way. The drones, shot tracker, nearly instant stats for things like driving distance truly are phenomenal. Beyond belief for someone who watched televised golf in the 80’s and 90’s. But every network can do that and most of seeing the course better is still more a result of high definition than anything which is taken for granted now like a bologna sandwich.

The first problem is the announcing team. Anchored by Dan Hicks, er I mean Mike Tirico, no wait by Terry Gannon… Seriously, what in the hell are they doing? Who thinks this triumvirate of lead hosts is a good idea? It’s the most confusing, asinine mess I’ve ever seen and seems to me does nothing but drive up costs which they very obviously can’t afford given the 59 minutes of ads and 1 minute of golf each hour. Pick a host (plus a lead analyst) and be done with it. It can’t be that hard. If Tirico’s ego insists he be part of it, allow him the intro plus maybe a few bio sketches similar to how Bob Costas used to emmcee the Kentucky Derby.

Kevin Kisner? I thought his folksy manner would play well in the beginning but he had nothing this weekend and seems to me he’d be much more interested in still actually playing by his engagement. Brad Faxon tries hard but TV is not the medium for him. Probably no medium is. Smylie Kaufman is too young for the role and despite his enthusiasm rubs a lot of people the wrong way. I’m not one of those but I’m telling you the older, conservative viewer of golf doesn’t accept him. Maybe in 10-15 years but lacking any chops as a player I doubt that as well. Just put Brandel Chamblee in the chair and be done with it. Yeah, he’ll piss a lot of people off but so did Johnny.

Then you had the Tiger Woods saga shoehorned into the proceedings during the rain delay. A nearly 20 year ago Open from Torrey Pines? Really? A craven ratings ploy the same type of dipshits who run Ridiculousness on MTV literally non stop would come up with. I get why they didn’t show highlights from the 2016 Open at Oakmont since Fox had the coverage then but why not 2007? That one had Woods in the mix too, he just didn’t win. We couldn’t have that though could we.

An even better idea would be forget the old replay and use the 8,000 people you have employed with headsets on to reset the scene. Especially as we approached play resuming. How about some interviews of the players? Why not get some of the analysts on the course to, you know, analyze how play would be affected. Then the USGA blew the restart horn earlier than NBC anticipated and they had to cut a commercial midstream to catch Sam Burns seconds before he started his backswing. 90 minute delay, right to action with zero transition. But hey, Hicks and Kisner got to blow Tiger for 10 minutes and isn’t that what you tune into the U.S. Open for.

Fox isn’t ever getting back into golf and I doubt CBS wants to pay for a third Major either so I’m sure we are stuck with this crap indefinitely.

I’m not going to post anything else this week but I’ll have something next Friday. Maybe a continuation of the nostalgia series if I can think of a topic. Until then, we’ll get started on British Open prep and begin the deep dive into college football. Which I strangely have no passion for currently. An ominous sign that my patience with NIL and that damned portal is running out.

Jason

1. Incidentally, remember in the preview where we looked at the meaning of par and how it could be twisted? If Oakmont were still par 72 as it was when Ben Hogan won in 1953 then Spaun would have been 9 under. Hogan shot 283, -5. Spaun was at 279 on par of 70. Just saying.