If I Was… The President Of The USGA
By Jim McNaney
The recently completed U.S. Open and Shinnecock Hills left a bad taste in the mouth for many players and viewers alike. Fears that the USGA would repeat their mistakes from years past like 2005 and take a fantastic golf course and nearly destroy it dominated the headlines.
Back in 2005 the playing conditions became so bad, great shots were not being rewarded and the event came down to a survival of the fittest. There were issues not only with the set up but how the USGA decided to handle the brutal green speeds.
Phil Mickelson relayed a story of the determining factor to water the greens during play was based on whether or not the preceding group made a double bogie or not. If the group in front of you made all bogies, you had to play the hole as is. If one player in the group in front made double or worse, the group behind got the luxury of waiting for the green to be watered and thus having a more receptive surface to receive shots.
Not exactly a level playing field.
Mike Davis and his team spent much of their time leading up to the event assuring the public that nothing like that would happen in 2018. Well…
While the 2018 Open was not quite as bad as 2005, there certainly were many that felt the USGA got it wrong again. Day 1 showed when the winds blow on the Hamptons… Shinnecock has teeth. Combine that with USGA’s traditionally difficult pins and rough, you have a course that beat up the best players in the world like a 20-handicap trying to play Augusta National. Day two saw better scoring conditions as the winds died down.
Then came Saturday. Once again Mother Nature showed she could take any test the USGA planned for the golfers and make it a joke. The average score on Saturday ended up between 75 and 76. Phil shot an 81 that included the now infamous “hitting a moving ball” hole resulting in a two stoke penalty.
Mickelson claimed he was doing it to save time and using the Rules of Golf to his advantage. In reality, he was throwing up a giant middle finger to the USGA.
Sunday saw Tommy Fleetwood post a 63 to tie the record Johnny Miller shot en route to winning the 1973 U.S. Open. Playing conditions were, to say the least, easier… 7.63 strokes easier to be exact. Now the chorus from the pundits was the USGA had screwed up again… in reverse, exhibiting a knee-jerk reaction and making the course far too easy for the best players in the world.
Poor Mike Davis just couldn’t seem to get it right all week.
Perhaps the reason Mike and the rest of the USGA missed the mark so often is they cling to the notion that this competition needs to be the “toughest test in golf.” Why? To prove that the players are that good?
Hardly.
They do it because they want to show that as one of the game’s two governing bodies, they ARE the game. For years the USGA has exhibited an air of superiority: a point Davis himself admitted to in an interview prior to the event. While Davis proclaimed that was no longer the case, Shinnecock was evidence to the contrary.
So if I was the President of the USGA I would listen to one very smart commentator, David Duval. On Golf Channel after the final round, Duval suggested that the USGA start consulting the people that run events for the best players in the world on a weekly basis like the PGA TOUR and the European Tour and find out the best and most equitable way to test the players without making the conditions the story of the week.
I would also let go of “protecting par.” The best players in the world are better that the best courses in the world period. All competitions should determine who the best athletes are not how good the venue is. That should particularly hold true in our National Championship. How ridiculous would it sound to say the World Series between the Cubs and say the Twins would come down to Target versus Wrigley Fields?
Finally, I’d let the courses speak for themselves. This competition visits some of our countries most iconic courses. There is no need to trick them up. God help the USGA if they try to mess with Pebble Beach next year.
If you’re one of those fans that enjoyed seeing the world’s best turn a round into a car wreck… go watch NASCAR. I, for one, would rather see the best players making magnificent shots and proving that the one holding the trophy at the end of the week was not only the best player… but the best story for the week.
