I read this quote on GeoffShackelford.com today:
Reporting the U.S. Open is like covering an execution. A circus fire. Bring a hankerchief. The U.S. Open is a not a tournament, it’s hoodoo. It’s Hamlet with nine-irons. A pox, not a play. A movie where everybody dies in the end. JIM MURRAY
Got my thinking that the quote isn’t quite right — at least not in recent years. It is more like Reservoir Dogs — a bloodbath where Mr. Pink picks up the bag at the end of the Mexican standoff and walks away. That would be a pretty good metaphor for Winged Foot in 2006, where Geoff Ogilvy won while all others blew their brains out on the final hole, or Angel Cabrera’s win at Oakmont a year later.
I’ve written pretty extensively about the U.S. being a war of attrition — though it sounds like the rough this week will be less brutal than past years. However, in many ways the U.S. Open pales for me in comparison to the Masters and the British Open; I’m not a fan of seeing the best in the world struggle to break 75.
Apparently Nick Watney pegged the winning score this week at 4-under. Sounds reasonable. We’ll see.
