U.S. Open: Nightmare in a 9-iron

By Brian Hunsicker

Published: June 14, 2008

As the U.S. Open wraps up today at Torrey Pines, scoring is what you'd expect from that tournament: Little-known Justin Hicks led after Thursday's first round at three-under.

Twenty-four hours later, the names had changed but the scores hadn't. Hicks' +9 left him little more than a footnote, while Stuart Appleby emerged atop the leaderboard, still at three under par.

That's the U.S. Open: nightmare in a 9-iron.

The tournament's reputation borders on unfair. Angel Cabrera used a one-under final round at Oakmont a year ago to win the title, finishing at +5—the third straight year that the winner failed to break par.

An offline tee shot is penalized by gnarly, unforgiving rough. Greens are slick, giving the Stimpmeter an unusually heavy workout.

The USGA promised that this year would bring a better chance at better scores; the improvement so far is slight.

Where is the line? At what point does the USGA cross from tough but fair to tortuous?

The duffer in each of us, perhaps intermingling with the cynic, relishes the chance to see Tiger and Phil and Luke flub a shot out of the rough.

We've all been there. We've all done it. And we've all felt the same frustration. There's a humanizing element to seeing one of the elites chunk one, particularly when even anonymous Nationwide players are light years ahead of the rest of us.

But that isn't good golf. We don't watch Tiger and Phil and Luke to see them fail; we watch them for their skill, all the while thinking, 'Man, if I could just hit one approach like that in my life…'

Most of us never will, barring a one-time gift from an otherworldly force.

We watch to see them succeed in places we never could, hitting greens from long distances on bad lies from the rough. We watch them study greens, find the right line and nail the speed. We watch them to pull shots out of their bag in the clutch, using talent and craftiness that many of us didn't know was possible.

We don't watch to see them grind shot after shot, hole after hole. We watch because after years of practice, it all looks so effortless.

We watch them because they can, not because they can't.

There's a balance to be had. Over-par final scores are as much of a joke as 25-under. The USGA has tilted its signature tournament so far in the former direction that winners don't emerge on Sunday.

Survivors do.

And that's no way to play—or watch—golf.

Brian Hunsicker is a staff writer for the Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger. Reach him at 703-878-8048 or via e-mail at .