Please don't change the 18-hole playoff
Posted: Monday, June 16, 2008 1:22 PM
I can’t wait to see what all the people who thought the U.S. Open’s 18-hole playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate was stupid have to say now. You know the ones. They pop out of the woodwork every time the U.S. Open goes another 18 holes on Monday, and they’re really ticked off about it. Here’s an example from The New York Post.
They’ll give you a whole lot of reasons why 18 holes on Monday is a bad idea: People can’t watch on television; they’re usually anticlimactic; everybody else uses some form of truncated playoff or sudden death. But the real reason my colleagues hate these affairs is that it screws up their travel schedules. It’s a real bummer that way. You have to extend a night in the hotel, make a new airline reservation, call the limo company that was going to pick you up.
Or – and this is a lot worse – you might have planned to say an extra day and had a juicy tee time lined up at an exclusive course that you talked your way onto. And now because of this antiquated 18-hole format, you have to cancel and go out and work.
Those are your reasons right there. It has nothing to do with 18 holes or anything else. It has to do with the personal convenience of the people making opinions.
I’ve never been one of those folks. I’ve always praised the USGA for sticking to its guns and deciding its championship the way it’s always been done – in a full regulation round of golf. Yeah, I’ve seen some dull playoffs in my day, and, yeah, Monday’s tough on the fans who want to watch. But so what? Can’t just one thing be done the old-fashioned way, without regard to who’s being inconvenienced?
The reason you do it is because of what we saw Monday at Torrey Pines. If there had been a four-hole playoff, we’d have missed one of the great finishes in Open history.
And maybe some people missed it, but there was a huge gallery following Mediate and Woods. I’ve got to think that a lot of them skipped work to be there, and hooray for them. Every once in a while, you should skip work for something that you so desperately want to see.
Meanwhile, back in America’s offices, an awful lot of computers were tuned to the webcast. And maybe that meant a dropoff in productivity, but, again, so what? Americans are the most productive workers, and they work longer hours with less vacation than the workers in any other Western nation. If they fell a little behind on Monday, they’ll catch up.
So other than the travel plans and tee times of a few writers, no humans were hurt in the playing of this tournament. And in return for the inconvenience, we got an absolutely riveting piece of theater, with Rocco going ahead, Rocco falling behind, Rocco fighting back, Rocco trying to hang on and ultimately falling to Tiger in sudden death.
One hole would have been a travesty, four would have been just a taste, and 18 wasn’t even enough. There’s a reason the USGA does it this way. The reason may not always be apparent, but every once in a while, it’s so clear even a sportswriter with busted travel plans can see it.
Monday was one of those times.
Memo to the USGA: Don’t change a thing.
