Open for Debate
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008If you're new here, and you're into sports and/or the Christian faith, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The sun set fifteen minutes ago. Your mother is waiting patiently in the parking lot. And you are on the 18th green, finishing your 54th hole of the day.
And as you stand over your double-bogey putt, the only question is this: Is it to win the Masters, or the U.S. Open?
For me it was always the Masters. Probably because I grew up on a course that was hilly and dotted with pine trees. Of course the similarities between Briarmeade and Augusta National ended there, considering Briarmeade is bordered by a trailer park. Even so, in my imagination azaleas were always blooming, and the 18th green was surrounded by cheering patrons and Claudia Schiffer (This is 15-year old Chad we’re talking about), waiting to give me a green jacket, so long as my last putt found the bottom of the cup.
I was a Masters guy because as a kid the U.S. Open was painful to watch. Overweight men, panting like dogs in the summer heat. Impossibly narrow fairways with rough so high you could lose a car in it. And those greens, like trying to land a ball on the roof of a VW Bug. Over the years I’ve learned to appreciate the U.S. Open, I guess in the same way I’ve learned to appreciate vegetables. I’m going to eat them, but I’m not really looking forward to it.
I never understood those kids whose putts were to win the U.S. Open. Maybe their dad was in the army? Maybe their dad was Toby Keith? They always explained it in patriotic terms, citing it was our national championship, which I get, but it’s still boring. The only time the two groups agreed was on cloudy or rainy days, when the putts were to win the British Open. Putts were never to win the PGA Championship.
I say all of this because the 108th U.S. Open begins this Thursday, on the South Course at Torrey Pines, and Tiger Woods is set to tee it up for the first time since his second place finish at the Masters, and subsequent knee surgery.
This won’t be the first time Tiger begins a U.S. Open after a long break from tournament golf. In 2006 Woods skipped every event between Augusta and the Open after the death of his father Earl. Tiger shot 76-76 and missed the cut in a major for the first, and only time in his career. Perhaps he couldn’t overcome the rust from his 3-month layoff, or perhaps the emotional burden from the loss of his father was too much to bear, or perhaps he couldn’t stand to be seen in this shirt, which he was schedule to wear for Saturday’s round.
Regardless, in a year where everyone was talking Grand Slam, and a 3rd U.S. Open title at one of Tiger’s favorite courses was a given, this week’s U.S. Open has enough drama and unanswered questions to keep us all interested.
And who knows, when I finish my round after work today, that last putt may just be to win our national championship. Not that I still do that sort of thing.
Tags: Chad, Tiger Woods, US Open
