Sunday Scenarios And Finishing While We're Young

The good news: Sunday's U.S. Open finale (maybe) reverts to traditional twosomes, which should cut an hour off the round.

The bad news: Merion is still tough and we're likely to see rounds over 4 hours with a dodgy forecast that gets worse as the day goes, making the leaders' television-friendly 3:20 start time a concern. The slightest hiccup today with weather or pace and we are coming back Monday.

Either way, there is still considerable buzz about Saturday's awful pace of play which rendered even this compelling golf rather stale because there was so much standing around and so little ready golf by folks like Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson (yes, I watched them for six holes and they are disgraces to considerate play. Playing partner Mathew Goggin deserves a prize for putting up with these two snails.)

John Huggan pens a must read item on how the USGA, which has raised fairway heights this week to send an important message about maintenance, also did damage to the newly launched pace-of-play campaign by presenting a setup that prevents any chance of a reasonable pace.

To all of which there is only one conclusion: at least in terms of encouraging a reasonable pace of play, something is wrong with the way Merion has been set up and, by extension, the USGA's warped view of how golf should be played. The message emanating from Far Hills, New Jersey is not "While We're Young," but "Do as we say, not do as we do."
 
OK, time out. We all know that slow play has been with us for years. Only this week AP golf writer Doug Ferguson cited a notice given to competitors in the 1950 US Open at Merion: "Be observant, reach your decision quickly and execute your shots with promptness and dispatch."
 
Clearly, no one has been listening.