british invasion

i have been having a hard time pulling myself from in front of the television this week. the open championship (british open) is being contested in liverpool, england. from roughly 6am to midnight, one can get coverage of all things open championship. obviously, the actual play only lasts for about 10 of those hours, but post round analysis is nearly unending.

the open is my favorite of the so-called major championships. the game of golf was invented and perfected on courses just like those used in the open championship rotation. in most cases, these are the exact courses played by the creators of the game. the game played in these locales is vastly different from the home game played by millions of americans. whereas we fan something off of a perfectly manicured, computer and agronomically enhanced emerald carpet of grass, these gentleman clip a ball off of brownish fairways sculpted by time and livestock. our roughs can be 3-inch deep black holes of turf terror, where they hack out of foot-high wisps of dried out "hay." it just looks cool. our american players often intentionally hit into a bunker because the play out of a bunker is typically lower on the penalty scale than from the rough. in the open, you may not be able to even see the green from your bunker. they are that high...in the fairway, no less. hell bunker? the sands of nakajima? forgetaboutit.

our own national open is a great tournament. unfortunately, i don't know that i am sure that it is a fair assessment of a player's whole game. remember bethpage when so many were unable to even reach the fairways because they were cut so far from the tee on several holes? ridiculous. what about pin positions and greens shorn so close as to create payne-stewart-at-olympic type of situations. come on. rough so thick and long that one's only recourse is to chip out laterally? i don't like it.

augusta holds a very fine tournament each year. it is so well know to us that a true golf fan can describe with alarming detail each hole on the back nine. i have not yet been; but, my friends who have been have all said something to the effect that its beauty is indescribable and unable to be translated worthily over the television. that is something i need to see. the history created by playing the same tournament on the same course each year is wonderful. the back nine on sunday is so fun to watch because the swings can come so fast and be so dramatic. on the other hand, i hate that their response to today's technology is to change the nature of the course by adding ridiculous length, planting huge trees all over the place, and adding a "second cut" of grass. actually, i guess i'm ok with the length. you can't have people hitting driver/wedge to a par 5. still, i wonder what jones and mackenzie would have done.

as i'm not sure which tournament should be considered the fourth major (pga or player's championship) i won't add anything about them. they each pale in comparison to the other two,anyway, so who cares. i'd rather watch colonial.