The U.S. Open is already in trouble.
With it’s over-size 156-man field and rounds that take five and a half hours to complete, it’s a task when conditions are perfect.
They were far from perfect Thursday at Oakmont.
The first weather delay came just shortly after 10 a.m. and the field was not able to get back out until an hour and 19 minutes later. Then another weather cell came around noon and play was delayed until after 2 p.m.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the third delay came just before four o’clock.
The first groups off went at 6:45 a.m. and they still hadn’t completed their rounds meaning they had been on and off the course for more than nine hours!
Talk about the longest day.
This was it and the afternoon groups had not even started to warm up.
Add it all up and the first round is going to push well into Friday then the second round could push well into Saturday.
The U.S.G.A. has a mess on their hands.
2 Comments
beege
Mother Nature has put her imprint on this open in a big way indeed. Nothing anyone can do about that of course but as the Brits would say “carry on”. it will make for 2 long days tomorrow and saturday. The rounds are so long as you mentioned, Tom in the first place that with all things working perfectly the first two days with 312 rounds is tough to get in by Friday night.
Stamina and fortitude will come into play as it almost always does anyway. I feel bad for the fans that bought today’s tix.
bob
Tom Edrington
Thank goodness it’s not in Tulsa, where temps pushed past 100 back in 1977 when I was there. Good news is that it stays light until almost 9 pm. Don’t know how Mickelson will hold up going 36 on Friday. My idea was just to get things on track and go back to what they used to do when they went 36 for the final round.