Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Open and Why it Worked

Justin Rose with Matt Shaffer, Buddy Marucci and the Golf Course Maintenance Staff

Merion was spectacular. You have to understand that I love Merion, having grown up a couple of miles away and having been the Assistant there in 1980 and 1981. On top of that, I think that the golf course is important, obviously, for its Championship history and turf maintenance history but also for its impact on golf course design. And to see the course in all of its splendor, vetting the best golfers in the world was just as interesting as it could get for me. That couldn't have happened without Mike Davis and Matt Shaffer.

The USGA's Mike Davis has in the last two years impressed me with his insight into course setup. As you may know, I have opined in the past about what in my opinion were lackluster setups with bad decisions. Hey Mike, you nailed it, you got it right, yeah, I might have had the fairways a little bit wider and you didn't use my two favorite pin positions (#3, #16) because the speeds wouldn't have made them fair. Other than that, I've got nothing to say except, thanks for a job well done!

And to Matt and his staff, Wow!

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