Recap 2013 - US Open Golf championships Merion, PA

We turn our attention to June....

I had not planned on attending the 2013 US Open in Merion due to my vacations costing more and more money last year but I was able to get an invite for a single day so I jumped at it.  I went for the 3rd Round on Saturday which turned out to be a day of further frustration for many of the pros.  If you watched this tournament you saw how a course as old as Merion was able to tame the best of today.  Nobody expected that Merion was going to do this in fact the majority of the pundits were saying leading up to the week that the course was going to be eaten alive.

The best thing possible for the course, however, occurred....it POURED!! When the rains came to Merion it caused the course to be so slow that even though the course is short it played long.  

If you have never had the opportunity to see this course and play the sport it is shame that there are not more championships played on the course.  It is in a nearby suburb of Philadelphia so when the city grew it was built around the course and due to this the course couldn't grow larger with the change in the technology of the game like so many other courses.  

It's holes are literally backed right into streets and homes.  There is nowhere to walk so this made walking the course difficult.  But since I had played the course once previously thanks to a generous member, I knew my way around and could navigate even the tightest of areas.  

If you have been to a US Open this course is NOTHING like the rest of them used for the championship.  Even the shortest course in the past twenty years makes this course look like a par three in relation.  

I was thoroughly shocked that so many of the professionals of the PGA had such a hard time even though the conditions were favorable for the course to bite back.  It was especially prevalent watching players like Tiger Woods and Rory Mcilroy struggle like mad to even make the cut.  They did so poorly on the tournament that I was able to follow their entire group from start to finish and then have time to watch the last 9 holes of the leader.

This years US Open will forever be remember by myself (and certainly the pros) as it was both surprising in terms of okay and wonderful in terms of how well the course and the city put it together.

kudos Merion! You deserve it!