Jun 6

Written by:
6/6/2008 

There have been a lot of people sounding off about the USGA's pairings for the first two rounds of the US Open.  I think they've done a great job for three reasons.

1.  Who doesn't want to see the top three players in the world rankings play together.  Even though Tiger is coming off knee surgery, all three of these guys have been playing well this year and it should give us five hours of great golf shots to watch. 

2.  I know there are a lot of people who will disagree with this, but the chances are that the winner of this year's US Open is going to come from somewhere towards the top of the world rankings.  It only makes sense to have them all out there playing at roughly the same time because they're all going to play in the same conditions.  If you have Tiger and Phil playing opposite each other in morning and afternoon waves, the weather conditions could vary so much that one of them is likely to have an advantage.  The playing field has been leveled for the top players.

3.  This goes against my second point a bit, but having all those top players bunched together will open things up for Cinderella stories.  Guy who aren't used to having huge crowds follow them all over will be able to play a little more relaxed because it's likely that the galleries will be concentrating on the top four pairings.  There will still be plenty of people watching those regional qualifiers, but the throng of reporters and photographers will be busy elsewhere.