PGA Tour is hitting all the greens right

THE DAILY NEWS COVERS THE OPEN: Check out PhillyDailyNews.com's U.S. Open page for our guide to the tournament at Merion.

THE U.S. OPEN on Thursday alights at Merion Golf Club, a place fixed in lore by the apexes of two of the game's Rushmore players, Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan.

The question: "How could the state of the game be better?"

The answer: We're not sure it could.

Not every aspect of golf is thriving, of course. Foibles of the game - the economic crunch, slow play, tough courses, etc. - combined to decrease playing traffic and, subsequently, to decrease the number of courses; the industry's losses over the past decade usually land between 5 and 15 percent.

The global recession and laughable mismanagement crippled and changed the LGPA Tour.

However, the PGA Tour could not be more compelling.

Adam Scott, golf's David Beckham, dramatically won his first major, at the Masters in April.

There are personalities to suit everyone's taste, from the goofy Golf Boys and good ol' Bubba Watson to two-stepping Keegan Bradley to cryogenic Jason Dufner . . . even feel-good Kevin Streelman. Seriously.

The Golf Channel has seen a 90 percent jump in viewers since 2010, with a hot morning talk show, a compelling interview show, two riveting reality shows and late-night viewership that rivals Cinemax. Actually, they probably share that demographic.

The best news, of course, is that Tiger Woods again stands atop the golfing world, ranked No. 1 with four wins this year and seven in the last two seasons. He's good, but not unassailable - the best combination for the game.

Woods has won three of his last five starts but was lousy 2 weeks ago at the Memorial, where he often dominates. Also, he has not won a major since his 14th, the 2008 U.S. Open, after which injuries, personal problems and a swing change made him the most scrutinized athlete in history (if he already wasn't).

On the other hand, while Woods has not won a major, he has finished fourth or better in five of the 12 majors he has played since his Thanksgiving night car crash in 2009 unearthed a life in need of reconstruction. His biggest win since came last month, at The Players Championship, where he ignored accusations of gamesmanship from frustrated would-be foil Sergio Garcia.

Which brings Tiger to Merion, a short course that requires creativity, precise power and deft hands, as Woods noted before he played the Memorial:

"If you look at the list of champions, they have all been really good shotmakers," he said of the amateur and professional USGA tournament winners at the club. "They have all been able to shape the golf ball. I think that's what it lends itself to. I mean, you have to be able to shape the golf ball. And you have to be so disciplined to play that course."

Really, what better place for Woods to resume his march towards Jack Nicklaus' mark of 18 major wins?

Fortunately, there exists a bevy of challengers - not always the case at past majors, where a Woods win seemed more probable than possible.

Chief among them?

Perhaps Matt Kuchar, who has mastered an anchoring method - alongside his left forearm - that will not be banned. Kuchar also has developed an edge that lends his sunny smile a carnivorous bent.

An amateur wunderkind in the 1990s, it took Kuchar a decade to secure prominence as a pro. Now 34, three of Kuchar's six career wins have come in the past 13 months, and each - The Players, WGC Match Play and Memorial on June 2 - featured dynamite fields and varied, stringent tests.

At the encouragement of Nickalus, who hosts the Memorial, Kuchar arrived at Merion last Tuesday to introduce himself to the course. He did not expect to be overwhelmed.

"Great golf breeds more great golf," said Kuchar, the only multiple winner on Tour this year besides Woods; and, it should be noted, Kuchar finished second 3 weeks ago, too. "Winning tournaments breeds more winning tournaments. Heading into Merion, I'll have a lot of confidence."

Of course, this Open would be considerably more interesting if Rory McIlroy was playing with a hint of his prodigious confidence. Clearly the world's best at the end of 2012, McIlroy switched to Nike equipment this season (among other life changes) and has not been the same player since.

His four top-10 finishes in nine starts seem impossible to anyone who watched him quickly bow out of the Match Play in February; petulantly quit at the Honda Classic in March; and finish 57th at the Memorial. Still, McIlroy's eight-shot win at the U.S. Open in 2011, his dizzying ascension to golf's pinnacle and his wealth of candor make him a crowd favorite, if not the betting man's.

A win from Tiger would be the best thing for the game, but a win by Rory would be a close second.

Other storylines are just as succulent.

This is the USGA's flagship event, and also the first U.S. Open since the association deemed anchored putting an unfair practice that it will outlaw in 2016.

Deliciously, the defending U.S. Open champion, Webb Simpson, is a devout belly putter, not to mention the second best in the game at it. He is keenly disturbed at the specter of having to actually use his hands on the greens.

He won't have to worry about it at Merion . . . though, rest assured, he will be reminded. He will not be the only golfer distracted.

Vijay Singh, third on the all-time money list and an anchored-putter guy, last month filed suit against the PGA Tour for its handling of his admission of use of deer antler spray, which contained substance banned by the Tour. Publicly, Singh has gone about his business in silence . . . and gone about it badly. His balky back has limited him to 12 events this season. Perhaps derailed by his perceived persecution, he has missed four of his last five cuts and has not finished better than 38th since January.

Garcia, meanwhile, has not competed in the U.S. since his meltdown on the final two holes of the Players, when he found the water three times and ceded the day to Woods. Garcia's self-destruction continued later that week when, at the European Tour's awards ceremony, he was asked if he and Tiger might reconcile over dinner at Merion.

"We will have him 'round every night," Garcia said. "We will serve fried chicken."

And, with that, Woods became the injured. The script flipped abruptly; after all, Woods not only pulled a club early and caused a disruption when paired with Garcia in Round 3, he was accused of lying about his explanation. In keeping with his already icy relationship with Garcia, Woods never apologized; instead, Woods accused Garcia of whining.

Garcia then undressed himself as a racist.

How could golf possibly be better?

Woods and Garcia paired in the final tee time Sunday. That's how.