Skip to content
Sports
Link copied to clipboard

Golf finally slows down a little

The casting choices of the USGA's "While We're Young" campaign designed to increase the pace of play may appeal to a certain demographic: they include Clint Eastwood and a bunch of whiny kids whom Tigers Woods claims have "…no respect."

But you have to appreciate that the USGA is even making an attempt to clean up one of the more universally despised facets of the game. You have to appreciate it a little less, though, when it seems to have failed both abysmally and immediately.

Saturday's rounds in the U.S. Open ate up over five hours routinely, and waiting around on tees became the norm.

Maybe antagonistic children surrounding every hole would be for the benefit of the game's tempo. And then, when they refuse to leave, we'll just send Clint Eastwood up there to horrify them.

But, then of course, we'll have Clint Eastwood roaming around the course.

Hmm.

Golf is hard.

SLOW-MOVING TIGER

Speaking of pace of play, if you were disappointed in the slightly less than high octane pace of Saturday's golf, you're probably going to hate this super slo-mo .gif of Tiger Woods making contact.

You always want to be very sure you know exactly how a guy playing +9 is hitting the ball. For history's sake.

BACK, YOU MONGRELS

As play winded down yesterday, the lower profile groups quietly filed through the back nine, straggling onlookers cheering them on.

Nick Thompson drove a particularly miscued ball into the rough, which is like getting off at the wrong stop. Curious eyes and watched from inches away – look, there's one of the golfers! Right there in front of us! We could reach out and touch him!

A young kid approached Thompson to ask if he could have his ball, after a chorus of adults watching from an adjacent backyard offered five, then ten, then twenty bucks for him to go get it.

"I have another three holes yet," Thompson replied.

Nicholas Thompson, fending off children. pic.twitter.com/4AG3nETIva

Philly.com has complete coverage of the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE U.S. OPEN AT MERION.