There will be plenty to read at Cybergolf this week. I’ll be covering the Travis Invitational, and Jeff Shelley is writing about his trip to Scotland to play St. Andrews.
In bad news, one of Chicago’s two terrible courses that we just can’t get rid of, Cog Hill, is now vying to be the next “People’s Open” host. This is what the press release is expected to say:
“Now the course plays fast and firm! Now we can have a U.S. Open on a public course in Chicago! We can even move up teeing grounds so guys can drive one par-4! Tiger wins here all the time, so pencil in another Tiger Woods major!”
It’s bad enough we have to put up with Medinah – that big ugly dog nobody likes – instead of Chicago Golf Club, but now we have Cog Hill – which has no business hosting a major – clamoring for one like Lindsay Lohan screaming for Sam Ronson to come back.
The problem with Bethpage’s success is now everybody thinks you can just call Rees Jones and get an Open. Cog hill was a boring snore-fest before Rees, and it will be as equally boring a snore-fest this year. They think they can take the open planned for Erin Hills away. Public courses hosting the Open is a terrific idea. I’m excited for Bethpage and Chambers Bay and any time YOU can go play a major venue, (or Sawgrass!) do it, But Torrey was NOT that great because the canyons limited available space for spectators, and moving around was a nightmare. Now the banal, vapid Cog Hill thinks it can join the conversation. We’ll be hearing from the lugnuts at Blarney Stone…I mean Boring Stone…I mean Turning Stone Casino any minute now about how they plan to call Tom fazio to come and “re-perfect” their golf course and how – and these are their words – “Tiger Woods is going to sink a putt at 18 at Atunyote to win another major!!!” Puh-leeeeze. Take a Paxil.
Meanwhile, you’ll get to see Garden City Golf Club this week, a place that once held and Open and an Amateur, and a place that doesn’t need to create a mass-culture identity through television and marketing. Golf as it should be…
