U.S. Open -- Final Round Wrap-Up

Since Tiger left the scene at the end of 2009, golf has been adrift. They kept playing the tournaments, and they handed out a trophy at the end of each one, but the tournaments were largely meaningless, because the winners weren't going anywhere. The results were virtually random -- as if someone were pulling names from a hat.

But now order has been restored. We have a clear storyline: Rory McIlroy is the best golfer in the world, probably the first truly great golfer since Tiger Woods, and likely the best European golfer since World War I. Now we can organize ourselves. McIlroy becomes the logical favorite in every tournament, and folks either beat him or they don't. If they beat him, then they've really done something, because he is the best in the world. If they don't, that's also exciting, because it underscores his greatness.

This is the traditional formula for golfing drama, and almost everyone in the golfing community will be happy to see it back. I say "almost" because McIlroy's new role has the potential to cause real headaches for the PGA Tour. Unless McIlroy changes his schedule this year, for example, he will only play twice more in the United States -- once at the World Golf Classic in Akron in August, and the next week at the PGA Championship in Atlanta. In other words, he will not be participating in the PGA's FedEx Cup tournaments at the end of the season. The PGA has marketed the FedEx Cup as its version of a post-season playoff. But how can we fans take it seriously if the best player in the world isn't even competing? Similarly, it seems to me that the air will go out of the Presidents' Cup, given that the four best players in the world -- McIlroy, Donald, Westwood, and Kaymer -- won't be there.

Nor are these problems likely to get better in the near future. It is increasingly clear that American golf is going the way of American tennis. Tiger and Phil were apparently the Sampras and Agassi of American golf -- a last, brilliant firework before the realities of economics and demographics caught up with us. The blunt truth is that there are no good American players under the age of 35, and Tiger (who is semi-retired at this point) is the only good American player under the age of 40. I will be interested to see the various explanations as to why the United States has stopped producing good golfers, but what's done is done. There are only two hopes for the Americans. One is that the younger American pros with some talent -- people like Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, and Bubba Watson -- will start taking the game much more seriously. Given what I've seen of these players, I see very little chance that this will happen. The second is that the next generation of American golfers -- the kids who are currently in high school -- will work harder to catch up with McIlroy, just like foreign players now in their 20's and 30's worked hard to catch up with Tiger.

But even if there are no good American golfers, and even if there are far fewer good American golf tournaments -- given that the best players will spend more and more time overseas -- the U.S. Open will continue to be important. (After all, we still care about Wimbledon, even though Britain hasn't exactly been a tennis power since World War II.) It will be interesting to see how the USGA reacts to the low scores at Congressional. I would argue that Congressional did exactly what a golf course is supposed to -- it identified a worthy champion. Congressional has hosted three Opens, and the winners were Venturi, Els, and McIlroy -- a very good legacy. In fact, with the exception of two fluky Americans, all of the golfers in the top 10 this weekend were quite solid. To me, that is how a major tournament should work. I hope that the USGA recognizes this, and doesn't try to trick up its courses even further in a desperate attempt to defend par.

One final point: let's give a shout-out to Jason Day, who has now finished in second place at both the 2011 Masters and the 2011 U.S. Open. That's quite an accomplishment in and of itself. We should also give credit to Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen, who played tournaments worthy of their Masters and British Open titles.

Final Results:

1. R. McIlroy (NIR): -16 (65+66+68+69=268)

2. J. Day (AUS): -8 (71+72+65+68=276)

T3. K. Chappell: -6 (76+67+69+66=278)
T3. R. Garrigus: -6 (70+70+68+70=278)
T3. L. Westwood (ENG): -6 (75+68+65+70=278)
T3. Y.E. Yang (KOR): -6 (68+69+70+71=278)

T7. P. Hanson (SWE): -5 (72+71+69+67=279)
T7. S. Garcia (ESP): -5 (69+71+69+70=279)

T9. C. Schwartzel (RSA): -4 (68+74+72+66=280)
T9. L. Oosthuizen (RSA): -4 (69+73+71+67=280)