Rumor: The U.S. Open Will Finish on Monday

The U.S. Open has been going on so long now, it could be considered a tune-up for next year’s U.S. Open.  Actually, the Open has been going on since Thursday, and today is Monday, which means it’s only been extended by one day – but there was so much golf crammed into so many little windows between biblical deluges this weekend that it surely feels like it’s been 40 days and 40 nights since the first player teed off.

I lost track somewhere of which round it was, but I’m told we’re now in the 4th, which, unless there’s a tie – god forbid – will be the final round.  The two players at the top, Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover, were not exactly what you would call favorites going in; in fact, outside of family members, I don’t think anyone realized either of them was actually in the tournament.  But we all realize it now, because they’ve been basically annihilating the course.  At one point Barnes flirted with achieving the lowest score ever reached in a U.S. Open, before falling back from the unreal into the merely spectacular.  That little slide by Barnes opened the door for Glover, who had trailed by 6 strokes at one point, to tie the lead, which was where things lay when darkness preempted the round Sunday night.

It looks, for right now, like the winner will be one of those guys from the final pairing, but there are a few interesting players down the leaderboard who could make a run – like David Duval and Phil Mickelson, who are tied with two other guys in second place, 5 strokes back.  Duval and Mickelson are your inspirational stories for the final day, Phil because his wife has cancer, and Duval because he hasn’t won anything in damn near a decade.  Then, if you go a couple more spots down, you will find Tiger Woods sitting at even par, 7 strokes back – or, as the hysterical, ratings-obsessed NBC people like to call it, right in the hunt.

Barring anymore soaking rains or other unforeseen meteorological occurrences, the Open should come to a weary, humid, surprising ending some time Monday afternoon.  Whatever ends up happening, I will just be happy not to have to hear the word “Fescue” for awhile.