U.S. Open Preview

The U.S. Open starts tomorrow so I figure a preview/prediction is appropriate. Now I admit to following golf more than the average person and enjoy watching it on TV more than 98% of people. The 2% who enjoy it more than I are the other 2% that enjoy watching it. I really can't explain what I like about watching golf on TV but it sure beats the hell out of any drama or sitcom my wife tries to put me through on any given night. I digress. Now I have established my love for watching golf but I am not an absolute die-hard fan which makes my Open preview/prediction fairly short.

First, it is being played at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. Second, the course is crazy long with a 280+ yard par 3 and a par 5 that is over 650 yards I do believe. That is the extent of my preview, now onto the prediction.

My trifecta is Tiger Woods winning, Jeff Quinney second and Zach Johnson third. I pick Tiger because as I said I am not a die-hard fan so to pick anyone else to win would be stupid. Plus, I like watching Tiger play. I pick Quinney second because he is from Eugene and has been playing very well this year especially in the big tournaments he has played. I must admit I do not know if he is in the field this week but I am assuming he is. And I pick Johnson third because he wins golf tournaments played in Georgia and he is from Iowa.

As an aside, I played some golf today and my brain started going a little overboard. A medical doctor was part of the group I was playing with and we agreed that golf takes up so much time. That is when I started thinking really hard. I did not verbalize any of this so now is the time. Here it goes.

Since golf is expensive, really successful people (e.g., doctors) have the means to participate on a consistent basis. The ironic thing about that is it costs a doctor quite of bit of money to take the time to golf. If a doctor plays golf for 5 hours he (I realize this lacks gender neutrality, deal with it) is not able to see patients for at least that long. I am just making up numbers here but let's say the doctor does x-rays and all that crap with patients so each patient is worth $300. The doctor sees 5 patients an hour. Therefore, by playing golf for 5 hours and being out of the practice for 7 hours the doctor has foregone over $10,000 to play a round. Additionally, the doctor pays the money to play golf. On the other hand, I go out and play golf and it takes me the same 7 hours but since I only have one advanced degree it only costs me like $100 worth of work time to play. In the end, the folks that can afford to play big-time golf give up a ton of money each time they are out on the course. Perhaps, most of you don't need 24+ years to realize that but it came to me today and I found it interesting.

(U.S. Open logo from usopen.com)