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Looking Brighter at Merion

by Jeff Skinner

Could it be that the Golf Gods have swung a deal with Mother Nature?  From the looks of this forecast for Philadelphia that just may be the case.  Merion was getting so wet that the USGA may have been forced to hold a duck hunting competition instead of their U.S. Open.

Unfortunately, it still looks like there may be some rain come Thursday and that doesn’t bode well  for Thursday ticket holders like myself.  And the USGA may have another tough decision if they have to postpone play and move the finish to Monday.

Back in 2009 at Bethpage Black it rained so much that Thursday’s play was wiped out and the ticket buying public was left holding a very soggy bag.  But the USGA did the right thing and allowed Thursday tickets to be used for the final round which was contested on Monday.  And I was a beneficiary of that decision.

But with the extremely tight constraints of Merion that probably may not be an option for the USGA.  While Bethpage had 250 acres and room more a million fans, Merion has 110 and barely room for the 25,000 daily tickets sold.  Any rain on Thursday could cost all those fans their chance at seeing any live golf at Merion.  Let’s hope that’s not the case.

Weather.com Phila

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One Comment

  1. Bring some boots or shoes that you don’t mind throwing away afterwards because the mud in the spectator section looks awful. I hope that Thursday thunderstorm manages to miss the course because if it hits, everything outside of the ropes is going to be a disaster area.

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