Reflecting On The 2008 U.S. Open: The Media Center

Because I know how much you love to hear writers complain about getting free food, a free pass (sometimes inside the ropes), free merchandise (they bribed us with a pair of Maui Jims!), free internet access and a cushy shuttle drive to the course...I'll just stick with one gripe.

Well, two.

- The USGA put the media tent on the second fairway of the North Course and trapped it with a row of corporate tents lining the first fairway. This meant it would take 10-12 minutes of walking just to see any action on the golf course unless you cut through one of the tents like I did most of the week (by the time they realized I was intruding, I was out the front door...).

The Media Center lurking like the view from Bates Motel up to mom's house (click to enlarge)When I mentioned to David Fay that it was a great week except for the location of the media center, he said that as he was walking up the steep hill the tent reminded him of the view from the Bates Motel looking up to mom's haunted house. He was right about that (see photo).

When the Open returns in 2017 or 18, let's put the media center to the right of the range next to the player locker room and leave the cool ocean view (that we never got to see) for the overpaying patrons. 
Inside the media tent (click to enlarge)

- IBM scoring. Various Open vets declared it a disaster. The round one scores did not make most national newspapers east of the Mississippi and by all accounts, the Unysis system of the past was faster and more efficient. Also, based on the comments in threads here, the website was a step back in terms of function and reliability.

Alright, off I go in my Maui Jims.

Comments

[Martin Del Vecchio]

The web site scoring system was terrible. I'm spoiled by the scoreboards on PGATour.com. Even the Masters.com scoreboards are much better.

On Thursday, the "today" scores were wrong for the first few hours; I thought that the players were tearing up the course. The "overall" scores were correct. But there were several folks listed at -5 through the first 9 or 10 holes.

[La Habra Post Card Company]

When there was some discrepancy issues of what kind of pass I had, off I went back to the media center, and what a walk!

Still, the walk, as long as it may have been just like all walks at Torrey Pines is a beautiful one--especially with the marine layer in and the place just buzzing with excitement. I saw a lot. I saw people enjoying the Sport of Golf without actually playing it and honestly the USGA is to be congratulated for that, even despite the longer walk to the media center.

By the end of the day Tiger had us floating on air.

[A-Nony-Mouse]

The USGA, probably correctly, assumed that most of the media wouldn't leave the tent unless the free food was taken away so that it didn't need to be near the course.

[CBell]

While we're sort of on the topic of online leaderboards, I'd like to share one used on the Ladies Euro Tour a few weeks ago:

http://194.97.154.222/albport/pr_tourn_livesc_page.jsp?mode=1&template=lgo&wnd=1&dgv_tourn_id=490000122348

It is by far the best I've ever seen, for it clearly shows how hard or easy various holes are playing. The only shortcoming is that the red and orange are too close in hue.

Why can't IBM do this good a job?

[Frank]

The flat out best leaderboard/scoring system is on pgatour.com. The shot by shot coverage is superb and I miss it when the majors come along and use the antiquated IBM system.