U.S. Open Ratings Up...For An East Coast Venue

NBC registered a 6.1 for the U.S. Open final round at Merion, down from last year's 6.6 at Olympic that was going to head-to-head with the NBA Finals.

For Immediate Release:

Golf Channel on NBC's Final Round coverage of the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club scored a best overnight (6.1) for an East Coast U.S. Open since 2007 at Oakmont Country Club (7.0).

Coverage peaked in the metered-market overnights at a 9.4 US Household Overnight Rating from 7-7:30 PM EST.

Golf Channel on NBC's Final Round coverage was up 20% from Rory McIlroy's win in 2011 at Congressional Country Club (5.1), which was the last East Coast U.S. Open.

ESPN scored its second-highest Thursday U.S. Open viewership.

For Immediate Release:

ESPN’s live telecast of Thursday evening’s play in the U.S. Open championship from Merion Golf Club near Philadelphia on June 13 was the second most-viewed Thursday telecast of the event ever on the network and the highest-rated since 2002.
 
Additionally, ESPN’s live telecast of Friday evening’s play was the highest-rated east coast venue Friday prime telecast since 2002.
 
Thursday’s evening telecast, which aired from 5-6:10 p.m. and 6:55-8:26 p.m. ET due to a rain delay, earned a 1.9 household coverage rating, averaging 2,209,725 viewers. The rating was the highest since ESPN earned a 2.3 for the Thursday evening telecast in 2002 and the viewership average is exceeded only by the 2,499,860 that watched in 2002.
 
Friday evening’s telecast, which aired from 5-8:42 p.m., earned a 2.0 household coverage rating, averaging 2,458,378 viewers, the highest rating for an east coast U.S. Open venue since ESPN had a 2.1 rating in 2002.
 
ESPN’s live telecast of the rain-delayed afternoon round on Thursday, which aired from noon – 3 p.m., earned a 1.2 household coverage rating, averaging 1,340,169 viewers, while the morning-afternoon session on Friday, which aired from 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., earned a 1.5 household coverage rating with an average of 1,672,526 viewers.
 
Throughout the U.S. Open (June 13-16), golf coverage across ESPN digital platforms – including ESPN.com, ESPN mobile Web, ScoreCenter, WatchESPN and ESPN3 – logged an average minute audience of more than 108,000. Additionally, on Thursday and Friday, live coverage of the U.S. Open on WatchESPN and ESPN3 logged 38.6 million minutes, up 64 percent.

Merion Is To America What St. Andrews Is To Scotland

At least, in the tournament sense though the architectural DNA of so many courses was inspired by Merion.

But since we are fresh from a fantastic U.S. Open, let's stick to Merion's place as the host of 18 USGA championships. I make the case in this Golf World Monday item that this is our St. Andrews and while the setup definitely had its quirks and mistakes, Merion is so good that it overshadowed any quirks. (I elaborate in detail in Golf World this week on some of the setup highs and lows.)

Until that story appears, forgive me if I wax a bit about this special place in golf. My great regret of the week will probably be that I didn't take time to just walk roads surrounding the course, where spectators leaned on fences and cheered players on. And where neighborhoods turned into block parties of folks simply celebrating the return of golf to this special place. Reader Ari, who I met this week after years of online communication, was a witness to this and posted in previous threads about the atmosphere.

Like the camaraderie that envelopes St. Andrews during the Open, otherwise sleepy streets turned into a community that we can only hope becomes a regular occurrence every 8-10 years.

Jungle Bird Was Offered A Refund If He Was Coming To Merion

Jungle Bird of 2012 U.S. Open fame was offered a full refund in case he was thinking of crashing the 2013 U.S. Open trophy ceremony. Or the tournament in any way.

Deadspin's Samer Kalef with the story and the USGA's offer via letter.

2013 U.S. Open: Your Kneejerk Reactions

Congratuations to Justin Rose for being the last man standing at magnificent Merion!

I have to hunker down for a few hours and write a course story for Golf World. As you can imagine there is much to ponder from this week but I'd love to hear impressions from the final day and telecast.

Video: Phil To Mike Davis On 274-Yard 3rd: "Terrible"

Thanks to GolfChannel.com's Jay Coffin for Tweeting this video where NBC's crack audio team picking up a frank conversation between Phil Mickelson and USGA Executive Director Mike Davis after the 3rd hole, which played 274 yards into the wind.

The transcript:

"274?  That's terrible. Can't even reach it."

The hole was playing straight into the wind as forecasted.

Update on 2013-06-17 14:19 by Geoff

**Mike Davis's response after the round:

Q.  Phil expressed his displeasure about the third hole setup.  How do you feel with the way the wind was coming and did you feel like you got that one right?

MIKE DAVIS:  Well, let me start out by Phil is a class act.  He was nothing but complimentary week from the standpoint of he embraced this golf course, which is great.  He saw all the architecture when he played the third hole today.

We set the golf course up today for a south wind.  So you saw us move tee markers up.  For instance, if you're playing the 18th hole, you're dead into what would be a south wind.  So that's how we set it up.  That's why we didn't go to the back tees.

When we got to the third hole, we were really getting a westerly even a northwesterly wind.  So it played long.  It played longer than we would have ‑‑ but having said that, it was a back hole location that was the most receptive on the green, we felt that it could handle 3‑wood shots, if need be.  So anyway, I mean, he mentioned that he thought it was too long.  That's fine.  We wouldn't have put the tee markers back where we did had we known we were going to get that wind.

But he was terrific and to be a six‑time runner‑up in the National Open Championship is ‑‑ well, it's not only a record, but it's a ‑‑ he's a very classy about it.

Video: Stefani's Amazing Merion Ace!

This is just tremendous, both the shot by Shawn Stefani and the reaction in the final round at Merion:

After the round he talked about the shot:

Q.  Obviously the shot you hit, are you expecting that shot where it was going to where it would go in the hole?

SHAWN STEFANI:  Not at all.  I was just ‑‑ I was actually trying to hit the left side of the green and cut it.  And then I kind of pulled it.  I pulled it about five yards.  And the wind was kind of down off the left and it really didn't help at all.  It didn't move it to the right.

And honestly I think I've seen a bunch of balls that week kind of not kick to the right and I was really surprised to see the ball kick to the right.  And then once it did kick, it kept rolling and I was like, well this could be good.  And the fans stood up and then it kept getting closer and closer and then when it went in, I was just super excited because it's the first hole‑in‑one I've ever had in a tournament.

Q.  You've had others, but not in a tournament?

SHAWN STEFANI:  Just one other.

Q.  Which is?

SHAWN STEFANI:  I was 13 years old.  Goose Creek Country Club where I grew up playing golf on No. 16.

2013 U.S. Open Final Round Open Comment Thread

The big finale is here--well we think--and an exciting group of combatants is aligned to push third round leader Phil Mickelson.

If the weather holds and a few of the more accessible hole locations prove accessible, it should be a grand finish to a special week.

Your leaderboard and starting times.

Course setup notes and hole locations to follow after the USGA feels television partners Golf Channel/ESPN has gotten enough of an exclusive head start sharing this apparently sacred information.

Update on 2013-06-16 23:37 by Geoff

**Better late than never. In light of Shawn Stefani's ace, note the 17th hole commentary:

COURSE SETUP: ROUND 4 OF THE 2013 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

The following are details on the course setup for Round 4 of the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, from Mike Davis, USGA Executive Director.

Green Speeds – The final round’s green speeds are in the 13- to 13½-foot range on the USGA Stimpmeter.   
.   
Fairway and Rough Grass – All fairways were mowed this morning. The rough’s first cut (18 feet in width of drive zones; 9 feet in width around greens) was mowed immediately after play last (Saturday) night.  

Total Course Yardage for Sunday (tee marker settings to flagstick) = 3,646 yards out; 3,207 yards in = 6,853 total yards

Hole-by-Hole Information:

Hole 1 – 360 yards; the hole location is in the back-left portion of the green. 
 
Hole 2 – 525 yards; tee markers have been moved forward to the penultimate teeing ground, which will give players a better opportunity to reach the green in two shots; the hole location is in the front-left portion of the green.  
 
Hole 3 – 266 yards; tee markers are placed on the back tee; the hole location is two-thirds of the way back on the right; properly played tee shots should “feed” into this area.
 
Hole 4 – 571 yards; tee markers have been placed forward on the penultimate teeing ground; the hole location is in the front-center portion of the green.  
 
Hole 5 – 495 yards; the hole location is in the front-center portion of the green.
 
Hole 6 – 490 yards; the hole location is in the back-right portion of the green.
 
Hole 7 – 340 yards; the hole location is on the front (first) left plateau.
 
Hole 8 – 353 yards; the hole location is in the back-right portion of the green.
 
Hole 9 – 246 yards; the hole location is in the back-left quadrant of this kidney-shaped green.
 
Hole 10 – 290 yards; tee markers are placed on the penultimate teeing ground, giving an opportunity to drive the green; the hole location is in the left portion of the green.
 
Hole 11 – 356 yards; the hole location is in the front-right portion, hugging the edge of the water hazard.
 
Hole 12 – 419 yards; the hole location is in the far back-right portion of the green.
 
Hole 13 – 121 yards; tee markers are placed on the back-right side of the lower teeing ground; the hole location is in the center, to the far right of the green. 
 
Hole 14 – 452 yards; tee markers have been placed on the back teeing ground; the hole location is in the front-center of the green; putts played from beyond the hole are very fast.
 
Hole 15 – 422 yards; tee markers have again been moved slightly forward, giving a few more options off the tee; the hole location is back right, tucked behind the bunker that fronts the right side of the putting green.  
 
Hole 16 – 423 yards; the hole location is in the front-left portion of the green, just above the front right “bowl.”
 
Hole 17 – 229 yards; the tee markers have been moved forward to the penultimate teeing ground; the hole location is in the back-right portion of the green in an area where balls will “feed” if the proper shot is played; birdies are a much better possibility in the final round.
 
Hole 18 – 511 yards; given the southerly headwind prediction, the tee markers are moved forward to the penultimate teeing ground; the hole is in the back left “bowl” in the traditional final-day championship location; balls should “feed” to this area.  

Instant Poll: Who Will Win The 2013 U.S. Open

For reasons both obvious (he's striking the ball so well) and sentimental (it's time), I voted for Phil. You?

Who do you think will win the 2013 US Open?
	Phil Mickelson
	Hunter Mahan
	Charl Schwartzel
	Steve Stricker
	Justin Rose
	Luke Donald
	Billy Horschel
	Someone else
pollcode.com free polls

Video: Rogue Ball Attacks Carl Pettersson's Ball!

From an unbylined Sky report on day two of the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion.

When asked about the freak incident on the fifth, Pettersson admitted he "had no clue" as to who hit the rogue shot, which was likely to have come from the adjoining second hole.

"I was getting ready to go and pulled the club back and a ball bounced and hit my ball, so I managed to stop," he said. "I've never seen that or experienced that before.

The video: