After watching the U.S. Open online, I have to say that I’m no longer against the Monday 18 hole playoff. Watching the entire playoff, it was tremendous golf and drama. Seeing Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate battle it out over 19 extra holes was a bonus and if the USGA wants to keep tradition and do an 18 hole playoff on Monday, so be it. There may be some anti-climatic playoffs, but after watching today, it reminds you that there’s a reason why the U.S. Open is golf’s toughest test. Great stuff and I give major props to the U.S. Open website, ESPN360 and NBCSports.com for providing live streaming coverage.
Now let’s give you some links.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell has an interesting story about one of Rocco Mediate’s sponsors prominently displayed during the U.S. Open. And Darren says based on the ratings for Sunday’s 4th round, expect to see more primetime U.S. Opens.
Multichannel News says Golf Channel awarded a father and son combo a trip to St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf during its “Live from the U.S. Open” show on Father’s Day.
In the overnight ratings, the U.S. Open actually beat Game 5 of the NBA Finals as noted by the Sports Media Watch. And the SMW tells us that Game 5 drew 17.3 million people to their TV sets on Sunday night.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Game 5’s ratings dropped off from Game 4.
The Hollywood Reporter says the combination of Jimmy Kimmel Live and Game 5 of the NBA FInals led ABC to a primetime win last night.
Rick Kissel of Variety writes that golf and the NBA combined to stomp on the Tony Awards on Sunday (really, does anyone care about the Tony Awards).
Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times reports that a local sports radio host was arrested for driving under the influence over the weekend.
I’ll cut this short. But I may be back with another update tonght.
