I actually watched the US Open

In 2001, Safeco Field hosted the Major League All-Star game. The game turned into a joke as it was viewed as Cal Ripken, Jr.'s farewell, and everybody tried to make it easy for him. It was the worst All-Star game I had ever seen.

In 2010, Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics. CBC lost the television rights in Canada, and NBC did a terrific job of reminding me why I stopped watching American coverage. Curling and Hockey were the only sports even remotely watchable, and the hockey turned out to be the worst I had ever seen in international play.

In 2015, Chambers Bay hosted the U.S. Open. Did we finally get a major event in the Northwest with international attention that turned out well? I will get to that.

For those in attendance, sorry about the weather

The week was hot and dry. Although we have seen stretches like this in past Junes, this is not typical. We usually have milder temperatures with occasional drizzle. Not only is that weather more pleasant for outdoor activities, but it could also provide a little more variety in conditions. On a course where weather is supposed to play a role, it would have been nice if we could have actually gotten some weather.

I hate the media

I have repeatedly ranted about the media over the years. I'm not going to provide all of the details about my concerns right now, but let me provide a quick summary of what should have been expected.

The American media divides the country by time zones. For the sake of simplicity, I will only talk about the four major time zones here. The media relies on the eastern time zone for ratings. The Pacific Time Zone is the least marketable for those who are in the eastern time zone. If they can make the east look good by mistreating the West, they will mistreat the West.

California is the most populated state, so it can be tough to justify their mistreatment. This makes the Northwest an appealing target for the media to put down.

I will openly state that I'm not a golf fan. I can't tell you how good the course really is. That means all of my information regarding quality is coming from the media. That's a source that I simply don't trust.

I have had Bing updating me with the most recent Chambers Bay news. I have had periodic news showing praise for the course. I don't remember who has made the comments because they are being burying under negativity. The real problem that I'm having here is that each time Chambers Bay is praised, one article shows up. Whenever someone criticizes the course, it's repeated about a hundred times.

From what I understand, there were some legitimate problems with some of the greens. I don't know how big these problems really are or how they compare to most golf tournaments. All I can say with confidence is that the media hit the story hard. No rational person can deny that they have been unfair and have been uneven in how they report praise and ridicule.

Another issue that I have with the media is that they are far too influential. They were clearly rooting against Chambers Bay from the beginning. When the course's faults become the focal point, players are going to notice. This makes it easier for them to find and criticize the course's faults. This can spiral out of control.

The bottom line here is that if a course exactly like this were located just outside of New York or Boston, the course would have been viewed much differently. This is not just by the media, but by the players as well. It is unlikely that they would pounce on every little negative comment and use those comments to fuel more negativity.

The players WERE the story

I really got sick of the media shifting the story from the players to the course just to criticize the course for taking the attention. This was not the fault of Chambers Bay. This was the fault of the media.

Even though I feel that the players were the story, I have to admit that most of it was negative. The golfers really didn't make things happen. It was the mistakes that stood out. There were two in specific that I should probably mention.

The first was Branden Grace's horrible tee shot that went out of bounds. The way the rules work, that was essentially two strokes thrown away. He had a chance to put himself in position to win, but those two strokes ended up the difference between him and Jordan Speith.

Thanks to Spieth, I was rooting for Grace. There was a bit of an interesting story with Spieth's caddy being from the area. In fact, he used to caddy at Chambers Bay. Of course, he also used to be involved in mental genocide. Fortunately, he is no longer a part of the world's most despicable profession.

I really don't want to judge Spieth purely by his caddy. That's why I was somewhat intrigued by him at first. Then I started learning about him. There were some times when he seemed a little cocky, but it's his comments about the 18th hole that really made me question who he is. He was caught with a microphone calling the 18th hole the stupidest hole he had ever played. He was frustrated. I can let that slide.

When asked about his comments, he was given a way out. All he had to do was explain that he was frustrated. Instead, he doubled down. He insisted that as a par 4, the 18th hole is stupid. He failed to provide any reasoning. It was as though he felt that the course has to be tailored specifically for him.

That was one instance of Spieth acting like a spoiled brat. It usually takes at least two for me to attach a label like that to someone. So what happened next? I guess I have to call it tripling down on his comment. He said that he would aim for the fairway of the first hole if they played the 18th a a par 4. That's it. He's spoiled.

Like I said, I was getting a sense of cockiness. This only got worse as the championship progressed. Jordan Spieth has successfully proven that he is not a down-to-earth athlete for down-to-earth sports fans. He completely lost my support.

It wasn't just Spieth's attitude. I saw numerous errant shots off the tee. He missed all kinds of putts. He was not playing like a champion. When the media keeps emphasizing and exaggerating the course's faults, I do not want a winner that didn't deserve it. For the sake of the course's reputation, Spieth simply could not win.

That brings me to the second and biggest missed that I want to mention. On the 18th hole, I was pulling hard for Dustin Johnson. He drove the ball well off of the tee. His second shot was terrific. If he nailed the eagle, he would win. Even if he missed, he was in a terrific position to send the U.S. Open into a playoff. He missed the eagle opportunity. He missed the birdie opportunity. Par gave Spieth the win.

Obviously, Johnson's success would have been far better for the course's legacy. An eagle to win by one stroke would have been huge. Even a playoff would make the event memorable. Instead, the event was won by failure.

I was originally going to evaluate the quality of the test provided by Chambers Bay by the world rankings of this week's top performers. After the number one amateur won over the number two in the 2010 U.S. Amateur, I should be able to tout the success of the number two professional over number seven as proof that the course is a worthy test of golfing skill. Unfortunately, I watched. I know that the critics concerns were partially validated when Spieth lucked his way into an undeserved victory.

At least I can find one positive. Louis Oosthuizen had a horrible first round. He shot +7. He climbed his way back up and fell just one shot short of Spieth. That's a great story. It's just too bad that our media will never cover a story like that. It just doesn't fit the narrative that they want to push.

Will Chambers Bay host another Open?

There have been questions raised about whether or not Chambers Bay will make it into the USGA's rotation for the U.S. Open. I have no doubts. By pretty much all measures, this championship was a success. I have heard the ratings were up, but I haven't actually seen the numbers. I do know that the region put together a ton of support for the event including unprecedented volunteer interest. Most people will agree that Chambers Bay proved a quality test. Pretty much everything the USGA said they wanted, they had.

It's not just the success of the championship that can influence the future here. I have to admit that we have a bit of an unfair advantage. The USGA has been involved with Chambers Bay from the very beginning. We did what we were told we needed to do to have a good U.S. Open course. Usually, people at the top are arrogant. I doubt that we will be told by the USGA that what the USGA wanted was not suitable for a U.S. Open.

Although I expect another Open, I fully expect the USGA to demand further changes. This is still a new course. While we had hosted the 2010 U.S. Amateur, we had never hosted a major before. There is no way we could have known how things would work on this scale. I fully expect changes to be made for the spectator experience. There is also a definite possibility that there will be changes to the greens.

So... To answer my initial question

Let's get back to the top. Did we finally get a major event in the Northwest with international attention that turned out well? Unfortunately, I have to say no. This is particularly uncomfortable for me to admit because I live in University Place, and I want Chambers Bay to be a great course.

The problems that I saw had nothing to do with the greens. My problems were with Jordan Spieth. He did not deserve to win, and his success made our course look bad.