Hoylake The Winner?

Nearly every major venue of late where the winning score has been kept below double digits under par has been declared the answer to modern technology. (Even as surprise winners and unsastisfying finishes clearly occurred due bizarre and extreme setups.)

But at Hoylake as with St. Andrews, we finally witnessed a venue that, left relatively in tact, tested all aspects of a player's game and produced a leaderboard of diverse styles.

Though it likely would have been a far more fascinating design with the ball rolled back 25 yards and the landing zones widened a bit to allow for even more strategic tee shot placement (maybe tempting Tiger into more drivers), Hoylake proved that fast and firm golf mixed with thought-provoking architecture can still produce a great championship, assuming that the committee in charge can look past the dastardly, horribly humiliating, sheer awfulness of an 18-under par winning score.

I know I can. Unfortunately, our governing bodies and many golf fans all too often can not get past that.