"If it is ever to be a color-blind game for the masses, golf still has a long way to go."

The USA coasted to a Walker Cup win at Merion Sunday, and while it was fun to study the course, it's hard to fathom how the East course can host a modern day major.

Before that, John Huggan couldn't help but notice the gallery and commented on the aura of the Cup:

Twice last week I took a cab from downtown Philadelphia to Merion. On neither occasion had the driver -- one a black American, the other an Indian immigrant -- heard of either the club or the ongoing matches. Of course, there was nothing obvious to help them in that regard. The first sign I see for "Walker Cup" or "Merion GC" will also be the next.

So it is that, the perpetuation of what some proudly call tradition might also be interpreted as standing by, ostrich-like, as the wider world flashes by. Laughably, just about the only mention of change I heard at Merion was the possibility of extending the next Walker Cup at Royal Aberdeen (another wonderful venue) from two days to three. Strange that; there was me thinking the event already lasts a whole week -- a five-day cocktail party with two days of golf thrown in. But I digress.

Over the last decade or so, golf has been seen to make strenuous efforts to become more diverse. The First Tee program, to name but one such body, has attempted to introduce the game to an audience that is not overwhelmingly Caucasian. For that, they are to be congratulated. But, judging by the last two days of my life, none of it is working. Nor do many within golf's smugly self-perpetuating establishment seem to care that blue blood and black skin remain so shamefully segregated within the country club world.

If it is ever to be a color-blind game for the masses, golf still has a long way to go.

As for the golf course, on television it was hard not to look at all of the intimate settings and wonder how in today's game the course can host a major. Not necessarily for the reasons Mike Stachura touched on related to the golf ball going way too far, but instead, logistically.

In a game where players back off shots at the faintest audible passing of gas or wait to hit until a group nearby plays, it's very difficult to see how the field will get around Merion before the sun sets. Throw in driveable short par-4s (including the 10th, where half the field starts Thursday and Friday), and maybe the USGA should forget about limiting the galleries and start thinking about limiting the 2013 U.S. Open field.