"I will be totally surprised if an American wins the Open this week."

John Huggan talks to instructor and former SMU coach Hank Haney, who is still down on the American college golf system's ability to produce great players or great thinkers, not to mention contenders next week. Asked about what's happened since his controversial Golf Digest remarks four years ago.

"All I did was point out that college players too often don't get real coaching," he sighs. "They don't really go to school either. So both their education and their golf get compromised.

"They go to classes for maybe three hours a day, study for two more hours, then play golf the rest of the day. So, in terms of their golf, they are losing five hours of practice time every day. You can't do that every day for four years and end up being competitive.

"Even when they are playing and practising, they are too often not getting any better. In fact, the colleges invariably have no real interest in long-term improvement for these kids. For the school it is all about scoring well today. So there is no chance of them telling a student to go away and work on his technique so that he will be a better player 18 months down the road. That just doesn't happen.

Now before you go jumping on Haney, there's a key point to remember. Yes, I know, the American college golf system is turning out fine young men and women, humanitarians of the highest order. But there is a seriousness and even arrogance that suggest collegiate golf is almost a higher calling. And based on the results of the past decade, at least on the professional level, the self-righteousness is rather comical.