U.S. Open: Return To Walking Officials With All Groups

After seeing the USGA's revision to its U.S. Open rules setup at Erin Hills, I write for Golfweek that bringing back walking officials would be the prudent thing to do.

While there were no major rules situations, I know of one player whose playing partners were not paying attention to his ball as it entered the tall stuff at hole No. 1. But since there was a bit of a grey area there and no walking referee was there as you might find at The Open, NCAA's and many other events, the player had to play as if he lost his ball.

As I note in the piece, this is also a perk for those who put in long hours working less-glamorous events. It was embarrasing seeing them sitting in the rough or in those parade-viewing chairs and in awful red hats.

But mostly the change this year seemed like an odd reaction to 2016's events and without a referee in each group, will some day prove costly for a player.