Cheering Dustin Johnson’s failure and other observations from a week at the U.S. Open

1. The future arrives. “It’s pretty fucking impressive.” Billy Horschel, the reigning $10 million FedExCup champion, had just finished napalming the USGA and Chambers Bay so he was already excitable when he was asked about the possibility of Jordan Spieth taking the first two legs of the Grand Slam at age 21. His enthusiasm for that topic almost matched his eagerness to savage the course conditions.

Spieth, of course, followed through on the hypothetical posed to Horschel about five hours later, adding to this dream post-Tiger stretch and lighting a bonfire of hype for the rest of the summer. When asked about Rory McIlroy and him holding all four majors, Spieth was quick to throw in Rickie Fowler’s name as the reigning champion of the “fifth major.”

When Spieth won his first major, Rory responded with back-to-back PGA Tour wins. Spieth and McIlroy are clear of the rest of the field right now, but there are so many others, like Fowler, throwing punches in the biggest fights. Because I watch golf closely for a living, I try to keep some perspective about the wider recognition of these players in this ascendant generation. But these players are compelling talents on the course, and like Horschel, appealing off-the-course personalities.

Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Patrick Reed, Fowler, Horschel and lesser known mid-20s talents like Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas are part of a deep class right now that are departures from the more robotic, traditional and boring Tour pros, whether it’s through explosive games or as millennial personalities. There may be no one more exciting to watch power through a golf course than Johnson -- it’s a different game. And of course there are the top two players in the world, leading all of them. Some get along with each other, like Horschel boosting Spieth’s accomplishments, and some don’t. This could not have gone better for a game that will probably never reach the hype and appeal of the preceding Tiger era. If only the Open Championship were next week.

2. West Coast for life. Play all of these on the West Coast. Enough with the mid-June fetid swamps throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeast that occupy much of the U.S. Open rota. I left the mid-90s temperatures and 100 percent humidity of Washington, D.C. during a time of the year when you’re endlessly sweating no matter the task. I stepped off the plane and had dinner on Lake Washington and it was paradise. The entire week at Chambers Bay stayed like that. It was hotter than normal for Washington, but never overbearing and there was always a perfect breeze off Puget Sound.

Between the Pacific Northwest and the venues that line the California coast, why not play these out here just as often, if not more, than the eastern United States. The weather is better. There’s far less chance for those June thunderstorms that often seem to throw off everything — schedule and course conditions — in the mid-Atlantic and New York. And the primetime broadcast is a better opportunity to showcase the sport. Even if you disagree with Chambers Bay being a U.S. Open-caliber course, the Pacific Northwest needs to keep getting golf tournaments like this during the summer.

3. Civic pride. Meeting Washingtonians out and around Tacoma and Seattle all week, there was a definite civic investment in this tournament and venue doing well. I heard locals repeatedly say they hoped the course did not get ripped. They were protective of it and worried about the coming critiques for being some sort of interloper in what had been a fairly set rotation of courses for this championship.

This was different and good for a major championship, and it’s a huge benefit to having these at municipal public courses. You’re not getting a regional sense of protectiveness and pride around some New York metropolitan country club where hundreds of thousands of dollars still isn’t enough to get you into a closed-off corner of the game. I had not seen or heard of a golf tournament where the entire region was so defensive and enthusiastically behind it being a success. It sounds like the USGA will be coming back, and that’s a good thing.

4. Wipeout. I’ve never walked on a course so dangerous. The grades were severe and once the fescue was matted down from the crowds, it was like walking on ice. Every step was slow and deliberate as you braced yourself to go down in front of the crowd. Caddies, players and media members alike tumbled and had their feet go right out from under them.

In a fitting end to the week at Chambers, I watched Tom O’Toole, the USGA’s president, hustle off the 18th green after Dustin Johnson missed his putt, hit the last stretch of a slope, and then stumble around like a drunk on ice trying to get his balance. He stayed upright, but just seconds later behind him, one paunchy media member bellyflopped onto a small sidehill and then another went crashing to the ground with some expensive-looking camera equipment slamming into the earth. It was legitimately dangerous out there.

5. Check out my gravel pit. The views at Chambers Bay were stunning, but up close and in the quarry, this was a hollowed-out industrial dust bowl so far removed from the verdant walk around Augusta National or the many U.S. Open parklands venues.

At the end of the day, fans would have a nice coat of gravel dust and sand on their shoes and skin. It wasn’t particularly pleasant, but at least they were able to get ...

6. Drunk. Golf is a sport with barriers to entry for playing, but the motives for actually attending a pro tournament are comparable to other sports, particularly football. These weekly PGA Tour stops are mostly great excuses for local sports fans to sit outside and get drunk on the weekend. And they do. The crowds have been particularly sauced at several different tournaments this year. The Players got exceptionally rowdy, and the U.S. Open Seattle crowd was right there too.

I saw many tipsy patrons and heard all sorts of different heckles, chants and stories about the crowd. My favorite that I heard from security taking the last shuttle out in darkness Sunday night: one inebriated fan took off with a golf cart and spent the entire day riding around the course, offering and providing rides to members of the opposite sex, and even stopping to fill it up with gas at one point to continue his afternoon of merriment.

7. Hardware. Jordan Spieth earned a garment with his first major win, but the U.S. Open delivered the more customary trophy. Earlier in the week, Spieth said the last time he wore his green jacket was while he was watching TV because he “just felt like it.”

He was just as casual handling this prize. Spieth showed up to the first of several media sessions just walking around with one of the most famous trophies in golf like a fan carrying his bottled water around the course. He flipped it from hand to hand like it took nothing to acquire and was an accessory of minimal value that you may not notice shining right in front of you.

It was inane, but I could not get over it. Spieth is this polished product that’s supposed to be reserved, but he can be enjoyably flossy at times too. He was more so than usual throughout this week, and closed it out Sunday night.

8. Cheering DJ’s failure. When people are happy that Dustin Johnson missed a putt in the most crushing moment because it closed the door on the possibility of a playoff, it might be time to re-examine your tiebreaker rules. Standing on a crest just above Dustin’s line on the 18th green, I went stiff and tense as the putt rolled toward the hole and then my knees buckled as it slid by the edge. Shane Ryan (read his wonderful column on DJ here) said he had a physical reaction at the same scene. It was excruciating to watch and you’d think there could only be empathy for Johnson’s most public failure.

But there was also celebration, cheers in the media center, around the green and even in parts of the USGA. That’s because the miss meant no Monday playoff. Those individuals were not bad humans for reacting that way. The extra day playoff was going to be a huge pain.

That should not be the reaction to the possibility of an extra-holes tiebreaker between Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, which is about as tasty as it could get at a major championship. The USGA powers-that-be are beholden to tradition but they’re not exactly the stuffy green jackets of Augusta. They want to maintain the antiquated 18-hole playoff that the majors used last century, but it’s not conducive to modern golf and its audience. They have dodged the 18-hole playoff since 2008, but it’s time to take the threat -- and that’s how it’s viewed -- of one out of play and come up with format for a Sunday resolution.

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