The U.S. Open that started Thursday offers an amazing opportunity.
It's a chance to win a major championship. It could be Tiger Woods' 15th (impossible) or Phil Mickelson completing the career Grand Slam (potentially) or someone entering the eternal club that changes the world for a professional golfer.
It's a chance for the fans to watch a familiar tournament that has become the most draining test in golf, turning the best in the world into your average hacker. Rickie Fowler had to fight to break 80 Thursday. Woods looked lost and worthy of sympathy. Former major champions were posting scores that were closer to wide receiver numbers than linemen numbers.
As of press time, with the first round not complete - concerns coming into the tournament about possible slow play proved true Thursday -25 golfers were under par (70), with close to that number at 75 or higher.
Jay GreesonThat's the U.S. Open.
This is the tournament players must survive as much as they must win. It's the set-up in which the United States Golf Association loves to remind everyone that par is a good score. It's major championship golf, where the pressure leaves coal dust from the diamonds in the game.
But it also delivers some forever moments.
Palmer's visor flip. Watson's unforgettable chip. Irwin's spirited trip that became a victory lap before the victory was ultimately secured.
Thursday was a chance for all of the usual excitement to converge.
Granted, the first round of any major - especially the U.S. Open - never decides the winner, but it often decides who can no longer be considered among the contenders. Just ask Tiger, who had eight bogeys, a double bogey and just one birdie as he posted an 80.
But this week, at a Chambers Bay course that has generated as much conversation as the field and with a new television partner, the first round generated great interest beyond the scorecards.
The USGA turned heads by signing a broadcast deal with Fox, the network that is the home of the NFC robot, the strange NASCAR cameras and the forever forgettable NHL puck tracer.
It was a partnership that left a plethora of questions. Is Joe Buck ready to be Jim Nantz Lite? Is Greg Norman ready to be an analyst? If Norman's honest, no one has better perspective about major championship heartache than that dude. Will the sideshow add to the coverage or distract from it?
Among those, Norman has a chance to emerge from this event as the second-biggest winner of the tournament, only behind whomever is holding the trophy Sunday night.
Norman's soliloquy, however, in the opening of the prime-time coverage was partly distracted and partly filled with unintentional Carl Spackler-esque references to the grass and the growth and direction of the blades. In fact, the Shark said some of the grass went to sleep during the afternoon, which would be accompanied by a chunk of his viewers and leave anyone to ponder Spackler's pledge of blending Californian Sensimilla and Kentucky Bluegrass.
Norman may have faced more golf-related nerves since his Masters implosions, but he was far too quiet for far too long, plus his delivery was as slow as the play on the course.
On the bright side, he was better in discussing the "hole" that Woods is currently fighting through, something that Norman has more than a little course cred discussing. Still, Norman's struggles are only magnified when thinking of Johnny Miller's directness and Nick Faldo's comfortable delivery.
Still, this is a big moment for Fox, and in a lot of ways, a big moment for the game of golf.
Sports in general are becoming more and more about the viewing process, and beyond die-hard fans, the viewing process for golf needs some boosts. Fox could deliver some much-needed enegry to golf broadcasts that are far too predictable in a battle for viewers' eyeballs.
Fox certainly had its moments Thursday. Graphics likes the one measuring how far players like Brandt Snedeker walked in a practice round were awesome. He covered 10 miles, considering the distance and the up-and-down elevation.
The commentary on the course from Brad Faxon, former PGA winner and possibly the fifth Beatle, was also impressive.
The random tracer graphic from random angles was more for show, but the wind information was a nice addiiton.
Still, for the most part Fox was pretty straightforward, and maybe that was in a humble attempt to be true to the hardcore golf fans who normally accept change like a broken parking meter.
Here's hoping the rest of the Open is great - for the winner, the course, the coverage and the crowd.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter @jgreesonftp.com. You can read his online column, "5-at-10," Monday through Friday at timesfreepress.com after 10 a.m.