"Late and ludicrous"

As I noted earlier today on the Live Blog (and no one believed me!), the U.S. Open will be finishing at 7 p.m. this year. From an unbylined Independent diary:

Any golf fans who have enjoyed watching the Masters unfold these last few days may be interested to hear the timings of the next major, the US Open in San Diego. In its determination to gain the highest television ratings possible in New York the USGA have opted for the ludicrous finishing time of 7pm. That means it will be 3am in Britain when the winner eventually taps in at Torrey Pines. And the golfing authorities wonder why fewer people are taking up the game.

Comments

[nigel]

Hopefully Tiger's lead is 10 before the back nine even rolls around and we can turn it off.

[Hawkeye]

That will end a streak of 22 straight US Open final round telecasts for this Scandinavian. But, given how boring the final round of the Masters was to watch, maybe it's just best this way.

[bf31]

According to NBC (http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22965734/) the 3rd round is ending at 7 p.m. PT, but the final round will be an hour earlier. If there's any doubt why Chambers Bay got 2015, this might explain it partially.

[Fuzzed]

Thats about the same time as the Masters finished on Thursday, when Westwood and Co were putting out.

(I think you need to stick Pacific time there too Geoff - it took a few seconds to register what all the fuss was about)

[johnny knoxville]

I think the US GA folks must be thinking of increasing golf exposure in the US by showing at prime time for eastern US.

They get a 'better' prime time in the east, and probably better times on west coast as well.

The UK and Europe are not as fortunate.

[reorg]

Sounds like the USGA has the time right. It would be 7am. in Beijing.

[Roger]

What's the big deal? The US Open is being played in California. That means it will finish at 4pm there. Since most US Open rounds take between 4 1/2 and 5 hours, that means the leaders will tee off at around 11 to 11:30 am local time. When should they tee off? 8 in the morning so that people in London can see the finish? Should the guys at the back of the pack tee off at 4am local time? This is pretty stupid.

[Roger]

Oh my god. I just realized what you guys were talking about. It ends at 7pm PDT. Now that IS stupid. Good lord, it's Father's Day. Even MY wife won't let me watch that much TV.