KEY POINTS:
Tiger Woods unwittingly unleashed the ultimate TV golf reality show last year. He reckoned a 10-handicapper couldn't break 100 on any course set for the US Open.
So, before the final round is broadcast tomorrow morning our time, the NBC network in the US will have a one
hour show following four enthusiastic, single-figure-handicap amateurs playing Torrey Pines.
They played six days before the US Open, and only two kept their score in double digits.
It wasn't your average weekend four out for a friendly haggle. Three are famous in their fields - NFL quarterback Tony Romo, pop idol Justin Timberlake and television host Matt Lauer. They were joined by the winner of a Golf Digest competition where readers had to write saying why they should be selected.
From more than 56,000 entries John Atkinson, an eight handicapper from the Midwest, was the winner. He's a non-smoking 39-year-old who has inoperable lung cancer and his poignant essay assured him of the final place in the celebrity group.
Golf is possibly the only sport where enthusiastic fans can really experience what the elite professional faces. We can't pack down in an All Black scrum nor open the batting in a test match, even if there's a chance we might make more than those who do it at the moment.
In pro-ams, you get a taste of a championship course but that's false because the pins are easy and you don't have to finish every hole.
But this was different. The four played off the back tees at Torrey Pines - 460m par fours and all - and had to contend with super slick greens. Because of Woods' challenge, every player had to count every shot and it was a struggle.
Atkinson had 114. Lauer, the NBC early morning host who plays off a 6, finished on exactly 100. Timberlake, also off a 6, holed a 1m putt on the last for 98, while Romo, a solid two-handicapper, was by far the best - shooting 84.
There were under pressure. The TV cameras were there, the round took more than six hours before a gallery of more than 3000.
Lauer had his friend Greg Norman as caddy. The Shark suggested this was "one of the most important events in the game's history," because it connected the amateur with the professional game.
All it did was confirm "there is golf and there is tournament golf and they are not the same game."
Having played Augusta National the day after the Masters last year (and shot a fumbling 87) I can vouch that a major championship golf course can be played like any other until about 100m of the green. Then the subtleties of pin placement and the pace, slope and undulations of the green will do you in. At Torrey Pines, these guys had to contend with extra length and rough as well.
I bet they've had the golfing experience of their lives but as Timberlake said: "Would Tiger be prepared to sing with my band at Madison Square Garden?"
