After spending wed-monday at the open I feel that the routing on the Black Course helped with the exciting finish and overall experience of being at the tournament... here is my reasoning
- Helped by the USGA decision to split the starting holes of all the rounds off #1 and #10, which are on opposite sides of the course, and mainly the road which all players cross 2x during a round. Crowding wasn't much of an issue, even with the constant closing of ropes due to excess water and dangerous conditions. This also lead to less wait times, as play was pretty much constant the entire time
- The road itself added to the excitement. With the par-3 #14 a birdie hole, the last hole played on the other side of the road, there was never any doubt when something big happened because of the crowd. Sitting anywhere on the last 4 holes or 1, you could hear the roars from great shots and holed putts, building the suspense! Also it gave players this "grand" entrance into the final stretch with the thunderous applause all the big names got while heading to #15 tee.
- The final 4 holes all have views each other. There was almost no need for the leaderboards because all the players knew exactly what was going on from every point on those last 4 holes by sound and sight. Phil and Duval were both watching putts on 16 while on 17 green. These holes, especially 17 grandstands and behind 16 green offered perhaps the best viewing area I have ever seen. You could watch tee shot and approach shots on 15 (no view of green), 16 green and approach, all of 17, #1 green and tee, 18 tee and green.
- The holes on the far side of the road (2-14) do tend to play moderately parallel, with a slight take on the in/out routing of TOC... 4/13, 5 and 6/12, 9/7, 10/11... This made it great for watching, you could catch players on both sides relatively easy by walking on pavement, or if you wanted to stay with one group, you wouldn't really get mixed into the other side because the sides are separated by trees or mounds (10/11)
I was sitting near the top of 17 green grandstand on the side closer to 16 and the trophy club, right along the railing so I had an unrestricted view of 16/15 and as Johnny Miller said on the tv multiple times... may have been the best seat in the whole place
... so now let me have it for saying something positive about the place!