For my money, this is the toughest format in golf. Four rounds of stroke play over three days (if you make the cut to the low 44 and ties), then into match play, with four rounds over two days for the finalists. That's 144 holes (more or less) over five days.
It's a test of endurance and of a solid swing. It also predicts champions. Since 1956, when the Sweet Sixteen format began, 28 Sweet Sixteen participants have won 72 pro majors (including 18 by Jack and 14 by Tiger).
Stopped by Conway for a few minutes this morning just to pick up a credential, and the place was hopping. How that translates into spectator interest, however, is a different question. I know the Tribune and Sun-Times are covering the match play days, but I'm not so sure about the others. Amateur golf isn't a headline generator in the post-Tiger era, and it doesn't matter how good the play is. Editors just aren't interested.
I've seen the finals of most Western Ams since 1990, when Craig Kanada won. The crowds fell to almost nobody the last couple of years, a far cry from 1991-94, when Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Leonard again, and Tiger Woods won those Ams. Great stuff, and seen by thousands, plus who knows how many more listening to live radio coverage on two local stations. I loved the annual trip to the Point (though not the Sunday night traffic jam in I-80-94), and have always thought highly of its match play worthiness -- the moved up tee on No. 8, the dramatic par-3 ninth, the potential for disaster on the par-3 17th.
Here's the rotation beyond this year: 2010, Skokie. 2011, North Shore. 2012, Exmoor (host the last time it was played in Chicagoland, in 1952). 2013, Olympia Fields South. 2014, Beverly. 2015, Rich Harvest Farms.
I'm thinking, if they get 500 on Saturday afternoon for the final match, it's a good crowd.