My company has tickets to the Open so I invited a client on the West Coast who, somewhat to my surprise, said yes although he is not an avid golfer. Thus I have to truck out to San Diego in 5 weeks.
Torrey Pines will be the 5th course I've seen in major championship play (Winged Foot, Baltusrol, Inverness and Oakmont are the others). Of the four that I have seen so far Oakmont wins hands down because of topography, front-to-back sloping greens, and near treeless landscape.
I have mixed feelings about this year's Open. I love attending any sporting event when I know the top players want to win badly, whether it be a World Series or NBA playoff game or US Open tennis. These kind of events have a special buzz. But part of the fun of the US Open is seeing the course, particularly if it isn't familiar. The problem with Torrey is I see it every year, albeit on TV, so it doesn't hold much surprise. Then there is the less than unanimous praise for the architecture around here, or at Geoff Shackleford's website. The course could be a letdown.
Perhaps an even scarier scenario is if I actually like the course. Does that make me an architecture cretin? Will I have to withhold my true feelings in order to avoid widespread condemnation among the GCA cognescenti? Oh bother! Sounds like a no win situation.