Imagine...Playing 60 minutes of football. The score ends in a tie. The referees then decide to play another 60 minutes....or, the score is tied after playing nine innings of baseball. The umpire decides that the teams must play an extra nine innings to decide the winner.

Absurd, right?

Monday, the sublime meets the ridiculous as Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate go toe to toe in an 18 hole playoff to decide the 108th U.S. Open. I'm not knockin' the match up. It's a plum: the ferocious Tiger, chasing his 14th major championship vs. the affable 45 year old Rocco, the underdog who's ranked #157 in the world. It makes for great reality TV.

But do we really need an extra 18 holes to decide our national champion? Come on USGA. Get your snooty little noses outta the air and fix this ASAP!

The U.S. Open is the only major tournament to employ this ridiculous 18 hole playoff format. The Masters employs a sudden death playoff format. They play three extra playoff holes at the PGA Championship. If any tourney on the face of the planet is deserving to even consider this archaic 18 hole playoff it would be the granddaddy of them all, the British Open. Yet, they play a four hole playoff at the British, if needed.

Heck, if we guys really wanted to press the issue here, we could argue sex discrimination! Recently, the USGA finally relented and agreed to require the lady golfers to scrap the 18 hole playoff format in favor of a three hole deal at the U.S. Women's Open. Why not do the three hole playoff for us guys?

Listen...I am all for tradition. On the purist scale, I rank myself as about a 9.5 outta ten. And I have to admit, there's no one who enjoys watching the world's best squirm more than this duffer does. But this 18 hole playoff format is way too much of a good thing. 90 holes is just to much!

The U.S. Open is the most grueling, mind-numbing and exhausting four days of torment a golfer will ever experience. After four rounds on a U.S. Open course, these guys are ready to kick up their heels and stare at the ceiling for days without end. To ask them to come back the next day and play 90 holes is too cruel, too unusual and totally unnecessary.

USGA, get back in touch with reality. Scrap this pointless 18 hole playoff format and give us a more just way to crown our national champion.