Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods played host to 20,000 people on Monday.(Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Maginnes

I stood by that position right up until I cancelled my flight east on Sunday night. The echoing cheers that reverberated around Torrey Pines as Tiger's birdie putt at the 72nd hole curled in the right side of the hole were in direct contrast to the collective silence that enveloped the media center and the workers and volunteers at Torrey Pines.

You would be hard-pressed to find a sportswriter in attendance who would argue for an 18-hole playoff. After all, if golf is, in fact, entertainment then the opportunity to finish with the No. 1 player in the world at the U.S. Open in prime time is too good to pass up. After the high drama of Sunday afternoon, though, the question was posed to Tiger: would he rather finish it on Sunday or have a Monday playoff?

"I would rather go right now, but that is just me," he said.

Rocco Mediate, the other protagonist in this U.S. Open drama, took the opposite view. "I think the 18-hole playoff for the national Open is the way to go," he said.

Mediate went on to say that the title was more important than a sudden death playoff. Of course, he is right. I am not arguing that. And there is no other way to have an 18-hole playoff without playing on Monday morning. So what is the premise for my new position and the foundations for my argument?

I admit I have nothing. Sure, you can argue that there are grandmothers all over the country who are missing their "stories" on Monday. But soap operas tend to move about as fast as Tiger and Lee Westwood did on Sunday so I don't think that they will miss much.

Woods tees off on the first hole at 9 a.m. PT on Monday.(Pensinger/Getty Images)

I could argue that in the current state of our economy to have this many people skip work or worse, be at the office watching on the computer is counterproductive. But then I started getting text messages from folks back home who took a long lunch and never made it back to the office. Seems like the restaurant owners and wait staff had a banner Monday, so the whole economy theory doesn't hold water, either.

Obviously, it would be nice to have had a Sunday night conclusion to allow for Monday morning headlines and water-cooler conversation. But if there is one knock on the game of golf these days it is the fact that the No. 1 player in the world tends to disappear from time to time and play less than half the schedule.

Tiger had knee surgery two days after he finished second at the Masters, and we had not seen him since. So how can you argue that an extra day of golf with his 14th major championship at stake and all eyes, pens and cameras focused on the most popular athlete of his era is a bad thing?

I tried. I really did. But the convenience of a group of people whose skill is viable because it is trained on the talent and personalities of others seems like such a petty argument that I won't bore you with it.

Besides, I am one of those professional spectators now and any further argument would simply be complaining. That is what bartenders and therapists are for -- not venting in columns about one of the most exciting days in golf this year.

The world learned something that every player in the locker room for the last 20 years has known. Rocco Mediate is an old-school character on the PGA TOUR. He knows how to play the game, and his quest to become the oldest player to ever hoist the nameless U.S. Open trophy fell short -- but just barely.

As it turned out, this Monday finish may go down as the most exciting day of golf all year. Considering the way things played out -- with only five of the 18 holes in the playoff being tied -- it was a tournament that deserved a fitting conclusion.

Had there been a sudden death playoff or even a four-hole playoff, we would have been cheated out of the most compelling theater golf has to offer. So I am wrong again? Or am I still wrong? I can't quite figure it out.