18 Playoff A Joke

Hello. First of all, congrats to Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate for advancing to today's 18 hole US Open playoff. There have been plenty of exciting shots in this year's event. Hopefully today will be more of the same.
I'm posting this before reading anything on the subject. I didn't listen last night to any long discussion on the topic. This is just me talking - the 18 hole playoff today is a joke.
Think about it. You've changed your event to be in prime time to attract a non-golf audience. You have THE GUY, Tiger Woods, in contention. He makes a pressure birdie to get into a playoff. And then you tell 50,000+ at Torrey Pines and millions on TV you can't decide a winner today, even though every other professional golf tournament (including the US Women's Open, run by the same USGA) decides their events with either sudden death, 3 or 4 hole playoffs.
How many people are going to be at Torrey Pines today? 10,000 maybe? How many are going to be watching on TV? I'm retired, and I'll be hard-pressed to see it all.
If the USGA doesn't change their playoff format after this, I'll be shocked. I'll also be surprised if this playoff will be as memorable as a shorter one. Hoepfully it is. We'll see.

Regards,
Steve