For what it’s worth, it IS still possible for the USGA (if it had real class) to invite former two-time US Open champion Lee Janzen back to compete at the site of his last Open victory, the 1998 event at Olympic Club in San Francisco, where next week’s 2012 edition will be held.

Here is why:

The U.S. Open set aside five spots in case players not already eligible moved into the top 60 in the world ranking on Sunday. Spencer Levin, who lost a 54-hole lead at the Memorial, is at No. 61 and is playing the St. Jude Classic. Three other players in range of the top 60 — Johnson Wagner, Greg Chalmers and Memorial runner-up Rory Sabbatini — are not playing.

If no one moves into the top 60, the first five alternates would get into The Olympic Club. The alternate list was not expected until later in the week.

With five spots remaining, and only four golfers (other than alternates) with serious mathematical chances to move into the top 60 (or, put it this way, with it being almost impossible for more than three or four simultaneously to move in), there should be one spot, and maybe as many as five, still open at week’s end. Why not give it to Janzen? Two-time Open winners are rare, especially two-time Open winner who are under 45, still active on the regular Tour, and available to play at the very site of one of their two victories.

If the USGA could, and has, given special exemptions to people who have NEVER won the US Open, such as Vijay Singh, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, and others, why can’t it give an exemption to a two-time winner?