Pinehurst, N.C. – With a straight face, Walter Driver of the USGA championship committee told reporters Wednesday that U.S. Open courses are not, repeat not, set up with a low score in mind.
“We do not try to protect par or push par as a score, good or bad,” Driver insisted. “What we try to do is set it up to make the golf course the most difficult test in championship golf. The players are going to shoot whatever it is. If it’s 10-over (par), it’s 10-over. I don’t know what’s going to be the winning score.”
Whether golf fans or players choose to believe him, Driver said Pinehurst will play almost exactly in the condition it did for the 1999 U.S. Open Championship, despite the fact that fat- headed drivers and hot golf balls have allowed players to blast their drives farther. Six years ago, Payne Stewart became the only player to finish 72 holes in red numbers. His 1-under 279 was one stroke better than runner-up Phil Mickelson.
“Most of the hole locations that we’ll use this week are very close to the hole locations we used in ’99,” Driver said.
The difference, Mickelson said, is that it rained throughout the week of the 1999 U.S. Open. No downpours are in the forecast, which should make the course even more difficult.
“Without rain, we have the potential for 18 holes that could be like No. 7 at Shinnecock, very conceivable,” Mickelson said, referring to the par 3 with a browned-out green in the 2004 Open that produced 27 bogeys, five double bogeys and only three birdies in the final round.
That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, Mickelson said. At least for him. “It’s always been my contention that if nobody can hit a green, I’ve got a pretty good chance,” he said.
Tee it high, let if fly
The rough, a relatively new hybrid of Bermuda grass, has rallied from the tough winter to become a particularly gnarly 3 inches in length. Those who expect more 3-woods than drivers will be hit from the tee boxes are mistaken, Mickelson said. Distance will be more important than accuracy, he said.
“I feel like the driver is a key club,” Mickelson said, “because if you do miss the fairways, you’ve got to get it far enough down there where you can wedge it out close.”
Vijay Singh agreed. “Longer tee shots mean shorter approach shots. It’s better to be on the green and 50 feet away than off the green 15 feet away,” he said.
BPNTWAM
That’s “best player never to win a major.” And that’s Sergio Garcia. The 25-year-old Spaniard came closest with a runner- up finish in the 1999 PGA Championship and finishing fourth in the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage and 2004 Masters. He missed the cut in the 2005 Masters.
“The last couple of years I’ve maybe tried a bit too hard, putting too much pressure (on myself) and expecting to win,” Garcia said. “It’s just a matter of relaxing and letting it go.”
Footnotes
A course in the West has not hosted a U.S. Open since Pebble Beach in 2000. That will soon change. The Olympic Club of Daly City, Calif., was granted the 2012 Open on Wednesday, joining Torrey Pines Golf Club near San Diego (2008) and Pebble Beach (2010) as future sites. … As of Wednesday night, former CSU golfer John Hayes hadn’t had his name called. Hayes is the first alternate in line if somebody in the 156-player field withdraws before his tee time today.
