|
OAKMONT, Pa. -- As the shots struck by the very best golfers have gotten longer and
longer in these first few years of the 21st century, so the set up of
the golf courses pitted against those players in major championships
has become more and more of an issue in the modern game. It's a fairly
exact science, too, one that can easily be manipulated in these
high-tec times. Which is why those charged with the stewardship of
golf's four most important events have been able to creep closer and
closer to the precipice marking the border between difficult and daft.
Just occasionally - and perhaps understandably - the odd major or two
has fallen over that cliff and descended ignominiously into something
akin to farce. Exhibit A was Carnoustie 1999; exhibit B Shinnecock
Hills five years later; and exhibit C the Masters of two months ago.
Each was largely spoiled by a course set up that, to paraphrase former
USGA president Sandy Tatum, did nothing more than embarrass the field
and, if we're honest, the game itself.
So it's no surprise, this early in US Open week, that most of the
talk is of the course rather than the upcoming championship. Has
Oakmont, almost universally feared and revered as the toughest, most
brutal and most unforgiving track on the US Open rota, been prepared in
a way that will allow the best to prosper? Or has the USGA blindly done
what it normally does and eliminated any semblance of strategy and
flair in a misguided effort to make America's national championship
'fair,' while at the same time producing a winning score some way north
of par?
Sadly, the initial signs are that the latter policy has yet again
reared its tedious head.
|
"I don't think I've played a golf course with as many hazards as
close to both sides of the fairways," sighed Padraig Harrington, who is
perhaps Europe's best bet to break what has now become a 37-year US
Open drought. "A lot of times there are severe bunkers down one side
and maybe a drain on the other. They are just off the fairway, so they
are maybe 25-30 yards apart, which is narrow for hazards. Normally we
have ten yards of rough and the hazards are on the other side."
As to how passively or aggressively he will likely play, the Irishman
seems resolved to take the course on, no matter how difficult it seems
at first glance.
"There is only the odd hole where you can be conservative," he
continued. "But a lot of times you just have to take your chances and
try to hit between the trouble. There's not much of an option. If you
start laying up, there's still trouble. So you've got to hit the
fairway."
And a winning score: "I would take four 72s. But the USGA can control
the winning score to an extent. If someone goes out and shoots 66 on
the first day, God help the rest of us!"
Continuing the number theme, Sergio Garcia's immediate reaction to
the course was that it resembles nothing more than a "par-78" and that
the only 'birdie' chance is the 288-yard eighth hole, a par-3 on the
card but a "short par-4" in the mind of the Spaniard. "And I'm not
joking," he insisted. "There's not much room to bail out and the
putting is going to be tough. I don't think it's possible that somebody
comes out this week without having a three-putt. I absolutely think
it's impossible."
On the other side of the Oakmont coin, not everyone was wringing
their hands at the prospect of four days of golfing purgatory this
coming week. The course does have at least one fan in defending
champion Geoff Ogilvy.
|
"If you put the pins on the low parts of the greens and had the rough playable, there would be a lot of birdies made out there. But if you put the pins on the high parts of the greens where you can't get anywhere near - and had the rough the way it is now - it could be the hardest course in the world with no wind. It's incredible how hard this course can play. Hopefully, they will go for a balanced set up where there are some chances on some holes and tough stuff on others."
As Ogilvy hinted, the key to just how severe - or not - the course plays is largely determined by the rough and the speed of the putting surfaces. And, as usual, at the US Open there is plenty of spinach around both the fairways and the greens.
"It's as severe as I have ever seen it," exclaimed two-time champion Ernie Els, who won here in 1994. "This is a classic US Open set up. If you miss a shot, whether with a driver or a 3-wood, you're not getting to the green with your second shot. If you make a birdie, you've got one hell of a bonus. I'm going to try and get the ball in play and take it from there."
Then again, at the end of the day, golf is essentially a simple game, one best played in a state of calmness, without distraction from the trivialities of the outside world. Which is especially important this week. The newly tree-less Oakmont is the kind of course where concentration is going to be a big factor in determining the winner. It is, in many ways, golf in its purest sense, an honest venue devoid of shallowness and any hint of undeserved celebrity.
"Cutting down all the interior trees at Oakmont is a good thing because it allows you to see the course," says Frank Hannigan, the former executive director of the USGA. "Golf should be about vistas, not about pregnancies and filthy rich teenagers."
Hannigan speaks the truth, of course. Now, if only he could do something about how far the ball goes.
