U.S. Open Preview

Here is the latest top 10 from the Official World Golf Ranking:

1.  A. Scott (AUS)
2.  H. Stenson (SWE)
3.  B. Watson
4.  T. Woods
5.  M. Kuchar
6.  R. McIlroy (NIR)
7.  J. Day (AUS)
8.  S. Garcia (ESP)
9.  J. Rose (ENG)
10.  J. Spieth

There are only four American golfers in the top 10, and only two of those can be described as in the prime of their career.  The other two are Tiger Woods, who hasn't played all year, and Jordan Spieth, who has not yet turned 21.

On the other hand, Bubba and Spieth beat everyone at the Masters.  So there.

This year's National Open will be played at the legendary Pinehurst Number 2 course, which Golf Digest ranks as the 40th best course in the United States.  Pinehurst hosted the Open in 1999 (one of the best golf tournaments ever, won by Payne Stewart) and in 2005 (utterly forgettable, won by Michael Campbell).  But the old course has changed dramatically in recent years.  Here's a discussion from Golf Digest:

We wrote this about Pinehurst No. 2 back in 1989: "After years of tinkering with something that wasn't broke, the owners have finally attempted to recreate the special playability that was Pinehurst's hallmark, [converting] the greens to bent grass...with special care to maintain the existing contours of the marvelous Donald Ross greens and surrounding humps and hollows. They'll never have Pinehurst No. 2 back to where it once was -- irrigation and playing equipment being what they are today -- but their efforts are to be applauded." How wrong we were. A couple of years ago, a team headed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw killed and ripped out all the Bermuda grass rough that had been foolishly planted in the 1970s. Between fairways and tree lines, they established vast bands of native hardpan sand dotted with clumps of wiregrass and scattered pine needles. They reduced the irrigation to single rows in fairways and none in the rough to prevent grass from ever returning to the new sandy wastelands. So No. 2 is indeed back to where it once was. Which means it will be an intriguing fortnight when the 2014 Men's and Women's U.S. Opens are played on consecutive weeks on Pinehurst No. 2.

For many years, the U.S. Open was very predictable -- it was almost always played at famous old country clubs that had long courses with lots of rough and fast greens.  But ever since Mike Davis took over responsibility for setting up the U.S. Open course, we've been all over the place.  Davis is a golf nerd (we mean this in the nicest of ways), he is besotted with golf history (as are we) and he loves to take chances in order to achieve a cool outcome.

So you never know what the U.S. Open is going to be like until they start playing.  A few years ago, Congressional Country Club was left almost defenseless, and the winning score was 16 under par.  But last year, Davis's decision to take a chance on Merion -- which many observers thought was too short to challenge modern pros -- was vindicated with one of the best recent Opens I can remember.

Now we're going to Pinehurst for not one but two Opens, as the USGA has decided to play the Men's and Women's Opens on the same course.  But it's a Pinehurst and a U.S. Open unlike anything we've seen before.  As discussed above, the usual U.S. Open rough is absent, replaced by hardpan and wiregrass.  Will that be enough to defend the course?  What's to prevent someone like Bubba Watson from just blasting away and seeking to overpower the course?  No one will know until tomorrow.  But I like Mike Davis, and I like Pinehurst, and I really hope this works.

The big story is whether Phil Mickelson can complete a career Grand Slam by finally winning the National Open that has long eluded him.  Mickelson hasn't played all that well this year, but he came very close to winning here in 1999, and the fans will hope that lightning strikes for him.  Personally, I'm curious to see if Bubba can pull off the second leg of the Grand Slam.  If I had to pick someone, I would pick Adam Scott and his silly long putter.

Here's a detailed article in the Boston Globe about the changes to Pinehurst Number 2.  And here's the course card (Note that Davis usually has multiple tee grounds on some holes, so these yardages probably won't be the same every day):


1st Hole:  Par 4, 402 yds
2d Hole:  Par 4, 507 yds
3d Hole:  Par 4, 387 yds
4th Hole:  Par 4, 529 yds
5th Hole:  Par 5, 576 yds
6th Hole:  Par 3, 219 yds
7th Hole:  Par 4, 424 yds
8th Hole:  Par 4, 502 yds
9th Hole:  Par 3, 191 yds
Out:  Par 35, 3,737 yds

10th Hole:  Par 5, 617 yds
11th Hole:  Par 4, 483 yds
12th Hole:  Par 4, 484 yds
13th Hole:  Par 4, 382 yds
14th Hole:  Par 4, 473 yds
15th Hole:  Par 3, 202 yds
16th Hole:  Par 4, 528 yds
17th Hole:  Par 3, 205 yds
18th Hole:  Par 4, 451 yds
In:  Par 35, 3,825 yds

Total:  Par 70, 7,562 yds