Thought for the Day:
Remember that if you can’t be a good example then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning
Like no other
You will hear much talk over the next few days about how short the Merion golf course, venue for this week’s US Open, is but don’t be fooled. At just under 7,000 yards, a rarity in these days of bomb and gouge, its overall distance is modest, and it features many short holes, but it also has a few real beasts.
It has two par fours, for example, of more than 500 yards, and this includes the ferocious 18th, which is quite possibly the toughest closing hole in all of golf and which measures 521 yards. The par threes are pretty brutal, too, with three of them clocking in at 236, 246 and 256 yards. For most us that would be a driver and an iron but even for the best in the world we face the unusual prospect of seeing them with a wood in their hands at a one-shot hole.
You will also hear that accuracy will be at a premium and this is spot on, for three reasons. First, the fairways are going to be as narrow as 19 yards, and average only 23, which is tight even by the USGA’s unforgiving standards. Second, the gradation of rough we have seen in recent years, in which there is a first and second cut, has been abandoned for this week, so miss the fairway and your first, second and last priority will be to simply get the ball back in play. Third, at Merion Country Club many of the fairways are angled away from the teeing ground, so picking the right line is especially difficult.
Navigate all that, hit a solid iron into the green and all you have to do then is negotiate some of the most difficult and fastest greens you can imagine – Graeme McDowell estimates they will be running between 13-14 on the stimpmeter. Just to put that in perspective, 10 is fast, 12 is lightning and 14 is You’ve got to be Kidding Me.
A lot depends on the weather but if the forecast is accurate (rain on Thursday, sunshine the rest of the week), the first couple of rounds will yield relatively low scores because the fairways and greens will be more receptive but after that they will inexorably climb because of the combination of thicker rough and speedier greens.
It is not really possible to pick a potential winner on previous form at the venue because it is 31 years since it last hosted America’s national championship – it was thought to be too small and compact, covering only 111 acres, to host a big competition again. And because of this lack of real estate, spectator numbers will be limited to 25,000 per day, rather than up to 40,000 we see at other majors.
What they will see is a course and club that is proud of its idiosyncratic history. Dining tables can be seen alongside the first tee, instead of flags on the greens there are upturned wicker baskets – no-one knows why – and gentlemen members are reminded that whenever they are under cover, whether in the clubhouse or beneath a temporary awning, they must remove their hats.
Merion has only hosted four US Opens, in 1934 (won by Olin Dutra); 1950 (Ben Hogan); 1971 (Lee Trevino) and 1981 (David Graham) but the 1950 championship is particularly remembered for two shots. First is the 1-iron that Ben Hogan fired into the final green and second is the photograph of his follow-through, one of the most iconic pictures in all sport, snapped by Hy Peskin, a photographer with Life magazine. Just 16 months after the car crash that almost killed him, and still only able to walk with great difficulty, the victory sealed Hogan’s place in history when he overcame Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio in an 18-hole playoff. The previous day’s 36 holes (the final two rounds used to be played on the same day) had almost done for Hogan, who very nearly retired midway through the final 18. But after a night’s rest he shot a near flawless 69 to make another indelible mark in golf history.
The course has one other notable slice of history, being the venue for the 1930 US Amateur Championship, won by the great Bobby Jones who, in the process, became the only golfer ever to win a calendar Grand Slam.
We can but hope that this week will provide something equally stirring but the truth is, like so many US Opens, it is likely to be a war of attrition in which the eventual champion will limp across the finishing line, battered, bruised and bloody, as the last man standing.
Spare a thought…
… For Lee Janzen, who has twice won the US Open but whose automatic exemption into the field has long expired. He took part in a qualifying event at Woodmont CC but after the first round was disqualified. His crime was to wear golf shoes with metal spikes, which aren’t allowed at Woodmont.
Quote of the Week
Dividing the swing into its parts is like dissecting a cat. You’ll have blood and guts and bones all over the place. But you won’t have a cat.
Ernest Jones