The 4 main championships have distinct traits.
The Masters is performed on the identical course yearly (Augusta Nationwide) which isn’t solely lengthy with fiendish greens – that familiarity additionally offers it a novel place within the sport’s elite quartet.
The Open is at all times performed on hyperlinks programs that are fast-running, often windy, that includes contoured fairways and greens.
The PGA Championship tends to be a typical PGA Tour occasion that has been to the fitness center.
And the US Open is simply exhausting.
Very exhausting.
Very, very exhausting.
The programs are often conventional, constructed within the golden age of golf within the US within the early years of the twentieth century.
The set-up is stretched to the restrict to provide an extended problem.
The fairways are slim and the tough is deep.
The greens are speedy and the tough round them as deep because the tough additional again down the opening.
It’s by no means, ever straightforward.
The issue bar is at all times excessive.
However generally, as this week at Oakmont, it’s actually excessive.
Let’s look, in reverse order, on the 5 hardest US Open set-ups within the earlier 124 editions of the championship.
5. Winged Foot, 2006
Which maybe must be referred to as ‘The set-up that broke Monty and Mickelson’.
Put collectively that pair sound like the celebs of a Nineteen Seventies child’s present, like Mork and Mindy, and the pair performed the 72nd gap like they’d starred in it.
Aussie Geoff Ogilvy set a 5-over clubhouse goal on Sunday and each the Ms seemed set to higher it.
Colin Montgomerie had famously by no means received in America or in a serious. This was his golden likelihood. He drained a 75-foot birdie putt at 17 and was in the course of the 18th fairway from the place he made double bogey to fall one in need of Ogilvy.
Mickelson desperately needed to win his residence Open and he wanted to par 18 to take action. However he additionally made double bogey – one more runner-up end within the US Open (he would finally end second six instances).
4. The Nation Membership, 1963
Easy numbers will get The Nation Membership in Brookline into the highest six.
Julius Boros received with a 9-over-par whole and that’s the greatest successful determine over-par within the US Open for the reason that Second World Struggle.
The explanation for the issue was extra right down to the wind on the weekend, nonetheless.
Arnold Palmer was tied for the midway lead, carded a 3rd spherical 77, and was nonetheless just one again after 54 holes.
He closed with a 74 to tie Jacky Cupit and Boros earlier than the latter took the honours in an 18-hole play-off that noticed Palmer card 76.
3. Oakmont, 2007
The USGA was feeling brutal after the carnage at Winged Foot in 2006 so that they repeated the dose at Oakmont 12 months later.
Angel Cabrera received with one other 5-over whole and mentioned: “Positively the toughest course I’ve performed.”
There have been solely eight sub-par scores in the complete week – and Cabrera was the one man to personal two of them.
2. Shinnecock Hills, 2004
One other brute from the 2000s which could properly go down because the US Open’s most terrifying decade.
Retief Goosen received with a 4-under whole and solely Phil Mickelson (-2) additionally ended the week under par.
What was placing about this championship, nonetheless, was the sense that the USGA misplaced management of the situations.
Within the closing spherical gamers couldn’t hold the ball on the seventh inexperienced so various the placing surfaces had been watered to keep away from this chaos spreading additional.
The ultimate 5 teams averaged 75.9 for the spherical – everybody earlier than them averaged 78.7.
1. Winged Foot, 1974
Many rumours swirl round about Winged Foot in 1974.
Was the USGA livid that Johnny Miller received with a closing spherical 63 the 12 months earlier than?
Did the course superintendent mess up? Was there an accident?
Actually the superintendent defined that it was the primary 12 months entrance deck rotary mowers had been used which permitted denser and extra uniform tough than ever earlier than.
The difficulty was they saved the tough at 6 inches in peak and realised afterwards that, with the brand new density, 3 inches would do.
Some referred to as it the ‘Bloodbath at Winged Foot’.
Hale Irwin prevailed on 7-over. Forrest Fezler was 9-over. Everybody else was double digits over-par.
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