Is the U.S. Open a Fair Test of Golf?
With one round in the books and Rory McIlory off to his usually fast start, the one thing that seems absent this year is the annual universal complaints from the competitors about the unfairness of the U.S.G.A. course setup.
The rain on Thursday morning certainly took some of the teeth out the course. But the intermediate cut and the rough seems shorter this year. By Sunday the greens will return to 14 on the stimpmeter and the pin placements will be devilish but the real question is what the appropriate course set is up to determine the best player.
While getting my nachos and chips ready for the second round I found this video from Jack Nicklaus in which he discusses his thoughts on the proper set up for a U.S. Open. To paraphrase his video, the course should have some holes that favor the long hitters (and penalize the straight hitters) and some that favor the straight hitters (and penalize the long hitters.). Makes a great deal of sense to set up the course so it does not favor any particular type of player but rather lets the players determine who is the best player.
As always keep ‘em in the fairway.
P.S. Where are the Americans?
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