The organisers of the 116th US Open have insisted the Oakmont Country Club as encountered by competitors is no different from the course when played by members. The claim will inevitably raise eyebrows among those who believe the United States Golf Association needlessly toughens up course conditions for the second major of each year.
The previous US Open held here saw Angel Cabrera win at five-over par in 2007. More generally, albeit with a smile, Rory McIlroy said “trepidation” routinely comes to mind when contemplating this tournament. Last year at Chambers Bay players were vociferous in their criticism. Yet Mike Davis, the USGA’s executive director, sought to play down fears over a manufactured set-up. “If you think in this country of the golf courses that are a really tough test, Oakmont was really the first,” Davis said. “That has lived on for 113 years. You think about Oakmont, you think about these legendarily fast greens and these fast greens have been fast for many, many decades.
“In terms of what the USGA has done to Oakmont, really we would say very little change has occurred. What you’re seeing out there in so many ways is every-day Oakmont. It’s what the members encounter. I’m not saying they encounter it every day, but often they’re encountering green speeds every bit as fast as this. They’re encountering the same fairway widths and contours that you see here. The point being that this really is a golf course we can come to, it’s US Open-ready seemingly all the time.”
Davis did admit, however, that the ough was cut back by half an inch in the early part of last week. “We did think the rough was a bit too penal and this was before the players arrived,” the chief executive added. “So we did take the levels down.”
Sell-out crowds of 30,000 a day are due on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. The negative aspect relates to the weather; there is an estimated 80% chance of thunder storms on Thursday afternoon. The world No1, Jason Day, is among those scheduled to be on the course at that time.
“Green speeds will essentially be what we had in 2007 and 2010 [for the US Women’s Open] barring some heavy rain event, which could be possible tomorrow,” said Davis. “They will be up in the 14s on the Stimpmeter. That’s often what the members plan; in fact, there’s a couple times the members actually go beyond that, which I don’t know how that’s possible, but they tell me they do.”
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