By ED TRAVIS
The 125th U.S. Open had two winners, J.J. Spaun and Oakmont Country Club. Media and the fans are concentrating on the gutsy performance Spaun showed us however the course was a winner as well.
Spaun started the week at 150 1 and proved many wrong with his ability to overcome the extremely difficult course and sometimes impossible conditions.
Never mind about the historical comparisons with previous Oakmont Opens, the course changes year to year and those who understand our game at the highest level know scoring by the best players in the world is dependent not just on their skill but on the difficulty of the course and the weather.
It goes without saying the weather is out of the USGA’s or a player’s control and Western Pennsylvania enjoyed (?) approximately 10 inches of rain the week prior and more precipitation over the four days of the championship. Fortunately, the wind was not a big factor (rarely more than 7-10 mph) though judging the wind direction in the soggy conditions with moisture on the ball gave even the top players concern.
Friday night, Saturday and Sunday rain exacerbated wet conditions with delays on Saturday and Sunday. The USGA went so far as to refund fans their ticket prices for Saturday’s round due to the course being so saturated.
Here is a look at the conditions your favorite players had to face for four days of elegant torture.
The greens – Recreational players can not appreciate how fast Oakmont’s greens were beginning Thursday at a Stimpmeter reading of about 14 which became faster as the championship progressed. Add to this the sometimes abrupt slope changes of the putting surfaces and the recipe is potential disaster which we saw many times. I always have liked what Lee Trevino, who knew something about winning U.S. Opens with two to his credit, said about Oakmont’s greens, “Every time I two putted at Oakmont, I was passing somebody on the leaderboard.”
The rough – Most weeks on the PGA Tour the rough is cut between two and four inches while at Oakmont this week it was five inches on Wednesday which grew higher during the four days of play. By comparison Augusta National Golf Club home of the Masters has very little rough and usually is two inches or less for the first major of the year.
Landing areas – The landing areas, many of which are bracketed by bunkers were a miserly 28 yards wide on most holes. Week to week on Tour they are typically another 10 yards wider to accommodate the fan’s desire to see the Tour’s long hitters really let it all go though another 10 is sometimes added. One thing not often mentioned but that was a decisive factor for many tee shots was there was only one cut of rough, no transition from the fairway. Balls usually disappeared from view mere inches from the short grass.
Terrain – Oakmont is hilly with rolling terrain and significant elevation changes so walking on the wet fairways can be a factor. For example, the short par-4 17th is sharply uphill and the par-5 12th green is 48-foot below the tee. To further complicate the players’ problems there are lots of uneven lies even in the fairways.
Preferred lies – Better known as lift, clean and place, preferred lies are a local rule that can be put into place when warranted due to excessive moisture. The USGA does not believe in using this rule but insists on “playing the ball as it lies” potentially giving contestants problems over the weekend.
Some said the course as too hard even for the world’s best while many felt scoring relied more on luck than skill going so far as to say conditions were unfair.
The USGA often falls back on former President Sandy Tatum’s course setup philosophy, “We are not trying to humiliate the best golfers in the world,” he said. “We are simply trying to identify who they are.”
I could go on but the point is obvious, Oakmont Country Club was a winner of our national championship.
