Is US Open going to be yet another shambles?
They’re surely not about to mess up yet again, are they? Not after the last two editions, filled as they were with farce and outrage.
yet that, sadly, appears a grave possibility judging by the early noises emanating about erin hills in Wisconsin, which will host the United States Open for the first time next week.
I asked Justin rose at Wentworth recently what he had heard about the new venue. ‘Not a lot that’s positive, to be honest,’ was the grim response.
Matt Fitzpatrick played the course a few years ago while attending college a couple of hours away at Northwestern University in Chicago. ‘I can’t remember a lot about it but it did seem a bit funky,’ he said.
After what happened in 2015 and 2016, funky is exactly what we don’t need from the hapless United States Golf Association. you might remember the appallingly unsuitable Chambers Bay in Washington State, containing one hole spectators couldn’t even walk along, a course which Gary Player described as designed to drive golfers away in droves, not attract them.
That was followed last year by the Dustin Johnson debacle, where the American played the last nine holes not knowing if he was going to be penalised a stroke for a supposed rules infraction. ‘I don’t think I would have been anywhere near as polite with the USGA as Dustin,’ was Jordan Spieth’s withering verdict.
A video doing the rounds on Twitter last week, showing a ball disappearing instantly from view when dropped into the prairie rough at erin hills, certainly didn’t lighten the mood.
Built on a vast 600 acres, it is more than twice the size of a normal golf course, with all sorts of tee box options that always find favour with the USGA, who love a hole that can play a vastly different yardage from one round to the next.
They love taking the event to a public course like this one as well because it allows them to say they’re making golf accessible. however, what is left in the small print is that it costs nearly £250 a round to play, which is not exactly designed to attract the masses.
The contempt in which the USGA is held within the locker room was summed up by the usually mild-mannered Adam Scott on Sunday. One of rose’s big pals, he will have heard all the negative noises and seen the video.
‘Let’s have something that’s a challenge and interesting, not just playing brutal,’ pleaded the Australian, as if that was an unreasonable request rather than something for which every organiser should strive.
‘The USGA have really dropped the ball with where the game is at over the last 20 years but hopefully they will get it right this time.’ he didn’t sound like a man holding his breath.