Conditions can rob drama from a major

ERIN, WIS. » Remember last year, when Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson played a round for the ages, trading birdies and spectacular shots until Stenson finally came away with the British Open title?

The U.S. Open won’t be like that. First off, barring a long rain delay on Thursday, Mickelson will be absent, attending his daughter’s high school graduation.

And though Erin Hills, at first glance, may look like the sort of British links course that Mickelson and Stenson tore up last summer, Stenson will be the first to tell you it most certainly isn’t.

“Golf at the U.S. Open has always been a bit harder than at the (British) Open or any of the other ones,” Stenson said.

So true. Over the last five years, the average winning score of the other three majors has been 12.2 shots below par. At the U.S. Open over the same period: 3.1 under.

“The U.S. Open, you normally play on golf courses that are tricked up just to the limits, sometimes over the limits and sometimes just underneath,” Stenson said.

Much has been made about the creation of Erin Hills, built on a 650-acre tract of Wisconsin farmland that was, according to USGA executive director Mike Davis, simply screaming to have a golf course built on it. It was developed specifically with the idea of hosting a U.S. Open.

It’s huge, the longest U.S. Open course ever, at more than 7,741 yards (With room to make it even longer). Some fairways are almost wide enough to land a 767.

“You could fit two and a half fairways at Winged Foot into the No. 10 fairway here,” Davis said.

But when the USGA gives, it almost always finds other places to take away.

Already this week, some players were complaining about the depth and stickiness of the rough.

Meanwhile, author Ron Whitten, who helped design the course, said among his proudest achievements are the bunkers, most of which don’t have flat lies and aren’t nearly as well-manicured or maintained as what these players face on a weekly basis. There are 138 of them covering what will be the first par-72 test at a U.S. Open since Pebble Beach in 1992.

“I’m surprised more players aren’t complaining about the bunkers,” Whitten said.

The USGA will look hard at the forecast and try to set up holes to dampen, not exacerbate, the effect of wind that can blow as hard as 30 mph.