U.S. Open

He also notedthat the front of the green is open, allowing shots to bounce onto the green, which makes it fair for everyone.

“It’s a hard par,” he said. “But if youmake a par there, you’ll make half a shot up on the field.”

Oneother holewas lengthened by 76 yards — the par-5 16th, whichnowis 619 yards. With a prevailing wind into the players, and the deep bunkers around the green, it’s likely a three-shot hole for everyone in the field.

Mickelson isn’t a big fan of this change.

“Tomove the tee back to 620 yards, which is the total M.O. of theUSGA— they do it every course — I don’t agree with,” Mickelson said. “I think we should have some birdie opportunities. And to eliminate one of the very few that are out here and make it a difficult par is not something I agree with. But I’ve developed kind of a game plan on howto play thathole most effectively relative to the field, and it won’t need to be verymuch under par.”

By relative to the field, Mickelson said only that he has a plan to give himself a good chance at birdie without risking a score higher than par. He believes not dropping a shot on the 16th will enable him to gain on the field.

Mickelson concedes that setting up a golf course for theU.S. Open is not easy. He just hopes the USGA doesn’t bring toomuch luck into the equation.

“The difficulty is, when you dream of a championship as a child ... and you dreamof winning these tournaments as a child and you work hours and hours and you fly in days and days and do all this prep work, and then you are left to chance the outcome, as opposed to skill, that’s a problem,” he said.

Amateur hour: Another example that golf is getting younger — and tougher — is illustrated at the U.S. Open, where 20amateurs are inthe 156-manfield. That’sthemost amateurs since 20 played in 1962.

Four of the amateurs were exempt — U.S. Amateur runner-up Doug Ghim, U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Matt Parziale, U.S. Junior AmateurNoahGoodwin and British Amateur champion Harry Ellis. Braden Thornberry, the NCAA champion a year ago at Ole Miss, qualified froma PGA Tour-heavy sectional inMemphis, Tenn.

The next trick is to see how many advance to the weekend. Of the 14 amateurs who played last year at Erin Hills, only twomade the cut. No more than six amateurs havemadethe cut in theU.S. Open dating to 1959, most recently in 2015 at Chambers Bay.

Late entries: The U.S. Open filled out its 156-man fieldMondaywhen Emiliano Grillo and Byeong Hun An were among the top 60 in theworld ranking. TheUSGA had set aside six spots for those who might get into the top 60 after last week’s tournaments.

Four spots went to first alternates.