Winged Foot ready to trip up the best
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Waiting for the green to clear ahead, Sergio Garcia looked behind him at the five holes he played Wednesday at Winged Foot and recited a list of clubs that rarely come out of his bag.
Patrick Reed stood in deep rough about a yard beyond the green on the first hole, hit a gentle flop and watched it roll down a ridge, feed over to another slope and run off the front of the green.
Welcome to Winged Foot, and a U.S. Open that needs no introduction. Narrow fairways. Thick rough. Tough greens. It’s a simple formula that for years defined the American championship, one that has been missing in recent years by trying new venues (Chambers Bay and Erin Hills) or getting gentle weather (Pebble Beach).
Winged Foot’s centuryold design has yielded only two 72hole scores under par in the five U.S. Opens it has hosted since 1929.
“Something would have to go seriously wrong to get into the realms of goofy golf,” Rory McIlroy said.
No one expects the winner to break par this week, even with the move from June to September.
And no one summed up the test better than John Bodenhamer, the senior managing director of championships for the USGA and the person in charge of setting up the course.
“We will let Winged Foot be Winged Foot,” he said.
“Listen, the players haven’t put a pencil in their hand yet, so we’ll wait and see,” said Mike Davis, the CEO of the USGA. “I think you go back 125 years, and there’s a little bit of history of it being a tough week. And when you think about some of the greatest U.S. Open players of all time — Bob Jones, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods — you never heard them complain. They accepted the challenge.”
The field is only 144 players, the smallest since there were 143 players in 1932, because of the move to September and the loss of nearly three hours of daylight. There also was no qualifying for the first time in more than a century because of the coronavirus pandemic. And like every tournament since golf resumed, there will be no spectators.
Golf is getting so deep that five players have taken turns at No. 1 this year, the most for a calendar year since the world ranking began in 1986. Dustin Johnson occupies that spot now.