Erin Hills in the spotlight
USGA has much at stake as young course debuts
ERIN, Wis. — It’s somehow fitting that Erin Hills was a golf course sculpted by colliding glaciers about 20,000 years ago.
Because, from all known predictors, the pace of play in the 117th U.S. Open could mirror those giant ice masses.
Five hoursmay be considered a lightning round as 156 golfers traverse around 7,700 yards of undulations and unpredictability.
Balls that don’t hit the unusually large fairways are at risk of being lost in the giant fescue that seems to grow exponentially with each rain, which it did on Monday and Wednesday. More rain is expected on Friday and Saturday.
Fourteen of the 18 holes have blind or semi-blind shots.
Thebunkershave been setupas punitive, deep and unforgiving.
And this course is brand spanking new to all but a handful of golfers who have played this course that opened just 11years ago.
“If you have a lost ball that’s going to wreck pace of play,” said FOX analyst Paul Azinger, a former pro that won 12 tournaments including one major. “You can’t see the ball coming, so the marshals are handcuffed. Some of that fescue is so deep, it’s not going to hop an inch.”
On Tuesday, the fescue was cut down to about four inches on four of the holes.
The USGA, which runs this tournament, has a lot at stake after two problematic Opens.
Two years ago, a new Open course at Chambers Bay inWashington statewas pilloried for its architecture, spectator acces-