{"id":15402,"date":"2016-06-16T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/golfers-face-feared-course-at-us-open\/"},"modified":"2016-06-16T08:00:32","modified_gmt":"2016-06-16T15:00:32","slug":"golfers-face-feared-course-at-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/golfers-face-feared-course-at-us-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Golfers face feared course at US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKMONT, Pa. <\/strong>\u2014 Danny Willett makes his debut in the U.S. Open at Oakmont.<\/p>\n

At least the U.S. Open that he grew up watching.<\/p>\n

The record will show that Willett first played the U.S. Open in 2014 at Pinehurst No. 2, which had been restored to its original design by replacing the rough with natural sand areas, vegetation and wiregrass bushes. He also played last year at Chambers Bay, with its fine fescue grass that allowed the ball to bounce and roll like on a links course.<\/p>\n

Those were a departure from the U.S. Open that over the years had been defined by narrow fairways, thick rough and firm greens.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the definition of Oakmont.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just looking forward to, I guess, my first U.S. Open on a golf course that I\u2019ve notoriously watched growing up,\u201d Willett said Tuesday. \u201cBack to kind of how people see U.S. Open golf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with rain in the forecast ahead of the opening round Thursday, no one expects a winning score under par.<\/p>\n

Defending champion Jordan Spieth played in unusually strong wind on Sunday and said he would have shot no better than 75 and then treated himself to a beer for a fine day of work. Ernie Els, who won at Oakmont in 1994, lamented rough so thick that not even the strongest players would be able to do more than get back into short grass.<\/p>\n

The Masters brings excitement as the first major of the year on a course that metes out birdies and bogeys, eagles and double bogeys.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Open at Oakmont?<\/p>\n

\u201cTrepidation,\u201d Rory McIlroy said. \u201cIt really depends the venue that you play a U.S. Open at, as well. But yeah, this week it\u2019s definitely not excitement. You know you\u2019re going to be put under a lot of pressure on basically every single golf shot you hit out there. So you have to be prepared for that. You have to be prepared for how mentally demanding it\u2019s going to be, how much concentration you\u2019re going to need out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the toughest test in golf, and you know that,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you have to do everything you can to prepare for that and try to do your best.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the longest U.S. Open course, not even close. Five of the par 4s are under 400 yards, an anomaly in this era of power.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no less intimidating.<\/p>\n

Branden Grace described the opening hole as \u201chorrible.\u201d The closing hole is among the strongest in major championship golf, and Angel Cabrera\u2019s tee shot down the middle in 2007 is still celebrated as one of the great drives under pressure in U.S. Open history.<\/p>\n

The bunkers remind players of the pot bunkers in links golf, not so much by appearance but in penalty. The greens are reputed to be the fasted in the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the craziest greens I\u2019ve ever played, and most penal fairway bunkers I\u2019ve entered,\u201d Rickie Fowler said. \u201cIt\u2019s a fair golf course. You\u2019ve just got to be on the right side of the hole. You\u2019ve got to drive the ball well. A lot of characteristics of a typical, tough and hard U.S. Open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace found that out during one of his practice rounds over the weekend.<\/p>\n

He was tied for the lead in the U.S. Open last year until hitting his tee shot on the 16th onto the railroad tracks and finishing two shots behind. He thinks he understands the philosophy of this major, so he was cautious in his approach. Safety first at a U.S. Open, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you lay up or you just go for the safer side to the right side and the pin\u2019s tucked in the left, you might be dead,\u201d Grace said.<\/p>\n

He was playing the 13th hole on his first day of practice on Sunday. The pin was to the right and toward the front. Grace played it about 12 feet beyond the hole and to the left. He got up over his putt and said, \u201cI couldn\u2019t keep it inside 20, 25 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The toughest test in golf played on what is called the toughest course in America led to a short vocabulary for most players.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you took all the rough away, I still don\u2019t know if anyone would break par for the week. Maybe they\u2019d get close,\u201d Geoff Ogilvy said. \u201cYou\u2019re always trying to minimize damage instead of attack it. Most U.S. Opens, the setup dictates the scores you shoot. But I think Oakmont is just hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willett elicited a few chuckles when he described Oakmont as \u201cgreat fun.\u201d What appealed to the Englishman were the options players have on every hole, whether to take it on with a driver or lay back with something less to make sure the ball is in the fairway.<\/p>\n

Grace wasn\u2019t sure who it favored.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t say ball-striker. You can\u2019t say the best putter is going to win,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the guy with the best head is going to win at the end of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OAKMONT, Pa. \u2014 Danny Willett makes his debut in the U.S. Open at Oakmont. At least the U.S. Open that he grew up watching. The record will show that Willett first played the U.S. Open in 2014 at Pinehurst No. 2, which had been restored to its original design by replacing the rough with natural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":15403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15402"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}