Patience and skill keys to finding pedigree winner at Merion
While no one can legitimately argue with the USGA’s commercial rationale or the fact that their decisions have diminished the status of the US Open in any way, it is commendable that this year they have taken the bold decision to take “a step back in time” by bringing the US Open back to Merion, a tiny landlocked venue, (famed for producing pedigree winners) which has half the spectator capacity of a normal US Open venue as well as a multitude of logistical problems for the players and spectators alike. That said, Jack Nicklaus has famously said of Merion: “Acre for acre, it may be the best test of golf in the world.”
Merion at 6,996 yards is the shortest US Open venue since Shinnecock back in 2004 but through the use of its heroic style of design, expect to see the players continually tested and tempted by swirling winds and holes whose best angles for the approach shots to the greens are those closest to the trouble, which at Merion is often the out of bounds.
As if to complement the strategy off the tee box, Merion also possesses 18 greens of which no two are alike in shape, contour, size, or surroundings. Each green is designed to fit the golfing terrain perfectly and accept the perfect approach shot from the right location. All the greens are protected by some feature, be that impenetrable rough, a bunker, a slope, or a meandering creek. As if to compound those problems, in windy conditions, Merion’s trademark wicker baskets will offer no help.
With more than six inches of rain having already fallen in the area over the past six days, all the talk was that the course might be rendered defenceless by the soft conditions. However, despite the ball collecting some mud, the course has looked remarkably difficult, offering little by way of respite for the players. For sure the par 4’s around the middle of the course (holes 7-14) offered birdie opportunities, but it also ruthlessly punished errant shots and already we have witnessed that Merion is testing the players’ ability to control their emotions.
Increasingly, the major championships are now being won by new faces, but this week I am favouring an older, wiser head to win.
With penal rough, two unreachable par fives and three of the par 3’s averaging approximately 245yards, this course is totally unlike any modern course where players routinely plunder the par fives and while the composition of the clubs in the players’ bags will most likely have changed this week, with the addition of extra wedges or hybrids for greater versatility, if this course is to be tamed it is quite obvious already it will most likely be by someone with infinite patience and skill and no shortage of luck.
Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Graeme McDowell have all the necessary skills and mental fortitude to win this week, but it remains to be seem as to whether or not they too can stay patient enough and out of trouble for four long days. This course may not be very physically demanding on the players but mentally it is brutally demanding. The course itself will eliminate most of the field from contention as will the fear of possibly winning a major championship.
But for those left standing, other than Tiger, they have to hope that Tiger has an off week. If not, they have to understand that Tiger still has to overcome his own five-year major-less drought to win. Then they must hop on the rollercoaster of emotions that is Merion and fully embrace the challenges that lie ahead with a composed aggression, never giving up.
They say that a player must earn the right to be a Major champion. The winner at Merion this week will have proven his credentials in some style and in the process Merion will have reminded us once again hopefully that the game of golf deserves to be more about skill than just length and brute force.
