A test only the best will survive

They call it the toughest test in golf, the US Open, and the class of 2014 are going to find in Pinehurst No 2 one of the most exacting examinations of their credentials as the second Major of the year gets under way in North Carolina today.

The champion golfer who passes the test come Sunday night will truly have earned his title on this par-70, 7,652-yard Donald Ross course carved out of the sandhills here in 1901 and restored to something very close to its original, natural look by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore three years ago.

Bill and Ben proved to be golf’s own flowerpot men, getting rid of the rough that made it a more run of the mill US Open layout when Michael Campbell won against the odds here in 2005 and re-introducing native areas of wire grass scrub and sand. The fairways have been stripped of all but a central sprinkler system, giving them lush central channels, getting firmer as they meet the edges, requiring accuracy off the tee, while the now hardened, crowned putting surfaces have been given extra teeth with greenside rough removed to leave collection areas that will demand creativity to get the ball back on.