US OPEN: Open season on the ultimate thinking man’s golf course

It has been a long time since I have so eagerly anticipated the start of a major championship — especially the US Open.

If the previous US Opens at Merion and Pinehurst had tradition on their side, Chambers Bay on the north-west coast had nothing. Built just eight years ago, it looked stunning — but that counts for nothing. And much to the disgust, no doubt, of its designer Robert Trent Jones III, the lesser lights competing this week grabbed the early headlines with their unflattering reviews.

It’s easy to be heard this week, especially if you want to criticise the course’s designer or the USGA but how foolish many of those players must feel just a few short hours into the tournament proper.

Yes, Chambers Bay is quirky and something that many of the PGA Tour players have never witnessed before. Yes, the course is bouncy and requires strategy and a cool head. But it is fair, and after just nine holes of the opening round it already had a stellar leaderboard, with the US hero and grand slam chasing favourite Phil Mickelson leading the way.

In hot pursuit were Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, and our own Rory McIlroy. In nine short holes the cream had already come to the top of the leaderboard — nothing more needed to be said because Chambers Bay had already begun creating its own legacy.

At the start of the week, Stenson described Chambers Bay as a bit of a “tricked-up links course” and while the links feel element to that statement was correct, there are still major differences which can be easily observed: n The most appealing difference for the players is the fact that Chambers Bay has considerably wider fairways which greatly reduces the length of the 7,600-yard course and permits the power players to keep playing to their strengths — namely using the driver as often as they can; n Despite the course playing very firm, we have already noticed how often players are hitting their approach shots from the fairways — tight, firm fairways allow the players to control the ball’s flight and spin; n Whereas the traditional links courses in Ireland are all at ground level, there is a considerable shift in elevation (200ft) in Chambers Bay ,and the players are already using the warm temperatures and elevation to great effect in terms of maximising their distance and control of their shots; n Much like St Andrew’s, the greens are huge, hard, and fast. Some 50ft-plus putts will be a regular sight this week but with the putting surfaces slow, they will be best managed by those who show creativity, grit, and patience; n The warm temperatures mean that even when the longest 500-yards-plus holes are playing into the wind, they are still reachable with a drive and an iron, whereas the same distances in the cooler and more moist Irish conditions would make these holes practically unreachable.

With Mike Davis and the USGA vindicated, one hopes they stay true to their US Open philosophy of providing the best possible challenge to the players’ entire arsenal of shot-making skills.

Given that yesterday’s early morning benign conditions made the course look very playable, will Davis now be emboldened enough to change up some of the hole lengths and stick away a few more flags, thereby changing the yardage and best approach angles into the pin?

His record would suggest he will, but he needs to be careful as any sudden shift in wind direction or strength could dramatically affect the playability of Chambers Bay and with it the goodwill of the competitors.

At the time of writing, Tiger Woods had not yet commenced play. In his prime, this course was an almost perfect set-up for him and it represents one of his best opportunities to get his golfing career back on track. One can only hope he recognises this, because the wide fairways will give him greater mental freedom. If he registers a couple of early birdies, then it’s game on.

Chambers Bay represents the ultimate thinking man’s course and given Tiger’s proven pedigree not just in majors but also on firm links courses, such as the Open Championship he won at the superdry Hoylake in 2006, then this is an opportunity. I expect him to be motivated but the question remains, is that enough?