Every US Open is scary, but is Winged Foot even more so? Here are three reasons why

Winged Foot has long been associated with the word “massacre”

It's been predicted there's no chance the winner will shoot under par, a difficulty level Shane Lowry looks forward to. AP Photo/Andy Wong

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to fear the worst. So everyone should be properly conditioned for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

While the term is offensive in the context of a golf tournament, Winged Foot has been associated with the word “massacre” ever since veteran journalist Dick Schapp applied it to the title of his book accounting the grisly events of the 1974 U.S. Open there. Hale Irwin survived that one with a winning score of 7-over par, and he recently recalled A.W. Tillinghast’s West Course in Mamaroneck, NY, as “the hardest course I ever played when weather wasn’t an issue.”