US Golf OPEN - Winged Foot

June 16 – 19

Keep an eye on the action at Winged Foot, site of this year's title, because anything could happen. Four US Open Championships have been played at this tough, demanding course and all have been memorable.
• In 1929, Bobby Jones had to overcome two disastrous sevens in the final round to make a 36-hole playoff with Al Espinos, which he subsequently won to secure his third Open.
• In 1959, shocking weather forced the tournament to an extra- day conclusion for the first time in the Open's history, with Billy Casper snatching a one-shot triumph.
• In 1974, Hale Irwin won with the highest ever US Open score of seven over par, sinking a monster 100-foot putt for par on the 17th just as runner-up Forrest Fezler made bogey on the last.
• In 1984, a tie between Fuzzy Zoeller and Greg Norman made history as the first players to finish the course under par in an Open, with Zoeller winning the 18 hole playoff.
Winged Foot has long been known for its sloping greens and challenging bunkers. But any possibility that the course has become easier over the years due to improvements in equipment technology and player strength has been eliminated. Course architect Tom Fazio has made changes which have wound the course difficulty back to its days of old. Winged Foot has been lengthened by 220 yards, with tees re-positioned, greens re-shaped, new bunkers installed and old ones re-positioned. Hundreds of trees have been removed, and new ones planted. Importantly, the rough has been given special attention, with ryegrasses added to the existing Poa annua grasses and a decree by the ASGA championship committee to introduce "graduated rough" guidelines. Basically, the rough grass gets longer the further it is from the centre of the fairway. Players will need to keep within a driving corridor of 45 yards to escape severe grief on most holes.
So, from a sports betting view, look for the type of player who is very straight from the tee, not necessarily a big hitter, and good with his middle irons. Might take a bit of homework, but this tack might produce some good odds.
This graduated rough concept is not new, having first been suggested by USGA president Sandy Tatum for the 1992 US Open at Pebble Beach. The long hitters in today's game probably won't change their course strategy too much - many would still prefer to be playing a short iron second shot after accepting the risk from the tee. But they know that they have to be careful.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods both agreed that driving accuracy is the key element at Winged Foot, because the rough can make play incredibly difficult.
And did we mention the doglegs? They make driving even trickier. "I think the presence of doglegs makes it more difficult off the tee because you're not driving straight down the fairway, you're driving at an angled fairway, and the threat to go through makes it important to hit the right club or to hit the ball the right distance," Mickelson said.
"You can't just step up and crank on it and have it go 330 down the middle because it'll go through a lot of the doglegs. So you have to carve and work your tee shots with the angle of the hole. That's what makes it very challenging."
Having negotiated the fairways, players then find that Winged Foot has unusual greens, stressful to putt on. Their general profile is akin to a mushroom, with valleys often on the approach side. Most holes have severe slopes at the front of the greens, too, and so the normal rule of keeping approach shots below the hole doesn't work. These slopes are usually so severe at Winged Foot that pin locations are forced towards the rear. Players caught short at these holes often face treacherously long putts, sometimes as much as 50 feet, with lots of borrow. Therefore bolder players can still succeed at Winged Foot, attacking the pin and eliminating the problem of being too short. Modern day tournaments using pin placement positions close to green fringes will certainly bring the Winged Foot greenside bunkers into play, so expect to see plenty of bogies.
The Winged Foot West course ranks 8th in the Golf Digest list of 100 Greatest American Golf Courses and is regarded as a true test of a golfer's mettle.
Woods visited the course a few weeks before the Open and came away talking about how difficult it would play. His situation is further compounded by the fact that this is the first time he has played in nine weeks due to the death of his father – the longest break he has had from the game since he commenced playing tournament golf.
And Mickelson, who made three pre-tournament trips to the course, summed it up beautifully when he said: "I'm still trying to get that first US Open victory, and I can't think of a better place than to do it at Winged Foot."

• 
• 
• Email to a friend
• Print