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The prevailing view of players is that anyone
wanting to contend will have to avoid the thick rough waiting to
gobble up errant shots at Torrey Pines south.
The 7,652-yard par-71 layout, a city-owned municipal course that
San Diego residents can play for as little as $63, hugs cliff
tops above the Pacific Ocean and affords magnificent views of
the world's largest water hazard.
Players, however, will be more concerned with how deeply their
balls nestle down in the wiry rough that, to listen to the
players, will often be penal but also occasionally offer a
reprieve.
"This thick-blade grass, you can actually get lucky and get some
decent lies, or you can get some that it's hard to move (the
ball) five yards," said Spaniard Jon Rahm, who will likely start
as one of the favourites on a course where he posted his first
PGA Tour victory.
"So the discrepancy is big. It's a U.S. Open. You're going to
get good breaks and bad breaks," added Rahm.
Several former champions weighed in, with Rory McIlroy perhaps
the only contrarian.
American Gary Woodland, the 2019 champion up the coast at Pebble
Beach, said the rough had been so deep around some greens that
organisers had given it a late haircut.
"I think they've mowed it a little bit since Sunday because you
were losing balls around the greens," Woodland said. "It's
brutal."
Another former champion, Webb Simpson, relishes the test.
"I don't think I would like it 20 times a year, but it's really
fun for a week," said the 2012 winner. "You feel like it's kind
of survival every day."
Straight-talking two-time champion Brooks Koepka offered a
typically straight observation.
"If you don't hit the fairways, you're going to be in trouble,"
he said.
But McIlroy had a slightly different take.
"The rough is playable. It's not as penal as some other U.S.
Opens," he said.
Torrey Pines previously hosted the U.S. Open in 2008, when Tiger
Woods famously won in a playoff against Rocco Mediate despite
playing for five days with two tibia stress fractures and a
badly-injured left knee that would require reconstructive
surgery a week later.
The winning score then was one under par.
Woods is not playing this year as he rehabilitates from a
February car crash, but Phil Mickelson is here, playing in his
hometown in the one championship he needs to complete the career
grand slam, after six agonising runner-up finishes.
Mickelson joins 155 others, including nine amateurs, who will
tee up for the first two rounds, and the top 60 (plus ties) will
advance to the final 36 holes.
(Reporting by Andrew Both; Editing by Toby Davis)
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