Why the US Open is the toughest test in golf

I make no secret of the fact that The Open is my favourite major. However, it has to be said that as the game has progressed some of the courses have been found wanting - I think it is fair to say that their greatest defence is now the weather.

If the sun shines and there is no wind at Royal Birkdale next month I would expect a winning total of less than 270. 

The US Open is played at Shinnecock Hills this week and one thing I can confidently predict is that the winning score will be a LOT higher than that. Anybody who finishes the week close to par will be there or thereabouts.

The USGA, which runs the tournament, does not like low scoring. The greens at Shinnecock Hills will be lightning-fast, pin placements will be brutal and you can bet the mortgage on the fact that the rough will be juicy, to put it mildly.

The last man standing on Sunday afternoon will have passed the toughest test in golf. 

Here are just a few US Opens that came close to reducing the world’s best golfers to tears.

Shinnecock Hills, 2004

Shinnecock Hills has been the scene of more than one meltdown, but in 2004, it reached a whole different level. After a series of sub-par scores on Thursday and Friday, the USGA decided it had seen enough and opted to cut off water to the course.

By Sunday, the greens were so fast they were just about unplayable.

Officials resorted to watering them between groups, a first in major history.

"It was a great deal embarrassing," said former USGA executive director Frank Hannigan.

Most players in the field couldn’t break 80.

Retief Goosen and Phil Mickelson were the only players to finish under par as the South African captured his second US Open title by shots on 4-under.

Shinnecock Hills, 2018

(Image Credit: Rolex)

Fourteen years later, Shinnecock Hills was back and once again the greens were like glass. On the 13th green, after misjudging a putt that rolled back towards him, Mickelson strolled towards his ball and hit it while it was still moving. It was a two-stroke penalty, and Mickelson was unrepentant. "I just wanted to get on to the next hole," he later said. "If somebody is offended, I apologise. But toughen up."

Winged Foot, 1974

This one became known as "The Massacre at Winged Foot".

The greens were lightning fast and the rough was, well, rough. Players of the calibre of Jack Nicklaus were routinely putting off greens, unable to stop the ball.

Hale Irwin, who won with a seven-over-par total, said: "Advancing the ball 100 yards from the rough was an achievement." 

USGA chairman Sandy Tatum was unmoved by it all. He famously said: "We’re not trying to humiliate the best players in the world - we’re simply trying to identify them."

Inverness, 1979

Only in America! Lon Hinkle found a shortcut by hitting his tee shot on the 8th hole down the adjacent 17th fairway, slicing off a huge amount of distance. Unsurprisingly, others followed, including Chi Chi Rodriguez, who was one of the shorter hitters in the game. 

The USGA responded by planting a tree overnight to block the route. In the middle of a major!

Olympic Club, 1998

This was all about an impossible pin placement on the 18th green. The flag was cut on a slippery crest, making stopping a putt near impossible. 

Payne Stewart watched his eight-foot birdie putt roll 25 feet away, leading to a bogey. He ended up losing by one shot but he would go on to win the 1999 US Open at Pinehurst, four months before dying in a tragic plane crash. Kirk Triplett made a triple-bogey and was penalised two strokes for trying to stop his ball from rolling.

Southern Hills, 2001

The ninth and 18th greens featured extreme slopes so of course the USGA put the pins in impossible positions. Retief Goosen, Stewart Cink and Mark Brooks all arrived on the 18th with a shot to win, and all three of them three-putted.

Course superintendent John Szklinski admitted they had made a mistake: "We had it cut too short for the slope of that green. It was like a false front."

Goosen, who missed a short two-footer for the win on the 18th in regulation play, would return on Monday to defeat Brooks by two shots in the 18-hole playoff.  

Bethpage Black, 2002

At 492 yards, Bethpage’s 10th hole was a monster - and wind and rain only served to make it even more difficult. The fairway required a 260-yard carry over thick rough, and many players in the field simply could not reach the short stuff. Tiger Woods won the tournament at 3-under par. He was the only player to finish in the red as he beat Phil Mickelson by three shots.

Chambers Bay, 2015

Surely no US Open course has ever attracted more criticism. The greens were simply awful, many featuring large bare patches and dead grass.

Gary Player described it thus: "The man who designed the golf course must have had one leg shorter than the other." Justin Rose likened putting to "outdoor bingo." And Dustin Johnson three-putted from 12 feet on the final hole, handing victory to Jordan Spieth.