2015 US Open
I was reading this week about the 2015 US Open (which is coming up in the middle of June) organizers considering putting the tees so players have to contend with slopes.
Why would they do that?
The only logical reason I can think of is they think this course is going to be eaten up.
The US Open is normally setup so even par has a good shot at winning. Take a look at the winning scores from the last 10 years:
- US Open 2005 – Michael Campbell 280, E
- US Open 2006 – Geoff Ogilvy 285, +5
- US Open 2007 – Ángel Cabrera 285, +5
- US Open 2008 – Tiger Woods 283, -1
- US Open 2009 – Lucas Glover 276, -4
- US Open 2010 – Graeme McDowell 284, E
- US Open 2011 – Rory McIlroy 268, -16
- US Open 2012 – Webb Simpson 281, +1
- US Open 2013 – Justin Rose 281, +1
- US Open 2014 – Martin Kaymer 271, –9
There’s a couple of anomalies in there, e.g. 2011 and 2014, and I bet the organizers of the US Open do not want a repeat of that.
But to be honest, I don’t care where they put the tees in the 2015 US Open. They can put them behind trees for all I care (although this year’s US Open course only has one tree and it’s not in play!). As long as everyone is playing with the same conditions… what’s the big deal? These guys are playing for big bucks. Make them earn it.
I have already heard about some pro golfers having played the 2015 US Open venue early and complaining already. Instead of complaining maybe they should think how fortunate they are to be playing in the US Open in the first place.
