For this generation of stars, Merion looks more like a blind date. No other course with four U.S. opens had to wait so long - 32 years - for another chance to test the world's best players. Even with Tiger Woods at no. 1 and the victory at a ridiculous rate, so the talk to this major championship was about Merion.For years, it was considered too small to handle such a big tournament and the big hitters with their modern equipment. And with the soft green more than 6 inches of rain last week, the question is if the course will get the kind of scores rarely seen in the toughest test in golf.
Thursday, the mystery of Merion will begin to unfold."It's been how long, 32 years? '' And with any technology since then?" Steve Stricker said he was headed to the first tee Wednesday for a last round practice. "Someone asked me the other day about someone a shot 62. And what I wanted to say, 'you're crazy. But you do not know. We do not know what will happen. And somehow, this is the kind of cool." Not so cool, it was the time set for the opening round.
Merion has already taken a blow last Friday when over 3 inches of rain sent water over the edges with some bunkers and left small streams on the fairways and greens. More rain Monday caused the course to close three times. The forecast is called for increasing clouds, gusts and showers Thursday morning, with the strongest storms likely to arrive around noon."Of course we want that it closes and fast," USGA vice president Thomas O'Toole, said Wednesday. "We happen to a sport which is played outdoors. We have received a significant rain last week, and some tell us that we will have even more significant rain tomorrow. It is not a perfect world. It is not a perfect game. "But we take what we deal with."If a golf course is large or small, green tender is typically a recipe for low scores. There again, masters is not a typical golf course. It measures 6 996 meters on the dashboard - the shortest of any major championship in nine years - and has a stretch of seven holes in the middle that are short, even by the standards of yesterday. Compare these holes with the card to score when Ben Hogan won the 1950 United States Open at Merion, and four of these holes were in fact longer by a few metres in the day of Hogan.
Players generally arrive at the wedge to chip out of the rough around the Greens at the U.S. Open. Merion, they could be hitting wedge into the green for their second shot at least six holes. This is what caused the clamor of low scores. And with the rain, it reminds to the how of the Congress was vulnerable two years ago, when Rory McIlroy smashed US Open scoring records at 16-under 268.
"I read about rating records how many will be broken," Nick Watney said. "I've been here once. And I think that's crazy. It's funny for me. People look at the yardage and think it's going to be easy. Even if it is soft, the Greens are sloped. The rough is thick. OK, let's have wedges in a part of the Greens, but this does not mean that make you birdie on those holes. There are enough holes difficult to counteract this. Despite this, the winning score has decreased in each of the four previous U.S. open at Merion, Olin Dutra au 13-over in 1934 to David Graham, winning 7 - slot in 1981, the last time this major championship is here.
"Where David Graham did shoot 7 - slot? From there?" Nick Watney asked as he pointed the end of his driver at a location some 30 yards from where he was. "Because it did not do here." Watney stood standing in the middle of the putting green. He took three steps to his right and was standing on the 14th tee. As an example of longer holes being made more difficult, a new tee on hole of 464 metres is where members practice putting.