PINEHURST COURSE NO.2 - VENUE FOR THE US OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

Why the USGA procrastinated in staging the US Open at Pinehurst is one of the great mysteries of golf. Virtually every other event of note has been held on its illustrious No. 2 course: the Ryder Cup, the PGA Championship, the US Amateur, the World Open, the Tour Championship.

The Donald Ross masterpiece, opened in 1907 and rebuilt in 1935, has a permanent ranking among America's finest courses: it's invariably in the leading 10 but in the eyes of many it is higher even than that.

"Pinehurst No. 2 in my mind cannot be out of anybody's top five golf courses in the world," says Raymond Floyd. "I have to put it in my top three. It is very, very special."

WHAT AWAITS OUT THERE, HOLE BY GLORIOUS HOLE

There'll be no hair-tearing or muted cussin', or at least not enough to write home about; no club slamming or scowls and caddies rolling their eyes skywards. Sure, there'll be some glazed looks along the way, and eyebrow raising will be a popular exercise.

Grins will be profuse, too, and high fives. Pinehurst has that effect on most folks and those who tee it up in the US Open Championship will be no exception. Because they'll be playing the fabled No. 2, one of the world's exceptional sporting creations. They're in for a rare treat.

For there will also be a paucity of architectural gimmicks, such as hidden hazards and penal collars of rough around the greens. Here such things are anathema. This course doesn't need fripperies. Every fairway bunker is in view from the tee and from the prescribed position everything is visible for the second shot. It's as fair a course as was ever laid out.

You'll gather this is not your typical US Open venue, most of which tend to give participants an attack of the vapours. At Pinehurst the golf is of surgical purity. It simply doesn't come any better. The design, a living memorial to Donald Ross, demands supreme course management, limitless imagination, the touch of a brain surgeon, the short game of a conjurer and the nerves of a lion tamer.

It will help, too, if you've got a couple of major championships under your belt, or have won a swag of Tour events. An unknown bolter won't win here, in fact you could count the potential winners on the fingers of one hand. OK, maybe two hands...

Consider this: the rough will be four inches of clinging Bermuda grass; the fringe rough will be an inch and a half, just deep enough to stifle a recovery shot or, worse, encourage a top spin flier.

At this level, where the leading players talk of reducing the parameters of their bad shots, they'll consider the tree-lined fairways quite accommodating at between 24 and 30 yards wide. They won't be walking in single file, to be sure, but there's another factor: most of the greens are elevated a touch and angled, just-so; all are judiciously bunkered, several with off-set cross bunkers maybe 20 yards short of the front edge.

Many fairways bend a tad, too, so from several tees the target area for the ideal position is no more than 15 yards wide. This will not incommode most in the field but, like Chinese water torture, its effect is cumulative. Come the final day and nerves will be shredded, knuckles paled.

Thus, all the appropriate questions are asked on the tee box and there's more to come at the business end of most holes. Here the character of the design is most evident: here is where the real action will take place; here is where the US Open will be won and lost.

The greens average about 6,000 square feet which is not over-generous but, as we shall see, only half of that is cuppable area, offering a fair position for the flag stick. The reason: they are not only angled and elevated, they are also crowned, inverted saucers that will accept only the most precise and authoritative approach shots.

Find the middle of the green and there'll be the chance of a 30 footer and a two putt par. Be more than a touch askew - short, long or wide - and the ball will scamper off the green.

To compound this problem the down-slopes are, like the greens, Penn G2 bent grass, shaven and as slick as can be. The ball will run a fair distance, 40 or 50 feet in some cases, before it meets the Bermuda grass fringe and brakes.

Then comes the major problem: getting it back up-slope in such a manner that it will stop within holeable range. And being askew by not much at all means the scenario is likely to be repeated. The short game, in all its infinite variety, will be at a premium.

"In the June heat the greens will be firm and running between 10 and 11.5 on the stimp meter," said course supervisor Paul Jett. "Any quicker and the cuppable areas will reduce in size even further. There has never been an Open course that will respond like this one."

A minority of the field will have played it before: the 1991 Tournament Players' Championship was held here but that was a limited field and the event was staged in November, when the Bermuda grass was dormant and conditions and weather quite at odds to that expected when the Open is played in June.

The players loved it, by all accounts, but the characteristics will be a mystery to most. Those who have played a windy British links in the Open Championship will soon get the message. Early in the piece the flag positions should be towards the front centre which will encourage the bump and run approach. Thereafter it's anybody's guess and the Devil will be calling in some debts.

On the distaff side of the Magic Circle, if golf's Tooth Fairy could wave her wand a few knowing players would happily settle for an aggregate of five or six below par. If that doesn't win it will go awfully close.

Take a look at the card and you'll get my drift. It reads 7,175 yards, par-70, with only two par-5s, one of 610 yards. There's a clutch of strong par-4s, two in excess of 485 yards, two one shotters of 200 yards or more, and three teasing short par-4s, counterpoints in the symphony and each a potential danger zone. It all equates to a course of consummate challenge, of both technique and character, one that will refresh the image of this great championship.

In terms of balance and tempo the course comprises four distinct passages, beginning “pianissimo” and ending, as it should, with a crescendo.

The four opening holes are down-wind and the players must take advantage of this, to gather credits for the examination ahead.

Two shortish par-4s and the first par-5, of 566 yards, are obvious birdie opportunities although any shot marginally off-line will nullify the chance.

The route then turns into the wind for three holes and this is where Ross sharpened his knife: pars here will pick up strokes on most of the field.

The 5th is 482 yards but a par-4, regarded as the toughest hole on the course, one where both fairway and green tilt right to left, away from safety. Then comes a one shotter of 222 yards: birdies here will be gilt-edged.

The 7th is 398 yards, a sharp left-to-right dog-leg with a cluster of six bunkers guarding the elbow. Some long hitters could gamble here, flying the bunkers to leave a flick wedge, but that's not a percentage shot. Most will play short, just as they will on several holes where precision takes precedence over power - Paul Jett reckoned few will use the driver on more than six or seven tees.

One of them is the 8th, another long two shotter, relatively trouble free apart from a dramatic down-slope on the left of the green. The 9th, at 179 yards, may appear innocuous but it flatters to deceive: the side-on green is fiercely defended and the slope at the rear is the route to perdition.

The 10th is 610 yards and although it has the largest green on the course at 7,500 square feet the betting is that even those who are capable will not attempt to get up in two. Guarding bunkers demand an approach from the right side of the fairway but even from the perfect spot the green configuration predicates a lay-up as the best option for the obligatory birdie.

Patience holds the key over the next four holes, too: they're all two shotters, of disparate character and tempo. Play smart and hope a putt or two falls is sound advice, particularly for those in contention and showing red on the leader boards.

Because the moment of truth is nigh. It's make or break time.

Donald Ross believed that the long irons prove a player's ability and few are the holes at Pinehurst No.2 where they can be overlooked, either on the tee or for the second shot. In these days of inordinate length this applies even more than when he revamped the lay-out in 1935. No one will over-power this course, no matter how far they hit it. Ross would be mightily pleased.

The 15th offers a good example of his philosophy. At 202 yards to the smallest green on the course, one that is crowned, this is the hole that will offer a glorious anti-climax in the final round. Birdies here will come with golden plumage; par will be an imperative for anyone with realistic ambitions of becoming champion.

The 16th is a long two shotter of 489 yards but it probably plays 470 because it's down hill and slightly down-wind. It bends left a touch and there are bunkers 290 yards out, as the ground rises. There's oodles of space over the crest, though. Tiger and his ilk will be taking the driver here; the risk is negligible.

The approach shot is the vital one, to a green ringed by bunkers, so the shorter the iron, the higher the flight, the better the chance of a birdie. This tee shot could prove decisive in a crunch.

The breeze will be a factor in the championship but unless the weather turns freakish the maximum velocity will be about 15 mph, a mere zephyr by British links standards. But when it's across the flight it will be sufficient to nudge a ball off-target and that's the danger at the 17th, a slightly down hill 195 yarder.

This hole runs at right angles to the 18th fairway, in fact the green is near the final tee, opposite a clearing in the trees. So the right to left breeze coming down the 18th is unchecked. It's effect on all but a faded tee shot could be terminal. There are bunkers and trees to the left and bunkers right and centre, the latter the deepest on the course and just beyond a swale. There's another bunker rear right, close to the likely pin position on the final day. This could be another critical shot in round four.

The drivers will be out on the 18th tee; it's a rising fairway into the breeze and anyone in with a shout will want to be hitting no more than a medium iron into the green, to ensure a putt and a safe par or better. The elevated green runs away to the rear and from the right edge, the latter with a steep-faced bunker only a few feet away. Guess where the flag will be on Sunday?

There are more bunkers left and front right, the latter one of those Ross cross bunkers. It's some distance from the front edge, in fact there's a substantial apron thereabouts for anyone who tweaks his tee shot and is forced to play the percentages.

Considering the likely pin position on the final day it's a realistic target en route to saving par, although for those who cream the tee shot the head wind will help the approach hold the green, providing it's on-line.

So the home hole offers a birdie opportunity that in a high scoring championship could mean make or break. It's a fitting finale to what promises to be a glittering event on a peerless course.

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