Interim Report from Pinehurst

A year or two ago I was playing with a newcomer to golf, a courteous gentleman from eastern Europe, successful in business, for whom English was not his first language. He was the kind of person that you could be sure would prefer to die than do anything to upset his host.

We were joined by a couple of more experienced players at a famous London club, one of whom I knew liked to gamble. Uncertain of the ability of my guest I had resolved not to bet under any circumstances. It was November and heavy rain had fallen overnight so winter rules were in force.

On the first tee the conventions relating to winter rules were briefly, but inadequately, explained to the newcomer. It was a fairly relaxed game though none of us knew each other well and this sometimes creates a slight wariness while new playing partners are sized up.

It was soon apparent that the newcomer would have been very flattered by a handicap of 36. Despite this, though, his first two recoveries from the heather were remarkably good. Then I suddenly realised that he was under the impression that winter rules applied in the rough as well as on the fairway.

Very thankful that no bets had been placed on the game I had a quiet word to put him right. Poor chap, he was absolutely mortified once he knew he had breached the rules and insisted on apologising repeatedly and at length to all of us. Feeling responsible for his mistake myself did little for my own game and this particular four was never reconvened.

I was reminded of this experience because on Thursday this week I decided the right preparation for an evening to be spent watching the US Open on tv would be an early morning round with an old friend at Sunningdale.

There we had the New course to ourselves. We both had some frustrating encounters with the heather and personally I hope the trimmer may be in action again soon. Having played together for four decades no suspicions arose about compliance with the rules. When I got home, however, and saw what the combination of sand and wire grass did to the competitors at Pinehurst No 2 I felt we had got away pretty lightly.

This post is being written before play on day three of the Championship has begun. However, in my view it has already provided absorbing viewing. Nick Faldo, a very thoughtful tv commentator, rightly stressed that one defining characteristic of this course is the huge mental challenge it poses. There’s simply never a moment when players can let their guard drop.

One statistic I’d like to hear more of is the difference between the number of greens being visited in regulation and the number on which the ball finally came to rest in regulation. Many seemingly good approach shots landed on a green and then bounced or rolled off it again, often to places from where getting up and down in two was extremely difficult.

Inevitably this slows play down. It was reported yesterday that Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy, currently the three top ranked golfers in the world, took an hour to play the fifth and sixth holes (their fourteenth and fifteenth because of the two tee start), the latter being a par three.

Despite this I found their struggles fascinating to watch and was delighted to see the way the course was set up. All three tried to reach the green at the fifth hole, one of only two par fives on the course, in two.

Yet they all found trouble in front of the green and two finished with double bogeys. Was their decision to go for the green in two the wisest course management? Yesterday’s experience at this hole will certainly add to the interest of watching it today and tomorrow.

I won’t try to pick the most likely winner at this stage as it’s clearly anybody’s guess. It’s an unusually international line-up of contenders. At one point yesterday the top eight on the leader board, separated by only two strokes, comprised three Americans and golfers from five other countries.

This diversity can only be good for the game. This morning the seven overnight leaders, still separated by only two strokes, include players from Sweden, Belgium and France, three nations which have never produced a US Open Champion…..yet.

These aren’t the only novelties coming out of Pinehurst. Bryson DeChambeau has become very popular with the fans, a far cry from four years ago when he rashly suggested Augusta National should be a par 67. He would now be a popular winner and not only within LIV. How quickly some things change.