The calm before the storm

The 113th version of the US Open promises to be one of the most open US Opens in recent history.

Tiger, with four wins under his belt already this year, is not surprisingly the 6/1 favourite; but after five years without a major championship victory, the world number one needs to prove to himself and his fans that he is capable of closing the deal at the weekend. And that’s not something he’s been able to do in a major for a worryingly length of time.

Rory McIlroy is the second favourite, but has had a very disappointing season so far, ever since changing clubs at the beginning of the year. In 11 tournaments this year, he has missed the cut in one, got knocked out in the first round of another, and only finished in the top-7 once. Compared with his extraordinary year last year, which saw him reach number one in the world, those are not good results.

Perhaps the most interesting part about this year’s Championship is the course itself, which hasn’t been used for a major championship venue for over 30 years, and is very different from the normal layout of US Open courses. Merion is under 7,000 yards, has a par-3 measuring 115 yards, and several par-4s which are very nearly drivable. In fact, there are nine holes in all, where most players will have a wedge in their hands as they approach the green.

Given that the par is 70, some are predicting this course could yield the first 62 in major championship history. And yet, Merion’s fairways are narrow. And the rough is deep. Whoever wins on Sunday night will have to have driven the ball as straight as an arrow – and straight driving is not necessarily the first thing which comes to mind when you think of Woods or McIlroy.

Over five inches of rain has fallen on Merion since last Friday, and many of the players in the 156-man field look desperately undercooked. So many of them had planned 18 holes of practise on Monday, when the whole day was washed out, after the remnants of Hurricane Andrea hit the course. Very few players have prepared for this Championship as they would have wanted.

The last time the US Open was played on a wet course was two years ago, at Congressional. Rory McIlroy won that week with a score of 16-under par, which was eight shots better than anyone else in the field.

What seems likely is that this first round will be disrupted because of bad weather. The official forecast states ‘Mostly cloudy with scattered showers, especially in the morning, with thunderstorms in the afternoon’. The unofficial forecast is that a tornado might even touch down!