Is anyone interested in

[Patrick_Mucci]

the contrasting designs being played in the Men's and Women's Opens this year ?

Merion with it's narrowed fairways and brutal rough and Sebonack with it's wide fairways, undulating greens and wind ?

Which will be more interesting and more exciting to watch ?

And how much of a role will Mother Nature play ?

[Tom Culley]

I'm definitely interested to see how the tournaments will play out.

My initial thoughts are that i would rather see the men play on a wide, firm and windy track than a narrow penal driving course. The men's power and shotmaking skills would make for far more interesting coverage i think.

It may have been suggested before, but wouldn't Merion be much more fun as an open venue if it was pretty much cut at fairway height throughout?

[Thomas Dai]

"Wouldn't Merion be much more fun as an open venue if it was pretty much cut at fairway height throughout?". A very good point made by Tom that could IMO apply, severe contours excepted, to a tremendous number of courses.

Looking forward to a US Open being held at Merion once again. I can just about recall David Grahams US Open win there and comments made at the time about how special his final round was, although I can't recall the particular details. Was it lack of last round bogies or something like that?

All the best.

[Chris DeToro]

I, for one, am super excited for both opens this year.  I'm young enough to not remember any of the majors played at Merion, but have heard so many great things about the course--can't wait to see how it plays out.  Same goes with Sebonack--heard so much about the course, but haven't seen much. 

Just wait until 2015 and the Chambers Bay Open for the men to get out on a wide, firm test.  That'll be a really interesting tournament as well...

[Garland Bayley]

The Open I would like to see would be at French Lick, with play alternating between a wide Ross course and a narrow Dye course.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Thomas,

I believe he hit every fairway and green in his last round, which is incredible.

That's also when George Burns overheard a comment from an official as he walked off a green that disturbed him and may have affected his performance

[V. Kmetz]

I have only seen Sebonac from National, and that three years ago, and I'm not quite as familiar with the Ladies styles and yardages of play as I am with the men. I loved watching the Ladies US Open contested at Newport.

However, I do not know quite how to take this run-up to the Mens US Open where the conversation is all about "the weather"

Theory 1: if the weather is fair, the course will be impossible
Theory 2: if the weather sees any mild rain, they will destroy it
Theory 3: if there's a spate of truly bad weather, certain holes may not be able to be played, and they will deploy West course holes to finish the tournament.

I don't know how much of this back and forth dovetails with what we most often discuss here, regarding B&I and other negative evolution and "restoration" push-backs or if it's a glut of over-coverage and over-opinion now that we access more opinion and coverage than ever before. 

In either case, I can't help but thinking that this US Open stands a chance to be remembered for its gerrymandered "goofiness" rather than the exhibition of elite play it produced...a la Shinnecock 04, when goofiness overshadowed (imo) the play of the top competitors and Goosen merely "survived" with timely stellar play (like that short chip/pitch on #14...perhaps the greatest pressure finesse I've seen since Watson 1982).

cheers

vk

[Patrick_Mucci]

VK,

I didn't like the Women's Open at Newport because they narrowed the fairways.

And, I'm not so sure they've been returned to their pre-Open dimensions.

Curious as to why you think the course will be impossible if the weather is fair ?

Conditions for the Open at Shinnecock were some what dictated by Mother Nature.

I agree, I don't like to see a gerrymandered course.  That's why I'm not a big fan of TCC, Congressional and others that altered the routing.

Altering the order of play is another matter.

It will be interesting to see if Tom Meeks' prediction comes true.

[Emile Bonfiglio]

Just wait until 2015 and the Chambers Bay Open for the men to get out on a wide, firm test.  That'll be a really interesting tournament as well...

2015 will be great because in a 5 week span we will see a major at Chambers Bay and then St. Andrews.

[Bill Brightly]

the contrasting designs being played in the Men's and Women's Opens this year ?

Merion with it's narrowed fairways and brutal rough and Sebonack with it's wide fairways, undulating greens and wind ?

Which will be more interesting and more exciting to watch ?

And how much of a role will Mother Nature play ?

It is an interesting question. I have to stereotype a bit, but Merion's setup is clearly an attempt to negate the average pros great length, while Sebonack will exploit what many believe to be weaknesses in women players:  putting (especially on undulating greens) and creative shot making.

The US Open is ALWAYS interesting to watch, but there is very little that is "interesting" about the set up, except if the pros whine about it so much that it sparks a debate about a ball rollback....  In fact, they should make the pros play this type of set up every week, until they beg for a rollback

[V. Kmetz]

Pat,

I do not myself have an opinion; I am repeating the various theories put out there so far:

In the case of "fair weather = impossible scoring" I am repeating Trevino and D. Owen from the recent Golf Digest and a previous interview with...I can't remember right now.

To summarize, they are saying that if the conditions are fair and sunny, then the course can/will be over-managed to blazing green and fairway overdrive speeds, long first cut and that if the course can be so managed by the USGA, they will defer to the toughest limit of these conditions including no mercy on pin locations if they judge the course isn't holding up in the first 36.

As to Newport, your view is certainly valid - I was reacting more to the more exacting play the Newport course elicited and the competitive swings it was provoking over the last 27 holes. The playoff was somewhat anti-climatic but those ladies really had to grind over the tournament days.

cheers

vk

[Jim Nugent]

Rightly or wrongly, LPGA pros are (in)famous for how slowly they play.  I wonder if the highly-contoured Sebonack greens and need for creative shot-making that Bill pointed up will exacerbate that.   

[Matthew Essig]

Just wait until 2015 and the Chambers Bay Open for the men to get out on a wide, firm test.  That'll be a really interesting tournament as well...

2015 will be great because in a 5 week span we will see a major at Chambers Bay and then St. Andrews.

Chambers Bay, St. Andrews, and then Whistling Straits? Talk about brown, firm and fast majors!!!!!!! 2015 will be amazing!!!!!!!