Why the front nine is easier than the back at LACC

LOS ANGELES – The early-week game plan for the 2023 U.S. Open was simple: find the fairway, pick your spots and attack when possible.

But as the week at Los Angeles Country Club has progressed, a new wrinkle has been added: find the fairway, pick your spots and attack the front nine, then hang on for dear life on the back nine.

Players quickly took note of the scoring discrepancy between the two sides of LACC’s North Course, and the week has since been a tale of two nines. Even as conditions began to firm up during Saturday’s third round, the front nine remained scorable given the number of wedges players can hit from the short stuff, the getable par 5s – No. 1 is a handshake right off the bat and No. 8 is reachable in two more times than not – as well as the drivable par-4 6^th hole.

“I’m not saying it’s easy, but you can definitely get 3- or 4-under through six holes and get off to a good start and hang on on the back nine,” said Harris English of the front nine.

“Yeah, the back nine is just a lot tougher,” noted Rory McIlroy on Friday after he played the front nine 10 under over two rounds. “You’ve got a lot of — those last three holes, 16, 17, 18, are playing tough even if it is pretty benign conditions out there.”

That’s putting it lightly.

After the third round, the front nine clocked in at 86-over par for the week. The back nine? That’d be 595-over par (shoutout stats guru Justin Ray).

MORE: 2023 U.S. Open leaderboard

Through 3 rounds at LACC

Front nine: +86
Back nine: +595 https://t.co/PbJIwDQRox

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) June 18, 2023

The back nine has a bit more bite, and compared to the four or five scorable holes on the front, there’s really only one or two on the back.

“I think maybe 15 is a really good — like 15 is probably one of the more realistic ones because it’s a wedge, so if you have a wedge, you have a chance to get it close and have a chance,” said Tom Kim. “But par-5, 14, like if you hit a good drive, get it up there, especially with a back pin, definitely, but those are only two holes out of how many. So not a lot.”

Over the first three rounds, the long, par-4 17th hole has played as the most difficult on the golf course this week. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Scottie Scheffler is the first player in 20 years to make an eagle on the hardest hole of a U.S. Open after he holed out from the fairway en route to a 2-under 68.

With 18 holes still to go, eight players within…