The USGA has come under fire many, many times in the past for its US Open course setups – so what was the consensus for the 2024 championship?
Pinehurst No.2 was the venue for the fourth time after 1999, 2005 and 2014, where it hosted the men’s and women’s US Opens in back-to-back weeks, won by Martin Kaymer and Michelle Wie.
Much was made of Pinehurst’s restoration from Coore and Crenshaw, with its sandy, waste areas and punishing green contours and run-offs. I think most people were hoping for a high-scoring US Open and that’s exactly what we got.
The US Open is supposed to be the most demanding of the four men’s Majors and that is just what Pinehurst delivered, with fairways and greens being the mantra of the week to really test the world’s best.
This was in stark contrast to Valhalla a month ago, where the course setup was more of a traditional PGA Tour event that saw two 62s and Xander Schauffele set a new record score-to-par of 21-under. Average appoach shots were finding the greens and bad ones were punished, most of the time at least, by finding perfect bunkers with splash shots out that the pros are faced with week-in, week-out.
It yielded a great champion in Xander Schauffele and an entertaining leaderboard, but Pinehurst showed us this week just how much better a Major is when the course is an exacting, elite test.
Disaster was round the corner everywhere you looked, like on the short par 4 13th on Saturday where Ludvig Aberg and Tony Finau made triple bogeys. The par 5 5th came under scrutiny in the final round when Rory McIlroy’s seemingly brilliant second shot rolled off the green and found a tough spot that ultimately led to bogey.
Had he hit that shot into a par 5 at Valhalla last month, or at any regular PGA Tour event, he likely would have had a simple two-putt or easy up-and-down.
SO close to an incredible shot by Rory……and it ends up all the way down the hill and in the native sandy area. pic.twitter.com/Nx0UBQrkATJune 16, 2024
However, McIlroy knew that there was a huge false front and that the only place he couldn’t miss was short, left. He came up short and paid the price, when perhaps he should have taken an extra club to ensure it got over the ridge (back, right was the safe miss) or maybe it was just a bad strike.
Of course, it was unlucky. He was…
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