US OPEN: Tough Torrey test

IN the middle of June, the world’s leading golfers will travel to Torrey Pines on the California coast to compete in the US Open.

You can bet your bottom dollar that, once the game’s elite arrive there, one of the first questions most of them ask will be: “What’s the course like?”

Torrey Pines, of course, is well known to many of the competitors as the regular home of January’s Buick Invitational.

But that won’t stop Tiger Woods and the rest of the field chomping at the bit to find out what the USGA has done to toughen up the course in readiness for the second Major championship of the year.

The USGA, not unfairly, has inherited a reputation for producing golf courses which can be described as brutal. It started back in 1974 when, in the face of criticism about the course set-up at Winged Foot, tournament director and future USGA president, Frank “Sandy” Tatum decided to act.

He responded with the oft-quoted words: “We’re not trying to humiliate the best players in the world. We’re trying to identify who they are.”

Sadly, there is a fine line between the two, as successive US Open fields have found to their cost. Sometimes the USGA sets up its courses to be tough but fair, like at Pinehurst No. 2 in 1999 or at Pebble Beach the following year. But, more often that not, conditions are best described as diabolical, resulting in a series of US Opens that have been as dull as dishwater – or should that be as dull as the last two Masters tournaments?

Frequently, when on my travels, I am asked to nominate my favourite Major Championship.

Until recently, I had no hesitation in suggesting it was either the Masters or the Open Championship.

Nowadays, however, it is becoming increasingly hard to warm to the tournament at Augusta National.

Memories of Jack Nicklaus’s emotional victory in 1986 or Nick Faldo’s demolition of Greg Norman 10 years later produce little but a distant glow.

Instead, they have been replaced by thoughts of Zach Johnson and Trevor Immelman’s tedious marches to victory over the last two years.

Slowly but surely, it appears the Masters is morphing into the US Open and I believe the blame for that rests squarely with the current regime’s determination to make the course as tough as it can be.

Once, Augusta National was famous, not just for its beauty, but for the excitement it created. No longer, it would seem. When was the last time we saw a golfer romp round in 63 or 64?

How long has it been since the crowd – made up of the patrons – has been enlivened by a significant charge round Amen Corner?

The answer to both is some time ago, and the event has been significantly diminished as a result.

The Masters used to be regarded as unmissable, both by keen golfers and many others beside. It attracted a truly dedicated audience glad to sit up until well past midnight knowing they would be regally entertained.

Those days are past, though.

Since the first week in April, I have lost count of the number of people who have told me they started to watch the action but then switched off, either bored or disillusioned by what they had seen, and if I were a Masters official that would concern me a great deal.

Until now, nobody ever questioned the Masters’ right to be considered a Major simply because it was so revered within the game of golf.

However, should it continue to lose its audience, not to mention its cachet, there will be those who start to look at the depth of the respective fields and suggest the Players Championship might be more deserving of this accolade.

That scenario, of course, is a long way off, if indeed it ever materialises.

In the meantime, I would suggest the USGA will continue to stage their US Open exactly as they want to, impervious to the almost annual complaints about the courses they set-up from competitors, journalists and spectators alike.

As the custodians of America’s national championship, they know its status is secure irrespective of how they chose to set up their venues.

What’s more, they can probably argue, with some legitimacy, that once a year the top players should be tested to the limit and beyond.

But once a year is plenty enough, I would suggest.

What the world doesn’t need is two US Opens, so Augusta National please take note.