Capelle On Golf

2008 US Open Coverage

The Masters’ committee has turned against Tiger Woods, actually decreasing his chances by lengthening and tightening the course. But he’s won four of those, and has perhaps seven to ten years to add a couple more and tie Nicklaus. Where Woods is lagging is in US Opens. He’s only won two so he’s got to bolster this part of his resume. No problem. The USGA is ready to ride to the rescue.

Here’s the USGA’s plan: Take Torrey Pines, an historically Tiger-friendly layout, and then set up the course so it fits his style of play. This is where Mike Davis, yes the same one who I’ve taken to task twice already (#14, pairings) and give him a free hand in determining how the course plays.

We know that there are courses for horses, and courses certain horses have little or no chance on. Woods does not get along with Riviera (0 wins in 9 starts) and Sawgrass (1 win in 11 starts). But he likes long and open driving courses that extract the minimum penalty for wayward tee shots. These include Firestone (6 wins in 9 starts) and Torrey Pines (6 wins in 11 starts).

These numbers are no accident. Give Woods what he likes and he’s close to unbeatable. Put him on a course where his wildness is penalized and he pays the price. He’s suddenly human like the rest of the field.

The USGA follows the beat of Davis, their lead drummer, when setting up a course. They can take a moderately challenging course and tweak it slightly, make it a stern test, or create a monster. It all depends on the guidelines they set up. This year’s Open could be a monster and a half. Torrey Pines, at over 7,600 yards, is the longest course in Open history. It is also being played at seaside, which makes is play longer. Grow the rough long enough, pinch the fairways girdle tight, let grass grow in front of the greens, and you’ve got the beast at full strength.

The Torrey Pines Set Up
Apparently the notion of Torrey Pines at maximum strength was too much for the USGA, so they’ve decided to back off. So much so in fact that their set up could easily play a huge role in determining the winner. Guess who their set up favors?

Woods is a long ball hitter who benefits from shorter approaches to the greens providing the USGA does not take the driver out of his hands. No problem says Davis. “We don’t want to penalize the long ball hitter. If they can hit a ball 340 yards, good for them. We’re going to give them an advantage.” Score one for Tiger.

Now let’s say Tiger hits the ball into the rough a fair percentage of the time, a reasonable assumption given that he’s one of the least accurate drivers on tour. Once again, Davis has come to Tiger’s aide. According to Golf Digest’s Ron Whitten, “Davis wants players to be able to bounce shots into greens, should they choose to do so.” That happens to be a specialty of Tiger’s – when he hits the ball in the deep stuff, no one is better at gouging it out and rolling it along the ground and up onto the green. In short, through the air (drives on the fairway) and the ground (drives in the rough), Davis has got it covered with this Tiger friendly set up.

I should note that this setup is also ideally suited to Phil Mickelson’s game. This means that come Sunday we could, at last, see the game’s two top guns battling out for golf’s top prize.