by Jeff Skinner
From my point of view the opening round of the U.S. Open was glorious. The weather cooperated and gave us a glorious day. I spent most of the day on the course with my brother and number two son watching some of the best golfers in the world try and figure out this new and very intriguing Pinehurst course.
For me it was a fun day. Usually at a U.S. Open fun is a word never used by the players. They have been dragged down by the toughest and most frustrating course they’ll see all year. It has been that way for decades. It was simple: the U.S. Open is not fun.
But this isn’t your father’s U.S. Open. But as Jimmy Roberts put it earlier in the week, “It may be tour grandfather’s Open.”
The newly restored Pinehurst No.2 as been brought back to all it’s old school glory. There’s no rough at all and the players are seeing a course they never really played before.
This new/old course has been setup unlike any U.S. Open in the past fifty years. And it has prompted a reaction never associated with this major championship: It was fun
At least that’s what the youngest of the young guns said after his round yesterday.
Jordan Spieth opened with a one under par 69 and he said it was more than fun,” It was a lot of fun,” as he played with Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama in the “Young Guns” grouping. “Both of those guys played really well, so we were able to feed off each other. You just want to see some putts go in at a venue like this. You just want to see any putts going in, so you know you can make them.”
Fun, at the U.S. Open? Oh, the innocence of youth. Maybe that’s just the attitude needed to play this course and be successful. At least for one day at a player had some fun.
This certainly isn’t your daddy’s U.S. Open.
Click here for Jason Sobel’s piece.
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