US Open: Chambers Bay inspires fear

Edited by Anand Datla

June 09, 2015: The U.S. Open often induces anxiety for predictable reasons. Narrow fairways. Thick rough. Firm greens. The fear of the unknown is the theme in the days before this year’s Open, though. There’s anxiety and anticipation about Chambers Bay, the nouveau links course on the site of an old gravel quarry outside Seattle.

Chambers Bay is just 8 years old and has never hosted a professional event. And, in its first national television appearance five years ago, its khaki-colored fairways and greens were comparable to concrete, leading to a scoring average near 80.

The course can stretch to a 7,585-yard, par-70, but it is not the length that people are talking about. Chambers Bay has more variables than an algebra equation. Tee boxes are long enough to double as football fields, allowing holes to vastly change in distance each day. Firm fescue grass will force approach shots to arrive at the green by land, requiring players to navigate the course’s severe slopes.

In an exclusive Twitter chat with @golfingindian last evening, Anirban Lahiri was asked about his views and knowledge of the course. “Mixed reviews. Blind holes and sloping tees,” was his cryptic response. “Will get there and let you know Friday,” he added.

Some players have expressed concern about the course. They’re worried about the unpredictable bounces their ball will take and the prospect of arriving at an unexpected tee. Others are looking forward to a unique U.S. Open.

Leave it to Jack Nicklaus, a four-time U.S. Open champion, to speak soberly on the subject. He’s never been to Chambers Bay, but reminded players, “Somebody’s name is going to be on the trophy.” He enjoyed hearing players complain in the days before a major because he could discount those players as contenders. “(The course) isn’t supposed to suit your game,” Nicklaus said. “You are supposed to suit your game to the golf course.”

Players will have to suit their games to new challenges this year. The first and 18th holes will alternate between being a par-4 and par-5. Some holes featured angled fairways that require players to choose the correct line and length from the tee. Other holes require players to decide if they’ll challenge bunkers that impinge the fairway. The 11th hole has a grass mound in the middle of the fairway that players must avoid, while the 14th features a fairway in the middle of the bunker. The par-3 15th will play anywhere from 120 yards to 240.

Davis said the goal isn’t to make the course as difficult as possible – though it will undoubtedly be that — but to challenge players with choices and to require them to make spontaneous decisions. “We may surprise you with something … and in the heat of battle, how will you think through it?” Davis said. “We really do feel that that’s part of the test.”

A calculator could come in handy, especially when players must calculate carry and roll, and with how drastically Davis can change a hole’s length. “There are so many different numbers that you have to know off the tees,” said Tiger Woods.

That is why Davis said players should play more practice rounds than usual to prepare for this year’s U.S. Open. It was a remark met with skepticism and sarcasm by some players. Woods took it seriously.

“When Mike says something like that, you got to pay attention to it,” he said. Woods’ first round at Chambers Bay took seven hours as he examined all the options.

The 2010 U.S. Amateur was the largest event previously conducted at Chambers Bay. If a course is rated by the quality of the players who succeed on it, then that tournament had a happy ending, but not without its trials.

This U.S. Open will be hard. That’s nothing new. Chambers Bay’s challenges are unique, though.

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Reproduced from Sean Martin/PGA TOUR Website