US Open’s Pinehurst No. 2 in the news

Randall Mell of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reported on Tuesday that the setup at Pinehurst No. 2 is already difficult with penal rough and turtleback greens that are potentially more severe than Shinnecock’s. USGA Executive Director David Fay is quoted, “One thing I can assure you is that we still want the Open to be a tough, fair championship with an emphasis on the word tough.”

Mandy Schulz of the Sun Journal Staff, reports that Pinehurst No. 2 will have a uniform set up with a green speed set between 11 and 11 ½. Pinehurst No. 2 has to be this way, the USGA says, because the players are just that good.

Mark Wogenrich of The Morning Call quotes Vijay Singh, “This is the hardest U.S. golf course I’ve played from tee to green and around the greens. It’s going to be one hell of a test.”

Robert Bell describes the site of this week’s US Open as a torturous course where “some of the fairways are barely wider than the narrow roads that weave through this village.”

Chip Alexander quotes Phil Mickelson, on the state of the US Open Pinehurst course, for The News & Observer, “The grass is so tight, there’s a lot of sand in those areas and the grain of the grass is always going away from the green, or into the player,” he said. “It makes for the shot to be much more difficult than if it were the other way.”

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