ESPN.com - Golf Online - US Open Men 2000 - Pebble Beach not course players know

By David Kraft
ESPN Golf Online
Thursday, June 15

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- They've all seen Pebble Beach. They've all played Pebble Beach. A few have even won at Pebble Beach.

But do any of the players teeing off Thursday in the 100th U.S. Open know this Pebble Beach?

The No. 2 Controversy

Historians are outraged. So are many of the players. Only the brass at the USGA seems happy that the scorecard for the U.S. Open says the second hole at Pebble Beach is a par 4, while the one used the other 361 days a year says it's a par 5.

"Why change something that you have a historical reference?" said Tiger Woods. "We've always played this golf course as par-72. The major championships -- we've had the Tour Championship here, we've had the PGA and state amateurs here, and we've had the AT&T, Crosbys -- it's always been par-72. All of the sudden, we make it a par-71.

"And I don't think that's right, just because now we can't really compare all the past champions."

A tree that guarded the front of the second green is gone. That made the relatively short par-5 a shooting gallery for the U.S. Open field. So the USGA decided to move up the tees slightly and change the scorecard to a par-4, prompting howls from those who say the organization is just trying to keep the players over par.

"I understood completely the reasoning behind it," said David Duval, "and I would tend to agree with the USGA. That tree being gone has changed it."

Duval was alone in his assessment. "There's no sense in making it a par 4," said Tom Watson.

But does it really matter? Other than the fact that players will be hitting longer irons into the green, everyone will be playing the same hole.

"It's total score at the end of the day," said Colin Montgomerie.

-- David Kraft

Forget about it.

"A lot of guys think because they've come here and played it at the AT&T that they're going to get experience on how this golf course plays," said Jack Nicklaus, the only man in the field to have played in the three previous Opens at Pebble.

"I've never seen many rounds at the AT&T that give you much experience for what we're getting this week. You get to know the golf course and certain areas, but you're not going to know much about it."

Pebble Beach in June is only a distant cousin to Pebble Beach in February. Early in the year the course plays long. It's damp. The greens hold. The fairways are relatively generous. Rough is minimal. Scores can run as low as 20-under par at the AT&T (with two of the rounds played elsewhere); 28 players broke par in the final round of the AT&T this year.

Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open is nothing like that, thanks to Mother Nature and the United States Golf Association (and not necessarily in that order). The tiny greens are rock hard. The fairways roll, but are narrow, thanks to rough that has climbed to as high as 4½ inches. And the wind can be fierce in June, just as it was for the final two days the last time the Open was played here in 1992.

"It's a brand new golf course," said Masters champion Vijay Singh, second at the AT&T earlier this year. "I've never seen (this) golf course play so fast and short. The greens are so much stiffer. You get on the wrong side of the green now (and) it's a different ballgame. So it's going to take some getting used to."

The common adage at Pebble is to get to the par-3 seventh hole under par, survive the brutal stretch of Nos. 8, 9 and 10 along the ocean, and play steadily through the final eight holes -- keeping in mind that the par-5 18th can be a birdie hole if the wind isn't in your face.

But this year, the par-5 second hole is now a par-4, taking away an easy birdie opportunity. And Nos. 8, 9 and 10 could be brutal with the combination of hard fairways and a lot of wind -- and could determine the winner.

The 418-yard par-4 eighth is a blind tee shot to a plateau, followed by a shot over the inlet of the Pacific to a smallish green. It played as the third-toughest hole in 1992.

The 466-yard par-4 ninth has been the toughest hole in each of the last two Opens at Pebble Beach. It, too, hugs the coastline, sloping to the right (and the beach below) with a difficult approach.

And the 446-yard par-4 10th was the second-toughest hole in 1982 and fourth-toughest eight years ago, yielding just 51 birdies compared to 144 bogeys or worse.

"You must play them well in order to win, because you can make a big number of big mistakes," said Tom Watson, who won the Open here in 1982.

Watson thinks the winner could be as much as 5-under, assuming the weather remains docile -- as predicted. Few others are willing to go that low, especially with the course now a par-71, though most think that number is meaningless.

"I think that 284, which is now level par, will be the winning score," said Colin Montgomerie, who was even-par and finished third here eight years ago. "A lot of players would take that before we start."

Phil Mickelson played a practice round Tuesday and said he is willing to leave the ball short -- either in the fairways or even a bunker - rather than aim at some of the small, firm greens.

"There's going to probably be about six or seven greens where I won't even try to hit them, if you can imagine that," said Mickelson, "because they are so small and so hard that there are a couple that are virtually impossible to keep the ball on the surface."

The USGA says the rough is uniform around the course, at approximately 4½-inches -- an inch higher than had been originally planned. Officials decided to raise it four weeks ago after some testing. The rough will remain at that height throughout the tournament.

They will also keep water on the greens -- enough to keep them alive, but not enough so that they slow down. Still, they will be running at 11 or higher on the Stimpmeter by week's end.

"Chipping will be irrelevant this week," said Mickelson. "If you get in the rough around the greens, you can't control it. What will matter is putting. Putting will be key. I think whoever wins is going to have to make a lot of 12- and 15-footers during the week."

"The key element in this golf course is how small the greens play," said Watson. "They're just tiny. And when you have conditions like they did in the '92 U.S. Open when the golf course got away from them, the greens become concrete. Then, they go from being a dinner plate to a coffee cup saucer."

Sure, it's still Pebble Beach. It's just not that Pebble Beach.