Any minute now, the U.S. Open will begin. So far it has been a nice walk in the sun. Soon it becomes an exercise in high anxiety. Today I heard an amateur speak of winning the thing. Any minute, that amateur will pray to God that he might hit even one shot semi-straight. This is the big leagues and children should mind their manners. Consider, for instance, the cases of Rory McIlroy and Jason Day, the world’s No. 2- and No. 3-ranked players.

Major champions both, both missed the cut here and missed it badly, McIlroy with 78-71—149, Day with 79-75—154. This on days when Erin Hills treated competitors as kindly as it is likely to treat them. From here on, especially if the sun stays bright and a nice breeze dries the place, Erin Hills will be a bear. The fairways will firm up, allowing drives to run into tall fescue that promises punishment. The greens will firm up and refuse to accept shots they so far have embraced. On those firm and fast greens, we will see if our heroes are brave enough to run putts at cups cut in places chosen for their perils.

In two rounds, even before conditions and circumstances transform Erin Hills from charmer to scourge, the golf course established its bonafides. If any player had a complaint about the layout and/or set-up, it was done in private. Erin Hills, though barely a decade old, seems to have been accepted as a fit and proper U.S. Open venue. Even on his way out, McIlroy praised the place for its demands as well as its simple, sprawling beauty.

“The golf course is great,” he said. “It’s a big, big golf course, with long rough and all that stuff, but it lets you play.”

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So what happened that McIlroy and Day will be among us watching on television this weekend?

Day said the Erin Hills fairways were just too wide.

This takes some explaining since ordinary folks prefer acres of room for error.

Traditional U.S. Open fairways come with hourglass-narrow passages squeezed between bunkers and penal rough. But not here. Seen from tees, most of them elevated, the Erin Hills fairways present no problems. The bunkers are largely unreachable, many of them 320 yards toward the distant horizon. The landing areas are big as all outdoors. We mortals like the idea of being in play if we happen to spray a tee shot, oh, like, y’know, 50 yards off-line.

But Day said, “The biggest thing about this course is that the fairways are massive.”

Hmm. Yes. They are generously wide and forgiving. How, exactly, is that a problem?

Because Day is no mere mortal but a major champion and 10-time winner on the PGA Tour, he likes, even needs, the hourglass-figure challenge of most Open fairways.

“When you’re trying to aim at a target usually at a normal golf course, with normal width fairways,” he said, “there’s some pressure into hitting the fairway because it is a lot narrower than we have out here. And I think, with everything so large, your target is larger and your misses get more extreme.”

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Numbers suggest the extreme nature of Day’s misses. He hit 9 of 14 fairways in the first round, 8 of 14 today. The 11 misses mean he often sprayed drives into Erin Hills’s tall fescue. Or, as he put it, “I was in the hay too much.”

McIlroy began this Open full of confidence. He saw the wide fairways as path to victory. They played to his greatest strength as perhaps the game’s best driver, longer than anyone who hits it straighter and straighter than anyone who hits it longer. He was even so bold – no one becomes a four-time major champion by being shy – as to say the generous fairways helped him because they would force lesser drivers to press for distance.

And then he stepped to the first tee on the first day of the U.S. Open.

And the game’s best driver hit four of 14 fairways.

So what happened?

The U.S. Open happened, as McIlroy himself said: “Everything was in good shape. But you never really know until you put a card in your hand and you’re under the gun a little bit. And some of the weaknesses and flaws that are in my game at the minute showed up over the last couple of days.”

McIlroy finished Friday’s round – hitting 10 fairways — on a spectacular run with birdie putts on the last six holes, none longer than 12 feet. He made four of them.

Alas, he said hello when it was time to say good-bye.

So his plans now?

“This is not your typical U.S. Open set-up,” McIlroy said. “But I’m a big fan. I think it’s going to produce a really good winner. … I’m looking forward to how it unfolds over the weekend.”

And Day’s plans for the weekend?

“I’ll get to sit in air-conditioning,” he said, “and watch the guys tear it up.”

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This is the first U.S. Open I’ve attended and after we practiced for the first time on Monday afternoon, I’ve got to say Erin Hills really wasn’t what I expected to find.

Certainly off the tee, the golf course is big and it’s pretty wide to be honest. It’s right out in front of you so I spent Monday looking for different strategies off the tees to ensure we avoid the really penal areas.

I think some of the players have made more of this whole fescue thing than they’ve probably needed to. I think Rory’s comments are probably correct in that you really shouldn’t be missing a fairway that’s 60 yards wide. That said, if you do find the rough, you are going to get punished.

The one thing I would say is the fescue is very, very heavy right off the fairway whereas if you do actually end up missing by 15 or 20 yards, you will invariably get a better lie which does seem a little unfair.

They’ve taken the rough in by three to five feet on most holes so it presents pretty well off the tee although there are two or three blind tee shots to be negotiated.

I think the golf course from a second shot point of view, that’s really where we going to see the men separated from the boys. Look for some good iron players to do well, providing they can drive it far enough because I don’t think its going to favour a shot hitter.

Crazy golf it’s not
The pin locations I’ve seen for this morning are pretty well tucked in the green complexes. It’s a new courses and the designers have done well not to make it too crazy, but the green completes are challenging with a lot of little shoulders and shelfs and places where they can hide the flags.

The first round pin positions

Certainly on reviewing the pin placements for Thursday, there’s a lot of flags that are tight to the front edges and tight to the edges of greens.

We’ve been looking at ways, certainly on the half dozen holes you can get in with a mid to short iron, particularly the three or four short iron holes, of making sure we understand the angles that we are going in at. We’ve also paid close attention to some of the pin locations that will be both helped and hindered by some little shelfs and little shoulders that you can get access to.

The greens are quick, The surfaces don’t look that good but that’s just the fescue. They seem to be running very well. Some are very, very fast and there are a lot of run offs on either side so again look for good chippers to do well this week.

@ch3golf @djohnsonpga prepping @usopengolf #erinhills #golf #golfing #golfswing

A post shared by Justin Parsons (@jparsonsgolf) on Jun 14, 2017 at 10:34am PDT

If you think of the 9th at The Els Club in Dubai, maybe not quite as severe as that, but the ball running down to a little gathering area. So don’t be surprised if somebody with a good chipping game, whose able to negotiate that fairly well, challenges. In true US Open style, the winner will obviously need to putt well too.

We had a weather warning last night [Wednesday], kind of like a tornado warning at one stage, but the weather seems settled this morning, light winds, maybe 20 degrees already at 7am and I know they’re away already in the first round.

So you looking for players that are solid off the tee, hit it far enough, guys in what I call the mid to upper echelon, you know, the likes of Westwood, Stenson, Rose, all the way up to DJ and Bubba Watson. You definitely need to hit it far enough to contend.
I think we’ll also be talking about a good iron player come Sunday, somebody who can really control the trajectory and the shape of the ball coming into the green. So again, guys like Molinari, guys like Rose are possibly going to do well.

I watched DJ practice yesterday and he looked a little bit rusty. But Claude [Harmon] and he did some good work and by the end of the session he looked in pretty good spirits.

@peteruihlein 2nd at 3 #erinhills 171 9 iron @usopengolf #golfswing #golfing #golf #teamtitleist

A post shared by Justin Parsons (@jparsonsgolf) on Jun 14, 2017 at 1:07pm PDT

And my guy? Well I’m pleased to say Peter warmed up and practiced really well so he looks good this week. He’s feeling great and he’s nice and relaxed ready for his professional U.S. Open. It’s certainly going to be a fascinating battle. Enjoy! — With Kent Gray.

Justin Parsons is the Director of Instruction at The Butch Harmon School of Golf at The Els Club, Dubai. Among his pupils is celebrated Dubai-based Indian amateur No.1 Rayhan Thomas.

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