ESPN Golf Online: North: Nothing could be finer


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North: Nothing could be finer

By Andy North
Special to ESPN Golf Online
June 15 12:08pm ET

PINEHURST, N.C. -- I think for most of the players, particularly the Americans, this is the biggest event because it's the national championship. Anyone in this country who can play well enough has a chance to qualify for the Open.

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Each week Andy North will answer three user questions. If you have a question, send it to Andy and check back next week to see if he answers it.
Will Tom Lehman play well at Pinehurst?
-- Chris Noel, Louisville, Ky.
North: He's playing well, finishing second last week in Memphis. He's an excellent iron player. I think he's had terrific success in the Open. I don't know how he'll deal with the edges of the greens and chipping and putting from there. I don't think that's his strength. But he may hit enough greens that he'll be fine. His strength is hitting a lot of greens, and under normal Open conditions that would fit him well. This week, though, everybody will miss a lot of greens, and the outcome will determined by who gets it up and in around the greens.
As a two-time U.S. Open champion, what mental and/or physical preparation did you do to get ready to compete for our country's tournament?
-- Gary Crandall, Grapevine, Texas
North: I actually started getting mentally and physically prepared probably two months before the tournament. I'd start practicing shots I'd need to play. I'd started trying to gear all my practice to the Open. I'd gear my off time to resting for it. Emotionally and mentally, I'd go over shots I needed to play, how tough I had to be. You have to get ready for crazy things happening you can't control and keep grinding away. To me, that's what the U.S. Open is -- keeping your patience and just grinding and trying to figure out a way not to make double bogeys. That's hard to do in an Open.
I have read comments about John Daly and how he has earned the right to continue playing on the PGA Tour with his two wins in the majors. How long are the exemptions for winning majors? Are the exemptions different for each major tournament, and has John Daly earned a lifetime exemption for his two major wins?
-- Darryl Carrington, Houston, Texas
North: He's earned a 10-year exemption from the PGA Championship. He's exempt in the British Open until he's 65. But the last five British Open champions are exempt into the U.S. Open. If you win the U.S. Open, you are exempt into the U.S. Open for 10 years. If you win The Masters, you are exempt into The Masters forever.

To me, the U.S. Open was the most important tournament, one I geared my schedule around. When I was a kid, it was the tournament I wanted to win. As a 15-year-old on a putting green at night waiting for a ride home, I'd pretend I was making five-foot putts to win the U.S. Open and beat Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
That was one of the reasons I played well at the Open; I was able to focus and get fired up to play. Getting to Sunday with a chance to win your national championship is the greatest feeling in the world. After working your whole life to be in that position, actually doing it is terrific.
Each major has its own flavor. For The Masters, there are big, wide fairways and not much rough. Basically, the outcome is determined by how well the players handle the greens. At the British Open, you encounter the wind and firm conditions, a different kind of golf in which you have bounce the ball onto the greens. The U.S. Open is traditionally played on more mature golf courses with deep roughs, big trees and fast greens. It takes three different types of games to win those three majors.
But this year will be a one-of-a-kind U.S. Open because Pinehurst No. 2 is unlike other courses on which the Open has been played. There's no rough around the greens or off the fairways. It's a course on which you have to be a great iron player. You also must have a lot of imagination around the greens and be a good chipper and putter. You'll have a lot of chances to chip and run the ball around the greens. You'll be putting from 30-40 yards off the greens.
We'll see shots played this week that we've never seen played before in a U.S. Open, more British Open-type shots around the greens. Because of that, I think the U.S. Open may cater more to the Europeans, players like Jose Maria Olazabal and Colin Montgomerie.
Because of rain this week, the course is much softer than the USGA would want. Hopefully, the course can get dried out so it's firm and fast. This will be a great championship if the course gets dry and the greens get harder.
A U.S. Open course is never easy, but if the course stays soft from the rain, it will be easier than the players would have expected. If the greens are soft, the players have a chance. If they get hard, it will be really tough. But it looks like the course will be soft for at least the first couple of rounds, making for low scores.
In preparation, the players are mostly working on their short games -- chipping, putting, pitching -- the types of shots they'll have to play this week. That's so important. Generally, players come to the Open well-prepared. The players are always tweaking their games, but at the Open, if a player can chip and putt well and make the four- or five-foot putts, he'll fare well.
There are six or seven difficult holes on the Pinehurst course that the players must play well to be in contention on Sunday. On the front nine, there's the difficult par-4 second hole, always one of the toughest two or three holes on the course. I've always thought it has been the most difficult because I've had trouble with it forever. No. 5, a fabulous par-4, is generally considered the most difficult. In addition, the par-3 sixth hole can pose a problem.
On the back nine, No. 11 is solid par-4; No. 14 and No. 15 are two difficult holes in succession, and No. 18 is a challenging finishing hole. All the other holes should play even among the field. But if a player can play the difficult holes at even par for the tournament, he could be six to eight shots ahead of the field.
So much will depend on patience and how a player handles it when he hits a good shot that hits off one of the crowns on the greens and it ricochets 25 yards off the green. The patience level here will be huge.
It's hard to pick one or two favorites, but -- as I've mentioned -- I like Olazabal and Montgomerie, particularly Olazabal. He will be tough after finishing well last week at Memphis. Montgomerie is playing well and is very accurate with his shots.
Davis Love III, who hails from down the road in Myrtle Beach, knows Pinehurst well. It's a good course for him because of his length, his iron play, and his putting from off the green, which will be huge this week.
I think Pinehurst is a good course for Justin Leonard and Mark O'Meara, two Americans who have thrived on British Open-style courses. Really, there are a ton of players who can win this week, more than normal for a U.S. Open because of the conditions. You can pick from 20-25 players.
Before his teapot incident, I thought David Duval was without a doubt the odds-on favorite. But now, who knows? Does he have the touch and the feel to play as well as he needs to? Will he have pain? Will he be able to hit enough balls? Will it bother him at the end of the round? We don't know the answers to those questions. Duval has pointed to this event, but if his hand is bothering him, it'll be tough for him to win.
We've all done silly things like that. I've cut fingers doing yard work. Sometimes, it's a point in your grip where it doesn't bother you much. Other times, it can keep you from functioning. We'll have to see how Duval handles it.

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