00:00And what we're seeing here, we've heard people talk about this week, is that these fairway wits are wider than
00:05you might assume or expect from a test like Shinnecock Hills.
00:09And so, what have you seen out there on the course and the way you think this is going to
00:13play and the type of player this is going to favor?
00:17Well, the greens right now, just walking around it, I would say are more on the green side.
00:22So, a little bit on the shaggier, feeling like they're a little bit more receptive.
00:27And that's saying, and that's from a Shinne standpoint, right?
00:31We're not talking about receptive for what a PGA Tour event is.
00:34I'm talking about what we've seen at Shinnecock.
00:38They're firm.
00:39But, like, they're still receptive firm for what we have seen and know about this golf course.
00:44Yes, there's plenty of room off the tee.
00:46And I think that's one thing that they almost feel like they have to give the players.
00:51And I know the membership definitely felt like some of the fairways were overdone.
00:56That weren't in the original design and the intention of the architect, William Flynn.
01:01And it's really good.
01:05What I'm concerned about is the wind direction and where it comes from.
01:12This golf course is designed to be played in a southwest wind.
01:17Okay.
01:17We are going to see some of that, I think, on Thursday, which is a very, very windy day.
01:23They're talking about 30 to 40-mile-an-hour gusts on Thursday.
01:27We might see some rain late in the day.
01:30Now, these things, of course, can always change.
01:33But at least that's the wind direction this golf course is designed to be played in.
01:38So I think players will have one side in which they will be able to miss it, where they will
01:45have an opportunity to get up and down.
01:47Now, all of this to say is that I think the USGA realized since 2018 from the overreaction of the
01:562017 Aaron Hills of, gosh, we don't want a 12-under, 14-under winner.
02:01Like, that's not the USGA.
02:03The design of the U.S. Open, it's golf's hardest test.
02:06And that was their identity.
02:08All the Mike Davis years of, you know, of what fans, you know, turn on and expect and what players
02:15expect when they show up.
02:16But this is a place that you can lose it.
02:19You know, I could see some greens where I'm like, boy, if this thing was firm and fast and you
02:24got a wrong wind direction for the shape of this hole, it's almost unplayable.
02:30And when Zach Johnson, you know, this is my first time seeing this place, right?
02:34So when he said that, you know, they've lost the golf course, I don't think I've really understood that until
02:41I've really got out here and be like, okay, I could see a world in which you could lose the
02:45golf course.
02:47Green complexes that are heavily sloped one direction with a wind direction that's not helping you stop the golf ball.
02:55There's some holes that come to mind out here.
02:58For instance, if the 11th hole, one of the smallest greens on the property, the short par three, when you
03:04have a wind that is what we were going to see on Saturday, which is actually a wind that we
03:09saw today, which is today was northwest, but Saturday is supposed to be like west northwest.
03:16So what direction will that be coming from on that left?
03:19In off the left.
03:20In off the left.
03:21So that is going with the slope.
03:23So when you think about it, if it's gusty at all, it's going to really be tough to get the
03:28golf ball to stop.
03:29If you're long left of that green, I think I talked to a stats guy today that said when they
03:36had a similar wind direction to that in the 2018 U.S. Open, 33% of the players hit that
03:43green in regulation, which is an insanely low number, right, for a short par three.
03:48So that's where players, I think, right now are just trying to get a feel for where the USGA has
03:56this golf course set up.
03:57Are they babying into the week?
04:01Are they going to really try to see what they can kind of get out of the golf course early?
04:07But based on what I think I've understood is that they're going to keep green speeds on the safe side.
04:14They're going to keep them around 10.5, 11, and, you know, try to get through that Thursday round where
04:20it's going to be the highest gusts and then kind of crescendo from there.
04:23Lee Trevino famously called that 11th hole, especially with winds like that, the shortest par five in the world, which
04:28would make sense if you think about what we saw.
04:31We revisited Brooks Koepka's, you know, the amazing four he made there en route to his win in 2018.
04:39And I think it's interesting, too, with just the grass type out here where it is this sort of old
04:44world mix, I believe, of some bent, some poe, maybe some red fescue.
04:49And the way that that behaves where, you know, it's less of a – it has less of a grab
04:54to it than a bent grass.
04:56All I think about is Austin Powers.
05:00Oh, behave.
05:03This is – every time I try to, you know, read something out of a book or, you know, have
05:07an elevated discussion around here, it's like, what about an Austin Powers writer?
05:14But I think it's – when you factor in – like, I can understand why what you're saying makes sense,
05:21you know, almost keeping the health of the green up if you do have 40-mile-per-hour winds or
05:25gusts coming into play.
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