PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA | It’s possible, perhaps likely, that the winner of this U.S. Open will hit driver off the tee no more than four or five times per round at Pebble Beach.
Think about that for a moment.
The U.S. Open, which has always prided itself on being the total examination of a golfer, will demand discipline more than distance. Any player feeling frisky enough can hit a dozen drivers per round but all that’s likely going to get them is a trip home on the weekend.
Pebble Beach, for all of its glorious beauty, isn’t a beast when it comes to distance. It will measure 7,075 yards for this U.S. Open, varying a few yards from day to day, depending on where tees are placed and from which direction the wind is blowing.
That’s downright quaint by modern standards, especially after Erin Hills measured more than 7,800 yards in three of the four U.S. Open rounds two years ago.
To borrow a perspective from Fox Sports analyst Paul Azinger, Pebble Beach tells players what to do. The challenge is doing it under U.S. Open c...
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