Southampton, N.Y. – The U.S. Open has never been known as an easy test of golf and when the wind blows, it can be even more treacherous.
That was the case for the first round of this year’s third major as gusts nearing 50 kilometres blew over Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, turning an already difficult course into a beast.
Tee shots blew off line into the deep fescue and yardages went out the window as players hit short clubs long and long clubs short, trying to guess how much of a factor the wind would play.
And wind wasn’t the only weather difficulty. A thick fog descended over the course not long after the first tee time at 6:35 a.m., leading to a two-hour halt of play.
Nick Taylor and Ben Silverman were among the early wave of players who faced the worst of the conditions. Both battled to four-over rounds of 74 and looked out of fuel when they walked off their final holes.
“Probably the most difficult conditions I’ve played under,” said Silverman, who birdied two of his last four holes.
The Toronto native was walking to the tee to begin his round when play was called for the delay. He had to reset before finally teeing off and opened with a double bogey when his approach shot landed on the green but spun back down the embankment.
He made another double bogey on the par-5 16th hole when the wind pushed his tee shot into the deep grass and did the same with his third shot.
The next 11 holes were better for Silverman, who regrouped and played that stretch to one under.
“The last 11 holes I’m really happy with,” Silverman said. “The first seven was me understanding how the golf course was playing, getting comfortable. Some of the swings I made off the tee I was almost guiding them, and I finally just had to play the winds, swing hard and let the ball move and turn.”
Taylor was smoother at the start, going one under after his first three holes but followed that up with a double and then two more bogeys to make the turn at three over. Eight pars on the back were hard-earned and a final-hole bogey left the golfer frustrated and worn out after a day battling the winds.
“It’s tough,” he said. “The wind was strong. Some of those holes, nine and 18, I had 250 (yards) in and obviously crazy greens. I hit it better on the second nine.”
Judging the wind on tee and approach shots was one thing but it also affected putts, with players trying to judge just how far the ball would be pushed or slowed with the stiff breezes.
A ball on the green could easily be blown off line and often a well-struck putt would move more with the wind than a contour on the green.
“You’re trying to time it with a gust,” stated Taylor. “You’re trying to play the wind on certain breaks. It’s just hard to make putts.”
“Reading putts was different,” added Silverman. “I had to play the wind. It looks funky sometimes. A putt that breaks right but doesn’t look like it. I just had to start believing what I was seeing and trust my instincts.”
Silverman used 32 putts to get around the course while Taylor took one more. While those would be on the higher side of a regular PGA Tour stop, they were right in the middle of the field in terms of putts used.
Corey Conners and Sudarshan Yellamaraju, the other two Canadians in the field, had afternoon tee times when the breezes diminished slightly and sun replaced the clouds. Still, the course was far from easy.
Yellamaraju, playing in his first U.S. Open, scrambled to a three-over round. He managed to get up and down from the bunker four times and sealed his day by draining a 52-foot putt on his final hole.
Conners was the best of the Canadians sitting at one-under par. He was one of 50 players unable to complete their rounds due to darkness. When play was called at 8:25 p.m., he was looking at a 10-foot putt for par on the 17th hole, and then the par-5 18th to finish things off. He’ll resume play at 6:35 a.m. ET, on Friday and then start his second round at 7:45 a.m.
