Why Shinnecock may not offer the US Open test it has in the past

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, The USGA took the unusual step of asking for the seventh green to be watered mid-round during the 2004 US Open at Shinnecock Hills By Iain Carter Golf correspondent Published 1 hour ago Lessons have been learned, insist organisers of the US Open after the past two visits to Shinnecock Hills descended into controversy over brutal and ultimately substandard set ups of the Long Island layout. US Opens are invariably about the golf course and the way it is laid out to test the world's best players, but whenever America's national championship is staged at Shinnecock there seems an extra dimension to the extremity of the examination. It is a unique venue. This is probably the closest the event comes to being played on a links course. It is not quite on the shoreline, but is treeless, windswept and exposed, and the links-like turf runs fast and firm. Sometimes too fast and firm. In 2004, when Retief Goosen produced one of the all-time great putting displays to secure his second US Open title, the seventh green needed to be hand watered mid-round because the 189-yard par-three hole had become unplayable. Image source, Getty Images Image caption, After controversially hitting his moving ball during round three of the 2018 US Open, Mickelson said: "I know it's a two-shot penalty. I've had multiple times where I've wanted to do that, I just finally did." The next time the tournament came to Southampton, New York, gusty winds pushed the first round scoring average to more than six over par. Rory McIlroy was among those who failed to break 80 and English qualifier Scott Gregory shot 92. The following day proved nearly three shots easier, but for those who made the cut the Saturday became gruesome. "I've never seen a golf course change that quickly," said Justin Rose. "We came off pretty much shell-shocked." It broke Phil Mickelson when the six times major champion resorted to hitting a moving ball to prevent his putt from running off the 13th green. It was a moment as comedic as controversial; one of the world's best golfers turning into a hockey player with a move that many thought should have led to the American being thrown out of the championship. Instead he received a two-shot penalty for breaching rule 14-5, which deals with hitting a moving ball. It meant he ran up a 10 on that 13th hole. Compounding the difficulty of rock hard greens that grow quicker and quicker as the day progresses, especially when polished by drying coastal winds, was the overall set up of the course. The United States Golf Association (USGA) narrowed fairways appreciably from the widths played by the Shinnecock members. Players were confronted with five inch rough if tee shots veered only marginally off line. Staying in control of the golf ball - the ultimate test as far as the USGA is concerned - was nigh on impossible. No one totalled under par for the four rounds with American Brooks Koepka's score of one over beating Tommy Fleetwood