CADDIE'S ROLETiger may be only 75 per cent fit, but you would still fancy him to limp over the line, wriets Colin Byrne
THERE IS no such thing as a dead cert in sport as all of us sports fans can attest, but in the case of this week's US Open it would be safe to make an exception. Those of us who have been exposed to sport in America over the past couple of months will be inherently aware the big bay colt Big Brown was such a certainty to win the Belmont Stakes and capture the Triple Crown over the weekend. It was hardly worth the effort of actually running the race.
It was 30 years ago since Affirmed won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes which make up the Triple Crown. The racing world was in such denial about the loss last Saturday in New York that the cameras followed the last place finisher Big Brown back to his stable instead of the 38 to 1 outsider Da'Tara back to the winner's enclosure.
Well the Grand Slam of golf is only possible for one player this year and that is the winner of the first of this year's majors, the Masters champion Trevor Immelman.
A bit like the Belmont Stakes winner, Immelman will not be the first name that springs to mind when predicting a winner at Torrey Pines next Sunday but of course the world's number one golfer will be very much in mind when thinking of the 108th US Open champion.
There is a regular tour event, the Buick Invitational, which is played over both the north and the south course at Torrey Pines in very different conditions in January. Torrey South will be the longest course on which the US national championship will be played at 7,643 yards.
The number one- and two-ranked players in the world have won respectively six and three times around this course. Tiger Woods won for the first time when he was a scrawny 15-year-old, the last victory was by eight shots five months ago as a well developed 32-year-old.
So despite his long lay-off from competitive golf since his knee surgery after the Masters in April, you would still fancy Woods at 75 per cent fit over a course where he has dominated in tournament golf.
When it comes to horses for courses, a lame Woods is still likely to be the best runner over four days at this course. Unlike the veteran Kenny Perry who won the Memorial a couple of weeks ago and has decided not to play this year's US Open. He would have had to pre-qualify and given his record of three previous appearances at Torrey Pines without making the cut, he wisely opted to sit this one out. It is of course one of the advantages of experience that over decades of beating your head against the wall at a course that clearly does not suit you, empirical evidence suggests that sitting out is the best option for retaining one's sanity.
The question of exempt players opting not to exercise their right to play in a major is an age-old talking point. Perry clearly has designs at 48 years of age to play in the US Ryder Cup team and making that team is more of a realistic priority than winning a US Open on a course where he does not feel like he can realise his golfing potential.
It leads to the question of why professionals play. Is it simply to pay bills or romantically to compete and possibly win a place in golfing history? It's the dreamer versus the realist and given the large portions of realism you need to keep sane playing the constantly challenging and often inexplicable game of golf professionally, I would support Perry's decision.
Majors have a heightened sense of awareness built into them. The expectation, the demands of a challenging course manicured and often taken to the limits of fair play when prepared for the event and the demands made off course at these big events begin long before Thursday morning.
Many players engage in lengthy interviews and promotional campaigns weeks before the event adding to the premature expectation. Some, like Phil Mickelson, camp out at the venue a week in advance.
Despite the challenge of a very tough course and the need for extra preparation to meet those demands I can't help but feel it would be better for some players to show up for a practice round on Wednesday morning and see how their game copes without any expectation, thus avoiding all the hassle.
There is nothing left to chance at these majors when it comes to course preparation. For the past seven years Torrey Pines has been readied for this week. From the height and thickness of the rough: fairway; three-eights inches high, 23 to 33 yards wide, intermediate rough; 1¾ inches high and six feet wide, primary rough 2½ inches high, 15 feet wide, second cut primary rough; 3½ inches high the remaining width of each hole, to the fairways which will be firm, the poa annua greens which are already running at 13 on the stimpmetre, all is carefully controlled and monitored.
The officials of the Southern California Golf Association rated the course at 79.7. This means Torrey South is one of the most difficult courses in the world. Hopefully it won't humiliate the world's best golfers and repeat the upset that the racing world suffered last weekend as they watched their hero limp over the finish line in last place."When it comes to horses for courses, a lame Woods is still likely to be the best runner over four days at this course
