7th is long on trouble

The 189-yard par 3 is proving to be one of the most difficult holes at Shinnecock and could be pivotal

BY GREG LOGAN | STAFF WRITER

June 17, 2004

There's nearly always one hole in a U.S. Open that proves to be a torture chamber disguised as a picture postcard. But few of the pros in the starting field for the 104th Open today at Shinnecock Hills would have guessed ahead of time that the real No. 1 handicap hole would be the 189-yard par-3 seventh hole.

Although No. 7 is the classic "Redan Hole" - which slopes sharply from right to left toward a deep bunker - it's not even the most celebrated par-3 at Shinnecock Hills. That distinction belongs to the 158-yard 11th, which has a postage stamp green that is difficult to hit when the winds kick up. During the 1986 U.S. Open, Lee Trevino famously called No. 11 the "shortest par-5 in America."

But this is a different Shinnecock Hills from the course the pros saw in 1986 and 1995. Hundreds of trees have been removed to allow the wind to take full effect. Nowhere has the change been as drastic as at No. 7, where course superintendent Mark Michaud said a wall of trees behind the green was removed along with a privet hedge behind the tee that protected against a wind coming out of the south.

In the past, the flag might lie limp even in a 20-mile-per-hour wind. But no more.

"Now the golfer is hit in the face by the wind and really feels it and is intimidated by it on the tee, and the flagstick is bent over about halfway and the flag is flapping," Michaud said. "That's probably the place that will be most affected playability-wise."

Even with those changes, it still came as a surprise to Michaud and USGA officials how difficult No. 7 played in the practice rounds. When the USGA decided to dry out the course to more nearly approximate British Open conditions, the greens firmed up to the point that even the flatter ones are hard to hold.

"We didn't expect No. 7 to be the most talked about, hardest hole," Michaud said. "It has ended up that way, and it's great."

Unless you have to play it, that is. Most balls take the right-to-left slope and wind up at the bottom of the deep sand trap on the left side. Heaven forbid that a player strays too far right into the sand trap on the high side. His second shot is likely to wind up in the trap on the left with double-bogey a distinct possibility.

On Tuesday, a group including Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Thomas Bjorn, all top international players, failed to keep even one tee shot on the green. "We were joking after we played that hole that, if you hit 17 greens, you'll get 100 percent in greens in regulation because it's almost impossible to hit that green," Garcia said. "Ernie hit an unbelievable - just a great shot with a 4-iron into the wind and to the right. He flew it pretty much middle right of the green about two yards right of the hole. Left bunker.

"It's one of those holes where you've just got to realize you're probably going to have to get up-and-down from the left bunker to make par. You have to hit an absolutely perfect shot to get it on that green."

Tim Moraghan, who supervises course preparation for the USGA, said the pin positions at No. 7 likely will be in softer spots so players have a better opportunity to avoid being penalized for hitting a good shot. But there's little doubt the field will find plenty of trouble there, anyway.

"It will probably be the toughest hole out here," Masters champion Phil Mickelson said of No. 7. "I think the percentage of players that hit the green in regulation will be less than 20 percent. If you play it 2-over for four rounds, that will be a pretty good score."

No. 7

Par 3

189 yards

Because the prevailing wind is in the player's face on the tee, the hole plays longer than its yardage. The green has a right to left slope and is very difficult

to hold. A tee shot missed to the right is bogey territory and double bogeys lurk for those players who get too cute with their recoveries. Putts from past the pin, particularly from the right side, are extremely fast. The safest play will be to the left side of the green and recovery is possible from the chipping area long and left.

No. 7 was the ninth-most difficult hole in the 1986 U.S. Open at Shinnecock (3.210 scoring average) and again in 1995 (3.286).

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