Newport Country Club (And Mother Nature) Could Cause U.S. Senior Open Carnage

NEWPORT, R.I. — You can’t beat the views at Newport Country Club. For the world’s best senior golfers, though, the U.S. Senior Open this weekend might provide some unsightly looks on the scorecard.

The tournament teed off Thursday morning in southern Rhode Island. It marks the first USGA tournament at the historic course — one of the organization’s five founding clubs — since the 2006 U.S. Women’s Open.

The legendary Annika Sorenstam not only had to outlast the field that week, but she also had to endure the conditions. Fog wiped out the entire first round, and the field — what was left of it — had to play the final 36 rounds on Sunday. Sorenstam then had to hold off Pat Hurst in an 18-hole Monday playoff after the two were tied at even par through 72 holes. The cut that weekend was 8-over.

The weather that Sunday was pretty brutal. The winds came howling off the Atlantic Ocean, presenting a challenging and constant battle for the field. Sorenstam, for instance, was hitting 4-iron into a 155-yard par 3.

Scores might be slightly better this week for the Senior U.S. Open, but that’s no guarantee. A lot of it will come down to those conditions.

As is typically the case with USGA setups, the eventual champion is going to be tested in a variety of ways this week, especially if Mother Nature drops in on Newport.

“Most of the greens, you can run the ball into the green of the fairway, so it’s really built, as I say, for the wind in a lot of instances,” two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els said in a press conference Tuesday. “There’s maybe just a couple of holes out there where there’s a bit of water that comes into play. There’s little berms on the sides that you’ve got to be careful of, little hazards here and there.

” … It’s going to be a different taste this week. The wind is going to play a huge factor. Greens are very up, and there’s a lot of slope on them. So that wind, when it comes, it’s going to be difficult around the greens.”

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Despite a rainy spring, the weeks leading up to the tournament have been pretty dry. That has helped firm up the course, especially with temperatures early in the week climbing into the 80s. Some tee shots in practice rounds looked like bouncy balls on concrete as they catapulted off the firm fairways. As Els noted, that will present a challenge around the greens, especially with a lot of tilted putting surfaces.

Players will likely have to take advantage of scoring conditions early in the first two rounds. That being said, by 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday morning, the morning wave had already seen 80 bogeys or worse.

“There will be holes that look pretty easy in practice, and all of a sudden, you turn around in the tournament and with a change in wind or weather conditions, it could be savagely difficult, which is good for a golf course,” Padraig Harrington told reporters Wednesday. “You’re going to have to go out there and expect to be thrown off guard a little bit, expect a few holes to really bite you and come up and be surprised.”

A local caddie predicted the winning score for the U.S. Senior Open would be in the neighborhood of 10-under, and that’s assuming the wind doesn’t really kick up.

Given all the field could be dealing with this weekend (the forecast late Saturday into Sunday is gusty), it’s probably safe to assume they’d have to feel pretty good about posting that score Sunday and letting the chips fall where they may. There will be many, many others who won’t be so fortunate.

Thumbnail photo via USGA/Jonathan Ernst