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The word on the street is that this year's US Open at the South Course at Torrey Pines won't be the ball-breaker that Oakmont was last year.  Oakmont's layout is notoriously difficult as it is, so when you add graduated rough and lightning-fast greens on surfaces that resemble tilted panes of glass, players feel as if they've gone 12 rounds with *insert your favorite boxer here*.

Sources tell me that this year's US Open will be different.  "OMG how can it possibly be different," you say?  Simple.  First, the fairways will be essentially the same width as they were set for the Buick Invitational.  The rough isn't going to be that much deeper than for the Buick Invitational as well.  Finally, the tees will be pushed back, but not as far back as humanly possible...because if they were, they course could be stretched back to over 7,600 yards, which is totally insane.  It will still be the longest US Open course by more than 300 yards.  Ouch.

But that doesn't mean that Torrey Pines will be a walk in the park.  The setup of Torrey Pines has been very, very carefully considered and scrutinized.  Surprisingly, Torrey Pines isn't on Golf Digest's Top 100 Greatest Golf Courses.  Crazy, right?  It's the first time that an Open course hasn't been in the Top 100 since 1976 (that distinction would belong to Atlanta Athletic Club).  Torrey Pines does belong to the Top 100 Public Golf Courses list, but even then it's ranked at a high 90th position by that golf publication.  Instead of pencil-wide fairways and 7-inch uniform rough, Torrey Pines will feature other characteristics that will make it plenty challenging.  

Mike Davis, the senior director of Rules and Competition for the USGA, can be credited with introducing the graduated rough that was mentioned above; that is, rough that becomes progressively deeper the further you hit into it.  Similarly, the rough around the greens will also be mowed in concentric steps.  The approach areas in front of the greens, which will consist of Bermuda grass instead of the Kikuyu that can be found in the fairways, have been aerified and top-dressed as if they were greens.  Top-dressing is the process of adding a fine layer of soil to the surface, a process which is done to greens to make them as firm as possible.  Why do this?  According to Davis, it's so that players can bounce shots into the green instead of flying them onto it, if they choose...and unlike Donald Ross's dome-shaped greens at Pinehurst or the steep sloping greens of A.W. Tillinghast's Winged Foot, Torrey Pines' perfect Poa greens were designed to hold long iron shots.  And here is where the brilliance of Davis' Open strategy shines - making all type of shots possible for all types of players while being as challenging, and fair, as possible.  Going back to the idea of graduated rough, Davis wants players who can bomb the ball to have that advantage of distance.  However, if you wander too far off the beaten path, long hitters will find themselves closer to the hole but in deeper rough that is a mix of gnarly Kikuyu and ryegrass.  If you're wondering what the hell Kikuyu is, Kikuyu is a coarse-textured light green grass that is actually considered a weed in coastal California.

Did I forget to mention that the fairways and greens on the coastal side of the course have been relocated closer to the ocean, bringing the cliffs into play?  Hope you don't start snap hooking into the Pacific!  Many areas around hazards, such as the small pond in front of the Par-5 18th, will be shaved so that anything landing near it will funnel into the water.  Torrey Pines' greens won't be running close to 15 on the Stimpmeter like they did early in the week at Oakmontl ast year, but should hover around no more than 13.  That's still fast as hell, as fast as either you or I have ever experienced.  But here's the real kicker, to show you how freaky Davis and his crew are:  he has kept bleachers and TV towers positioned off to the side of the greens at the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 16th holes to keep the targets fully exposed to the coastal winds.

In a way, it's totally sadistic.  It's undenialbly ingenious.  It's the US Open in all it's glory.  And if this strategy proves to be successful, I think you can count on seeing Torrey Pines a little more regularly in US Opens or PGA Championships.