U.S. Open Golfers to Take On ‘Monster’

The history of American golf can be traced through the names of pastoral courses which hold special meaning to those who follow the maddening sport.

Merion, Inverness, Oakmont, Pebble Beach and many more of the nation’s tradition-laden courses have been the setting for events which quickly were elevated to a lofty spot among the game’s memories.

Oakland Hills is among those locales, having been the site of what some consider to be golf’s best competitive round ever.

The drastically undulating greens and the plantation-style clubhouse in this Detroit suburb will once again go on public display June 13-16 as the scene of the 85th Open championship of the United States Golf Assn.

The U.S. Open comes to Oakland Hills for the fifth time beginning Thursday with 153 players from an original record entry list of 5,274 chasing the title on a course which carries the combined nickname and reputation of “The Monster.”

Thirty-four years ago Oakland Hills was host to the Open and to make sure a man-sized challenge was presented the USGA called upon Robert Trent Jones to work his special architectural magic.

The result was an overpowering test of golf which ultimately yielded only two-sub par rounds.

One of those was a magnificent 67 shot over the final 18 holes by Ben Hogan, a round which brought him the third of his four Open crowns. He has always maintained it was the best round of golf he ever played--many others maintaining it was the best round of golf anybody ever played. It was Hogan’s second Open win in a row and no one since has won back-to-back Open titles.

Afterwards Hogan is reputed to have said:

“I’m glad I finally brought this course, this monster, to its knees.”

“Yes,” said Oakland Hills head professional Al Mengert, “he said it. He used the word ‘monster’ a lot that week.

“He said he won the championship on the most difficult course he had ever played or had ever seen. He also said if he had to play a course like this one for a living he would have taken up another business.”

The 6,996-yard, par-70 layout is no longer considered a monster, but it will be considered--as all Open courses are -- a difficult test.

The fairways will be narrow, there will be more than 100 bunkers to catch the errant shots and the dreaded “Open rough” will circle the greens in order to make every chip shot an adventure.

But the greens themselves are what will likely bring the most comment during Open week.

“The person who wins the tournament will be the person who positions himself on the greens the best,” said Fuzzy Zoeller, who a year ago defeated Greg Norman in an 18-hole playoff to win the title at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y.

“He won’t be the person who putts the best, but the person who get into position to make the putts.

“When you arrive that is the first thing that strikes you -- the greens. The slopes are more severe than they are at the Masters.”

Mengert played in seven Masters and he was quick to agree with Zoeller.

“I would say the greens do have more undulation than those at Augusta,” he said. “That was a trademark of (Oakland Hills architect) Donald Ross.

“I think it is a very fair course. It rewards accuracy off the tee, it is fairly heavily bunkered in the driving area and the greens are adequate in size.

“Each of the greens has a lenient, difficult and severe pin placement. When they use the severe placements (which the USGA will likely do to a large degree) the ball will tend to work away from the hole. Iron play will be a big measuring stick.”

Hogan’s winning total in 1951 was 287 and 10 years later Gene Littler won the Open at Oakland Hills with a score of 281.

Gary Player also shot a 281 to win the PGA when it was played here in 1972 and in 1979 David Graham beat Ben Crenshaw in a playoff after both shot 8-under 272 at Oakland Hills.

“There were five reasons the scores were so low in 1979,” said Mengert. “We were blessed with good weather all week, the greens were soft so the players could play darts with the greens, the greens were slower than they will be for the Open, they placed the pins in the easy spots all week and there was very sparse rough.

“But the days of keeping these players from breaking par is over. I think without having gimmicks to push the scores up it’s impossible to keep them from shooting under par.

“If the wind blows it could be a different story. But with good weather I think the winning score will be about 277.”

As for the winning player, the possibilities are extremely varied -- just as they have been on the PGA tour this year.

Jack Nicklaus will be here in hopes of winning a record fifth Open. Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin and Raymond Floyd will also be on hand to represent the over-40 set -- Irwin having recently posted a win at Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament.

Tom Watson will be trying to regain the putting touch that has carried him to eight major titles while such contemporaries as Tom Kite, Andy Bean, Lanny Wadkins, Craig Stadler and Bruce Lietzke will be in search of their first Open championship.

The foreign contingent will be headed by Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer, who pulled off a major surprise by capturing the Masters title two months ago.

Most of all, however, the youthful contingent should be watched -- Langer being a prime member of that group.

Fred Couples, Gary Hallberg, Corey Pavin, Hal Sutton, Peter Jacobsen and Curtis Strange all have shown the ability to post low scores on difficult golf courses and any of them could walk away with the title.

For six straight years beginning in 1973 the Open was won by a player who had never before captured a major championship.

That trend was reversed beginning in 1979 and for the past six years the crown has been won by someone who had at least one major title to his credit -- Irwin, Nicklaus, David Graham, Watson, Larry Nelson and Zoeller.

The results from the 1985 tour indicate this could be a newcomer’s year again.

No matter the eventual champion, however, chances are he will have to share the spotlight with Oakland Hills -- a plot of ground that is not used to being upstaged.