Open Forecast Is for Temperatures and Scores in the 80s : Golf: Hazeltine still expected to be tough, but it is considered a fairer layout than it was in 1970.

A course widely maligned when the U.S. Open was played on it in 1970 is now being praised by the pros as a fair test of golf.

However, that doesn’t alter the degree of difficulty of Hazeltine National Golf Club, where the 91st Open begins today.

Hale Irwin, the defending Open champion and three-time winner of the event, sounded a warning Wednesday.

“If the wind starts blowing, you’ll see some scores in the 80s, and 90 is possible,” he said.

Jack Nicklaus, who knows a few things about golf courses, agreed with Irwin.

“There will be several rounds in the 90s,” he said.

So far, the weather has been benign, temperature in the 80s with little wind.

Even so, the course is “uniformly difficult,” according to Irwin.

Irwin, 46, has played in 21 Opens, so he could be considered an authority on course conditions.

It has been speculated that the three finishing holes pose the most problems, especially No. 16.

That hole has been restructured since the 1970 Open, and it now plays as a par four, instead of a par three.

The hole measures only 384 yards, but tee shots must carry 200 yards over Lake Hazeltine to the landing area guarded by trees on one side.

The approach is a soft dogleg right to a green that juts out as a peninsula into Lake Hazeltine.

Irwin wonders, though, about the fuss concerning No. 16.

“Why pick out the 16th hole? Why not the second? It’s an unrelenting type of course,” he said, adding that if players don’t get off to a good start on the first three holes, they will be over par in a hurry.

“It’s not a good catch-up course,” he said. “At this moment, it is one of the most difficult courses we play in the U.S. Open.”

Irwin wasn’t complaining about the course, just evaluating it.

What concerns him is that the greens are hard and fast now, and that if the wind comes up they could be treacherous.

So who can be favored in such a setup?

There are 156 players in the field, but Irwin says that only 20 or 30 have a reasonable chance to win.

“There is nothing more valuable than experience,” he said. “I think you can easily discount half the field because they are not U.S. Open tough, or tournament tough.”

Irwin is not discounting his own chances, either. He has played well in recent months, with a second and two thirds.

“I’ve played very good golf in the last year,” he said. “I have certainly won more money than I ever have. The fact that I’ve played well over the last 15 months, the fact that we are playing a course that is not going to reward mediocrity, all raises the question, ‘What chances do I have?’ I have to say my chances are reasonable, and I hope they stay reasonable.”

In his last outing, at the Buick tournament, he was beaten by surging Billy Andrade.

Andrade, 27, became a first-time winner the previous week at the Kemper Open, but was still required to qualify for the Open the following Monday, before winning at Rye, N.Y., site of the Buick tournament.

So Andrade, who has been on the tour only since 1988, is coming into the Open as the hot player.

“He’s at the end of an emotional roller-coaster ride, and I dare say he is probably somewhat tired,” Irwin said of Andrade. “There may not be enough rope to carry him through.”

Irwin added, though, that Andrade is a very accomplished player despite his relative inexperience.

For sure, Andrade is on a high.

“Winning once is unbelievable,” he said. “Winning twice in a row is something you dream about. Winning the two tournaments will definitely help as far as my confidence goes for the Open, but I’m very tired.”

Irwin predicts that the rounds will run from five to six hours.

“There is going to be a lot of chipping out of the rough and a lot of three-putting,” he said. “It is going to happen to everyone.”

Nicklaus played a practice round with Irwin Wednesday and said the course played extremely difficult.

“You just have to keep plugging along and be very patient,” he said. “Distance is absolutely not an advantage this week.”

Asked to predict what score it would take to win, Nicklaus said: “I think you may get a score of 281, maybe 283, or 284. That would be a pretty good score on this course.”

The last player to win the Open with a score of 284? Why, it was Hale Irwin in 1979 at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.