U.S. OPEN NOTES : Bump-and-Run Avenues Beckon to Europeans

Bernhard Langer has noticed a crack in the golf course’s defenses that could be exploited by Europeans this week in the U.S. Open.

Unlike other Opens, in which target golf usually was the order of the day, Langer said the Baltusrol Golf Club had “some openings to the greens . . . the rough is not so penalizing as before . . . and the greens are reasonably fair.”

All of which plays to the strength of the 28 foreign players in the field of 156. Langer said if everything is just right, he could win the tournament.

Langer, the Masters champion, added that other Open courses “were not at all what Europeans are familiar with,” citing collars of rough around the greens that prohibit the bump-and-run shot that is a standard of British golf in particular and European golf in general. He also said narrow fairways and high rough “takes chipping out of the game.”

The last European to win the U.S. Open was Englishman Tony Jacklin in 1970.

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Tom Kite swore he wouldn’t let last year’s U.S. Open championship change him. In at least one significant way, he failed.

This week he will set his sights on a second major title, instead of wondering if he will ever win his first.

“When you haven’t won a major, the tendency is to say their importance is blown way out of proportion and there’s not enough emphasis on other things,” Kite said. “Then you win one, and maybe it’s because of the media, but the perception the public has is that you’re pretty incredible.”

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Nick Faldo agonized through three painfully slow practice holes on Tuesday and, after yet another long wait on the fourth hole, gave up and retreated to the practice range, where he could play at his own pace.

Once the tournament begins, players could be assessed a two-stroke penalty if, after a slow-play warning, they exceed 40 seconds in making a shot on three occasions. The way Faldo huffed off the course Tuesday he looked like he was ready to return for Thursday’s first round with a stopwatch.

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More U.S. Opens have been played at Baltusrol than anywhere else. This year’s Open is the seventh, one more than Oakmont Country Club, near Pittsburgh, site of next year’s Open. Willie Anderson won the first Open at Baltusrol, in 1903, becoming the first player to win the championship more than once. He won in 1901.