U.S. OPEN : This Looks Rough for Americans : Golf: Unusual conditions at Baltusrol seem to give foreigners an edge this time.

Foreign players have won five of the last six Masters tournaments. South African-born Nick Price won the PGA Championship last August.

But the U.S. Open--this year’s begins today at Baltusrol Golf Club--has been mostly an American affair.

A foreign-born player hasn’t won the Open since Australian David Graham in 1981, and he was living full time in Florida.

England’s Tony Jacklin, in 1970, was the last foreign-based player to win it.

A U.S. Open victory has eluded Englishman Nick Faldo, who has won two Masters titles and three British Open championships. He lost a playoff to Curtis Strange in the 1988 U.S. Open and has been fourth or better in three of six Open appearances.

Course conditions this year, however, are more compatible with the Europeans’ style of play.

Because of a relative lack of rain, collars of rough around the greens--and fairways--aren’t as severe as at previous Open venues.

Europeans favor the run-up shot to the green, rather than hitting it on the fly, and severe rough has prohibited that style of play in other years.

“This year, the conditions are very much like a British Open, where you’ll have to bounce the ball in and play run-up shots,” Tom Watson said. “That might favor a links (or European) player.”

Germany’s Bernhard Langer, the Masters champion, was asked to explain why European players haven’t fared as well in the Open as they have in other major events.

“That’s a tough one,” he said. “I really don’t know the answer. The only thing that comes to mind is that you need to drive the ball extremely well, and you need to hit the ball very high and with a lot of backspin into the greens.

“And then you have a lot of rough around the green, so when you miss them, you need to take your sand iron and slop it on there, which are conditions Europeans are not used to at all. We hardly ever play tournaments in Europe where we have conditions like here.”

Langer, though, might not be able to take advantage of the so-called favorable conditions for Europeans.

He awoke Wednesday with a stiff neck and tried to play a practice round but was confined to chipping and putting. He said if his condition doesn’t improve, he will consider withdrawing.

Paul Azinger, who won the recent Memorial tournament by sinking a bunker shot for a birdie on the last hole to beat Payne Stewart, said the rough is not nearly as severe as it has been in other Open tournaments.

“I’ve always felt the Open takes the driver out of your hands, so I think this is good,” Azinger said. “More guys will be hitting the driver here because the penalty is not as severe.”

There are 28 foreigners in a field of 156, including such notables as Faldo, Langer, Ian Woosnam, Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Tom Kite is the defending champion, but only two players in the last 42 years have won consecutive Open titles--Ben Hogan in 1950 and 1951 and Strange in 1988 and 1989.

Kite won this year’s Bob Hope tournament, with a record score of 35 under par for the five-day tournament, and the Los Angeles Open.

Then he suffered a herniated disk in his back and was inactive for a while before he resumed playing.

Asked to assess his condition now, Kite said: “It’s not 100%. My back gets tired and a little tight at the end of the day. I’m still doing exercises and and icing it every night. But I don’t have spasms like I was having in Augusta.”

Kite, 43, is the PGA Tour’s all-time leading money winner, but there always seemed to be a cloud over his career because he hadn’t won a major tournament until he he won the Open last year at Pebble Beach.

Asked his perception of a major championship, Kite said: “Maybe as nothing more than a defense mechanism, I kept thinking the majors are overrated. The press blows them out of proportion, and they don’t put enough emphasis on the other things in golf.

“And to a certain extent, I still believe that, because in my case after winning a major, it’s kind of like, ‘He’s won a major and, gosh, look at all these other things that he has done.’

“I could not believe the attention generated from the media and public. Winning a major championship, it lasts. You win any of our regular tournaments on tour and you’re the most recent winner for about three days, and then you start another tournament and then someone else is the most recent winner. It really is an incredible difference.”

As for his chances of winning the Open again, Kite said: “I guess I’m probably a little more confident than I was before. I don’t approach the golf tournament any different. I know that those golf clubs that I’m using really don’t know we won the Open. Those brand new balls that they put in my locker weren’t made when I won the Open, so they don’t know.”

Golf Notes

Ted Oh, the 16-year-old from Torrance High, is paired with John Flannery, a former USC player, and Jeff Maggert. They will tee off today at 10:30 a.m. EDT. . . . Oh is one of three amateurs in the field. The others are Justin Leonard, the U.S. amateur champion, and David Berganio Jr., who lives in Sylmar. He was the 1991 USGA public links champion.

Mark Singer, who qualified for the Open at Valencia Golf Club, is a former locker room attendant at the course. He attended Simi Valley High and San Jose State. . . . Billy Ray Brown was forced to withdraw from the Open because of a wrist injury. He has been replaced by the first alternate, Javier Sanchez of Fayetteville, Ga. The temperature has been in the low 80s, but it is expected to get even warmer over the weekend. . . . The 7,152-yard course is unique in that the two finishing holes are the only par-fives, with the 17th hole measuring 630 yards--which may or may not be out of reach for John Daly in two shots.