Making your first appearance in a US Open can be a daunting experience at the best of times, but making your debut at one of the most unforgiving venues on the rotation is, quite simply, a formidable proposition.
That is the challenge facing ten European Tour members at Oakmont Country Club this week, with Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Thitiphun Chuayprakong, Emiliano Grillo, Andrew Johnston, Mikael Lundberg, Sebastian Soderberg, Gary Stal, Miguel Tabuena, Romain Wattel and Chris Wood, all ready to take on ‘golf’s toughest test’.
With the prospect of brutal rough and lightning-quick greens, not to mention galleries dwarfing those they are previously likely to have encountered, can it still be an enjoyable experience for a first-timer? Frenchman Wattel, whose only other Major Championship experience was last year’s Open Championship at St Andrews, believes so.
“It is a tournament I have always dreamed of playing, I’m really exblockquoted to play here and I will try to enjoy it as much as I can. Romain Wattel
"It is a really tough course and the fairways are really bouncy and sloping, so you need to make a good trajectory when you hit your tee shot. The greens are really firm and quick, and the rough is tough, so everything is made to make it a good golf test.
“I’ve spoken to (2010 runner up) Grégory Havret a little bit about playing in the US Open. The two courses, Pebble Beach and Oakmont, are very different, but I’ve asked him some advice about the US Open experience. It is stuff that everyone knows though, like you have to be smart and not chase every pin. But that is what I usually do quite well anyway, so I am going to try to open my eyes and play smart and play my best.”
Wattel also points to his recent good form as further cause for optimism, after finishing tied fourth in last month’s BMW PGA Championship and tied 25th in the Nordea Masters - a performance which might have yielded more had it not been for a final round 78.
“I’ve been playing very good the last few weeks and I’ve been enjoying it,” he said. “I’m going to try to carry that on this week and enjoy it.
"It is an amazing experience playing in a US Open. I’ve never seen so many people watching a practice round. I think that’s the main difference for me.
Even on a Tuesday, it looked like a big tournament. I played The Open last year but it seems like the crowd here is even bigger and the atmosphere is completely different.”
One rookie unlikely to be intimidated by the atmosphere or the occasion is Englishman Wood, who claimed the biggest win of his career to date three weeks ago at Wentworth Club in the BMW PGA Championship. The 28 year old may be preparing for his maiden US Open, but as a veteran of 12 previous Major Championships, he has plenty of experience on golf’s grandest stages to drawn upon.
“It certainly helps that I had a lot of experience at Majors, particularly at the Open as well as five PGA Championships, and a couple of Masters,” said Wood. “I’ve played enough of these events now to feel comfortable and like I can compete. Winning an event like the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, proves that my game is at that level. It’s just a case of proving you can do it at the Majors now.”
Wood followed his victory at Wentworth by finishing tied sixth in last week’s Lyoness Open powered by Sporthilfe Cashback Card, but the Ryder Cup hopeful is fully aware that all facets of his game will examined at Oakmont, if he is to continue his recent rich vein of form in Pennsylvania.
“It’s tough here,” said Wood. “It’s such a severe test but having watched US Opens year after year, they always are, aren’t they?
I’m hearing things from other players like this is the hardest course they have ever played, so it is straight in at the deep end I suppose. It’s just going to be a brutal test all week.
“To make a move in a normal tournament, three or four birdies does it. Here, it’s more like three or four pars. It is as hard as it gets, I think.”
Straight in at the deep end would certainly be an apt analogy for Sweden’s Soderberg, perhaps the most inexperienced of all ten European Tour rookies.
The 25 year old, who came through a play-off at the qualifier at Walton Heath, is currently trying to join the ranks of Europe’s elite via the Challenge Tour and made a strong start to the 2016 campaign with victory in the Barclays Kenya Open.
Oakmont might therefore be undiscovered waters for Soderberg, but he did find one novel way of dipping his toes in before his Major Championship debut.
“I’ve played a few rounds of Oakmont on X-Box,”
“But it still hasn’t really sunk in that I’m playing in a US Open for real, but it’s going to be a great week.”
