Webb Simpson says he expects scoring to be high this week over the "brutally difficult" Pinehurst No.2 and revealed which club he'll be chipping with - and it's not his wedge.
The iconic layout is renowned for its stunning sandy waste areas but it's the greens that are the stars of the show. The putting surfaces might seem large on TV but the undulations actually mean that players will be battling to find certain portions, with defending champion Wyndham Clark admitting that missing them in the right spot is better than finding them in the wrong position.
Clark also said the greens are already "borderline" in what points to a challenging week for the world's best.
Simpson, who won the 2012 US Open at the Olympic Club and made it through qualifying this year, expects par to be a "great friend" all week and doesn't see anybody doing what Martin Kaymer did at Pinehurst ten years ago, when he won by eight strokes, with runners-up Erik Compton and Rickie Fowler the only other two players under par.
"This is pretty typical US Open in the sense that par is a great friend to you all week. It's a brutally hard golf course," Simpson said.
Tiger Woods seen working on the Texas Wedge at Pinehurst
"I think what Martin Kaymer did in 2024 was incredible. I think if you take out his winning score, the second place that year and the previous two winners, it was somewhere right around even, one over or one under."
"I don't foresee anybody doing what he did then. You never know 'cause guys are so good. We have Scottie Scheffler playing this week," he smiled.
When Martin Kaymer did miss the greens a decade ago, he famously used his putter to recover and find his way back on to the putting surfaces - and very effectively.
Simpson says he'll be employing a similar strategy this year, except he'll be going with a 3-wood after getting some tips from fellow PGA Tour pro Chesson Hadley.
"They're pretty similar to '14 from what I remember. I'm using 3-wood, which I never used throughout the year. But I did it in '14. I saw somebody doing it, they made it look really easy. I tried it. Put it in play that week.
Collin Morikawa was also spotted working on the fairway wood chip shot:
"I haven't done it since the 2014 US Open. Already I'm realizing it's easy. I got a lesson from Chesson Hadley. He's really good at it. Why I love it is it comes off the face a little quicker than the putt. It's hard to have consistent contact chipping the ball because every lie around these greens, everywhere you go, side, front, it doesn't matter, it's into the green.
"You chip five balls you're probably going to chunk one of them."
Tiger Woods was spotted working on chipping with his 4-iron on Monday at Pinehurst, and a segment from the Golf Channel's Johnson Wagner illustrated the difficulty of chipping around the greens at Pinehurst, with the former PGA Tour pro admitting that he'd be using the flat stick from around the putting surfaces this week if he were playing.
We're so used to seeing heavy rough around the greens of PGA Tour and other Major venues, where pros automatically take out the 60 degree wedge.
It's set to be a refreshing week of watching the world's best being creative with their shot and club choices when they don't find the greens in regulation.
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