Join Steve Elkington and Frank Bassett as they unravel the mysteries of Pinehurst No. 2 and ponder the strategies that will shape the outcome of this prestigious championship. From legendary tales to expert analysis, this preview sets the stage for an unforgettable week of golfing drama at the US Open.
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okay welcome in everybody as we promised it’s US Open week and we have a very very special guest who has played in the US Open a few times or so and also especially at the course where we’re playing this week which is Pinehurst Golf Course number two we’re joined by Steve elkington major champion and just allaround great guy great player still has the sweetest swinging golf Steve welcome in how we doing today Frank I am we’re good I am excited about Pinehurst number two for a number reasons but I think the main one is well there’s two well Sunday is Father’s day that’s that’s important because that really gives us the free shot at the couch for the whole day right I mean if we want to play golf before and then come back and have some stakes and watch the golf two I don’t have to play Pinehurst this week that’s a that that’s a win for me understood I never in competition like you have of course as we well know you’re a great player but I recently played pineur number two and I will tell you as we talked earlier there are situations out there that are very different than anything anyone’s really seen especially the amateurs the pros you know you guys are used to it but it’s it’s going to be different this this is going to be a pretty exciting US Open I’m afraid especially with these uh the greens that they they’ve changed over now to the uh gone away from bent a while back but they’re on that uh what is it called Ultra Turf Ultra Turf Bermuda I believe it is yeah it’s some sort of a Bermuda strain but they I’m sure the reason they changed it Frank is so they can keep it much drier much much bouncier when you gets hot in the summer in North Carolina and you have bent grass they got to put a fair amount of water on there and really the whole essence of this course we have a bit of a sort of a recipe this week for maybe one of the hardest us opens that we’ve seen in quite a while we’ve got a golf course Pinehurst number two that was build in you know something like 1901 you know Donald Ross he actually put these greens flat smack on the ground they say but in the 1936 PGA Championship they were very low and level to grade by the by the time in 1948 When Donald Ross passed away they had started to hump up and they said this was caused from so much top dressing uh I tell you I would normally do a trivial question with you Frank but you already know the answer to this but who was the assistant Greenkeeper at Pinehurst in 1936 I mean that’s a that’s a way out there question but you already know the answer I’m let you I did not know the answer until you told me that in pre-show though okay I do know the answer that that was that was Pete Dy Pete Dy was must have got some of his dicly tricks Frank to build golf courses because now these gol these greens Frank at Pinehurst we’ve got Fairways as we always know but right off the fairways is all sand and Wire Grass they bought back in crch or and K to come back in uh cor is from North Carolina he went back and put the clumps of Wire Grass everywhere so now if you miss a fairway there’s only really two things can happen you can either get a decent lie in the sand or a little bushy area or you could be stoned dead right behind a piece of this wire grass where you can’t really do anything about that now that’s one thing that’s one ingredient the second ingredient is it’s going to be firm and they’ve got these greens now where they they call them Turtle backs all this top dressing’s been going on for 50 years and I’ve told you before I don’t think you can top dress so much where it gets 8 feet above the ground but I think they probably dug out around the greens to get these enormous Turtle BS almost on every green and Ben crenchaw recently famously said you don’t hit greens at Pinehurst you just sort of measure how many you’ve visited each day because it’s so much Frank about being on the green then it rolls off and where did it roll off to and how do I get this thing up and down I’ve seen some videos Tiger Woods is out there Jordan speef JT they’re all out there spending all their time chipping around because they know that almost every hole you’re going to be off the green down around you know in these places and and you you have the opportunity as I did very well to have multiple visits to those greens which is dastardly really is you know some I was reading uh we had didn’t talk about this I don’t believe but when Donald Ross originally designed those he was more about undulations on the green as opposed to building turtlebacks is that correct yeah the way I read it the same as you and talk to Pete d uh when I was building the golf course with Pete at New Orleans we built the course TBC he had it on the ground but undulating on the ground right um and as they put all this sand on they just started to rise up and now we have a whole different Dynamic well where did Pete if he was there working under Donald Ross where did Pete come up with all the damn water you put on TPC Saw Grass because there is no P basically I think there’s one tiny little water hazard on hole 16 uh that we which is probably the hardest hole at Pinehurst we can talk about some of the hard holes but number 16 uh at Pine Hurst is 100 is 529 yard Par Four and I played in The Tour Championship and I think I played the one that pay Stewart won as a part five so you RI one off there this year Frank 300 yard you’re still going to be left with a 225 yard shot to a green that was built for a power five it’s the smaller screen on the golf course so that’s going to be very interesting hole coming down to stretch on Sunday and played the second hardest Hole by the way in the 2014 US Open there it was number two well I’m not surprised by that yeah and it had 16 and a total of the if you add up all three of the previous opens the 99 the’ 05 and the 14 open 16 had a total of 68 over those three years double Bogies on that hole Yeah that’s a bunch well someone may ask well what does this course suit who does it suit well we know every every single person is going to enter the rough because nobody’s going to drive it in these little ribbon like Fair the fairways are quite um generous because there is only one cut it’s just the Fairway and then it goes straight into sand it’s literally you on The Fairway and you take one step you know this because you were just there one step and now you’re in what is it Frank sand and wi grass right yes you you it’s like going to hell it’s it’s like actually to me it’s a lot like uh desert golf almost I mean I mean it really is without without the the cactus I mean it is it’s difficult and there’s all that wire grass that’s there you can be stuck in that and you have no shot I mean you can hit a great shot in the Fairway just draw it out a little a yard left of the Fairway or right of the Fairway you could be in deep trouble yeah and you know Matt Kaa who um had a really good week last week at the live tournament in Houston I know that because I was there and watched some of the Live players come through came m hasn’t been anywhere for years but he won this tournament in 14 by eight Strokes yes and I noticed when I look back at some of the video of K winning uh that year the wire grass and the sand was in there but now here we are 10 years later it’s much more mature now and they I’ve seen some videos of guys throwing balls in there and it’s running in and being lost ball and all these crazy things around but um you know it’s not a it’s not a course that if you were SU person that hits the ball a mile this is a sort of a position course off the tea because if you listen to um K and CAW when they came back in and redid the course they talk cor K is from um Bill K is from North Carolina he was specifically Chosen and crenchaw to help him to bring Pinehurst kind of back to life and very much part of that was to get these ribbon like Fairways and get this angular approach back into the Gulf so that it was very awkward if you didn’t hit the correct line down a hole to get a shot to actually come in and hold the turtleback greens to give you an example I think number two is one of the probably the hottest hole in the golf course for me it’s a very long power po like almost 500 yards but the green is set at a diagonal of about 30° okay whatever but if you were to drive the ball down the left side of the faway you’ve got a pretty open shot into that angle but if you hit it over on the right you got no angle I mean rief goose in there in 04 he was number one player in the world I think he was defending CH US Open Champion he was in the final group on Sunday and he just made a mess of number two on Sunday he just drove it in the right rough just barely hacked it down there short of the green couldn’t get the ball onto the Green from short right chipped over down the other side back up and three puted I think he made triple and that was the end of his tournament he made triple there shot 43 on the front shot 81 and he was gone Michael Campbell of course won that tournament the New Zealander uh beat Tiger Woods by Two Strokes uh just a beast of a course because you and I talk about golf all the time and when you have a bunch of good players like T players play on the co Frank if they hit a good drive down a particular Hall and it’s in the Fairway the hle is almost over it’s finished it’s easy from there they hit a wedge on or a nine or an eight and it’s over well that’s not the case this week you’re going to hit those good drives in the Fairway but now you got to remember you’ve got a tabletop green but on every edge of the table it falls off so you’ve you’ve got to try to make sure you get in the biggest fattest pot for you might not be anywhere near the flag but you’ve got to get it up on the tabletop so how do you go flag hunting let’s say it’s Sunday afternoon you’ve just made the turn you have you’re down two strokes what do you do do you do you start trying to win it on number 10 11 or do you pick pick your Poise it’s very hard to attack particularly there might be a few holes you can attack I’m looking at the easy holes on this go of course when I say easy hole number three is is a sort of a short hole you ask me what would happen at the turn uh it’s the shortest hole in the course is it’s an a layup and a wedge the fifth hole is a p five will’ll be made lots of birdies on five seventh hole is okay you can knock it lay up off seven and play a nine IR or a wedge into the green 10th holes a par five that’s a birdie opportunity there and 13 is a little power four up the hill only 380 yards Frank there’s not a lot of birdies on this course I mean we’re talking about I think when pain Stewart won was overpow one I think I don’t know if you have the scores in front of you Michael Campbell he was one 199 but he was the only person far that was it needless to say yeah yeah it so to answer your question it’s a little bit redundant but if you’re two shots off the lead with nine holes to go I’d keep doing what I was doing maybe maybe someone might fall over yeah exact well that’s the good players do that as you well know you yourself played that game before and you let the others fall off and you just do and play to your plan and Watch What Happens Nicholas was a master your hero was a master at that letting the other people just fall off listen you mentioned your Jason Gore interview that will be coming out I had an opportunity to watch it and uh I would implore everybody who’s listening to this one that is a great interview really interesting stories and he talks a little bit about uh about being a nobody that became a somebody in that I don’t want to spoil it for the people but it was really a great story but out of that I heard something that I really want you to share on this show and that’s uh when you were playing it that year your father I think uh was in the gallery and he he came he came up to you mid round and had a comment for you well I was about I don’t know what I shot in the tournament I was about 12 over I’m I’m literally bogeying every hole and my dad came up to me you know uh in Australian humor and he said uh uh are you going to just bogey every hole is that what you’re trying to do and I said well I said basically dad I got six holes left I’m 12 over I’m gonna be 18 over by the time I get get in so it takes a bit more clarification so that night when we’re having a beer talking about it I said Dad when you’re 12 over you don’t really have a lot of patience to hit the ball 30 feet to the right of the flag with a wedge because you’re afraid of going off the drop off again for the 47th time for the week uh if you’re in the lead or near the lead then you’re very comfortable hitting at 30 feet to the right of the flag 20 feet away and two putting you’re making a two Putt and move on maybe make a birdie but when you’re as far out of it I just don’t have any I don’t think any anybody has patience to start shooting wedges 40 feet 30 feet left of the left or right of the flag so that’s how you get to be 18 overa frank you know you just keep you just you just keep hoping that you’re gonna make a good shot and make it buddy I did that very quickly uh playing not the te’s that you played when I was at Pinehurst recently what let’s let’s let me ask you something because you said that huh go ahead sorry what was your score what what did you shoot at pinus and why did you shoot higher than you thought you should well 94 is what the score I went back and checked I shot a 94 and I thought I should have probably done eight to 10 Strokes better than that because I was really playing pretty well but as you said going there are three ways to attack those greens or not attack them but to play those greens and you said that earlier why don’t you share with our listeners uh what three ways do you approach The Greens at Pinehurst well if you mis agree out of the mix yeah if you miss a green at Pin hus right you know you have one of three decisions to make one one is to go up you know we’ll call that there’s only three ways that you can stop a golf ball one is is Altitude straight up and down that that’ll stop it that’s one two is spin is the LIE good enough and do I have enough room to be able to impart spin to make that ball check that’s two and three would be friction friction meaning I’d play the bump into the bank and Pop It Up now in this at Pinehurst that could be putting it um I was watching a lot of videos today before this show and when you arrive at this M green that we are speaking of now you it will almost tell you which one is not going to work and which one is probably going to work you’ll look at the lie and go well the LIE is too tight the pin’s too tight I can’t go up I can’t spin it so I got to putt it so as we as we start to develop this conversation and we talk about about what it’s going to take to win this week you know we got to look at a player that can I think the first thing that a player needs this week Frank is a brain I think a brain and and and someone to be patient that’s not going to blow up it’s not GNA think Jack Nicholas think Tiger Woods at their best they’re not going to blow up Brooks Kea by the way is very good in Mages at just sort of being stoic and just I’m going to accept everything that happens I’m not going to blow up remember John Daly uh who we you and I both love this this number eight Frank 520 yard power this is where he snapped remember he was over he’s this that that and then he finally just whacked the ball and I think he went in didn’t he is that what happened he did he just walked off that was it yeah very happy that week they were thrilled with him that that was yeah they just it just uh it’s it smoked is I think you’re 100% right it’s uh talking about the three ways you get that ball to stop on the green I tried all three and none of them worked for me that day at fin number two none of them worked I probably should have well let me ask you let me ask you a better question okay a lot of people can’t flop the ball or can’t make it do that can’t spin it is it can you putt it can it will a putter work most cases well I’m sure it will just depending on how how they’ve set that course up around the greens but I could have that day I didn’t do it I was trying to act like I knew what I was doing the people I was playing with instead of doing what I was trying things I didn’t do well and had not practiced and when you do that you just set yourself up for failure and I did that that day it was I was so frustrated yet so excited to to play that golf course I played it before but I just was really excited that week to play and I just played so poorly it was frustrating but I’m going to go back and probably with you and we’re going to go back over there and I’m G to let you uh experience the Frank experience I would like to take another crack at Pine number two now that’s been redone now the interesting thing that I’m I’m looking forward to seeing this week Frank is when a player just misses a fairway and it goes Stone Cold motherless right behind a piece of w grass and he’s just sort of if it was in the right rck he could have both feet in the Fairway and be unplayable literally right is that true yes absolutely true yeah it’s going to be interesting to see how these players handle it mentally now um what does it take we know we know it’ be great if you could hit the hit every Fairway it’s not a bomb’s course by the way because cor crenchaw Ross they’ve all pinched in think about this green ribbon going through the golf course of basically a sand dun now and they pined it all off at 300 320 I just did the flyovers we’ll have all the flyovers this week on our site my my descriptions of every hole I’ve done them right here here’s one right here here uh let’s see here’s uh here’s number 18 right here basically we’ve got the we’ve got the yeah it’s all pin every every hole is pinched off so could Bryson djambo hit it down there 350 yards every hole maybe but he’s going to go in the Wiregrass he’s going to go every every single person’s going to visit the Wiregrass and I hate to say this because it’s getting quite boring but I never pre pre- tournament ever in my life watching golf for 30 years and playing the tour seen of course more set up than for number one Scotty sheffler why is that he drives the ball good he curves it both ways really really well that’s that’s one he’s unflappable nothing bothers him he’s not going to blow up he’s number one on our tour at pitching the golf ball yeah he’s number one in scrambling he won the master this year with a combination of hitting greens and getting up and down that was what he wanton it with there was other guys that had more attributed to their good week like LG aberer his putting was excellent at Augusta Scotty shefflers was not he did it all with second shots and when he missed a green he either chipped in like he did on the first hole the second day or he did all this crazy pitching of the ball his his short game was off the charts who else can do that you got to figure Anda is playing Well w the PGA can he backto back Mages I don’t know uh Bryson djambo I think is pois Mally I think he is good finish at the Masters almost won the PGA he has got to be a factor is someone like spe who’s been totally off the rails for ages best short game we’ve ever seen could he do something this week Frank I mean what are you what are you looking at uh what are you thinking I’m thinking Xander choffle because of his short game prowess uh he’s good he’s good short game too he he really is and that that’s going to play into this because nobody’s gonna hit those dreams and stay on them every time but you can’t go against Scotty shuffler how how do you bet against Scotty she he’s just he’s like a three to one yeah he’s like a three to one favorite in this deal so we got pay Stewart super Rhythm player very patient drove it in the rough on 18 of the 72 hole playing against Phil mson right after he budy the 17th hole the 71st hole of the US Open to take a one-stroke lead punched out of the rough to 100 yards short of the green didn’t try to do too much with the wed shot to 15 18 feet and then he makes it to me Frank he had already totally accepted being in a playoff with p with Phil Mickelson when he played the way he played the 18th hole but he left himself with that 15 to 18 Miracle Putt and that’s what’s on the back of the 18th green when pay exact made this putt on 18 well he won three hes he won put of the last three holes and that that’s just that was phenomenal golf to me that’s we saw Michael Campbell win in’ 05 um holding off Tiger Woods and just getting the job done we know what tiger we know how much pressure that Michael was under uh 200 what was it 14 2014 with ker M Martin kimer was the number one player in the world won by eight Strokes just completely blitzed the field um but it’s it’s a little bit different the golf course now it’s a different cast of characters we have one guy that is so Superior than everyone else uh Tia green around the green we got one or two others and I’m mentioning cha maybe Bryson that are maybe morawa morawa is not a very good chipper he finished second he’s finished second two he must be getting tired of getting beaten but morai was not a great pitcher of the ball that’s his that’s his weakness his weakness is chipping and putting his strength is hitting the greens he won the British Open a couple years ago just a machine I don’t think he’ll be in mix this week again it’s early in the week we have to see who’s how everybody’s playing and practicing and I’m anxious to hear your input because you’ll be talking to a lot of the people all we all the players and friends of yours that are over there um really anxious to hear what what feedback you get this week because I’m sure well yeah I’ll start to hear today by by tonight I’ll start to hear what my all my friends players that are over there I’ll start to hear what they think’s capable of happening on this course we’ll do another show but could this be a week of a guy like a Brian Haron who won the Open Championship last year remember last year the open it all was pinched in everybody was going everywhere and then Haron was a shorter player kept it in play Super weak for up and down could it be a week I’m going to look down the board a little bit further this week Frank I’m looking at guys more like Harmon uh then I’m looking at the power players at the top yeah I don’t I don’t disagree with that a bit that’s uh I don’t know that’s we’ll see more as the week goes on but uh yeah I don’t know I don’t know so your strategy to play pineur number two this week the what is keys to to playing this course properly well that’s a very it’s a very interesting long- winded question answer question but the hottest holes on the of course uh number four which is a converted power five into a power four it’s like 540 yards yeah used to have the old Hall of Fame was it the back of it up there Frank P us before they moved you remember that oh yeah you used to have yeah and and it’s a 530 yard half four Place downhill uh the sixth hole is a pi three of 240 Y and remember I talked about that green that I told you number two was set this way well number five set this way the opposite yeah so it would it would suit a nice high draw for a right-handed player but it’s 240 yards and it has the total back so if you could explain to me how you’re supposed to play a 240 yard power three Frank where you have where it requires a high soft draw from 240 the hold the green would you would you um would you write that down for me in your notes and send that over for me for that so almost I think I think it played the most overpower of any hole in the course in 2014 yeah the six hole the six hole was 216 216 yards it played the first the most difficult pole the entire week that was it yeah 242 they they play it anywhere from 242 to two 212 I think you got on there and then we’ve already talked about the eight that we’ll call that the John Daly Hall where he snapped uh bless bless his heart maybe maybe he didn’t snap maybe he maybe he knew the right think he maybe just get off the course before he did snap maybe maybe he was smart and then we’ve already talked I should have done that and we’ve already talked about um the 16th hole which is normally a power five but plays like 530 yard power four yeah yeah 536 2014 it was a second heart so in 2014 and if that is not enough for you when you get to 18 18 is kind of a blind shot up a hill and really the only thing you sort of see is the top of the clubhouse is one of the I think the bell tower up to the left and that’s kind of the aiming point but there’s a big nasty bunker Wasteland looking pinched in piece on the right I’m sure you’ll recall that oh yeah and that that’s to avoid that’s to be avoided at all costs because that’s a that’s a sideways chip out um I just think it’s going to be a little bit demoralizing Frank with some of the players mentally when they miss a fairway they know it’s could be lost not l L ball it will be it will be punch out or can’t do much with it or could get totally lucky yeah and I think that’s why this tournament is going to Bunch up I think it’s going to Bunch up because there’s no way for someone to separate thems to play that well where they won’t either visit these places that’s what I’m sort of pre- predicting here well before we get out of here and we’ll we’ll delve more into it as the week RS on there Jack Nicholas I think and I I don’t have this stat exactly in front of me but the most consecutive Majors played in Jack Nicholas I believe at was it 146 is that correct something like that consecutive Majors then after that closest is going to be around a hundred now Adam Scott got into this by virtue of what’s happened I guess with with poor Grayson Murray and we we didn’t say anything about that but you know we’ve all talked about it all week we our thoughts and prayers are with that family but Adams in the tournament he’s at 92 right now and he’s a shoe in he he plays the Open Championship also so he’ll be at 93 he’s working his way toward toward at least 100 consecutive open or consecutive Majors I should say and Sergio Garcia has gotten into the tournament now so that’s two years in a row that Sergio got in by the skin of his teeth so and you just attended the live event there in Houston who out of the live group outside of Brooks kka do do you see that’s playing their game well enough to perform well at Pinehurst David Pew Pui I think that’s the pronunciation I think he finished third yesterday I was out there and watched David Pew hit the ball a young Spanish kid uh I just couldn’t believe what my eyes were telling me when I saw him the way he swings he remind reminds me of a sort of a bread Ogle you remember that name a thin Australian kid that just absolutely Just Whipped through the ball and and of course he he finished I think he finished third yesterday 13 under it looked like he was having a hard time on every hole on the back down he was still almost going to win the tournament you know Martin CER has been nowhere he finished about fourth yesterday in the tournament he’s he’s been out of nowhere so funny how um bio rhythms we don’t have to talk a ton about live here today bio rhythms Carlos Ortiz won the Houston open in Houston his only other Victory he won yesterday in Houston the same time of year Martin ker won the open 10 years ago now he’s back in form slightly right now I like to I what I watch and believe in all these sort of things uh these bio rhythms Frank but I want to go back on one person that you said how would Jack Nicholas be thinking about playing this course and I think I know how he would be playing Pinehurst this week and I’m going to we’ll finish the show with this I think Jack this week at all costs would hit these Fairways and what I mean by all costs he’d take the one on if he didn’t think he’d hit the one he’s always said this I’d hit the two if I didn’t think the two it’d be the three it’d be the four he would go until he got it in play and he would play that golf course with the most odds in his favor I’ve I’ve told you this a million times the tour players the most risk adverse people in the world we we we don’t really take on a bunch of shots we’re not any good at Well Jack was the best at that I think tiger would do the same thing he’d get this ball in play somehow and try to get as many times on these greens out of 72 that’s actual possible because at the end of it at the end of it all whoever hits the most Greens in regag is it 40 is it 50 is it 30 I don’t know if it gets windy it could be 30 um the chipping pressure will be taken away and look we talked about it already Sheffer Sheffer has all these attributes he does he does Great Stuff Steve alington you uh you certainly know a lot about that place and a lot about the game of golf and as always I appreciate your knowledge your friendship and uh all the interaction that we have together when we do these things and then off off the uh off the show also it’s a lot of fun talking to you so thank you again and I’ll go gather some information and we’ll have an we’ll have another chat in a day or so I’ll uh I’ll I’ll gather some more on my side over a glen levit on the Rocks tonight so thanks Steve and if we were in Pinehurst we’d be at the pine crest in tonight on the porch in those rocking chairs absolutely thanks again buddy see you see you
