WHILE the auld grey toun of St Andrews is known as the home of golf, Pinehurst in North Carolina, host of this week’s 124th US Open, is referred to as the cradle of American golf. Founded by the Boston soda fountain magnate James Walker Tufts, the resort’s first courses were opened in the final years of the 19th century and it started to host national championships in the early years of the 20th century.

There are now nine courses, each of them known in oddly prosaic fashion by number alone, but most revered is No. 2 – this week’s test and also the site of three previous major championships. Designed by the great architect Donald Ross it was opened in 1907 and is most famed for its fiendish greens. Shaped like turtle backs, Johnny Miller once said finding them was “like trying to hit a ball on top of a VW Beetle”. Last week Jack Nicklaus added: “Donald Ross liked repelling golf, that’s quite obvious, because everything there, if you miss it, off it goes. I love Pinehurst.”

Built on sand hills it remained a classic test until an unpopular Robert Trent Jones Sr. redesign in 1972 introduced tangly Bermuda grass rough that was entirely out of keeping with the nature of the terrain and the test. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw restored the original flavour of the course by reshaping the fairways, removing that rough and replacing it with hardpan sand and native scrub. The result is an old-fashioned examination with aesthetically pleasing visuals. Unless your name is Donald Trump, that is. Famously keen on colour, he likes his skin tangerine, his taps gold and his golf courses green. Back in 2014 he tweeted: “I’d bet the horrible look of Pinehurst translates into poor television ratings. This is not what golf is about!”

The first major winner on No. 2 was Denny Shute in 1936 when the PGA Championship was still a match play event. It was his second major triumph, three years after he’d ventured to the Old Course in St Andrews and claimed the Claret Jug. The resort then had to wait until the final year of the century to host another major and this time is was the US Open, won by Payne Stewart after a final round tussle with Phil Mickelson.

Six years later Michael Campbell had to be persuaded by his manager to even compete in the newly established Walton Heath Qualifier for the championship and only did so because the drive from his Brighton home wasn’t long. Flying over the Atlantic he determined his goals for the week, as was common, and he said to himself that a top 10 would allow him to buy a Porsche. He even wrote “911” on his ball all week. As the week went on, and he remained in contention, he upped the ante to a Carrera 4S and then a GTS. And throughout Sunday, while battling with Tiger Woods, thoughts of which car he’d be driving fuelled his drive to the line.

By 2014, the course had been renovated and Martin Kaymer trounced the field by eight shots. Like Shute, the German had tasted victory on the Old Course, in his case at the Dunhill Links Championship. He was also defeated in a play-off in that tournament and recorded his best-ever finish in the Open in St Andrews.

So the two winners on the original No. 2 have won on the Old Course and the two other winners have fond memories of the home of golf too. Campbell led the 1995 Open after three rounds, finished third, and added another top five in 2005. Payne Stewart finished second on the Old Course in 1990 and was T11th in 1995.

The greens at St Andrews are enormous and in that sense don’t compare to No. 2, but hitting the right sections of those greens is a factor. Moreover, the Old Course calls for a lot of lag putting from sometimes outrageous distances and Kaymer’s success at Pinehurst was helped by his ability to putt from off the greens rather than chip (which he isn’t, relatively, that good at).

Who wins this week? Well, Scottie Scheffler is strong off the tee, magnificent with approaches. and has wonderful touch around the greens. We’re probably sniffing for the places but you never know.

Each Way – Ryan Fox at 160/1

The possibility that the Old Course is a pointer is good news for the English pair of Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood, but also the Kiwi Fox. He won the Dunhill Links in 2022 and was third last autumn on defence. He’s also just a fine links performer so hitting to these greens and saving par around them shouldn’t faze him. He’s also played good golf on Aussie sandbelt courses so the visuals could easily fit his eye. He’ll need good form to capitalise on all this and ride the vibes of his compatriot Campbell, but he has it: fourth in New Orleans, fourth in South Carolina (now he’s in North Carolina) and seventh last time out in Canada (when sharing the halfway lead).

Each Way – Sepp Straka at 70/1

The Austrian was seventh in last year’s PGA Championship, second in the Open at Royal Liverpool and T16th in the Masters. He’s also finished top 20 in seven of his last nine starts – and top 10 in four of his last six. Furthermore, his stats are great: regularly excellent off the tee and into greens, really good around the greens in his last two starts and he putted well last week. A different name with those recent major finishes and form would be shorter this week

Each Way – Harris English at 100/1

The column liked the American’s chances last year at LA CC and he gave us a run for our money with eighth place, following on from fourth in 2020 and third in 2021. He said then that he enjoys a tough US Open test and at Sawgrass this year he revealed that watching his friend and practice partner Brian Harman win the Open had been encouraging. “I’ve pushed him and he’s definitely pushed me to be better,” he said. “We love seeing each other’s successes and I know I can compete with Brian so I can win a major. I can win one of these tournaments.” He recorded top 25 finishes in the Masters and PGA Championship, events he’s never really thrived in before. The Harman factor could trigger another good week in the US Open.

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