This week’s 125th US Open will feature the longest par-three hole in major championship history at 301 yards.
It has been called “ridiculous” by Collin Morikawa, who hit a driver off the tee in practice, and “silly” by Viktor Hovland, but will the eighth at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania prove to be a gimmick or psychological masterstroke?
John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer at the United States Golf Association (USGA), wants players to “get every club dirty, all 15 of them – 14 in their bag and the one between the ears” at a course which “prides itself on being America’s sternest test of golf”.
The eighth was the first 300-yard par three when Angel Cabrera triumphed at Oakmont in 2007. The Argentine holed a 20ft putt for a two in the final round and was the only one of the leading contenders to make birdie.
It has been a talking point for more than 70 years.
At the 1953 US Open the eighth played 253 yards, longer than the average drive by a PGA Tour player that year.
While the distances have increased, the average length of drive for a PGA Tour player is still shorter, at 300.9 yards, than the par three will play in 2025.
In 2016 it played 299 yards in the fourth round, four yards longer than the par-four 17th in round three.
Par is just a number but, as 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy pointed out, “the psychology of par is amazing”.
“If it’s a par five and you’re coming in with a fairway metal [with your second shot], you’re thinking there’s a chance you can make three,” he said.
“But if it’s a par three, you hope you don’t make four or five.
“No-one likes to get a wood out on a par three. There’s a bit of ego involved. But sometimes you have to.”
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