United States Golf Association Executive Director Mike Davis, the man tasked with the course setup for the U.S. Open, is quite fond of the greens at the Olympic Club. In fact, he thinks they couldn’t be much better. “In terms of the putting greens, this week what I will say is they’re literally near-perfect,” Davis said in his pretournament news conference Wednesday. Davis indicated he expects more putts to drop this year than in the previous four Opens held at the Olympic Club. Read More

While all the big names in golf are gathered in San Francisco for the U.S. Open, it was a 14-year-old amateur who had the Olympic Club buzzing on Tuesday. Andy Zhang, an amateur from Florida who was born in China, was added to the field late Monday when Paul Casey had to withdraw because of a shoulder injury. And there he was Tuesday morning, taking in a practice round with Masters champ Bubba Watson. He’ll be the youngest player ever to play in the U.S. Open. Read More

Casey Martin hasn’t competed in a professional event since 2006. He doesn’t even play full rounds regularly anymore. And he’s still battling a circulatory disorder that makes walking painful. Hardly the ideal résumé for a golfer preparing for the U.S. Open, arguably the most challenging event of the year. Read More

As it was brought to the forefront in the Kevin Costner movie “Tin Cup,” the U.S. Open is truly an “open” event. Anyone who has a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 1.4 can try and qualify. More than 9,000 players began the quest to compete for the national championship, having to survive 18 holes of local qualifying and then 36 holes of sectional qualifying. There were 109 sites for local qualifying, where just 550 players moved on to one of the 13 sectional qualifying sites. Read More

Bubba Watson. Keegan Bradley. Darren Clarke. Rory McIlroy. Charl Schwartzel. Martin Kaymer. Louis Oosthuizen. Graeme McDowell. In golf’s past eight major championships, eight first-time major winners have emerged victorious.Take it back a step further and there have been 14 different winners in the past 14 majors. Of that group of 14, only Phil Mickelson, Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington have multiple major championships on their résumés. Read More

The United States Golf Association brands the U.S. Open as “golf’s toughest test,” and more often than not, it proves to be true. In 2011, however, Rory McIlroy laughed right in the face of that moniker en route to one of the most dominating Open victories in history. The Northern Irishman obliterated the field by eight shots, setting or tying 12 Open records along the way. But it wasn’t just McIlroy, as 20 players finished under par, the second-most in tournament history. Read More

Since the United States Golf Association began its preparation for June’s U.S. Open at the Olympic Club, it has touted the first six holes of the Lake Course as the most difficult in Open history. On Thursday, NBC golf analyst and winner of the 1973 U.S. Open Johnny Miller took it even a step further. “With No. 1 being a par 4, it’s probably the hardest opening six holes maybe in the history of major-championship golf with no wind,” Miller said on a conference call. “It’s just that they are brutal holes, they are banked the wrong way.” Read More