THE TEE BOX
Torrey Pines might be only 60 yards longer than it played for the Farmers, but a lot of that comes at the 15th hole, which could play almost 150 yards longer than it played in the PGA Tour event as recently as 2000.
355
394
480
513
HOLE 15
+33
YARDS
THE ROUGH
U.S. Open rough can be notoriously difficult, but it won’t be longer at Torrey Pines in June than it was in January. But the summer kikuyu grass is much tougher and much more dense. The last time the U.S. Open was played at Torrey Pines, players who missed the fairway only hit the green about 38 percent of the time. For the PGA Tour version, it’s about 55 percent.
Tee shots rolled barely 10 yards at Torrey Pines in January where cold temperatures and wetter conditions softened the landing areas, while in June with warmer temps and stronger winds they might roll easily twice that much. So while fairway widths might be the same as they were for a tour event, they’ll be that much firmer and effectively play that much narrower.
See the difference:
THE FAIRWAY
PGA TOUR
WIDTH
U.S. OPEN
"WIDTH"
On firm U.S. Open greens a short shot out of the rough might have one-third less spin and roll out 15 feet or more, especially if it’s from the back of the green since Torrey’s greens almost always slope from back to front.
GREENSIDE ROUGH
U.S. Open hole locations aren’t always on the edge of the greens. The goal with the setup is “to tempt them to do something they might not otherwise do.” That means a hole that’s three paces from the edge would lead most players to just aim for the middle of the green, while one that’s four paces from the edge might tempt a more aggressive shot, where a small miss means big trouble.
HOLE LOCATIONS
NEW USGA PIN
PLACEMENT
OLD USGA PIN
PLACEMENT
Kikuyu grass
Rye grass
THE TOUGHEST TEST IN GOLF
THE INGREDIENTS OF
TORREY PINES 2021 U.S. OPEN
The 15th hole at Torrey Pines South
See the difference:
Driving Distance
Driving Accuracy
Greens in Regulation
GIR/Rough
Scrambling
Scoring Average
Winning Score
Winner
275.2
57.4
65.2
56.6
55.0
73.0
-19
Tiger Woods
290.7
58.0
54.9
37.9
44.4
74.7
-1
Tiger Woods
TWO DIFFERENT
TORREYS
Buick Inv.
U.S. OPEN
(2008)
(2008)