The US Open has visited plenty of top tier venues over the years, but Pinehurst No.2 is fast becoming a favourite of mine. Like many other golf fans, I believe that the US Open should be hard, and despite complaints about the difficulty already being lobbed around by certain players, I say let the carnage unfold for just one week a year.
It's not abnormal to see the US Open won at a score around even par (or worse), but often the strategy for success is trading off the inevitable, albeit high number of expected bogeys with a decent amount of birdies.
In the interest of understanding what it takes to win here, and perhaps who might be the best bets this week, I decided to go back through the scorecards of previous winners, and I learned how many birdies it takes on average to win the US Open at Pinehurst No.2...
How Many Birdies Do You Need To Make To Win The US Open At Pinehurst No.2
After searching the archives, I unearthed the scorecards of previous Pinehurst No.2 champions Payne Stewart (1999), Michael Campbell (2005) and Martin Kaymer (2014).
The number of birdies made by these three champions was 14.6 per tournament on average. That's around 3.65 per round, but an interesting trend caught my eye that could provide some insight to the weekend scoring at Pinehurst No.2.
Third-round scoring was the least lucrative in each of the three editions, perhaps indicating a tendency to reserve the toughest pin positions for moving day. Michael Campbell, who won in 2005 at a score of level par, made almost as many birdies or better (16) as Martin Kaymer (17), despite ending up nine-shots worse off than the German's winning score.
That in itself highlights the importance of par at this course, With Kaymer making half the number of bogeys (8) in comparison to Campbell (16).
How Does Scoring At Pinehurst No.2 Compare To Other US Open Venues?
Another course that has hosted the US Open three times since 1999 is the iconic Pebble Beach. Tiger Woods (2000), Graeme McDowell (2010) and Gary Woodland (2019) were all successful by the sea, but how does the winners birdie average compare to Pinehurst No.2?
Scoring was much less frugal at Pebble Beach, with Tiger Woods making a whopping 21 birdies when winning in 2000. The birdie average for the three winners combined was 17.6, a total of three more birdies per tournament than Pinehurst, averaging at 4.4 per round.
How Does Scoring At Pinehurst No.2 Compare To Recent History?
In the past two editions of the US Open, at LA Country Club and Brookline, both Wyndham Clark (20) and Matt Fitzpatrick (19) have scored well above the birdie average for a champion at Pinehurst No.2.
In fact, in the last five runnings of this Major Championship, all five winners have scored 15 or more birdies (or better) over four rounds on their way to securing the title.
Statistically that suggests that we could be in for one of the tougher scoring weeks in recent memory, which should provide plenty of drama and jeopardy throughout the week. Bring it on!
