The 123rd US Open was highly anticipated. It's taking place over one of America's greatest layouts in one of the country's greatest cities.
Los Angeles Country Club is one of the USA's most exclusive clubs and this year's US Open was a chance for us all to get a rare peep in behind the doors and check the place out.
LACC's North Course is a stunning layout with plenty of memorable holes, from the terrific set of par 3s to the unique drivable 6th and the distinctive barranca running through the property. But sadly this US Open isn't quite delivering despite a leaderboard that boasts two of golf's fan favorites, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy, contesting for the iconic trophy.
The week has already been record breaking, with the only two 62s shot in this great old championship coming within 20 minutes of each other on Thursday morning. Except that's not really a great thing.
Scoring has been controversial this week as record after record has been either broken or matched. The US Open is supposed to be golf's toughest test but LACC was somewhat of a birdie fest over the first two days, with Rickie Fowler birdieing 18 of the first 36 holes.
Fans are used to brutally difficult US Open tests and we've seen some excellent ones in recent years. Shinnecock Hills in 2018 was a controversial week with the course setup, with some believing it went too far, but it made for a thrilling spectacle where Brooks Koepka prevailed at one-over-par. Justin Rose also won the brilliant 2013 US Open at Merion on the same one-over-par total.
The last three years have all seen winning scores of six-under, with last year's event at Brookline standing out as one of the best in recent times.
And while the scoring hasn't been ideal for fans who love the pros to suffer or the USGA who will have been seeing plenty of those fans' comments online, it's not the scoring that is the reason why there should be some changes before next time LACC hosts in 2039.
It's the atmopshere.
Compared to last year's jam-packed US Open in the sports-loving city of Boston at The Country Club, this year's championship has been somewhat of a damp squib.
Crowd numbers have been fairly low - a reported maximum of 30,000 per day with many of them believed to be corporate or members' guests. The layout also ensures that they're also quite far away from the action.
The 13th and 14th holes in the corner of the property in particular seem very sparse, which makes for an odd look considering that's really where the thick of the championship begins to be decided come the final day.
This has resulted in a quiet atmosphere that certainly isn't translating into a great TV product when you compare it to a Masters or an east coast Major.
LA's own Collin Morikawa doesn't quite agree, though.
"It's great. Being out in LA, being home, seeing a lot of friends, family, it's always great," he said. "Having a Major championship out here, the energy is just amazing. Even though the fans aren't really close, it's awesome to be out here in LA."
Matt Fitzpatrick, on the other hand, reportedly had much stronger feelings with his friend and Barstool Sports journalist Dan Rapaport saying he described the atmosphere as "very poor".
Matt Fitzpatrick on LACC atmosphere. “Very poor…It’s disappointing on the USGA side. They want a great tournament—from what I’ve heard a lot of members bought tickets and that’s why there’s so many less people. Hopefully it’s not the same for other U.S. Opens going forward.”June 17, 2023
The second reason why the USGA might need to change things up at LACC is because of the course - but not due to the scoring.
The players' feelings on it is very mixed, and that was starting to become evident on Saturday evening when nearly every post-round interview featured questions on what the player thought of the North Course.
Brooks Koepka said he wasn't a fan after the second round. Matt Fitzpatrick called it a "little bit unfair". Bryson DeChambeau said it's "a completely different test of golf than a normal US Open" and Viktor Hovland said "I'm not a big fan of this golf course, to be honest."
Hovland continued: "I think there's some good holes. I don't think there's any great holes. I think there's a few bad holes. I think No. 9 is probably the best hole out here in my opinion."
Hardly glowing endorsement.
The west coast location means that fans on the east coast of the US have to stay up later than usual, and Europeans have to stay up until around 4am until the final putt drops. They'll do that for a Pebble Beach or an atmosphere that is gripping.
This year's US Open isn't quite that.
