Golfers expect high scores at Olympic

SAN FRANCISCO – All it takes is one slight miss for this U.S. Open to get a whole lot harder.

Tiger Woods pushed his tee shot on the 670-yard 16th hole at Olympic Club just enough to find the right rough, which was moist from the marine layer that covered the course Wednesday morning. The ball at least was sitting up, allowing him to take a cut with his 4-iron to get it back in play.

It’s rare when Woods cannot reach a par 5 in two shots.

But having to smash a 3-wood from 256 yards for his third shot?

In the days leading up to the U.S. Open, the biggest debate was whether the toughest stretch at Olympic was the opening six holes, or all 18 of them. About the only consensus was there won’t be a repeat of the score Rory McIlroy posted last year at Congressional – a record-shattering 16-under 268.

No one has brought Olympic to its knees the four previous times it hosted the U.S. Open, and no one sees that happening this year. Never mind that at 7,170 yards it is among the shortest of U.S. Open courses. Olympic always play big.

“What is par, 70?” Masters champion Bubba Watson said. “It’s not really 70. It’s over par. Five-over par at the end of the week, just like at Oakmont (in 2007), probably has a great shot at winning, unless something changes dramatically with the weather or something like that.”

The lowest winning score at Olympic in the U.S. Open is 3-under 277. The highest is 7-over 287.

The course essentially was built on the side of a giant sand dune that leads toward Lake Merced, meaning most fairways are slanted. It’s an uphill walk just crossing the 17th fairway. The fourth hole slopes severely to the right, but the hole is a dogleg to the left to an elevated green.

The U.S. Open begins today, and it won’t take long for some buzz to fill the cool, heavy air along the Pacific.

Woods and Phil Mickelson, the biggest (and most one-sided) rivalry of their generation, are playing with Watson in the fourth group of the day, starting on the par-4 ninth hole. The afternoon has McIlroy and two Englishman desperate to win their first major – Westwood and Luke Donald, the No. 1 player in the world.