Home of the Brave

Congressional Country Club, a favourite of many of America's most famous politicians, will provide an exacting test when it hosts the US Open later this month

1997 U.S. Open Champion Ernie Els won at CongressionalWhen Els won his second US Open title fourteen years ago, the course had a par-three finish – a rarity for a major tournament. That hole has since been rebuilt and is now the tenth, while the eighteenth is a monumental 523-yard par-four that slopes downward toward the water. Els and co played it previously as the seventeenth and the big South African is under no illusions how dangerous the elongated closer has become.

"That will be some hole," Els said. "It might decide the winner. The green is right into the water, and the water comes around on the left and behind the green. You have to find the fairway. If you don't, you're going to have trouble hitting your second shot onto the green. In 1997, I was one of the few guys to hit the green and two-putt for par. The other guys missed and made bogeys and doubles."

McDowell's belief that this year's champion will finish over par is perhaps a reflection of his own relative lack of length. The Ulsterman isn't counted among golf's power hitters – which wasn't a problem at Pebble Beach last year – and there are many other holes aside from the eighteenth that demand distance. The ninth, for example, is now a monstrous 636-yard par-five and will have the worst rough on the course in a gully right in front of the green.
There is one concession in favour of the field: the 555-yard sixth will play as a par-five instead of a par-four. Par for the course, which was 70 on the two previous occasions Congressional hosted the US Open, has been raised by one.

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