The genuine Open secret

US Open: Woods leads world's best into the unknown as pay-and-play course breaks new ground

"The Black course is a very difficult course, designed for highly skilled golfers only." So reads the sign behind the first tee of the latest venue for the US Open. The recommendation is that the majority of players redirect themselves to one of the other four layouts at Bethpage State Park. Competitors in the 102nd US Open which starts on Thursday do not have the option, but then they are meant to be the most highly skilled golfers of all.

Quite what Tiger Woods and crew make of what is the first genuine pay-and-play course to host America's national championship remains to be seen. Even among the 150 golfers who were either exempt or qualified for the championship there are various skills levels, not least between Woods and the rest.

But who it suits, whether Woods will have an advantage, or whether someone can break through as Retief Goosen did last year are all questions fascinatingly posed by the US Golf Association's decision to take the second major of the year to a completely new venue.

All the players pay an entry fee of $125, which, if they make the cut, represents a discount on the usual cost of playing the Black course. Weekday rounds cost $31 and weekend rounds $39 so repeating the US Open four-round experience will come to $140.

But it is the public golfers of Long Island and Manhattan who have the best bargain. Officials at Bethpage insist the price for a round of the Black will not increase above inflation after the US Open. Other resort-style courses have hosted US Opens, but at the likes of Pebble Beach and Pinehurst the outlay for 18 holes is more in the region of $300.

The one perk the stars will have this week is not having to queue up in the car park overnight. Only Colin Montgomerie, if his back goes again and he decides on the same preparation as when facing Tiger Woods in Germany, namely walking around his room and watching Harry Potter on his portable DVD machine, will share the prerequisite sleepless night experience of the venue's regular clientele.

The course is set in what was once the estate of Benjamin Yoakum, a railroad tycoon. The grounds included a private club, Lennox Hills Country Club, which was later bought by the city of New York. Robert Moses, who was responsible for many of the city's bridges and parks, as well as the United Nations building, hatched a plan to turn the renamed Bethpage State Park into the "people's country club." The original layout became the Green course, with three more, the Blue, Red and Black courses, added in the 1930s. A fifth, the Yellow, arrived in 1958. The main designer of the Blue, Red and Black courses, all built for differing skill levels, was the park superintendent, Joseph H Burbeck. More usually, they are ascribed to AW Tillinghast, who was briefly involved as a consultant but is better known for his work at Baltusrol, Winged Foot and Quaker Ridge.

Lack of investment and more than 45,000 rounds a year took its toll on the Black, yet when some USGA officials played there in 1995 the inherent quality was obvious. As one of them recalled: "There was no grass on the tees, the greens were a mess and the bunkers were like quicksand, if there was any sand at all."

Instead of charging the usual facility fee to a host club, the USGA offered to spend $3 million on renovating the course. Rees Jones, who tweaks and tucks most US Open courses, was brought in. "During the Depression when the course was built they didn't have the money to really finish it," Jones said. "I feel like we finished Tillinghast's job, as well as re-establishing a lot of features."

In the process Jones added 250 yards, making it the longest course in US Open history at 7,214 yards. Four of the par-fours measure over the usual designation of 475 yards, with two, the 499-yard 12th and the 492-yard 10th, longer than any US Open has ever seen.

Does this play into the paws of the Tiger? The answer has to be yes, especially with a calendar-year Grand Slam in his sights. After viewing the Black for the first time in a sneak practice round last month, Woods said: "I have to say it's the hardest par-70 course I've ever seen." Since when did longer and harder not suit the world No 1?

It might be a statistical curiosity, but Woods has not yet won a major on a par-70 course in eight attempts. At par-71 courses he has won one out of four, at Pebble Beach, one of his favourite courses and where the par is normally 72. (Had it played to that in 2000, Tiger would have been an even more scary 16 under par). Yet at par-72 venues, Woods has won six out of nine, including three at Augusta.

Par is relative and what may be more of a factor is that some of those par-70 courses, like Southern Hills for the US Open last year, are tight and finicky layouts that do not suit Woods so well. If the Black course plays like Congressional (one yard shorter and also a par-70) then the big-hitters will be prominent, although last year's US PGA at the Atlanta Athletic Club, also a yard shorter than Bethpage, produced the (highly skilled) lay-up merchant David Toms as a winner.

If conditions are favourable, some have forecast record low scoring as the greens, designed with the quantity of play in mind, are generally flat. But Woods said: "Anyone who thinks the scoring is going to be in double-digits is crazy."

Montgomerie departs for another crack at a US Open boosted by improved form and the fact that no one has local knowledge. There are 18 Europeans in the field, with Luke Donald, the young Englishman in his rookie season on the US Tour, among those who qualified last week. Greg Norman also qualified, which allowed him to get one over Nick Faldo (who received a special exemption) when the Shark said he was pleased he had not had to ask for an invitation.