U.S. Open sets up risk-reward options on several holes at Pebble Beach

In recent years, the USGA has strived to set up at least one par-4 hole that tempts the players to try to drive the green. Depending on the wind, several holes at Pebble Beach stand out as likely go-for-it candidates.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Despite its reputation of turning par 5s into par 4s for the U.S. Open, the USGA has tried in each of the last four years to have at least one par 4 in which players are tempted to drive the green.

Pebble Beach has a couple of candidates, although Mike Davis might not know which will work -- if any -- until the tournament begins.

“I think this using different teeing grounds … whether it’s a drivable par 4 or a different tee for a par 3 or a par 5 or whatever, the idea is to mix it up,” Davis, the senior director of rules and competition, said Monday at the U.S. Open media day. “It makes the players think more. And, really, in some cases if you get a drivable par 4 or some other risk-reward, it allows a spreading of the scores.

“Instead of just seeing pars and bogeys, you might see some eagles and birdies, but you also might see some double bogeys.”

It would seem the best candidate is the par-4 fourth, which measures 331 yards on the card. It plays slightly uphill to a small green surrounded by bunkers, with a severe drop toward the Pacific Ocean on the right and a gully behind the green.

“So much of it really plays into what wind we’re going to get that week,” Davis said. “We think we’re going to tend to get a westerly or a north wind, but that plays into it so much. Because if we set it up thinking it’s going to play one way and we get a different kind of wind, it would backfire on us. We know there are some options out there to do different things. We’re going to have to wait until we get the weather forecast right before we set tee markers.”

Some players took on the 321-yard sixth hole at Winged Foot in 2006, the first year Davis was in charge of setting up the courses. Oakmont had two par 4s that could be reached -- Nos. 2 and 17 -- while the USGA moved forward the tees on the 14th at Torrey Pines. Davis contemplated a forward tee for the downhill sixth at Bethpage Black, although rain negated that.

Beyond the fourth, it’s possible to see forward tees on the par-4 third hole to tempt players to take it over the trees with a draw and cut off the dogleg, as Dustin Johnson did during the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. It also would not be surprising to see a forward tee on the signature 18th hole to give everyone a chance at going for the par 5 in two.