There's no other course that has hosted as many US Opens; Oakmont has hosted eight men's tourneys and two women's, including this year's. Player such as Ben Hogan, Jack Nickalus, Ernie Els and Angel Cabrera are some of the golfers that have achieved excellence there.
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it has few tree, more than 200 bunkers and fast and undulated greens, making the short game a priority. Besides, it's been selected as one of the top five courses of the world for the last 50 years, according to Golf Digest.
With this background, it'll be interesting to see how the ladies adjust their games to excel in this 6,500 yards course. Oakmont will be played as par 71 this week, different from 2007 when the men played it as a par 70 of more than 7,000 yards; Angel Cabrera won his first major that year after a 5 over par overall, holding off Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk, who shot 6 over par.
The winner of the 65th US Women's Open will shoot over par, that's almost a fact, so anyone who aspires to see its name on the champion's trophy will have to be very precise with the tee shots and bring her short game as sharp as ever, since the green's speed might go as fast as 13 points in the Stimpmeter scale, which is important since the ladies are used to putting in greens of 12 points.
The course conditions might give some advantage to players like:
Song-Hee Kim: leader of greens in regulation (GIR).
Anna Nordqvist: co-leader of putts per green in regulation.
Cristie Kerr: first place of scoring average and co-leader of putts per green in regulation.
Besides, don't lose track of veteran Juli Inkster and youngsters such as Michelle Wie, Brittany Lincicome, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel.
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