Former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell believes he may have found a key to unlock the secrets of little known Chambers Bay course and venue for next week’s historic championship.
Just a handful of players who will tee-up in Washington State have any knowledge of the the course headed by American Peter Uihlein who captured the 2015 U.S. Amateur championship on the suburban Tacoma layout.
Others who competed alongside Uihlein was Patrick Reed and current Masters Champion Jordan Spieth who was aged 16 but shot a second round 83 to miss the Chambers Bay cut by six shots.
Spieth afterwards remarked: “The course was ridiculously difficult”.
Renowned golf course designer Robert Trent Jones Jnr and designer of Chambers Bay and host venue for next week’s U.S. Open.
However McDowell, as winner of the 2010 U.S. Open further south at Pebble Beach, hopes he’s on a repeat winner in talking with Chambers Bay course designer, RobertTrent Jones
“One of my business partners is into golf course development and knows well Robert Trent Jones Jnr who designed Chambers Bay as has spent a lot of time with him, so Robert Trent Jones Jnr offered up some time for me to meet with him and hopefully solve the Chambers Bay puzzle,” said McDowell ahead of teeing up at this week’s PGA Tour stop in Memphis.
“I was hoping to walk the course with him but I didn’t have the time as I decided to compete this week in Memphis but I feel it can only be beneficial in speaking with him before we actually tee-up in the U.S. Open.
“By the sound of things Chambers Bay is a lengthy understanding process and chatting with Robert Trent Jones Jnr may help unlock some of the course’s secrets.”
This year’s U.S. Open will be McDowell’s will be his 10th and capped, of course, by his Father’s Day triumph five years ago along the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
However it will be the first time McDowell, and like so many of his rivals, will go into a U.S. Open with so much uncertainty over the host venue.
“Heading to Chambers Bay is pretty close to a first for me in terms of not knowing really that much about the venue, and I am not alone in that department,” he said.
“There’s only been one Major Championship up in that region that I can remember and that was a PGA Championship won by Vijay (Singh) back in ’98.
“It’s also a long way up there to Washington State and if was being played on the east coast somewhere we would have already of been there.
“I would have liked to popped up to Chambers last week while in San Francisco but I had my brother’s wedding beforehand and it didn’t work out for me”.
