US Open / Bill Elliott / 08 June 2008 /

Bill Elliott is expecting some world-class whinging from the top pros - after all that's what always happens at the US Open

Torrey Pines is about to change its name. Following Thursday's opening round of the US Open expect it to be rechristened Torrey Whines. No need, of course, to tell you who will be doing the whining.

To suggest that the men who play in the US Open and the men who run the great championship, the United States Golf Association, do not always see eye to eye is like hinting that, towards the end, Paul and Heather weren't best mates.

For much of the year the players enjoy near perfect conditions for scoring. Courses are immaculately set up to encourage birdies and better, the ball is played through the air, the game of golf moves from complex to one-dimensional. Not in the majors it doesn't. This is why weeks like the one coming up are so relevant.

For me, the four majors fit perfectly together. The Masters is a test of nerve and putting, the US Open examines strategy and accuracy, The Open tests a man's imagination and the runt of the litter, the USPGA, closely examines a player's ability to wear a sweat-soaked polo shirt with something approaching style.

The other thought is that if a player could only win two majors in his career then these undoubtedly should be the American and British Opens. Sure, the Masters is the sexiest but it's also the easiest while the USPGA suffers from several things, tedium being high in the list.

Each year the USGA - think buttoned-up personalities in gold-buttoned blazers - try their damnedest to upset the golfers by rolling out courses that are set up so tough par is a prize rather than a chore. Players, who naturally like to show off when they are strutting their stuff in public, don't like being tested in this way. Or at least the majority don't.

So the fairways are narrowed, bunkers are added where necessary, the rough is teased ever thicker and the greens are encouraged to resemble plate glass. It is as though the Marquis de Sade had suddenly turned his fertile mind to the grand, old game in preference to the grand, young dames.

Each year the players bleat about this state of affairs and each year someone from the USGA smiles bleakly and shrugs. Twenty years ago the great Frank Tatum, then USGA president, listened to the latest batch of complaints re the severity of the test in hand and came up with the definitive answer to this load of wusses.

Said Tatum: "We're not trying to humiliate the greatest golfers in the world, we're trying to identify them."

For this, we should all give thanks. The fact is that the US Open has in recent years been the most exciting and interesting of the majors and there is no reason to suppose that won't be the case this time around. Certainly Torrey Pines is not the sort of place a one-legged golfer would wish to try his luck and, remember, Tiger Woods IS a one-legged golfer going into this one.

Despite the desire - sub or conscious - to protect that knee he will have to hit driver at this championship. It is not just the par fives, it is the fours, several of which come in at just under or just over 500 yards. His current driving stats show that he has averaged 57 per cent in fairway accuracy this year to place 154th in this revealing category

What all this means is that, far from the first time, par for Tiger and everyone else will be a terrific score around this course, perhaps an unattainable score if the wind whips in off the Pacific Ocean that embroiders the borders of Torrey Pines. If one over ends up winning it then the stern chaps from the USGA will have a celebratory drink.

Maybe they are trying to humiliate these guys after all. It promises to be fun finding out.

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