LOS ANGELES — Brooks Koepka said he enjoys the chaos.
There’s no shortage of that in this U.S. Open, even for those who manage to avoid the traffic.
Players are still trying to digest the blockbuster announcement of the PGA Tour ending a legal and moral battle with LIV Golf by becoming partners with Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund, which paid for all those PGA Tour defections to the rival series.
Then came news late Tuesday night that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was turning over day-to-day operations while he recovers from what was described as a “medical situation” in a tour release.
And on Thursday, the world’s best players will take on the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club, a venue that won’t look like most U.S. Opens except for the usual doses of frustration from the toughest test in golf.
“Bogeys are OK. I’m going to remind myself of that, because I don’t do that so well,” said Max Homa, a Burbank native who holds the course record of 61, set 10 years ago while competing for the University of California in the Pac-12 championship tournament.
“It’s a hard golf course. You’re going to hit some good shots that go in some really weird spots. But if you keep hitting good shots, you’re going to make some birdies to make up some ground.”
That sounds like a typical U.S. Open. It just doesn’t look like one.
U.S. Opens are typically in the suburbs, not on the edge of Beverly Hills with office buildings and high-rise condos lining the edge of the course built between two famous boulevards: Sunset and Wilshire. The aiming point off the first tee is the “H” on the Beverly Hilton sign.
And while this golf course looks big — the fairways average 43 yards in width — it actually plays smaller than the target appears because of the severe slope in some of the fairways and the angles required to access pins.
“It makes you think,” reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm said. “It has very intricate green complexes. You’ve got to play the angles a little bit, and especially if you miss the greens, you’re going to find yourself in some interesting spots to get up and down.
“It’s got everything. It’s got all the ingredients to be a great week.”
AP photo by Marcio J. Sanchez / Jon Rahm hits from the 17th fairway at Los Angeles Country Club during a Wednesday practice round for the U.S. Open, which tees off Thursday. Rahm won the Masters in April for the second major title of his career, with his first the 2021 U.S. Open down the California coast at Torrey Pines in San Diego.And it has the shadow of Saudi Arabia’s influence on golf, though that’s nothing new, either.
The U.S. Open last year was in the Boston suburb of Brookline, one week after LIV Golf began its inaugural season and with speculation running wild regarding who would be next to leave for the big riches of Saudi-funded golf.
It was there that Phil Mickelson made his first U.S. appearance since leaving for LIV as one of its ringleaders. He has been largely missing this week in L.A., doing his tedious preparations last week before showing himself publicly for the first time Wednesday in a practice round.
The United States Golf Association likes to refer to the last Monday before U.S. Open week as the longest day in golf because of the 36-hole qualifiers held at 10 sites across the U.S. and Canada. Not this year.
“It turns out last Tuesday was the longest day in golf,” USGA CEO Mike Whan said, referring to the day of the PGA Tour’s stunning revelation of a partnership with the Saudis. “All of us got together on Wednesday and said, ‘Gosh, all these stories we wanted to tell, maybe it’s going to be harder to tell because media will be focused elsewhere.'”
And then he remembered the same feelings — and outcome — from last year.
“Once the balls go in the air,” Whan said, “the athletes take the narrative back.”
As always, there is a growing list of candidates. Even the current “Big Three” in golf is a little disjointed. Scottie Scheffler and Rahm have managed to separate themselves from the pack at first and second, respectively, in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Koepka joins them even though he rarely sees them; the PGA Tour has suspended LIV players, so the best only congregate at the majors. But he is a force again in the four biggest tournaments of the year, sharing runner-up honors with Mickelson two months ago at the Masters and winning the PGA Championship last month for the fifth major championship of his career.
And to think he only started playing them regularly in 2015. His target is 10 or more titles.
“I don’t think it’s out of the question for me,” Koepka said. “I think the way I’ve prepared, the way I’ve kind of suited my game for these things is going to help me. I’m only 33. So I’ve definitely got quite a bit of time. I’ve just got to stay healthy and keep doing what I’m doing.”
The North Course features the winding barranca — something along the lines of a ditch and an old riverbed — that traverses eight holes of the front nine and reappears on the right side of the 17th hole.
It has two par 3s of 284 yards or longer, and another that could play as short as 80 yards. The final three holes, all of them par 4s, average 518 yards. And on the No. 6 hole, players can easily reach a green they can’t see from the tee because of the sharp turn to the right, but they can also easily make a big number.
“You could see anything from a 7 to possibly a 2,” Koepka said. “It’ll be a fun hole to just stand on and watch. If I was watching, that’s where I’d go stand.”
Stand on the 14th tee, and you can listen to the spider monkeys and other forms of wildlife — heard, not seen — behind the tall wall that guards the Playboy Mansion on the other side.
Los Angeles Country Club oozes celebrity, even if the club has a history of keeping celebrities off its membership rolls.
This is a golf club, and for the first time, it gets to test the best in the world.
“It’s taking away the big numbers,” two-time major champ Collin Morikawa said of what it will take to succeed over the next four days. “Big numbers can add up really quickly out here with back-to-back long holes, long par 3s. You’ve just got to really take advantage and be smart when you’re trying to make those birdies.”
That sounds like any U.S. Open.