Matt Wallace column: Forget birdies, whoever wins US Open will have shot the least bogeys!

Prep: Matt Wallace
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Matt Wallace17 September 2020

There's just no let-up at Winged Foot.

I’ve been watching back videos of the 2006 US Open [when the venue last hosted the Major] since arriving here on Sunday and you can hit the perfect shot, not catch the slope and find yourself with an impossible two-putt.

If you’re in the rough, it’s brutal and the way to approach it is to think that par is your friend, while trying to keep the double bogeys off my card. If you’re doing that, you’re doing better than most.

It’s damage limitation and it’s not a course where you say, “Okay, I have 10 chances for birdie” — it’s maybe two or three realistic chances. But the guy who wins won’t be the one with the most birdies but the one with the least bogeys.

It reminds me of Bethpage [the US PGA host last year, where Wallace finished third] with the thick rough and tough green complexes, but it’s maybe harder than Bethpage. It’s a great golf course but brutal in areas. Already I’ve practised nine holes on Monday and again yesterday, which seems to work for me at the Majors, but the thing here is that you can play as good as you’ve ever played for the most part and still manage to shoot six-over. It comes down to holing the putts.

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This is my 10th Major now, so I feel I know what I’m dealing with. I’m in really good form and really happy with my swing and my tournament feel. Plus, on the mental side, I’m a lot more relaxed. It feels like it’s coming together and, if it’s not this week, it’ll be in Scotland or Wentworth. There’s a fine balance between being both confident and content with where you’re at. Even [swing coach] Robert Rock said to me at the Belfry how relaxed and chilled out I am. When you’re like that, sometimes the game feels a lot easier.

It feels like things are about to click, but this is the thing with this game: it’s so unknown, it’s so hard to call, and I think anyone could win this week.

I need to get myself in a position, then have the game and the mental side.

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Going back to 2006, I actually don’t think some of those implosions were mental, sometimes purely this golf course. Take Padraig Harrington, I think bogeying 16, 17 and 18, and he’d hit the fairways each time and not really made any mistakes.

And that way it’s difficult to say who the course will suit. I don’t think that it suits the bombers or the short hitters really, just the person who hits the fairways and doesn’t make that many mistakes.

For me, I’m off pretty early tomorrow and that’s fine with me. The only thing about that is it’s quite cold here early and the wind has been up around that time, plus the rough is super juicy from the dew. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

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