Chambers Bay is ready to produce its US Open champion | Ewan Murray

Season’s second major gets under way in Washington state on Thursday with plenty of live contenders, only one of whom will still be standing on Sunday evening

The point of entry into Chambers Bay instantly reveals a work of architectural genius. It is also appropriate that the first glimpses of a stunning venue arrive from well on high. Victory at this, the 115th US Open Championship, will represent golf’s equivalent of conquering Everest. If the Puget Sound inlet serves as the serene, picture-postcard backdrop, a golfing Rubik’s Cube stretching to 250 acres is the fiendish, pertinent detail.

Talent alone will not suffice here. The first US Open in the Pacific Northwest will gladly chew up and spit out some of the world’s finest golfers, on the basis of mental and physical torture. The player who most readily shrugs off the inevitable, unfair breaks which could well turn the second major of 2015 into a horror show will be last man standing.

Trepidation matches expectation. The greens resemble a wicket on day three of a Test match, which is a leveller in so many ways. Logic would suggest those players who have games based heavily on holing putts, Jordan Spieth for one, are at something of a disadvantage. If sport, that is, was ever played out on paper.

The USGA’s routine desire to make fools of rather than challenge golf’s leading lights has sparked its annual ripples of fear. On this occasion, it is almost as if Mike Davis and friends have even controlled the weather.

With conditions not dissimilar to the scorched, fiery Royal Liverpool Open Championship of 2006, you need not even be inches off target to discover a punishment stretching to 70 yards. Such scenarios frustrate competitors to the point of outburst, physical and verbal. The only course of action, surely, would be for the USGA to heavily water Chambers Bay before play begins at 7am local time on Thursday, thereby retaining an element of sensibility at least for the tournament’s opening stages.

The alternative will not be pretty and an unfortunate narrative for what should be an historic sporting juncture in this wonderful, mountainous corner of the United States. When Robert Trent Jones Jnr, the designer of Chambers Bay, asked Tiger Woods a media-conference question on Tuesday it was easy to infer the seeking of endorsement, linked to the fear of what may be forthcoming. If this tournament regresses into the realms of farce, battered and bruised golfers will not be slow in pointing out as much.

Recent history favours jaunty European invaders. Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer have won the US Open since 2010, displaying a terrific lack of respect towards the host nation in the process. The battle-hardened spirit of Rose, McDowell and Ian Poulter is worthy of consideration this time round. Kaymer is known to enjoy the setting but the last player to successfully defend the US Open title was Curtis Strange in 1989.

And what of McIlroy, this sport’s leading light, a player who will see his career defined by major championships? If body language is anything to go by, the 26-year-old will revive some of the spirit of Kiawah Island. There, in 2012, he swaggered to victory at the US PGA Championship. It was a triumph which could be detected from the moment McIlroy took to the podium for his pre-tournament conference.

On Tuesday morning in Washington state, McIlroy’s demeanour was precisely the same. Later in the day, even his peers looked on with driving range wonder as the Northern Irishman landed drives just short of a 350-yard marker. McIlroy has a gear change not prominent even at this level; privately, he will surely be motivated both by a desire to prove he has more imagination around greens than he has been given credit for and that he can prevail on fast-running surfaces. McIlroy, smartly, played nine holes late on Tuesday afternoon; he aims to be competing in that time period on Saturday and Sunday.

Rickie Fowler will inevitably form part of the discussion. The Californian’s play-off win at the Players Championship should have broken down a psychological barrier. Prior to that, Fowler’s prominence and consistency had not been backed up by victories. For that reason alone, he lagged well behind McIlroy.

The whisper at Chambers Bay on Tuesday evening was that Fowler had just produced a practice round of 65. It seems inconceivable that he will not sample a major victory at a links venue given his love for the environment. Other statistics are in Fowler’s favour: he has made the most birdies in the past five majors, has the best scoring average in majors since 2013 and has the longest current run of top-20 major finishes, with six. At Sawgrass, he accelerated when it mattered.

Fowler’s compatriot Phil Mickelson is seeking to finally complete his career grand slam of major titles at the age of 45. Unpredictability is his watchword but his lifting of the Claret Jug at a bouncy Muirfield in 2013 is a notable reference point. That, and the fact Mickelson adores a battle. “I know that I love what I do,” he explained. “I love playing golf. I love competing and playing against the best players.

“I still have a huge obstacle, a huge challenge that I am trying to overcome and that’s to win a US Open and complete the grand slam. I’m enjoying that challenge, I’m having fun with it. It’s not a burden. It’s like an exciting opportunity.” Another American, Dustin Johnson, is being mentioned in dispatches.

Many things simply don’t tend to happen on this platform. No man has won the US Open at his first attempt since 1913. An amateur has not been victorious since 1933. Mickelson will not like being reminded that the late Payne Stewart, back in 1999, was the last player to win when over the age of 40.

In 2015 there will be sniping, whining, moaning and wheezing. Yet every major has to have its worthy champion. When Sunday’s triumphant golfer negotiates the exiting incline and glimpses back over a 200ft drop, the extent of what came before will instantly hit home.

Contributor

Ewan Murray at Chambers Bay

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