Jeev Milkha Singh column: Oakmont course’s uneven greens can be scary

The phone call that I was hoping to receive the past few days, finally came last Friday when I was playing the Austrian Open.

It was from the United States Golf Association (USGA), informing me that as the first alternate following the International Sectional Qualifying in Europe, I was being invited to the US Open at Oakmont after some players had pulled out of the tournament.

Honestly, I am over the moon. Playing major championships and winning them is what every professional golfer dreams, and I am no different. But the US Open is especially close to my heart. It was the first major I qualified for, and I really love the way the USGA sets up its golf courses for the tournament.

I have fond memories of Oakmont, having played the 2007 US Open here. I shot 18-over par to finish tied 37th, and the golf course lived up to everything that I had heard about it. It was brutal, and it challenged every facet of your game, especially your mental strength.

A lot has changed over these past nine years. I have been told nearly 7,500 trees have been removed, but this hasn’t made the course any easier. Usually, you’d think trees are the best guards of a course, but that’s not true here. With more sunlight on the ground surface, you now have the lushest, thickest and deepest of roughs lining up the fairways. Not to forget that Oakmont has over 200 bunkers, most of which feed the ball towards the wall with the steepest slope. I’d rather prefer hitting from behind the trees!

This week, we have a 667-yard par-five hole – the second longest par-5 in major history – and a 288-yard par-3 – the longest par-3 in major history. But it’s not the length that intimidates. The scariest part is the severe undulations on the greens and the speed at which they run. But you can tackle the greens only after you have placed yourself in a good position off the tee.

There are golf courses, including demanding ones like Augusta National and Carnoustie, where there are at least a couple of shots in the round that you know are easy. Unfortunately, not once in the whole round do you get that feeling at Oakmont. Even a 100-yard pitching wedge shot from the middle of the fairway to the middle of the green requires thinking, because you might actually have to aim several feet left or right of the pin to have the best possible line of putt.

Above all, this US Open will be a test of patience. You’ve got to go into the round accepting the fact that you will not be playing the most perfect round. There will be inadvertent mistakes. Shots that would give you birdies elsewhere, will possibly even end up in double bogeys at Oakmont. But you just cannot get frustrated when something like that happens.

I think the winner this week will be the one who hits more greens in regulations, and manages to avoid three-putts. The winning score in 2007 was Angel Cabrera’s five-over par, and I’d be very surprised if the champion this year also does not end up with an over-par score.

On the chances of the top-three players, I think Jason Day and Rory McIlroy have the advantage of hitting higher iron shots, which will be useful because the greens are going to be rock hard and stimping at 14. But then, there are very few players in the game who can putt like Jordan Spieth, and that is going to be key as well.

— Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time champion on the European Tour.