Updated at 10.30
SPANIARD JON RAHM is braced for a tricky US Open campaign after describing Erin Hills as a “course on steroids”.
Golf’s best will descend on Milwaukee for this week’s US Open — which promises to offer a demanding test at the gargantuan Wisconsin course.
Erin Hills will play more than 7,700 yards as Dustin Johnson bids to defend his crown, starting Thursday.
Rahm was the best-placed amateur last year — eventually finishing tied for 23rd — and while some players have criticised the lay-out, the 22-year-old is looking forward to the challenge.
“I feel like it’s a course that, for what I’ve seen online it’s a little bit — it’s like a links golf course on steroids, everything is a little bigger,” Rahm – who claimed his maiden PGA Tour title at the Farmers Insurance Open in January – said.
“What I do believe, but I think at the US Open, they expect our best. It’s big greens, big slopes, you have to be able to lag putt.
“With all the slopes going off the green, you might miss the green by three feet, roll off to 30 feet and being able to putt those, or even if you want to bump, run, chip it close, it’s going to be important.
“We saw that at Pinehurst. It worked out pretty well that week. And they’re probably doing the same thing. This is a different golf course. I do believe having that feel for low putts is very important.”
Rahm added: “It’s real easy to see it’s not the usual US Open golf course, the US Open classic set-up.
“It’s more similar to Chambers Bay. And actually I absolutely love the golf course. It’s a very long golf course; big greens, a little different to what it usually plays or last year played. I thought it was a lot of fun.
“I enjoyed the golf course a lot. It gives you a lot of opportunities to hit the pin. You can be really creative. And I believe it will be a really fun week.”
An earlier version of this article mistakenly identified Henrik Stenson as the defending champion, when it is in fact Dustin Johnson.
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