The US Open Guide

THE OPEN The US Open was first played in 1895 at Newport, Rhode Island, and the winner, 21-year-old Horace Rawlins, pocketed $150. It soared to popularity at Merion in 1913 when Francis Ouimet, a 20-year-old amateur, beat the visiting English players Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a playoff, a performance immortalised in the film The Greatest Game Ever Played . The arrival of the great Bobby Jones, who won four times in the 1920s, made it even more popular. THE COURSE Merion, in Pennsylvania, has hosted four previous US Open championships, the most recent in 1981. It boasts famous winners, headed by Ben Hogan in 1950, the year after his serious motor accident. Jack Nicklaus called it acre for acre, maybe the best test of golf in the world , but there is anxiety about how the par-70 course will handle today s long bombers. THE WICKER BASKETS A quirk of Merion is the club uses wicker baskets on the greens rather than flags. The tradition dates back a century, and denies the golfer the usual advantage of picking wind direction from a billowing flag. THE AUSTRALIANS Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley, Jason Day, Marcus Fraser, Geoff Ogilvy, John Senden, Marc Leishman, Matt Goggin, Al Presnell. MARQUEE GROUP Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott, the three top-ranked players in the world, will play together on Thursday and Friday. They tee off at 3.14 am (Australian time) on Friday. Woods has not won a major championship for five years, since his US Open win in 2008 in a playoff against Rocco Mediate. RECENT WINNERS 2012 Webb Simpson (Olympic Club) 2011 Rory McIlroy (Congressional) 2010 Graeme McDowell (Pebble Beach) 2009 Lucas Glover (Bethpage) 2008 Tiger Woods (Torrey Pines) AUSTRALIAN WINNERS Geoff Ogilvy (Winged Foot) 2006 David Graham (Merion) 1981 TELEVISION Fox Sports from 11pm Thursday SCORING www.golf.org.au